Beam management method, beam configuration method, access node, and relay device

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a beam management method, a beam configuration method, an access node, a relay device, and a storage medium, and the beam management method includes a step of grouping a plurality of relay devices based on a preset grouping rule to form at least one beam management group (S1000), and a step of performing beam management (S2000) on the relay devices in each beam management group on a group-by-group basis.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application is based on and claims priority from a Chinese patent application bearing application number 202210969791.3 and filed on August 12, 2022, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application. The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications, and in particular to a beam management method, a beam configuration method, a base station, a relay device, and a storage medium. [Background technology]

[0002] In related art, in order to compensate for the path loss of a wireless signal, a relay device is usually installed to transfer the wireless signal, thereby improving the transmission distance of the signal and ensuring communication quality.

[0003] Taking millimeter-wave communications as an example, millimeter-wave base stations typically use large antenna arrays to transmit narrow beams, effectively concentrating transmission energy in a specific area or direction. However, millimeter-wave directional transmission is highly sensitive to congestion, which can ultimately lead to dropped connections. Therefore, integrating reconfigurable intelligent surfaces into millimeter-wave cellular systems and utilizing their controllable intelligent signal reflection technology to actively compensate for wireless channels can improve communication quality and the coverage capabilities of millimeter-wave systems. However, in some special application scenarios, multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces need to be deployed within the coverage range of a single base station. The base station must then individually manage the beams for each of the multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, resulting in inefficient beam management and impacting communication quality. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide a beam management method, a beam configuration method, a base station, a relay device, and a storage medium. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam management method including the steps of grouping a plurality of relay devices based on a preset grouping rule to form at least one beam management group, and performing beam management on the relay devices in each of the beam management groups on a group-by-group basis.

[0006] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam configuration method including the steps of receiving beam management group signaling transmitted from a second access node, wherein the beam management group signaling is used to perform beam management for a plurality of relay devices in the beam management group on a group-by-group basis; obtaining a corresponding beam management codebook based on the beam management group signaling; and performing beam configuration based on the beam management codebook.

[0007] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam management method including the steps of receiving second beam management group information transmitted from a second access node, generating a decision to accept the second beam management group based on the second beam management group information, and transmitting acceptance feedback information for the second beam management group to the second access node.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access node comprising at least one processor and at least one memory for storing at least one program, the access node performing the beam management method of any one of the first and third aspects when the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a relay device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory for storing at least one program, the relay device performing the beam configuration method according to any one of the second aspect when the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a processor-executable program that, when executed by a processor, performs the beam management method described in any one of the first aspect, the third aspect, or the beam configuration method described in any one of the second aspect. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a relay communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0012] [Figure 2] 1 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0013] [Figure 3] 1 is a flowchart of a beam management method in a base station switching scenario according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0014] [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0015] [Figure 5] 1 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0016] [Figure 6] 1 is a flowchart of a beam construction method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0017] [Figure 7]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to achieve signal coverage in a high-speed train scenario according to an example of the present application.

[0018] [Figure 8] 1 is a schematic flow chart of a beam management method according to an example of the present application.

[0019] [Figure 9] 1 is a schematic flow chart of a beam management method according to an example of the present application.

[0020] [Figure 10] 1 is a schematic flow chart of a beam management method according to an example of the present application.

[0021] [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of beam management during base station switching in a high-speed train scenario according to an example of the present application.

[0022] [Figure 12] 1 is a flowchart of beam management during base station switching according to an example of the present application.

[0023] [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] [Figure 14] 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a relay device according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the present application will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings and examples. It should be understood that the specific examples described herein are only used to interpret the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

[0026] Although the schematic diagrams of the device are divided into functional modules and the flowcharts show a logical order, in some cases the division of modules in the device and the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different from that shown in the flowcharts. The terms "first," "second," etc. in the specification, claims, and drawings are used to distinguish between similar objects and do not necessarily describe a particular order or sequence.

[0027] In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "further," "exemplary," or "optionally" are used to indicate an example, illustration, or description, and should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or design means. The use of words such as "further," "exemplary," or "optionally" is intended to present the related concept in a specific manner.

[0028] With the explosive growth of data traffic, millimeter wave (mmWave) is becoming a key technology for 5th generation (5G) systems due to its abundant available frequency bands. The first major challenge in implementing mmWave communications is path loss. To compensate for the significant path loss of mmWave transmission, mmWave base stations (BSs) typically employ large antenna arrays to transmit narrow beams, effectively concentrating transmission energy in a specific area or direction. However, mmWave's directional transmission is highly sensitive to congestion, which can ultimately lead to connection drops, posing new challenges to establishing and maintaining mmWave links. Therefore, mmWave cellular systems incorporate reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) and network-controlled repeaters (NCRs).

[0029] RIS / NCR is an antenna surface containing a large number of low-cost passive reflector arrays, each of which can independently adjust the phase and amplitude of incident electromagnetic waves, thereby altering the electromagnetic wave propagation path. While related technologies typically use signal processing at the transmit and receive terminals to adapt to dynamic and uncontrollable wireless environments, RIS / NCR actively corrects the wireless channel through controllable, intelligent signal reflection technology. Therefore, RIS / NCR offers new flexibility for further improving wireless link performance and opens up the possibility of intelligent, programmable wireless environments. In millimeter-wave cellular systems, congestion issues seriously degrade communication quality and even lead to link interruptions. Due to its ability to alter the electromagnetic wave transmission environment, RIS / NCR offers a promising new approach to addressing the issue of millimeter-wave communication congestion. For users whose link with the base station is blocked, RIS / NCR's phase adjustment allows the electromagnetic wave transmission path to bypass obstructions and reach the user, thereby improving communication quality and the coverage capacity of millimeter-wave systems.

[0030] The deployment method of RIS / NCR is usually to deploy one or more dedicated RIS / NCRs within the coverage range of a single base station to improve the signal of coverage blind spots within the coverage area of the base station. In some special scenarios such as high-speed trains and buildings, it is necessary to deploy transmission RIS / NCRs on the windows of trains and buildings to relay the beams of the base station to the interior of the train and indoor spaces. In order to ensure that the beams accurately cover the users inside the train and indoor spaces, the base station needs to dynamically adjust the reflective array of the RIS / NCR in real time based on the beam tracking results. The adjustment instructions of all the reflective arrays in the entire array constitute an adjustment instruction matrix (in this application, the adjustment instruction matrix is referred to as a beam management codebook). Different adjustment instruction matrices are used depending on the number of output beams (e.g., single-beam reflection, multi-beam reflection), direction, output type (e.g., reflection, diffusion, transmission), beam type, etc. Adjustments to characteristics such as lobe width and beam width can be made. In such a scenario, a single base station typically controls a large number of RIS / NCRs. To ensure high-traffic services, high-frequency coverage is already supported by 5G. However, the base station's high-frequency service beam typically uses a narrow beam to cover the interior of a vehicle and indoors through the relays of each RIS / NCR in sequence. However, if the beam relay configuration adjustment is performed for each RIS / NCR in sequence, the more RIS / NCRs there are, the longer the time interval between beam relay configuration adjustments for each RIS / NCR. This may result in untimely beam relay adjustments, which may affect coverage performance.

[0031] Based on this, the present application provides a beam management method, a beam configuration method, a base station, a relay device, and a storage medium, and the beam management method groups multiple relay devices based on a preset grouping rule to form a beam management group, and performs beam management on the relay devices in each beam management group on a group-by-group basis, thereby improving the efficiency of beam management and ensuring communication quality.

[0032] 1 is a schematic diagram of a relay communication system according to an embodiment of the present application, in which the relay communication system 100 includes an access node 110, relay devices 221-224, and terminals 231-232. As can be seen from the figure, in an application scenario such as a high-speed train, the signal quality inside the high-speed train will be deteriorated due to the shielding of the vehicle, and in this case, the signal needs to be forwarded via the relay devices 221-224, thereby realizing communication between the terminals 231-232 and the access node 110.

[0033] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile communication systems, evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E UTRAN) systems, next generation radio access network (NG RAN) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5th Generation (5G) systems such as new radio access technology (NR), and future communication systems such as 6G systems.

[0034] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication technologies, such as microwave communication, light wave communication, millimeter wave communication, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and specific device forms used.

[0035] The access node 110 in the embodiments of the present application may be an evolved base station (evolved NodeB, eNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation base station (next generation NodeB, gNB) in an NR system, a base station in other future mobile communication systems, or an access node in a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) system. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used for the network device.

[0036] The terminals 131-132 in the embodiments of the present application are user-side entities for receiving or transmitting signals, such as mobile phones. The terminals may also be called terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations (MS), mobile terminals (MT), etc. The terminals may also be automobiles with communication capabilities, smart automobiles, mobile phones, wearable devices, tablet computers (Pads), computers with wireless transmission and reception capabilities, virtual reality (VR) terminals, augmented reality (AR) terminals, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and the specific device configuration used in the terminal.

[0037] The relay devices 121-122 in the embodiments of the present application may be any network device having a wireless signal relay capability, i.e., having the capability of receiving a wireless signal and wirelessly forwarding the wireless signal, and the relay device may be a repeater, a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), an intelligent repeater (Network Controlled Repeater (NCR)), etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used for the relay device.

[0038] In the embodiments of the present application, a base station is taken as an example of an access node. As can be understood by those skilled in the art, other types of access nodes, such as TRPs and gNBs, are also applicable to the beam management method of the embodiments of the present application.

[0039] 2 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, the beam management method may include, but is not limited to, step S1000 and step S2000.

[0040] Step S1000: Group a plurality of relay devices according to a preset grouping rule to form at least one beam management group.

[0041] In one embodiment, a base station sends a beam management group creation message to multiple relay devices, whereby the multiple relay devices form a beam management group based on the beam management group creation message, and the beam management group creation message carries beam management group information.

[0042] In addition, at the stage of creating a beam management group, the beam management group information includes at least one of a beam management group identifier, a transmission type of the beam management codebook number, a reference repeater identifier, a general repeater identifier, and a relative positional relationship between the reference repeater and the general repeater.

[0043] As can be seen, one base station can manage multiple beam management groups, or when facing base station switching, the beam management group in which some relays are located will change, so it is necessary to distinguish the beam management groups by beam management group identifiers. The transmission type of the beam management codebook number is used to indicate whether compression encoding of the beam management codebook number is used. In some embodiments, relays in a beam management group are divided into two types: one is a reference relay, which is also called a reference point relay, and the other is a general relay other than the reference relay, and different relay types and different relays are distinguished using relay identifiers and general relay identifiers. After the reference relay is determined, all other general relays in the group determine their relative positions based on the reference relay.

[0044] In one embodiment, a preset grouping rule and operation information of a plurality of relay devices are obtained, and a relay device corresponding to the operation information that satisfies the preset grouping rule is determined as a target relay device, and a beam management group is determined based on the target relay device.

[0045] The preset grouping rule includes at least one of the following: the relative positions between the accessed relay devices are fixed; the beam management frequency difference between the accessed relay devices is smaller than a preset frequency difference threshold; the movement speed and movement direction of the accessed relay devices are the same; and the number of accessed relay devices is smaller than a preset beam management group member number threshold.

[0046] In one embodiment, if the preset grouping rule is that the relative positions between multiple accessed relay devices are fixed, for example, if relay devices are installed in the windows of a building, both the relative positions and absolute positions of these relay devices are fixed, and if relay devices are installed in the windows of a high-speed train, the relative positions of these relay devices are fixed and will not be affected by the movement of the high-speed train.If the relative positional relationship between multiple relay devices satisfies the grouping rule according to this embodiment, these relay devices whose relative positions have been determined can be divided into one or more groups to form one or more beam management groups.

[0047] In one embodiment, if the beam management frequency difference between multiple relay devices accessed by a preset grouping rule is less than a preset frequency difference threshold, the multiple relay devices that satisfy this grouping rule have similar beam management frequencies and are more suitable for comprehensive management of these relay devices.

[0048] In one embodiment, if the moving speed and moving direction of multiple relay devices accessed by a preset grouping rule are the same, the multiple relay devices that satisfy this grouping rule are in a relatively stationary state, and the relative positions between them are fixed. If the relative positional relationship between multiple relay devices satisfies the grouping rule according to this embodiment, these relay devices whose relative positions have been determined can be divided into one or more groups to form one or more beam management groups.

[0049] In one embodiment, if the number of relay devices accessed by the preset grouping rule is less than the preset beam management group member number threshold, in one scenario, a number threshold is pre-set for the number of members in the beam management group, and the relay devices are assigned to the beam management group and beam management is performed as long as they do not exceed the number threshold.

[0050] The above-mentioned preset grouping conditions can be expressed in a combined form. For example, in one embodiment, beam management is performed on multiple relay devices simply by simultaneously satisfying two preset grouping conditions: that the relative positions are fixed, and that the beam management frequency difference is smaller than the preset frequency difference threshold.

[0051] There are multiple methods for acquiring the operation information of the relay device, including at least one of the following: the base station measures the positioning of the relay device and obtains the operation information of the relay device based on the positioning; the base station acquires the operation information directly from the relay device; the base station acquires the operation information of the relay device from a management server of the relay device; and the current base station acquires the operation information of the relay device from a second base station.

[0052] In one embodiment, the base station measures the positioning of the relay device and obtains operation information of the relay device from the positioning, where the operation information includes at least one of location information, moving speed, and relative positional relationship between the relay devices in the beam management group.

[0053] In one embodiment, the base station acquires operation information from the relay device. The operation information includes at least one of location information, a moving speed, and a determination result of relative position fixity of the relay device with respect to adjacent relay devices. Note that the determination result of relative position fixity of the relay device with respect to adjacent relay devices refers to whether the relative position of the relay device with respect to adjacent relay devices is fixed or not. That is, there are two possible determination results: one is that the relative position is fixed, and the other is that the relative position is not fixed.

[0054] In one embodiment, the base station acquires operation information of the relay device from the management server of the relay device, the operation information including at least one of a moving speed, an identifier of the relay device in the beam management group, a determination result of relative position fixity between the relay devices in the beam management group, a relative positional relationship between the relay devices in the beam management group, and beam configuration information of the relay devices in the beam management group.

[0055] The beam configuration information includes at least one of the horizontal emission angle of the emitted beam relative to the relay device, the vertical emission angle of the emitted beam relative to the relay device, the horizontal emission width of the emitted beam, the vertical emission width of the emitted beam, the distance between the relay device and the emitted beam coverage location, and the coverage area of the emitted beam coverage location.

[0056] In one embodiment, the current base station acquires operation information of the relay device from the second base station. The operation information includes at least one of a moving speed, an identifier of the relay device in the beam management group to be switched, and a relative positional relationship between the relay devices in the beam management group to be switched, where the beam management group to be switched is a beam management group corresponding to the base station to be switched. Note that when the relay device moves, it may be necessary to switch from the current base station to the second base station for beam management. Therefore, the operation information of the relay device can be acquired from the second base station, but the beam management group that the second base station intends to manage is the beam management group to be switched.

[0057] In some embodiments, the repeaters in the beam management group are divided into two types: one is a reference repeater and the other is a general repeater other than the reference repeater. Therefore, in the above embodiments, the relative positional relationship includes at least one of the following: the linear distance between the reference repeater and the general repeater; the linear distance between adjacent repeaters; the horizontal distance and altitude difference between the reference repeater and the general repeater; the horizontal distance and altitude difference between adjacent repeaters; the horizontal angle and vertical angle between the reference repeater and the general repeater; and the horizontal angle and vertical angle between adjacent repeaters.

[0058] Step S2000: Beam management is performed for the relay devices in each beam management group, with the group as a unit.

[0059] In one embodiment, the base station generates at least one beam management group signaling and transmits the beam management group signaling to the beam management group, thereby realizing beam management for the relay devices in the beam management group.

[0060] In one embodiment, when a base station needs to perform a management information update for a relay device in a beam management group, the beam management group signaling includes a beam management update message, which carries updated beam management group information, and the base station realizes the update of the beam management of the beam management group by sending the beam management update message to the beam management group.

[0061] In one embodiment, the base station configures a beam management codebook corresponding to each relay device in the beam management group, generates a beam management group signaling based on all the beam management codebooks, and finally transmits the beam management group signaling to all relay devices in the corresponding beam management group simultaneously. After receiving the corresponding beam management group signaling, each relay device analyzes its corresponding beam management codebook and performs beam configuration based on the beam management codebook.

[0062] In another embodiment, the base station configures a beam management codebook corresponding to each relay device in the beam management group, generates a beam management group signaling based on all the beam management codebooks, and finally sends the beam management group signaling to one relay device in the beam management group first, which may be a reference point relay device as the reference relay device, and the reference relay device further analyzes the beam management codebooks corresponding to itself and other general relay devices, and further sends the beam management codebooks of the general relay devices to the corresponding relay devices, so that all relay devices in the group can obtain the corresponding beam management codebooks and realize beam configuration.

[0063] In addition, when a base station configures a beam management codebook for all relay devices in a beam management group, the beam management group information includes at least one of a beam management group identifier, a base station identifier, a beam management codebook number of each relay device in the beam management group, a compressed encoding of the beam management codebook number of each relay device in the beam management group, an update order of the beam management codebook of each relay device in the beam management group, and an update time offset of the beam management codebook of each relay device in the beam management group.

[0064] In one embodiment, the base station configures a beam management codebook corresponding to a reference relay in a beam management group. At the same time, the base station obtains the relative positional relationship between the reference relay and a general relay, generates beam management group signaling based on the beam management codebook and the relative positional relationship between the reference relay and the general relay, and finally transmits the beam management group signaling to all relays in the corresponding beam management group simultaneously. The difference between this embodiment and the two previous embodiments is that in this embodiment, the base station configures only the beam management codebook for the reference relay, and simultaneously distributes the relative positional relationship between each general relay and the reference relay, so that the general relay derives its own beam management codebook based on the relative positional relationship and the beam management codebook of the reference relay. At the same time, after the general relay derives its own beam management codebook, it transmits the self-derived beam management codebook to the base station via device feedback information, allowing the base station to verify the accuracy of the beam management codebook generated by the general relay.

[0065] In addition, when a base station configures a beam management codebook for a reference relay device in a beam management group, the beam management group information includes at least one of the following: a beam management group identifier, a base station identifier, a beam management codebook number of the reference relay device in the beam management group, the relative positional relationship between the reference relay device and the general relay devices in the beam management group, the update order of the beam management codebooks of each general relay device in the beam management group, and the update time offset of the beam management codebook of each general relay device in the beam management group.

[0066] According to the beam management method of the embodiment of the present application, the efficiency of beam management for the reconfigurable intelligent surface of the base station can be improved, communication quality can be ensured, and user experience can be improved.

[0067] 3 is a flowchart of a beam management method in a base station switching scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the beam management method includes, but is not limited to, steps S2110 to S2120.

[0068] When one beam management group moves from the coverage range of one base station to the coverage range of another base station, the beam management group needs to be switched from one base station to another base station, and the beam management group information needs to be migrated between the two base stations.

[0069] In one embodiment, a preset base station switching trigger condition determines whether a base station switching needs to be performed, and determining whether a base station switching needs to be performed means determining whether a base station switching should be triggered, because the base station switching conditions may be different in different embodiments.

[0070] Step S2110: If the preset access node switching trigger condition is met, send beam management group information to the first access node.

[0071] In this embodiment, the first access node is the first base station.

[0072] In addition, the embodiments of the present application provide two types of base station switching trigger conditions: the first type is that at least one relay device in the beam management group meets the base station switching condition, and the second type is that the change in location information of the relay device in the beam management group meets the base station switching condition within a preset time window.

[0073] In one embodiment, when the preset base station switching trigger condition is met, the beam management group information is sent to the first base station, and the first base station is the base station that immediately takes over management of the beam management group.

[0074] The beam control group information includes at least the identifiers of the individual relay devices in the beam control group.

[0075] Step S2120: Receive beam management group acceptance feedback information sent from the first access node.

[0076] In one embodiment, the first base station determines whether the beam management group can be taken over and managed, performs a configuration update for the beam management group based on the takeover and management situation, and configures and carries the updated beam management group in the acceptance feedback information of the beam management group and transmits it to the current base station.

[0077] In one embodiment, after receiving the beam management group information, the first base station may make a judgment based on the beam management group status and the base station's own status, and then acquire, manage, and maintain the original beam management group, thereby generating information for acquiring, managing, and maintaining the beam management group, and using the information for acquiring, managing, and maintaining the current beam management group as acceptance feedback information for the beam management group, and further sending the acceptance feedback information for the beam management group to the current base station.

[0078] In one embodiment, after receiving the beam management group information, the first base station may make a judgment based on the beam management group status and the base station's own status, and then partially take over and manage the beam management group, thereby modifying and updating the member and management information in the beam management group, adding or deleting relay devices in the first beam management group to obtain updated relay device information, updating at least one of the first beam management group information to obtain updated first beam management group information, generating beam management group update information based on the updated relay device information and the updated first beam management group information, using the beam management group update information as beam management group acceptance feedback information, and finally transmitting the beam management group acceptance feedback information to the current base station.

[0079] In one embodiment, after receiving beam management group information, the first base station may make a judgment based on the beam management group status and the base station's own status, and then partially take over and manage the beam management group. However, some relay devices in the beam management group need to be assigned to other beam management groups. In this case, the first base station may generate second beam management group information for these reallocated relay devices, and send the second beam management group information as beam management group acceptance feedback information to these reallocated relay devices.

[0080] In one embodiment, the beam management group acceptance feedback information is carried in beam management group acquisition management signaling, and the first base station realizes the transmission of the beam management group acceptance feedback information by sending the beam management group acquisition management signaling to the current base station.

[0081] In addition, when a relay device in a beam management group receives beam management group takeover management signaling having a first base station identifier, it first leaves the beam management codebook distributed from the first base station as it is and does not update it, but updates it after at least one relay device successfully accesses the first base station.

[0082] In one embodiment, the current base station transmits beam management group acceptance feedback information to the relay device in the beam management group, so that the relay device can switch base stations based on the beam management group acceptance feedback information.

[0083] In one embodiment, the current base station further transmits to the first base station the outgoing beam configuration information of each repeater in the beam management group.

[0084] According to the beam management method of the present application, by adjusting the members in the beam management group and their beam configuration in real time, it is possible to migrate the beam management group between base stations, ensuring that the relay devices in the beam management group can switch smoothly between base stations, ensuring communication quality, and improving user experience.

[0085] 4 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4, the beam management method includes, but is not limited to, steps S800 and S900.

[0086] Step S800: Based on the preset grouping beam management conditions, it is determined whether or not to perform beam management for a plurality of relay devices in groups.

[0087] Step S900: If the preset grouping beam management conditions are met, enter the beam management mode in units of groups.

[0088] The preset grouping beam management conditions include at least one of the following: the beam management frequency required for at least one accessed relay device exceeds a first preset frequency threshold; the beam management codebook delivery delay required for at least one accessed relay device exceeds a preset time threshold; the number of accessed relay devices exceeds a first preset number threshold; the number of accessed first relay devices exceeds a second preset number threshold; the number of accessed second relay devices exceeds a third preset number threshold; the beam management group signaling overhead of the accessed relay device exceeds a preset overhead threshold; and the number of accessed third relay devices exceeds a fourth preset number threshold, wherein the first relay device is a relay device whose required beam management frequency exceeds the second preset frequency threshold, the second relay device is a relay device whose moving speed exceeds a preset speed threshold, and the third relay device is a relay device whose beam management correlation exceeds a preset correlation threshold.

[0089] In one embodiment, when the beam management frequency required by the accessed relay device exceeds the first preset frequency threshold, it indicates that the relay device has a high requirement for beam management frequency and cannot achieve the relay device's requirement for beam management frequency based on the method of performing beam management sequentially in the related art, in which case it is necessary to use a group-based beam management mode to ensure the quality of beam management.

[0090] In one embodiment, when the beam management codebook delivery delay required for the accessed relay device exceeds a preset time threshold, it indicates that the relay device's immediacy requirement for beam management codebook acquisition cannot be achieved based on the sequential beam management method in the related art, and in this case, it is necessary to use a group-based beam management mode to ensure the quality of beam management.

[0091] In one embodiment, when the number of accessed relay devices exceeds the first preset number threshold, it indicates that the current number of accessed relay devices is large and the relay device requirements for beam management frequency cannot be achieved based on the method of performing beam management sequentially in the related art. In this case, it is necessary to use a group-based beam management mode to ensure the quality of beam management.

[0092] In one embodiment, when the beam management frequency required for a certain number of relay devices exceeds a second preset frequency threshold and the number of these relay devices exceeds the second preset number threshold, it indicates that a considerable number of relay devices have high requirements for beam management frequency, and in this case, it is necessary to use a group-based beam management mode to ensure the quality of beam management.

[0093] In one embodiment, when the movement speed of a certain number of relay devices exceeds a preset speed threshold and the number of these relay devices exceeds a third preset number threshold, it indicates that a considerable number of relay devices are in a high-speed movement state, and in this case, it is necessary to use a group-based beam management mode to ensure the quality of beam management.

[0094] In one embodiment, if the overhead of beam management group signaling of the accessed relay device exceeds a preset overhead threshold, it indicates that the overhead is too large, resulting in high resource occupation, and it is necessary to reduce the overhead using a group-based beam management mode.

[0095] In one embodiment, when the beam management correlation of a certain number of relay devices exceeds a preset correlation threshold, it indicates that there is a large difference between the beam management codebooks of these relay devices and that it is not suitable to configure and manage these relay devices in the same beam management group.In this case, these relay devices may be divided into different groups based on the magnitude of the difference between their beam management codebooks and used for beam management.

[0096] In addition, the above-mentioned preset grouping beam management conditions can be expressed in the form of a combination. For example, in one embodiment, a relay device can enter a group-based beam management mode simply by simultaneously satisfying the dual conditions of the required beam management codebook delivery delay exceeding a preset time threshold and the beam management group signaling overhead exceeding a preset overhead threshold.

[0097] According to the beam management method of an embodiment of the present application, it is determined in advance whether or not the conditions for entering group-based beam management mode are met, and if so, beam management is performed on a group-by-group basis, thereby providing different beam management methods for different application scenarios or application requirements.

[0098] 5 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the beam management method includes, but is not limited to, steps S3000, S4000, and S5000.

[0099] Step S3000: Receive second beam management group information transmitted from a second access node.

[0100] In this embodiment, the second access node is the second base station.

[0101] In one embodiment, the second base station is a base station that performs beam management for a beam management group, the second beam management group information is management information for the beam management group, and the recipient of the second beam management group information is a base station that attempts to take over and manage the beam management group.

[0102] Step S4000: Based on the second beam management group information, a decision to accept the second beam management group is generated.

[0103] Step S5000: Send acceptance feedback information for the second beam management group to the second access node.

[0104] In one embodiment, a base station attempting to take over and manage a beam management group determines whether it can take over and manage the beam management group, performs a configuration update for the beam management group based on the takeover and management situation, and configures the updated beam management group into beam management group acceptance feedback information, carries it, and transmits it to the current base station.

[0105] In one embodiment, a base station that wishes to take over and manage a beam management group may receive beam management group information, and then make a judgment based on the beam management group status and the base station's own status, and then accept and maintain the original beam management group.To this end, information for accepting and maintaining the beam management group is generated, and the information for taking over and maintaining the current beam management group is used as beam management group acceptance feedback information, and the beam management group acceptance feedback information is sent to the current base station.

[0106] In one embodiment, a base station that wishes to take over management of a beam management group may receive beam management group information, and then make a judgment based on the beam management group status and the base station's own status, and then partially take over management of the beam management group, thereby modifying and updating the member and management information in the beam management group, adding or deleting relay devices in the second beam management group to obtain updated relay device information, updating at least one of the second beam management group information to obtain updated second beam management group information, generating beam management group update information based on the updated relay device information and the updated second beam management group information, and further using the beam management group update information as beam management group acceptance feedback information, and finally transmitting the beam management group acceptance feedback information to the current base station.

[0107] In one embodiment, a base station attempting to take over management of a beam management group may receive beam management group information and make a decision based on the beam management group status and its own status, and then partially take over management of the beam management group, but it may be necessary to assign some relay devices in the beam management group to another beam management group to form a third beam management group. In this case, the base station attempting to take over management of the beam management group may generate third beam management group information for these reallocated relay devices, and the third beam management group information may be transmitted as beam management group acceptance feedback information to these reallocated relay devices by the second base station.

[0108] In one embodiment, the beam management group acceptance feedback information is carried in beam management group signaling, and a base station that wishes to take over and manage a beam management group realizes transmission of the beam management group acceptance feedback information by sending beam management group signaling to the current base station.

[0109] 6 is a flowchart of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, the beam management method includes, but is not limited to, steps S6000, S7000, and S8000.

[0110] Step S6000: Receive a beam management group signaling sent from a second access node, and the beam management group signaling is used to perform beam management for a plurality of relay devices in the beam management group on a group basis.

[0111] In this embodiment, the second access node is the second base station.

[0112] In one embodiment, the relay device receives beam management group signaling transmitted from the second base station, and the beam management group signaling enables the second base station to perform beam management for multiple relay devices in the beam management group on a group-by-group basis.

[0113] Step S7000: Obtain a corresponding beam management codebook based on the beam management group signaling.

[0114] Step S8000: Perform beam configuration based on the beam management codebook.

[0115] In one embodiment, by analyzing the beam management group signaling, the relay device can obtain the beam management codebook corresponding to itself and perform beam configuration based on the beam management codebook.

[0116] In another embodiment, the relay devices in the beam management group are divided into a reference relay device and general relay devices other than the reference relay device, and only the reference relay device can directly obtain the beam management codebook corresponding to itself, and the beam management codebook is generated by the first base station, but the general relay device only generates the corresponding beam management codebook itself based on the beam management codebook corresponding to the received reference relay device and the relative positional relationship between the general relay device and the reference relay device, and performs beam configuration based on the beam management codebook.

[0117] In one embodiment, the general repeater may transmit the generated beam management codebook to the second base station, and the second base station may further verify the accuracy of the generated beam management codebook.

[0118] To further illustrate the beam management and beam construction methods according to the embodiments of the present application, the following examples will be used in detail.

[0119] Example 1: Example 1 provides a group creation process for a beam management group in a high-speed train scenario. In the following embodiments, a reconfigurable intelligent surface is selected as a relay device for illustrative purposes, but other relay devices such as intelligent relays can also be applied to the embodiments of the present application.

[0120] In related technology, as the train moves, the incident angle of the beam emitted from the base station to each reconfigurable intelligent surface changes in real time, preventing any offset in the coverage area and ensuring that the emitted beam of the reconfigurable intelligent surface always stably covers the terminals in the target area. In order to ensure this, the base station 210 needs to adjust in real time the beam relay configuration of each reconfigurable intelligent surface, which is the beam control codebook of the reflective unit array in the reconfigurable intelligent surface panel, based on the measurement results for the downlink channels of the terminals covered by each reconfigurable intelligent surface. High-speed trains can reach speeds of over 300 km / h (83 m / s). A single train of high-speed trains typically has a length of over 200 m and 10 or more carriages. Each carriage has 7-9 windows and 13-17 rows of seats on one side. Each window is equipped with a reconfigurable intelligent surface, covering two rows of seats. A single train of high-speed trains may have over 100 reconfigurable intelligent surfaces on one side, all within the service area of a single base station, with comprehensive beam management by a single base station. While 5G already supports high-frequency coverage to ensure high-traffic services, base stations typically use narrow high-frequency service beams to sequentially relay signals from each reconfigurable intelligent surface to cover the entire carriage. Sequential beam management for each reconfigurable intelligent surface results in a longer interval between beam management for each reconfigurable intelligent surface. This can lead to inefficient beam management, which can impact coverage performance and communication quality.

[0121] 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to achieve signal coverage in a high-speed train scenario according to an example of the present application. In an actual application scenario, a high-speed train will have multiple cars, and multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces will be installed on each car. However, in this example, only two cars and four reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are shown for illustrative purposes. The reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are used to refract the beams of the base stations and then provide signal coverage to user terminals in the cars.

[0122] As shown in FIG. 7, the direction of travel of the vehicle is indicated by the arrow, four reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 are arranged on the first vehicle, and four reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 225-228 are arranged on the second vehicle, and the base station 210 is responsible for managing the above eight reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.

[0123] 8 is a schematic flowchart of a beam management method according to an example of the present application, which includes at least steps C101 and S101 to S104.

[0124] Step C101: The base station determines whether to perform beam management on the reconfigurable intelligent surface in units of groups.

[0125] Whether to enter the beam management mode in units of groups is determined based on one or more of the following preset grouping beam management conditions, and the preset grouping beam management conditions are:

[0126] (1) the inability to meet the required beam management frequency for at least one reconfigurable intelligent surface;

[0127] (2) the update codebook delivery delay required for at least one reconfigurable intelligent surface exceeds a predetermined limit;

[0128] (3) the number of dynamically reconfigurable intelligent surfaces accessing the base station exceeds a predetermined limit;

[0129] (4) whether the number of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that require beam management frequency exceeds a predetermined limit;

[0130] (5) the number of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces requiring dynamic beam management due to a movement speed exceeding a predetermined limit;

[0131] (6) The signaling overhead of the reconfigurable intelligent surface beam management exceeds a predetermined limit;

[0132] (7) The number of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces whose beam management correlation exceeds a predetermined limit includes exceeding a predetermined limit, where the beam management correlation refers to the correlation of the reflective unit array codebook.

[0133] As can be appreciated, the above statistics can be based within a predetermined time window length.

[0134] In this example, when the number of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces of base station 210 that require management exceeds a predetermined limit, condition (3) is met, and therefore group-based beam management mode can be entered.

[0135] In other examples, the judgment may be made using only one of the conditions, or a combination of several conditions, such as a combination of (1) and (4) or a combination of (1) and (2), may be used.

[0136] Step S101: The base station screens the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that can be configured into a group to form a beam management group.

[0137] The screening conditions are one or more of the preset grouping conditions, and the preset grouping conditions are:

[0138] (1) The relative positions between the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces of the same group are fixed;

[0139] (2) The beam management frequencies required for the same group of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are equal or similar;

[0140] (3) The moving speed and moving direction of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the same group are the same;

[0141] (4) Regarding the limit on the number of group member reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, if there is a limit on the maximum or minimum number of group members that can be created in a group, the base station must ensure that the size of the group meets the limit.

[0142] Note that condition (1) can be a required selection condition, and the other conditions are optional selection conditions.

[0143] In this example, the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 of the first vehicle belong to the same vehicle and their relative positions are fixed, while the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 225-228 belong to the second vehicle and are not hard-connected to the first vehicle. If the track is not straight, there will be displacement between the vehicles, so the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 225-228 are not suitable for forming a beam management group together with the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224. The method in this example configures the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 into one beam management group A and the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 225-228 into one beam management group B, and so on for the other vehicles.

[0144] There are several ways for the base station to obtain operation information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface:

[0145] The first type is that the base station measures the positioning of the reconfigurable intelligent surface and obtains at least one of the location information, the movement speed of the RIS, and the relative positional relationship based on the positioning, and the accuracy of this method is determined by the accuracy of the positioning proposal.

[0146] The second type is obtained by the base station from the reconfigurable intelligent surface, and the obtained information includes at least one of the location information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, the moving speed of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, and whether the relative position of the reconfigurable intelligent surface to other adjacent reconfigurable intelligent surfaces is fixed. This method requires the reconfigurable intelligent surface to measure its own location information and moving speed by itself, for example, using technologies such as Beidou positioning and GPS positioning, and report the results to the base station.

[0147] The third type is obtained by the base station from a reconfigurable intelligent surface operation management background, where the obtained information includes at least one of a list of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that can be configured into a group, whether the relative positions of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the same group are fixed, the relative positions of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the same group, the movement speed of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, the output beam configuration of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the group, and the target area covered by the relay beam for managing the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. The output beam configuration of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the group further includes at least one of the horizontal output angle of the output beam relative to the reconfigurable intelligent surface panel, the vertical output angle of the output beam relative to the RIS panel, the horizontal output width of the output beam (measured in degrees), the vertical output width of the output beam (measured in degrees), the distance from the reconfigurable intelligent surface panel to the output beam coverage location, and the coverage area of the output beam coverage location. The coverage area of the output beam coverage location can be measured in terms of radius or diameter. In this method, network deployment personnel determine the policies and parameters of the beam management group based on data measured in advance during deployment of the reconfigurable intelligent surface construction, and configure them in the base station via background.

[0148] The fourth type is that the base station acquires from an adjacent base station, and the acquired information includes at least one of a list of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that can be configured into one group among the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to be switched, relative positions between the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that can be configured into one group among the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to be switched, and moving speeds of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. Note that if the adjacent base station has already established a beam management group of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, when the reconfigurable intelligent surface group moves from the adjacent base station, the parameters of the beam management group can be acquired from the adjacent base station as a reference.

[0149] The relative positional relationship includes at least one of the linear spacing between the general group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface, or the linear spacing between adjacent reconfigurable intelligent surfaces; the horizontal spacing and elevation difference between the general group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface, or the horizontal spacing and elevation difference between adjacent reconfigurable intelligent surfaces; the directional angle between the general group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface, or the directional angle (including the horizontal plane directional angle and the vertical plane directional angle) between adjacent reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.

[0150] Step S102: The base station distributes a beam management group creation message to the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the beam management group.

[0151] The base station sends a beam management group creation message to each reconfigurable intelligent surface in a group, and there may be two ways:

[0152] In the first method, the base station updates the beam management codebooks of all the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the group and distributes the beam management codebooks of all the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to each reconfigurable intelligent surface. Thus, the beam management group information includes at least one of a beam management group identifier and whether or not compression encoding of the beam management number is used.

[0153] As can be understood, existing compression encoding methods in the related art can be used, and the description thereof will be omitted in this application.

[0154] Second method: The base station updates only the beam management codebook of the reference point group member reconfigurable intelligent surface, and distributes the beam management codebook of the reference point group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the relative positional relationship between the reference point group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the general group member reconfigurable intelligent surface to each reconfigurable intelligent surface, so that the general group member reconfigurable intelligent surface derives its own codebook based on the above information. Thus, the beam management group information includes at least one of a beam management group identifier, a reference point RIS identity indication, a general group member RIS identity indication, and a relative positional relationship between each general group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the reference point group member reconfigurable intelligent surface.

[0155] In this example, assuming that the beam management codebook is configured using the second method, the base station 210 instructs the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 to be the reference point group member reconfigurable intelligent surface and the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222 to 224 to be the general group member reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222 to 224 need to derive their own codebooks based on the codebook of the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221.

[0156] Step S103: After receiving the beam management group creation message, the reconfigurable intelligent surface needs to continue to listen for whether there is a beam management group signaling corresponding to the beam management group identifier.

[0157] In this example, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 need to keep listening for beam management group signaling corresponding to beam management group A identifier, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 225-228 need to keep listening for beam management group signaling corresponding to beam management group B identifier. If base station 210 needs to modify the beam management group information of a reconfigurable intelligent surface, it can distribute an updated beam management group, and the reconfigurable intelligent surface will always listen for and receive beam management group signaling based on the latest received beam management group information.

[0158] Step S104: End.

[0159] Proceeding to step S104 indicates that the current situation is not suitable for entering the group-based beam management mode.

[0160] The beam management method of this example can improve the efficiency of beam management for the reconfigurable intelligent surface of the base station, ensure communication quality, and improve user experience.

[0161] The beam management method of this example can also be applied to other scenarios involving non-moving reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, such as placing reconfigurable intelligent surfaces or other wireless signal relay devices on the facade windows outside a building to relay external signals into the room and achieve indoor signal coverage. If reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are placed outside the windows of each room on each floor outside the building, the building may have hundreds of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in one direction, and the relative positions of these reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are fixed, making it suitable for grouped beam management. For example, the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces on one side of each floor can form a beam management group. The method for creating groups can be based on the example of a high-speed train.

[0162] Example 2: Example 2, based on the high-speed train scenario of Example 1, describes in detail the process of how a base station performs beam management for a reconfigurable intelligent surface in a beam management group.

[0163] 9 is a schematic flowchart of a beam management method according to an example of the present application, which includes at least steps S201 to S204.

[0164] Step S201: The base station decides to update the beam configuration of a group member reconfigurable intelligent surface in the beam management group A based on the channel measurement results reported from the reconfigurable intelligent surface, and the base station needs to simultaneously determine the beam configurations of other group member reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.

[0165] In this example, assume that reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 is the group member that needs to actively update its beam configuration, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 are the group members that need to passively update their beam configurations.

[0166] Step S202: The base station derives a new beam configuration for the other group member based on the relative positional relationship between the group member and the other group member and the new beam configuration for the group member.

[0167] In this example, the relative positional relationship between the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 and the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 needs to be obtained, and the base station first generates a beam management codebook for the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, and then derives the beam management codebooks for the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 based on the relative positional relationship.

[0168] Step S203: The base station broadcasts beam management group signaling for beam management group A.

[0169] The control link for delivering the signaling may use a wide beam that can simultaneously cover the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221 to 224, for example, a low-frequency carrier wide beam or a high-frequency carrier wide beam, thereby ensuring that the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221 to 224 can simultaneously receive the group beam management group signaling. The group beam management group signaling is the beam management codebook number of each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface of the group. If compression encoding is used for the beam management codebook numbers of all group member reconfigurable intelligent surfaces when creating a group, the beam management codebook numbers of all group member reconfigurable intelligent surfaces after compression can be used. The information may include one or more of: an identifier of a beam management group A that transmits the beam management codebook number; a base station identifier that explains which base station the beam management group signaling is generated by; an identifier that indicates when the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221 to 224 should update first and when they should update; if this item is not included, each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface can determine the update time itself, for example, a codebook update order of each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface that updates its codebook immediately after receiving the beam management group signaling; and a codebook update time offset of each group's reconfigurable intelligent surface that indicates the relative time when the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221 to 224 should update their codebooks.

[0170] In addition, the three pieces of information, namely, the base station identifier, the codebook update order of each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface, and the codebook update time offset of each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface, are optional pieces of information and may or may not be included in the group beam management group signaling.

[0171] Step S204: When the reconfigurable intelligent surface intercepts the beam management group signaling containing the identifier of the beam management group A, it decrypts the beam management codebook corresponding to itself and updates the codebook according to the instructions of the signaling.

[0172] Example 3: Example 3, based on the high-speed train scenario of Example 1, describes in detail the process of how a base station performs beam management for a reconfigurable intelligent surface in a beam management group.

[0173] 10 is a schematic flowchart of a beam management method according to an example of the present application, which includes at least steps S301 to S303.

[0174] Step S301: The base station determines to update the beam configuration of a reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface in a beam management group A based on the channel measurement results reported from the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface.

[0175] In this example, it is assumed that reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 is a reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 are general reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.

[0176] Step S302: The base station distributes beam management group signaling to beam management group A.

[0177] In this example, the control link for delivering the signaling can refer to Example 2, and the group beam management group signaling includes one or more of an identifier of beam management group A, a beam management codebook number of reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, a base station identifier describing which base station generates the beam management group signaling, the relative positional relationship between reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 and reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, the codebook update order of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224, and a reconfigurable intelligent surface 221-224 codebook update time offset, which is the relative time at which reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 instruct to update their codebooks.

[0178] In addition, the four pieces of information, namely, the base station identifier, the relative positional relationship between the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222 to 224 and the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, the codebook update order of each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface, and the codebook update time offset of each group member reconfigurable intelligent surface, are optional information and may or may not be included in the group beam management group signaling.

[0179] Step S303: When the reconfigurable intelligent surface in beam management group A intercepts the beam management group signaling, it decodes the beam management codebook number corresponding to the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface, and derives the beam configuration corresponding to itself based on the relative positional relationship between itself and the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface, and performs codebook update.

[0180] Example 4: Example 4, based on the high-speed train scenario of Example 1, details the process of a base station performing beam management during switching when a high-speed train is moving.

[0181] 11 is a schematic diagram of beam management during base station switching in a high-speed train scenario according to an example of the present application. As shown in the figure, the beam management process is shown in the process in which a beam management group consisting of a set of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces moves from a cell covered by base station 210 to a cell covered by base station 220 while the high-speed train is moving.

[0182] In this example, assuming that the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 of a high-speed train are arranged in the same car, and the base station 210 configures the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 into one beam management group A within the coverage area of the base station 210, when the train moves from the base station 210 to the edge of the coverage area of the base station 220, the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, which has previously measured the reference signal of the base station 220, will report a measurement report to the base station 210.

[0183] 12 is a flowchart of beam management during base station switching according to an example of the present application, which includes at least steps S401 to S415.

[0184] Step S401: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 reports a measurement report.

[0185] In this example, based on the train's running direction, the base station switching needs to be done first for the reconfigurable intelligent surface 22, so that it reports the measurement report.

[0186] Step S402: The base station 210 determines whether the switching condition is met, and if yes, the base station 210 further determines whether the remaining reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the beam management group A successively meet the switching condition.

[0187] In this example, base station 210 determines whether reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 meets the switching condition based on the measurement report of reconfigurable intelligent surface 221. If the switching condition is met, base station 210 further determines whether the remaining reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 in beam management group A meet the switching condition one after another. Based on the direction of the railway, the change trend of the beam incident angle of reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, the change in path loss of reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, or the positioning information of reconfigurable intelligent surface 221, base station 210 determines whether reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 meet the switching condition one after another together with reconfigurable intelligent surface 221.

[0188] Furthermore, based on changes in the position information of the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface or any one of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the beam management group A, the base station 210 can determine in advance in which time window the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224 in the beam management group A will switch. Since the direction of movement of the high-speed train is stable, the accuracy of this pre-determination is high. If the time window in which the switching occurs arrives quickly within a predetermined time, for example, one predetermined time threshold can be set to 0.5 s or 1 s, etc. If the base station 210 does not receive a measurement report from any of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224, it can start preparing the base station 220 in advance to switch the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222-224.

[0189] Step S403: Send beam management group switching preparation signaling.

[0190] In this example, if base station 210 determines that the switching conditions are met after the determination, base station 210 can send group switching preparation signaling to base station 220. The signaling carries group information of beam management group A, identifiers of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221-224 included in beam management group A, and output beam configurations of each reconfigurable intelligent surface in beam management group A.

[0191] Step S404: The base station 220 determines whether to accept the overall switching of the beam management group A, and whether to modify or reject to maintain the beam management group A.

[0192] Step S405: Switch response.

[0193] In this example, the base station 220 feeds back the determination result to the base station 210. The feedback information includes at least one or more of the following:

[0194] (1) Whether to accept the overall switching of the beam management group. If the overall switching is rejected, only the switching of the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 may be accepted, and the switching of the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 222 to 224 may be rejected by feedback to the base station 210. If the overall switching is accepted, switching signaling is fed back to the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221 to 224.

[0195] (2) Whether to accept and maintain the beam management group, i.e., whether to accept the group configuration of beam management group A; otherwise, base station 220 can feedback to base station 210 after modifying the group configuration of beam management group A, where the modification includes adding or deleting reconfigurable intelligent surfaces of group members, modifying one or more of the group information, for example, modifying the compression encoding configuration using beam management codebook number, or replacing the reference point reconfigurable intelligent surface.

[0196] (3) The base station 220 can also change a group member reconfigurable intelligent surface of the beam management group A to another beam management group, for example, the beam management group C, and the group information of the beam management group C is sent to the group member reconfigurable intelligent surface by the base station 210.

[0197] (4) Base station 220 can send beam management group signaling to beam management group A in advance.

[0198] Step S406: The base station 210 sends the information that the base station 220 has fed back to the beam management group A to the corresponding reconfigurable intelligent surface.

[0199] In this example, base station 210 transmits the information that base station 220 has fed back to beam management group A to the corresponding reconfigurable intelligent surface, and the reconfigurable intelligent surface leaves the reflective unit array codebook delivered from base station 220 as is without updating it.

[0200] Step S407: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 accesses the base station 220.

[0201] Step S408: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 updates its own reflector unit array codebook according to the received beam management group signaling of the base station 220.

[0202] In this example, once the reconfigurable intelligent surface 221 successfully accesses the base station 220, it updates its own reflector array codebook based on the beam management group signaling received from the base station 220.

[0203] Step S409: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 222 accesses the base station 220.

[0204] Step S410: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 222 updates its reflector array codebook according to the received beam management group signaling of the base station 220.

[0205] Step S411: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 223 accesses the base station 220.

[0206] Step S412: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 223 updates its reflecting unit array codebook according to the received beam management group signaling of the base station 220.

[0207] Step S413: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 224 accesses the base station 220.

[0208] Step S414: The reconfigurable intelligent surface 224 updates its reflector array codebook according to the received beam management group signaling of the base station 220.

[0209] Step S415: The reconfigurable intelligent surfaces 221 to 224 listen to the corresponding beam management group signaling based on the received beam management group signaling of the base station 220.

[0210] The beam management method of this example can ensure smooth switching of base stations, ensure communication quality, and improve user experience by adjusting the members in the beam management group and their beam configurations in real time.

[0211] Fig. 13 is a structural schematic diagram of an access node according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in Fig. 13, the access node includes a memory 1100 and a processor 1200. The number of memories 1100 and processors 1200 may be one or more. Fig. 13 shows one memory 1100 and one processor 1200 as an example. The memory 1100 and processor 1200 in the device can be connected via a bus or other methods. Fig. 13 shows a bus connection as an example.

[0212] The memory 1100 may store, as a computer-readable storage medium, software programs, computer-executable programs, and modules, such as program instructions / modules, corresponding to the resource determination method according to any one embodiment of the present application. The processor 1200 executes the software programs, instructions, and modules stored in the memory 1100 to implement the beam management method.

[0213] The memory 1100 may primarily include a program storage area capable of storing an operating system and at least one application program required for a function, and a data storage area. The memory 1100 may also include high-speed random access memory or non-volatile memory such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other non-volatile solid-state storage device. In some examples, the memory 1100 may further include memory located remotely from the processor 1200, and these remote memories may be connected to the computer device via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0214] FIG. 14 is a structural schematic diagram of a relay device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 14, the device includes a memory 1300 and a processor 1400. The number of memories 1300 and processors 1400 may be one or more. FIG. 14 shows an example of one memory 1300 and one processor 1400. The memory 1300 and processor 1400 in the device may be connected via a bus or other methods. FIG. 14 shows an example of connection via a bus.

[0215] The memory 1300 may store, as a computer-readable storage medium, software programs, computer-executable programs, and modules, such as program instructions / modules, corresponding to the resource determination method according to any one embodiment of the present application. The processor 1400 executes the software programs, instructions, and modules stored in the memory 1300 to implement the beam configuration method.

[0216] The memory 1300 may primarily include a program storage area capable of storing an operating system and at least one application program required for one or more functions, and a data storage area. The memory 1300 may also include high-speed random access memory or non-volatile memory such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other non-volatile solid-state storage device. In some examples, the memory 1300 may further include memory located remotely from the processor 1400, and these remote memories may be connected to the computer device via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0217] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions being used to perform a beam management method or a beam configuration method according to any one of the embodiments of the present application.

[0218] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, the computer program or computer instructions being stored in a computer-readable storage medium, wherein a processor of the computer device reads the computer program or computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer program or computer instructions, thereby causing the computer device to perform a beam management method or a beam configuration method according to any one of the embodiments of the present application.

[0219] According to the beam management method, beam configuration method, access node, relay device, and storage medium of the embodiments of the present application, the beam management method groups multiple relay devices based on preset grouping rules to form beam management groups, and performs beam management on the relay devices in each beam management group on a group-by-group basis, thereby improving the efficiency of beam management and ensuring communication quality.

[0220] The system architecture and application scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly explain the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can understand that with the evolution of system architecture and the emergence of new application scenarios, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to similar technical problems.

[0221] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or some of the steps of the methods, systems, and functional modules / units of the devices disclosed above can be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0222] In hardware embodiments, the division of functional modules / units referred to in the above description does not necessarily correspond to a division of physical components; for example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may be jointly performed by multiple physical components. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software running on a processor, such as a central processing unit, digital signal processor, or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application-specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed across computer-readable media, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). As known to those skilled in the art, computer storage media include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information (e.g., computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data). Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, storage device storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information and that can be accessed by a computer. Additionally, as known to those skilled in the art, communication media typically include computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier or other transport mechanism and may include any information delivery media.

[0223] As used herein, terms such as "component," "module," and "system" are intended to represent computer-related entities, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, a thread of execution, a program, or a computer. As illustrated, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device may be components. One or more components may reside in a process or thread of execution, and components may be located on one computer or distributed among two or more computers. These components may also execute from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. Components may communicate, for example, via local or remote processes, in response to signals comprising one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component across a local system, a distributed system, or a network, e.g., the Internet interacting with other systems via signals).

Claims

1. 1. A beam management method comprising: Grouping a plurality of relay devices to form at least one beam management group based on a preset grouping rule; A beam management method including a step of performing beam management on the relay devices in each of the beam management groups on a group basis.

2. The step of grouping a plurality of relay devices to form at least one beam management group based on a preset grouping rule includes: obtaining a preset grouping rule and operation information of a plurality of relay devices; determining the relay device corresponding to the operation information that satisfies the preset grouping rule as a target relay device; and determining the beam management group based on the target relay device.

3. The step of performing beam management on the relay devices in each of the beam management groups in units of groups includes: generating at least one beam management group signaling; The beam management method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of transmitting beam management group signaling corresponding to the beam management group and performing beam management for the relay devices in the beam management group.

4. The step of grouping a plurality of relay devices to form at least one beam management group includes: The beam management method of claim 1, further comprising a step of forming a beam management group based on a beam management group creation message by sending a beam management group creation message to a plurality of the relay devices, wherein the beam management group creation message carries beam management group information.

5. The beam management group information is Beam Management Group Identifier, Beam management codebook number transmission type, a reference repeater identifier; General repeating device identifier, The beam management method according to claim 4, wherein the beam management method includes at least one of the relative positional relationship between the reference repeater and the general repeater.

6. The step of generating at least one beam management group signaling comprises: constructing a beam management codebook corresponding to each of the repeaters in the beam management group; and generating at least one beam management group signaling based on all of the beam management codebooks.

7. The beam management group signaling includes: Beam Management Group Identifier, Access Node Identifier, beam management codebook number of each repeater in the beam management group; Compression coding of beam management codebook numbers of individual repeaters in a beam management group; the order of updating the beam management codebooks of the individual relay devices in the beam management group; 4. The beam management method of claim 3, including at least one of updating time offsets of the beam management codebooks of individual repeaters in the beam management group.

8. The step of generating at least one beam management group signaling comprises: constructing a beam management codebook corresponding to a reference repeater in the beam management group; acquiring a relative positional relationship between the reference repeater and a general repeater; The beam management method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of generating at least one beam management group signaling based on the beam management codebook and the relative positional relationship between the reference repeater and the general repeater.

9. The beam management group signaling includes: Beam Management Group Identifier, Access Node Identifier, the beam management codebook number of the reference repeater in the beam management group; the relative positions of the reference repeater and the general repeater in the beam management group; the order of updating the beam management codebooks of the individual general repeaters in the beam management group; The beam management method according to claim 3, further comprising at least one of updating time offsets of the beam management codebooks of the individual general repeaters in the beam management group.

10. The step of performing beam management on the relay devices in the beam management group on a group basis includes: receiving device feedback information of the general repeater in the beam management group, the device feedback information carrying a beam management codebook generated by the general repeater; The beam management method according to claim 8 , further comprising: verifying the generated beam management codebook based on the relay performance of the general repeater and the device feedback information.

11. sending beam management group information to the first access node when a preset access node switching trigger condition is met; The beam management method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving acceptance feedback information of the beam management group transmitted from the first access node.

12. The preset access node switching trigger condition is: At least one relay device in the beam management group satisfies an access node switching condition; The beam management method according to claim 11 , wherein the beam management method includes at least one of the following: a change in location information of a relay device in the beam management group satisfies an access node switching condition within a preset time window.

13. The beam management method according to claim 11 , wherein the beam management group information includes identifiers of the individual repeaters in the beam management group.

14. The beam management method according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of transmitting, to a first access node, output beam configuration information of each of the repeaters in the beam management group.

15. The beam management method of claim 11, further comprising the step of transmitting the acceptance feedback information to the relay devices in the beam management group so that the relay devices can perform access node switching based on the acceptance feedback information.

16. The preset grouping rules are: The relative positions of the accessed relay devices are fixed; the beam management frequency difference between the accessed repeaters is less than a preset frequency difference threshold; The moving speed and moving direction of the accessed relay devices are the same; The beam management method of claim 1 , comprising at least one of the following: the number of accessed relay devices is less than a preset beam management group member number threshold.

17. determining whether to perform beam management for the plurality of relay devices in groups based on preset grouping beam management conditions; The beam management method according to claim 1 , further comprising: entering a group-based beam management mode when the preset grouping beam management condition is satisfied.

18. The preset grouping beam management condition is: the required beam management frequency for at least one of the accessed repeaters exceeds a first preset frequency threshold; the beam management codebook distribution delay required for at least one of the accessed relay devices exceeds a preset time threshold; the number of accessed relay devices exceeds a first preset number threshold; the number of accessed first relay devices exceeds a second preset number threshold; the number of accessed second relay devices exceeds a third preset number threshold; the overhead of beam management group signaling of the accessed relay device exceeds a preset overhead threshold; the number of accessed third relay devices exceeds a fourth preset number threshold; The beam management method of claim 17, wherein the first relay device is a relay device whose required beam management frequency exceeds a second preset frequency threshold, the second relay device is a relay device whose moving speed exceeds a preset speed threshold, and the third relay device is a relay device whose beam management correlation exceeds a preset correlation threshold.

19. The step of acquiring operation information of a plurality of relay devices includes: determining a positioning of the relay device and obtaining the operational information based on the positioning; acquiring the operation information from the relay device; acquiring the operation information of the relay device from a management server of the relay device; The beam management method according to claim 2 , comprising at least one of obtaining the operational information of the relay device from an adjacent access node.

20. When measuring the positioning of the relay device and obtaining the operation information based on the positioning, the operation information is location information, movement speed, The beam management method according to claim 19, wherein the beam management method includes at least one of the relative positional relationships between repeaters in the beam management group.

21. When the operation information is acquired from the relay device, the operation information is location information, movement speed, The beam management method according to claim 19, wherein the beam management method includes at least one of the results of determining the relative position fixity of the repeater with respect to adjacent repeaters.

22. When the operation information of the relay device is acquired from the management server of the relay device, the operation information is movement speed, Identifier of the repeater in the beam management group; The result of determining the relative position fixity between repeaters in the beam management group; the relative positions of the repeaters in the beam management group; The beam management method according to claim 19, including at least one of beam configuration information of relay devices in a beam management group.

23. The beam configuration information is the horizontal exit angle of the exit beam relative to the relay device; the normal exit angle of the exit beam relative to the relay device; horizontal beam width, the vertical exit width of the exit beam, the spacing between the relay device and the output beam coverage location; 23. The beam management method of claim 22, including at least one of: a coverage area of an exit beam coverage location.

24. The beam management group includes at least one reference repeater and a general repeater other than the reference repeater, The relative positional relationship is the linear distance between the reference repeater and the general repeater; the linear spacing between adjacent repeaters; the horizontal spacing and altitude difference between the reference repeater and the general repeater; the horizontal spacing and altitude difference between adjacent repeaters; The horizontal and vertical angles between the reference repeater and the general repeater; The beam management method according to any one of claims 20, 22 and 23, wherein the beam management method includes at least one of an included angle in a horizontal plane and an included angle in a vertical plane between adjacent repeaters.

25. A beam construction method comprising: receiving beam management group signaling transmitted from a second access node, the beam management group signaling being used to perform beam management for a plurality of relay devices in a beam management group on a group basis; obtaining a corresponding beam management codebook based on the beam management group signaling; and performing beam configuration based on the beam management codebook.

26. The beam management group includes at least one reference repeater and a general repeater other than the reference repeater, and the beam management group signaling includes at least a beam management codebook corresponding to the reference repeater and a relative positional relationship between the general repeater and the reference repeater; The step of obtaining a corresponding beam management codebook based on the beam management group signaling includes: The beam configuration method according to claim 25, further comprising the step of generating a beam management codebook corresponding to a general repeater based on the relative positional relationship and a beam management codebook corresponding to the reference repeater.

27. The beam configuration method of claim 26, further comprising the step of transmitting a beam management codebook corresponding to the general repeater to the second access node, so that the second access node can verify the accuracy of the beam management codebook corresponding to the general repeater.

28. 1. A beam management method comprising: receiving second beam management group information transmitted from a second access node; A beam management method comprising the steps of generating a decision to accept the second beam management group based on the second beam management group information and sending acceptance feedback information for the second beam management group to the second access node.

29. The step of generating a decision to accept the second beam management group includes:

30. The beam management method of claim 28, including the step of accepting and maintaining the second beam management group.

30. generating a decision to accept a second beam management group and transmitting acceptance feedback information for the second beam management group to the second access node; adding or deleting a relay device in the second beam management group and obtaining updated relay device information; updating at least one of the second beam management group information to obtain updated second beam management group information; The beam management method of claim 28, further comprising a step of generating acceptance feedback information for the second beam management group based on the updated repeater device information and the updated second beam management group information.

31. generating a decision to accept a second beam management group and transmitting acceptance feedback information for the second beam management group to the second access node; The beam management method of claim 28, further comprising the steps of reassigning some of the relay devices in the second beam management group to a third beam management group, generating third beam management group information, and transmitting the third beam management group information to the second access node.

32. 30. The beam management method of claim 28, further comprising: transmitting second beam management group signaling for the second beam management group to the second access node.

33. The beam management method of claim 31 , further comprising: transmitting third beam management group signaling for the third beam management group to the second access node.

34. an access node, at least one processor; at least one memory for storing at least one program; An access node that performs the beam management method according to any one of claims 1 to 24, 28 to 33 when at least one of said programs is executed by at least one of said processors.

35. A relay device, at least one processor; at least one memory for storing at least one program; A relay device which, when at least one said program is executed by at least one said processor, performs the beam construction method according to any one of claims 25 to 27.

36. A computer-readable storage medium having a processor-executable program stored therein, the computer-readable storage medium being capable of executing the beam management method of any one of claims 1 to 24, 28 to 33 or the beam configuration method of any one of claims 25 to 27 when the processor-executable program is executed by a processor.

Images