First radio device, second radio device, radio communication method, and radio communication system

Abstract

The first radio device shall appropriately determine the direction of the second radio device. [Solution] A second wireless device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a receiving unit that receives three or more reference signals; a control unit that determines the relationship between a plurality of reference signals among the three or more reference signals based on the reception phase or reception timing, holds wireless resource information indicating the association between the relationship and wireless resources for feedback based on the relationship, and determines the wireless resources based on the relationship and the wireless resource information; and a transmitting unit that transmits the feedback using the wireless resources.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a first wireless device, a second wireless device, a wireless communication method, and a wireless communication system.

Background Art

[0002] In a wireless communication system such as the 5th generation mobile communication system New Radio (5G NR) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)), it has been studied that an access point (base station) specifies the direction of a terminal and controls the directivity for data transmission and reception (for example, Patent Document 1, Non-Patent Document 1, and Non-Patent Document 2).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Documents

[0004]

Non-Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] The problem lies in how the first wireless device (e.g., an access point) determines the direction of the second wireless device (e.g., a terminal) in order to control its directivity. If the first wireless device cannot properly determine the direction of the second wireless device, improvements in the system's communication throughput and frequency utilization efficiency may be suppressed.

[0006] Therefore, one of the objectives of this disclosure is to provide a first wireless device, a second wireless device, a wireless communication method, and a wireless communication system that can appropriately determine the direction from the first wireless device to the second wireless device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A second wireless device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a receiving unit that receives three or more reference signals; a control unit that determines the relationship between a plurality of reference signals among the three or more reference signals based on the reception phase or reception timing, holds wireless resource information indicating the association between the relationship and wireless resources for feedback based on the relationship, and determines the wireless resources based on the relationship and the wireless resource information; and a transmitting unit that transmits the feedback using the wireless resources. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to one aspect of this disclosure, the first wireless device can appropriately determine the direction of the second wireless device. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic functional configuration of each device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic hardware configuration of each device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the first wireless device according to Embodiment 1. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the second wireless device according to Embodiment 1. [Figure 6] Figure 6 shows an example of a configuration in which some of the antenna elements of a data transmission / reception antenna are used as a reference signal transmission antenna. [Figure 7] Figure 7 shows another example of a configuration in which some of the antenna elements of a data transmission / reception antenna are used as a reference signal transmission antenna. [Figure 8] Figure 8 shows an example of wireless resource information. [Figure 9] Figure 9 shows an example of the configuration of wireless resources in Embodiment 1. [Figure 10] Figure 10 shows an example of a reference signal sequence generator. [Figure 11] Figure 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a second wireless device according to Embodiment 2. [Figure 12] Figure 12 shows an example of the arrangement of three reference signal transmitting antennas. [Figure 13] Figure 13 shows an example of the relationship between the reception order of the reference signal and the location of the second radio device. [Figure 14] Figures 14A and 14B show an example of the distribution of phase difference or arrival time difference in Embodiment 4. [Figure 15] Figure 15 shows an example of the area where the second wireless device is located. [Figure 16] Figure 16 shows an example of the relationship between the phase difference or reception time difference of the reference signal and the region where the second radio device is located. [Figure 17] Figure 17 shows another example of the area where the second wireless device is located. [Figure 18] Figure 18 shows another example of the relationship between the phase difference or reception time difference of the reference signal and the region where the second radio device is located. [Figure 19] Figure 19 shows an example of the arrangement of four reference signal transmitting antennas. [Figure 20]Figure 20 shows an example of the azimuth and elevation angles of the second radio device with respect to the plane on which the first radio device antenna is positioned. [Figure 21] Figure 21 shows an example of wireless resource information in Embodiment 5. [Figure 22] Figure 22 shows an example of the configuration of wireless resources in Embodiment 5. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In this specification and in the drawings, elements that can be described similarly are denoted by the same reference numerals, so that redundant explanations can be omitted.

[0011] In this disclosure, text enclosed in parentheses () may indicate an explanation of the preceding text (e.g., a spelling explanation), a paraphrase, a specific example, or supplementary information. Similarly, text enclosed in square brackets ([]) may be interpreted as part of the overall meaning of the text, or as excluding (ignoring) the brackets. Note that parentheses () and square brackets ([]) may also be used for purposes / meanings other than those described above.

[0012] In this disclosure, "A / B" and "at least one of A and B" may be interpreted as mutually exclusive. In this disclosure, "A / B / C" may mean "at least one of A, B, and C".

[0013] In this disclosure, a Network Function (NF) may include, for example, at least one of the following: • Application Function (AF) (for example, a function that implements an application server outside the 5G Core Network (5GC)), • Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) (for example, a function to manage UE registration, location, etc.) • Data Network (DN) (for example, a function that enables data networks outside of 5GC), • Location Management Function (LMF) (for example, a function for controlling communication related to location information services) • Non-3GPP Inter-Working Function (N3IWF) (for example, the ability to connect untrusted non-3GPP access networks with 5GC), • Network Exposure Function (NEF) (for example, a function that provides an external application interface for the 5GC's NF service) • Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) (for example, a function to select a network slice) • Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) (for example, a function to analyze network data) • Maintenance, Administration and Maintenance (Management) (OAM) (for example, a function that provides means for maintenance and operation management) • Policy Control Function (PCF) (a function that controls, for example, the quality and policies of data transfer paths) • Session Management Function (SMF) (for example, a function for managing sessions) • Trusted Non-3GPP Gateway Function (TNGF) (for example, a function to connect a trusted non-3GPP access network with 5GC), • Trusted WLAN Interworking Function (TWIF) (for example, a function that connects a trusted non-3GPP access network to 5G for a non-5G compatible UE via a wireless local area network (LAN)), • Radio Access Network ((R)AN) (for example, the function of providing a wireless access network) • User Equipment (UE) (for example, the ability to access network services via a wireless interface), • Unified Data Management (UDM) (for example, a function to store / manage subscriber information, UE authentication information, etc.) • Unified Data Repository (UDR) (for example, a function that manages authentication / authorization based on subscriber information) • User Plane Function (UPF) (for example, a function that transmits user data packets).

[0014] It should be noted that these are merely examples, and it is understood that other non-fundamental features are also covered in this disclosure.

[0015] <System> Figure 1 shows an example of a schematic configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. System 1 includes User Equipment (UE) 10, Base Station (BS) 20, Network (NW) 30, etc. System 1 may also be called a [wireless / information] communication system.

[0016] System 1 is, for example, a system compliant with a 3GPP Technical Specification (TS). More specifically, for example, System 1 may be a system compliant with a TS for a 5th generation mobile communication system (5G) or New Radio (NR).

[0017] System 1 is not limited to this example and may include systems utilizing Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), xth generation mobile communication system (xG (where x is, for example, an integer or decimal)), New Radio (NR), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM®), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi®), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX®), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth®, and other wireless communication methods, as well as next-generation systems that are extended, modified, created, or defined based on these.

[0018] In other words, terms related to 5G in this disclosure can be interpreted as terms related to other technologies / systems. Furthermore, if such interpretations are made, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, for example, NF can be interpreted as having a similar function (or a device having a similar function) to the NF of 5G.

[0019] UE10 connects to NW30 via BS20. UE10 may also be called a terminal station and may be a mobile device (mobile communication terminal) such as a smartphone, tablet, or wearable device, or a fixed communication terminal. UE10 may be a device mounted on a moving object (e.g., a vehicle), the moving object itself, or a device included in the moving object (held by a person riding in the moving object).

[0020] UE10 may utilize (or be equipped with) a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) / Embedded SIM (eSIM) of an operator providing wireless communication services using NW30. Furthermore, UE10 may switch connections to different operators' NW30s by switching the Access Point Name (APN) configuration profile.

[0021] BS20 provides a Radio Access Network (RAN) to UE10. The area where wireless communication is possible within the Radio Access Network is also called a cell. BS20 may be, for example, a gNB or an en-gNB.

[0022] The gNB provides NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE and connects to the 5GC via the NG interface. The en-gNB provides NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE and operates as a secondary node in E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0023] Multiple BS20s may be connected to each other by wire (e.g., fiber optic) or by wireless (e.g., NR communication). A BS20 may be connected to an NW30 directly or via another BS20.

[0024] In System 1, UE10 receives wireless communication services using NW30. NW30 may be a cellular network to which UE10 can connect.

[0025] In this disclosure, cellular network may be interpreted as mobile network, wireless communication network, 5GC, Evolved Packet Core (EPC), [3GPP] access network, etc. In this disclosure, 5GC, network, physical network, and core network (CN) may be interpreted as mutually exclusive.

[0026] NW30 may include at least one of the above-mentioned NFs and provide the functionality of 3GPP communication services. Furthermore, NW30 may be connected to an external NW (for example, a data network outside of 5GC), and UE10 may communicate with devices included in that external NW.

[0027] System 1 may include either or both a terrestrial network and / or a non-terrestrial network (NTN). The NTN is, for example, a network for satellite communications.

[0028] If System 1 includes NTN, communication between UE10 and BS20 may be transmitted via one or more NTN devices. In this disclosure, NTN devices may be interpreted as, for example, geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), NTN payloads, NTN gateways, etc.

[0029] NTN (or System 1) may provide non-terrestrial NR access to UE10 via the NTN payload and NTN gateway. The radio link between the NTN payload and UE10 may be called a service link. The radio link between the NTN gateway and NTN payload may be called a feeder link.

[0030] In this disclosure, a satellite such as a GEO satellite may refer to a spacecraft orbiting the Earth that carries an NTN payload. The NTN payload may be a network node onboard the satellite that provides connectivity between a service link and a feeder link. The NTN gateway may be an earth station located on the Earth's surface that provides connectivity to the NTN payload using a feeder link.

[0031] The NTN payload may transparently forward the radio protocol received from UE10 (via the service link) to the NTN gateway (via the feeder link), or vice versa.

[0032] In this disclosure, BS20 may include at least one of the following: a BS (earth station (or ground station)) in a terrestrial network, a BS in NTN, or a BS (satellite station) located on (or within) one or more NTN devices. In this disclosure, BS and one or more NTN devices may be interpreted as interchangeable.

[0033] Multiple NTN devices may communicate directly with other NTN devices, for example, via an Inter-Satellite Link (ISL). The ISL may function as a satellite backhaul.

[0034] In System 1, the communication link going to (receiving) BS20 and going out of (transmitting) UE10 may be called the uplink (UL), and the communication link going out of (transmitting) BS20 and going to (receiving) UE10 may be called the downlink (DL).

[0035] In System 1, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based wireless access scheme may be used. For example, in DL / UL communication, cyclic prefix (CP)-OFDM, discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), etc. may be used.

[0036] Any device shown in Figure 1 may also be called a network node, node, server, [wired / wireless] communication device, information processing device, etc. Furthermore, the lines between devices in Figure 1 indicate logical connections and do not necessarily have to be physically connected directly (they may be connected indirectly via another device).

[0037] <Configuration of each device> Examples of the configurations of each device (e.g., UE10, BS20) according to the embodiments of this disclosure will be described.

[0038] <<Functional Configuration>> Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic functional configuration of each device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, UE10 includes a control unit 110, a communication unit 120, an input / output unit 130, and a storage unit 140.

[0039] Furthermore, other devices within BS20 and NW30 may have a similar functional configuration. For this reason, Figure 3 also shows a code for the functional block corresponding to each device, in which the largest digit of the code representing each device (for example, the largest digit "2" in "20" for BS20) is replaced with "1". The following explanation will focus on the functional blocks related to UE10, but it should be understood that the same explanation applies to other devices.

[0040] This example primarily shows the functional blocks of the characteristic parts of this embodiment, and each device may also have other functional blocks necessary for other processes. Furthermore, the configuration may omit some functional blocks.

[0041] The control unit 110 controls the UE 10 and provides various functions. For example, the control unit 110 may control communication with other devices via the communication unit 120. The control unit 110 may also acquire information necessary for processing based on information received via the communication unit 120. The control unit 110 may also be called a processing unit.

[0042] The communication unit 120 communicates (transmits / receives) with other devices via wired or wireless connections. The communication unit 120 may obtain information from the received signal and output it to the control unit 110, or it may convert information input from the control unit 110 into a signal and transmit it. The communication unit 120 may be configured as an integrated transmitting and receiving unit (a unit capable of both transmitting and receiving), or it may be composed of separate transmitting and receiving units.

[0043] The input / output unit 130 may include an input unit that accepts input from a human operator or acquires information by performing measurements (sensing) of the surrounding environment. The input unit may be connected to a predetermined device, storage medium, etc., and accept data input. The input unit may output the input results to, for example, the control unit 110.

[0044] Furthermore, the input / output unit 130 may include an output unit that outputs data, content, etc., in a format perceptible to humans. The output unit may include a display unit that displays images, an audio output unit that outputs sound, and the like.

[0045] Either the communication unit 120 or the input / output unit 130, or a combination thereof, may function as a sensing transmitter / receiver. Sensing performed via the communication unit 120 may be wireless sensing, while sensing performed via the input / output unit 130 may be non-wireless sensing. The sensing unit may be called a sensing unit, a measurement unit, or the like. For example, the measurement unit may acquire sensed data by performing sensing.

[0046] The memory unit 140 stores (holds) various information that the UE 10 uses for processing. The control unit 110 may instruct the memory unit 140 to read or write data.

[0047] <<Hardware Configuration>> Figure 3 shows an example of a schematic hardware configuration of each device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Each device comprises an antenna 910, a radio frequency (RF) circuit 920, a processor 930, a network interface 940, an input / output device 950, a memory 960, and a storage device 970.

[0048] For example, the control unit X10 (X=1, 2; the same applies hereafter) described above may be implemented by a processor 930. The communication unit X20 may be implemented by an antenna 910 / RF circuit 920 / network interface 940. The input / output unit X30 may be implemented by an input device / output device 950. The storage unit X40 may be implemented by a memory 960 / storage 970.

[0049] The hardware configuration of each device may include one or more of the elements shown in Figure 3, or it may be configured without some of the elements. For example, UE10 may not have a network interface 940.

[0050] Antenna 910 converts a signal into radio waves and radiates the radio waves into space. Antenna 910 also receives radio waves in space and converts the radio waves into signals. Multiple antennas 910 may be mounted, or they may include a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna, or they may include a single antenna for transmitting and receiving. Antenna 910 may include a directional antenna, or it may include multiple antenna elements.

[0051] The RF circuit 920 performs analog processing on the signals transmitted and received via the antenna 910. The RF circuit 920 may include filters (e.g., high-frequency filters, low-pass filters), amplifiers, modulators, frequency synthesizers, analog-to-digital conversion circuits, digital-to-analog conversion circuits, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) / Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing circuits, and the like.

[0052] The RF circuit 920 may perform amplification, filtering, and demodulation to a baseband signal on the received radio frequency band signal and output it to the processor 930. The RF circuit 920 may also perform modulation to a radio frequency band, filtering, and amplification on the baseband signal input from the processor 930 and transmit the radio frequency band signal via the transmitting and receiving antenna 910. The RF circuit 920 may also perform physical layer processing (for example, processing of lower-level functions of the physical layer), and may perform beamforming processing such as analog beamforming and digital beamforming.

[0053] The processor 930 may control the entire device. The processor 930 may read programs (program code), software (software modules), data, etc., from the storage 970 into the memory 960 and perform various processes according to these. For example, the processor 930 may execute and control an operating system (OS) program loaded into the memory 960.

[0054] The processor 930 may consist of a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, control units, arithmetic units, registers, etc. The processor 930 may also include a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU), and the like.

[0055] The processor 930 may perform digital processing of signals transmitted and received via the antenna 910 and the RF circuit 920. This digital processing may include processing at the physical layer (e.g., processing of higher-level functions of the physical layer), processing at layers above the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and processing such as modulation, demodulation, coding, decoding, and scrambling. The processor 930 also processes signals transmitted and received via the network interface 940.

[0056] The processor 930 may include multiple processors or it may be a single processor. The multiple processors may include a baseband processor that performs the digital processing and one or more processors that perform other processing (e.g., overall control).

[0057] The network interface 940 may be, for example, a network adapter, which is connected to an external network via a wired connection and performs signal transmission and reception.

[0058] The RF circuit 920, processor 930, and network interface 940 may be configured as an integrated unit. The RF circuit 920, processor 930, and network interface 940 may also be referred to as a network controller, network card, or communication module.

[0059] The input / output device 950 includes input devices that accept input from the outside or acquire information about the surrounding environment (e.g., keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, camera, sensor, etc.), output devices that perform output to the outside (e.g., display, speaker, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamp, etc.), and devices that integrate these (e.g., touch panel). A locator for acquiring location information (e.g., a receiver compatible with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) may also be included as a sensor.

[0060] Memory 960 is a computer-readable non-temporary recording medium that stores programs executed by the processor 930, parameters related to those programs, and various other information. Memory 960 may include at least one of Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), (Electrically EPROM (EEPROM)), Random Access Memory (RAM), and flash memory. All or part of memory 960 may be contained within the processor 930. Memory 960 may also be called registers, cache, main memory, etc.

[0061] Storage 970 is a computer-readable, non-temporary recording medium that stores various types of information. Storage 970 may include, for example, at least one of the following: flexible disks, floppy disks, magneto-optical disks (e.g., Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM)), digital multipurpose disks, Blu-ray® disks), removable disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., Solid State Drives (SSDs)). Storage 970 may also be called auxiliary storage.

[0062] Furthermore, each device, such as the processor 930 and the memory 960, may be connected by a bus for communicating information. A single bus may be used within the device, or different buses may be used between the devices.

[0063] Furthermore, BS20 may be separated into three elements: a Radio Unit (RU), a Distributed Unit (DU), and a Central Unit (CU). The RU implements RF processing and lower-level physical layer functions. The DU implements higher-level physical layer functions, MAC layer functions, and Radio Link Control (RLC) layer functions. The CU implements Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer functions.

[0064] In this disclosure, BS20 may include a single device that implements all the functions of RU, DU, and CU, or it may include multiple devices, each implementing some of the functions of RU, DU, and CU.

[0065] For example, BS20 may consist of a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) that relays UE10 and gNB, and the gNB itself. The RRU may include an NTN payload located on satellite and an NTN gateway located on the ground. Alternatively, BS20 may consist of a gNB located on satellite that communicates with UE10, and an NTN gateway located on the ground.

[0066] Furthermore, other devices in this disclosure may also be implemented by multiple devices located physically separately from each other. Conversely, multiple different devices in this disclosure (for example, two or more of UE10, BS20, NF server 30, and application server 40) may be implemented as a single device.

[0067] Furthermore, all or part of the devices described herein may mean logical devices implemented by virtual machines, containers, Docker, etc., or physical devices that operate such logical devices.

[0068] <Method for determining the location of a device> This embodiment relates to a first wireless device (e.g., an access point) that provides wireless access to a second wireless device (e.g., a terminal) using a directional antenna, and a second wireless device that connects to the first wireless device to send and receive data. The terminal may be a personal computer (PC), a mobile terminal, an Internet of Things (IoT) terminal, etc.

[0069] Cellular wireless communication systems, developed to enable voice calls while moving, regardless of the location of the telephone's telephone line connection, are now used not only for voice calls but also for a wide variety of services that utilize information and communication technology. Furthermore, their use is expanding beyond human access via handheld terminals to include the remote control of various sensors and industrial machinery in industrial fields.

[0070] Meanwhile, wireless LAN (Local Area Network), developed to easily connect personal computers to computer networks in offices and homes, is also used when accessing a wide variety of services that utilize information and communication technology. Therefore, although cellular wireless communication systems and wireless LANs differ in the geographical extent of communication and the contract types that enable communication, they are indistinguishable from services that utilize information and communication technology.

[0071] Regarding services utilizing information and communication technology, the initial services were implemented by sending and receiving short text messages, but they have expanded to include the transmission and reception of image, music, and video data. In particular, recent services have expanded to transmit higher-resolution, higher-quality video data and virtual reality environments, and the amount of data to be transmitted continues to increase. Furthermore, there is a growing demand for connecting a large number of devices at once.

[0072] Cellular wireless communication systems and wireless LANs have so far responded to the increasing volume of communication data by introducing technologies that increase the amount of data that can be transmitted per unit frequency bandwidth of radio waves, such as MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) communication channels that use high-order modulation schemes and a large number of antenna elements, and by increasing the frequency bandwidth used by the system.

[0073] Here, using higher-order modulation schemes requires high-precision signal processing, which increases the burden on the implementing hardware. Furthermore, the transmission power required for such modulation schemes increases more than the increase in the bit rate of the transmitted information, making the use of such modulation schemes undesirable from a power utilization efficiency standpoint. In addition, under certain propagation conditions, there is a limit to the amount of information that can be transmitted in a MIMO communication channel. Therefore, it is difficult to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted per unit frequency bandwidth of radio waves any further.

[0074] Therefore, increasing the amount of data transmitted requires increasing the frequency bandwidth used by the communication system. However, it is difficult to secure new frequency bands for cellular wireless communication systems and wireless LANs in the frequencies below approximately 6 GHz, where existing radio wave utilization systems such as broadcasting, satellite positioning and sensing, weather radar, police and fire department radio, aircraft and ship radio, and amateur radio are concentrated.

[0075] Therefore, the use of millimeter waves, which represent radio waves with frequencies generally between 10 GHz and 100 GHz, sub-terahertz waves exceeding 100 GHz, and terahertz waves ranging from 1 to 10 THz in cellular wireless communication systems and wireless LANs is being considered. The 3GPP (registered trademark) has created cellular wireless communication standards that mainly use millimeter waves in the 28 GHz band, and these are being put into practical use in some cases. The IEEE (registered trademark) has created technical standards such as the wireless LAN standards 802.11ad and 802.11ay, which use the 60 GHz band, and 802.15.3d, which uses the 300 GHz band for point-to-point communication. With these millimeter waves, sub-terahertz waves, and terahertz waves, a large block of bandwidth can be used at once. For example, the IEEE 802.11ad standard uses a basic bandwidth of 2.16 GHz, and allows the use of a bandwidth of 8.7 GHz by bundling four of these together, while the 802.15.3d standard allows the use of a bandwidth of 69 GHz by bundling up to 32 of these together. Such a wide bandwidth cannot be secured at frequencies below 6GHz.

[0076] According to Friis's transmission formula, the received power Pr at the receiving end when radio waves propagate in free space is given by the following equation (1):

number

[0077] λ, d, G r , G t , P tThese are the wavelength of the radio wave, the distance between the transmitting and receiving points, the directional gain of the receiving antenna, the directional gain of the transmitting antenna, and the transmitted power, respectively. Since the wavelength decreases inversely with frequency, the received power decreases inversely with the square of the frequency. In propagation paths that are not free space, such as indoors or on the street, it is statistically known that the received power may deviate from the square of the frequency, but the received power still weakens at a value close to the square of the frequency. Therefore, in communications using high frequencies, one or both of the transmitting and receiving wireless devices must use antennas with high directional gain to compensate for the decrease in received power. An antenna with directional gain is an antenna that concentrates and radiates radio waves in a specific direction, or strongly receives radio waves coming from a specific direction, while weakening the intensity of radio waves radiated or received in other directions, and is often called a beam antenna. Directivity in a specific direction is often called a beam. If the intensity of radio waves transmitted and received at an angle θ / 2° away from the center of the directivity is -3dB, or 1 / 2, compared to the center of the directivity, then θ is called the half-power angle, and there is roughly the following relationship between it and the antenna's directivity gain G: equation (2).

number

[0078] For example, the half-angle of a signal with a directional gain of 30 dB (G=1000) is approximately 6°. The higher the directional gain, the narrower the half-angle of a signal.

[0079] In cellular wireless communication systems and wireless LANs, terminal devices such as smartphones and laptops used by humans, as well as communication modules attached to various sensors and industrial machinery, connect to wireless base stations and access points according to predetermined standards, and communicate with the terminals of the communication partners or the computers that provide the applications and services they use through these connections. Hereinafter, wireless base stations in cellular wireless communication systems and access points in wireless LANs will be collectively referred to as "access points." Similarly, smartphones, laptops, and communication modules attached to various sensors and industrial machinery will be collectively referred to as "terminals."

[0080] Access points periodically transmit information that allows terminals to connect to them. Terminals then send connection request signals to the access point according to this information. After the access point receives the signal and performs connection procedures such as authentication, the access point and terminal become connected, and data can be sent and received.

[0081] During the connection process or the data transmission / reception phase after the connection process is completed, if the terminal's location or direction from the access point is specified, the access point can use a directional antenna to transmit data to the terminal, thereby increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (S / N) and enabling high-speed, low-error data communication. At the same time, the radio wave strength in directions other than the direction in which the terminal is located will be weakened, reducing interference to communications of other access points and terminals using the same radio frequency, and improving the quality of communication at those access points and terminals. When the access point receives a signal, using a directional antenna also increases the S / N of the received signal and reduces interference from communications of access points and terminals outside the directional range.

[0082] The access point transmits a discovery signal, directed towards various directions in which the terminal may be located, to allow the terminal to discover the access point. The terminal receives the signal most strongly when the discovery signal is transmitted from the access point toward the terminal, and thereby discovers the access point. The terminal then transmits a response signal to the access point at a predetermined position on the radio frame or at a position on the radio frame based on the information contained in the discovery signal. If the discovery signal contains information identifying the directionality used by the access point when transmitting the discovery signal, the response signal will contain that information, or the position on the radio frame in which the response signal is transmitted will be determined from the position on the radio frame in the discovery signal received by the terminal. In this way, the access point that receives the response signal can determine the directionality used by the terminal when transmitting the discovery signal, based on the information identifying the directionality used when transmitting the discovery signal, or based on the position on the radio frame in which the response signal was received, and can determine that the terminal is located in that direction.

[0083] For example, in the IEEE 802.11ad standard, an access point transmits an initiator sector sweep (ISS) signal at the beginning of a beacon transmission interval (BTI) called the Beacon header interval (BHI) in the beacon signal it transmits periodically. The ISS signal consists of multiple training signals, each containing information that identifies the directionality used when it is transmitted. When a terminal responds to a beacon signal transmitted by an access point, it is supposed to include information in its response signal that identifies the directionality contained in the training signal it received most strongly. The access point uses this information to identify the directionality used when the terminal transmitted the training signal it received most strongly, and determines that the terminal is located in that direction.

[0084] Furthermore, the cellular wireless communication standards defined by 3GPP specify multiple time positions in a wireless frame where an access point transmits a signal block called a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), and the access point is required to transmit the SSB using a different directivity at each time position. The terminal sends a request signal to the access point requesting connection at the location on the wireless frame where the SSB was received most strongly, or at a location on the wireless frame that corresponds to the Primary Broadcast channel (PBCH) in that SSB and any additional information received. The access point identifies the directivity used when the terminal transmitted the SSB that was received most strongly, based on the location on the wireless frame where the request signal was sent, and determines that the terminal is located in that direction.

[0085] The directivity used by an access point when transmitting a discovery signal may be broader than the access point's transmitter's ability to form, in order to ensure reception regardless of the terminal's location. Furthermore, since the response signal transmitted by the terminal in response to the discovery signal is expected to arrive from the same direction as the directivity used when the discovery signal was transmitted, the access point sets the receiver to a directivity equivalent to the directivity used when the discovery signal was transmitted at locations on the wireless frame where the terminal is likely to transmit a response signal in response to the transmitted discovery signal, in order to detect whether the terminal has transmitted a response signal.

[0086] Methods for an access point to determine the direction in which a terminal is located include one in which the access point transmits a discovery signal with directional properties directed towards various possible directions in which the terminal may be located, and the direction of the terminal is determined by the response signal transmitted by the terminal in response to one of these signals. Another method being considered is one in which the access point transmits reference signals from multiple antennas, and the terminal transmits the phase difference when it receives these signals to the access point as a feedback signal to determine the direction of the terminal.

[0087] In methods where an access point determines the direction of a terminal based on a response signal transmitted by the terminal in response to a discovery signal, or where an access point determines the direction of a terminal by transmitting the phase difference when the terminal receives a reference signal transmitted by the access point from multiple antennas as a feedback signal from the terminal to the access point, a signal is transmitted from the terminal to the access point in both cases.

[0088] In a method where a terminal that receives a discovery signal transmits a response signal to an access point, if the terminal's location is identified by the discovery signal, the terminal's location can be determined to be within the range of the directivity used when the discovery signal was transmitted, based on the information identifying the directivity included in the discovery signal and the identified position on the radio frame. However, this method cannot determine the terminal's location within a finer range than this. This causes problems when the discovery signal is transmitted with a directivity wider than the access point's transmitting unit's ability to form directivity. When performing data communication, it is desirable to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, reduce interference from the surroundings to achieve faster and lower error-rate communication, and to form sharper directivity to reduce interference to the surroundings, but the terminal's location that can be determined cannot be finer than the range of directivity used when the discovery signal was transmitted.

[0089] On the other hand, if an access point were to transmit reference signals from multiple antennas and the terminal received them, and then sent a feedback signal to the access point based on the phase difference, it would be possible to determine the terminal's position regardless of the range of directivity used when transmitting the discovery signal. However, before the access point receives the feedback signal, it has no prior information about the terminal's position, and the access point must be able to receive the feedback signal from the terminal regardless of its location. Consequently, the access point may not be able to set appropriate directivity in its receiving section when receiving the feedback signal, and there is a possibility that the feedback may not be of sufficient quality.

[0090] For example, in NTN, if the LEO altitude is 600 km and the beam half-power angle is 5°, the beam diameter on the ground will be approximately 50 km, and the total number of beams will be 1058. In the 3GPP specification, the number of periodically transmitted synchronization signals (beams) is limited, the total transmission power is limited, and sending synchronization signals (beacons) densely reduces the resources for communication data, so it is preferable to reduce the number of beams that transmit synchronization signals.

[0091] One possible approach is to use wide beams to reduce the number of beams used to transmit synchronization signals. However, this method only allows for the determination of the terminal's direction at the granularity of the wide beam. Furthermore, this method has several problems, including insufficient directional gain for communication (data), interference with surrounding communications, and susceptibility to interference from surrounding communications.

[0092] Therefore, the inventors have conceived a method for a first wireless device (e.g., an access point, base station, satellite station, or ground station) to determine the location of a second wireless device (e.g., a terminal or mobile device).

[0093] The first radio device may have at least three or more antennas that are not arranged on the same line. The first radio device may transmit three or more reference signals from each of the three or more antennas. Each reference signal may be a signal for identifying the corresponding antenna. The first radio device may transmit radio resource information (decision conditions) for the second radio device to determine radio resources for feedback (feedback signals). The radio resource information may include information for determining radio resources for feedback based on the phase / time difference of multiple reference signals received by the second radio device. The three or more antennas may be arranged in the same plane or at the vertices of a regular polygon. If the three or more antennas are four or more antennas, they may or may not be arranged in the same plane.

[0094] The second radio device receives three or more reference signals from three or more antennas, measures the relationship (difference / order) of multiple reception timings (phase / arrival time / propagation time) of multiple reference signals among the three or more reference signals, determines a radio resource according to the radio resource information and the measured relationship, and transmits a feedback signal to the first radio device at the determined radio resource.

[0095] The radio resource information may include information about a radio resource determined by the reference signal received at the most advanced phase (earliest time) and the reference signal received at the second most advanced phase (second earliest time). The second radio device may identify the reference signal received at the most advanced phase and the reference signal received at the second most advanced phase, and transmit a feedback signal to the first radio device for the radio resource determined by them.

[0096] The radio resource information may further include information about radio resources determined by the phase / time difference at the time of reception between the reference signal received at the most advanced phase (earliest time) and the reference signal received at the third most advanced phase (third earliest time). The second radio device may further determine the radio resource by the phase / time difference at the time of reception between the reference signal received at the most advanced phase and the reference signal received at the third most advanced phase, and transmit a feedback signal to the first radio device for the determined radio resource.

[0097] The radio resource information may include information on radio resources determined by the [radiation / arrival] directions (elevation angle and azimuth angle) of multiple reference signals. The second radio device may calculate the elevation angle and azimuth angle from the phase / time difference of the measured reference signals, determine the radio resources according to the calculated elevation angle and azimuth angle, and transmit a feedback signal to the first radio device at the determined radio resources.

[0098] According to one aspect of this disclosure, the first wireless device can determine the position of the second wireless device with finer precision than the range of directivity used when transmitting the discovery signal, based on the radio resource from which the second wireless device transmits a feedback signal. Furthermore, since the second wireless device can receive the feedback signal with high quality by setting appropriate directivity in the radio resource from which the feedback signal is transmitted, improvements in communication throughput and frequency utilization efficiency can be expected.

[0099] In this disclosure, the square root of x, sqrt(x), may be interpreted as mutually exclusive. ^ This can also be represented by placing a caret (^) above x, or it may be called an x-hat.

[0100] In this disclosure, phase [difference / sequence], arrival / reception time / timing [difference / sequence], delay / propagation time [difference], propagation distance [difference], and optical path [difference] may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, advanced phase / time, early reception, early arrival / reception time / timing, short delay / propagation time, and short propagation distance may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, "early," "with an advanced phase," and "at an early arrival time" may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, the earliest received reference signal, the reference signal received with the most advanced phase, and the reference signal received at the earliest arrival time may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, the second earliest received reference signal, the reference signal received with the second most advanced phase, and the reference signal received at the second earliest arrival time may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, the third earliest received reference signal, the reference signal received with the third latest phase, and the reference signal received at the third earliest arrival time may be interpreted as being interchangeable.

[0101] In this disclosure, phase, phase at carrier (RF) frequency, phase at intermediate frequency, and phase in baseband (complex symbol) may be interpreted as mutually exclusive.

[0102] In this disclosure, the terms "reference signal," "beacon," "pilot signal," "synchronization signal," "SSB," "synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block," "reference signal," and "channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)" may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, the terms "control data," "radio resource information," "decision conditions," "downlink control data," "control channel," "downlink control channel," "downlink shared channel," "PBCH," "system information," "MIB," and "SIB" may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, the terms "feedback," "feedback signal," "uplink control data," "control channel," "uplink control channel," and "physical random access channel (PRACH)" may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, the terms "communication data" and "shared channel" may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, data (downlink data / uplink data), control channel (downlink control channel / uplink control channel), shared channel (downlink shared channel / uplink shared channel), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and physical uplink shared channel (PUCCH) may be interpreted as mutually exclusive.

[0103] In this disclosure, radio resources / attributes and time / frequency / sequence resources may be interpreted as interchangeable. In this disclosure, the location / area (latitude / longitude), orientation (azimuth / elevation), and beam / reference signal (ID) for data transmission / reception of the second radio device may be interpreted as interchangeable. In this disclosure, multiple antennas, array antennas, panels, and planes on which multiple antennas are arranged may be interpreted as interchangeable. In this disclosure, directivity, beam, and half-power angle may be interpreted as interchangeable.

[0104] In this disclosure, the location / area / direction of the second wireless device / terminal may be associated with the wireless resource / attributes of the feedback signal.

[0105] <Example of operation> The following describes examples of the operation of each device / function according to the embodiments of this disclosure. The communication methods (wireless communication methods, control methods) described below may be applied to the system 1 described above.

[0106] In the following descriptions of this disclosure, reference numerals may be omitted. For example, UE in the following descriptions may mean UE10.

[0107] In the following description, each device / function may be interpreted as one or more functional blocks (e.g., control unit 110, communication unit 120) or hardware configuration (e.g., RF circuit 920, processor 930) within the device / function.

[0108] In the following description, the first radio device can be applied to an access point / satellite station / ground station / base station / BS20 in a cellular wireless communication system / NTN / wireless LAN, and these terms may be interchangeable. In the following description, the second radio device can be applied to a terminal / mobile device / UE10 in a cellular wireless communication system / NTN / wireless LAN, and these terms may be interchangeable.

[0109] <<Embodiment 1>> Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a first wireless device 20 according to Embodiment 1 of this disclosure. Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a second wireless device 10 according to Embodiment 1 of this disclosure.

[0110] As shown in Figure 4, the first radio device 20 is equipped with at least three reference signal transmitting antennas 350. The multiple reference signal transmitting antennas are arranged at different positions. It is desirable that not all of the reference signal transmitting antennas are arranged on the same line. If they are arranged on the same line, it may become impossible to determine the position of the second radio device or the direction of the second radio device as seen from the first radio device within a plane perpendicular to that line.

[0111] The first radio device 20 also includes one or more data signal transmitting and receiving antennas 450. The data signal transmitting and receiving antennas are used when transmitting and receiving data signals with the second radio device. The data signal transmitting and receiving antennas may be directional antennas that have directionality in the direction of the second radio device. If the first radio device transmits and receives data signals with its directionality directed towards the second radio device, the signal-to-noise ratio is improved, enabling faster transmission and reception of data signals. The data signal transmitting and receiving antennas may be array antennas whose directionality can be controlled. An array antenna is an antenna made up of many antenna elements arranged in a row, and by applying an appropriate phase shift to each antenna element, it transmits strong radio waves in a specific direction. Alternatively, by applying an appropriate phase shift to the signals received by each antenna element and combining them, it can strongly receive radio waves from a specific direction.

[0112] The directivity / beam (half-power angle) of the data signal transmitting / receiving antenna may be narrower than that of the reference signal transmitting antenna. The total / maximum number of beam candidates / IDs formed by the data signal transmitting / receiving antenna may be greater than the total / maximum number of beam candidates / IDs formed by the reference signal transmitting antenna. The beam formed by the data signal transmitting / receiving antenna [for transmitting and receiving data signals] may be called a narrow beam. The beam formed by the reference signal transmitting antenna [for transmitting reference signals] may be called a wide beam. The area / range covered by a wide beam may include areas / ranges covered by multiple narrow beams.

[0113] When the data signal transmission and reception antenna is composed of an array antenna, some of its antenna elements can be shared with the reference signal transmission antenna. In the example shown in Figure 6, each antenna element of the data transmission and reception antenna, which has four antenna elements arranged in a square, is shared as reference signal transmission antennas #1 to #4. In the example shown in Figure 7, four antenna elements from each of the nine antenna elements of the data transmission and reception antenna (a 9-element array antenna) are grouped together to form four reference signal transmission antennas #1 to #4. Each reference signal transmission antenna is a 4-element array antenna, and the center of the four elements (x in the figure) is the apparent position of each reference signal transmission antenna. When elements of the data transmission and reception antenna and elements of the reference signal transmission antenna are shared, the corresponding radio units 340 and 440 can also be shared.

[0114] As shown in Figure 4, the first wireless device 20 shows processing blocks related to the transmission of a reference signal and the transmission and reception of data signals. The first wireless device 20 also has other processing blocks and a power supply unit, but these are not directly necessary for explaining this embodiment and are therefore omitted from the illustration.

[0115] As shown in Figure 4, the first wireless device 20 includes, in addition to the reference signal transmitting antenna 350 and the data signal transmitting and receiving antenna 450, a wireless protocol control unit 310, a reference signal generation unit 320, a data transmission signal generation unit 420, a data reception signal processing unit 470, baseband signal generation units 330 and 430, a baseband signal processing unit 460, and wireless units 340 and 440. Processing blocks other than the wireless units 340 and 440 can be realized by hardware such as a processor 930 (e.g., CPU) and memory 960, and software that performs the calculation processing described below.

[0116] The wireless protocol control unit 310 is configured to instruct the reference signal generation unit 320 to generate a reference signal at the timing of transmission when it decides to transmit a reference signal. Multiple reference signals may be transmitted simultaneously at the same frequency, or they may be transmitted with predetermined frequency differences and time differences. In other words, multiple reference signals may be code division multiplex (CDM), frequency division multiplex (FDM), or time division multiplex (TDM). The wireless protocol control unit 310 is also configured to send communication data (shared channel) and control data (control channel) to the second wireless device at the timing of transmission of these data, and to instruct the data transmission signal generation unit 420 to generate signals for transmitting the communication data and control data.

[0117] The second radio device determines the radio resources to use when transmitting a feedback signal to the first radio device, based on the phase difference upon receiving the reference signal. The control data transmitted by the first radio device may include radio resource information for the second radio device to determine the radio resources based on the phase difference. The radio resource information may be defined in the specifications. Figure 8 is a table representing an example of radio resource information, and the contents of such a table may be used as control data. The radio resource information in Figure 8 shows the association between the reference signal received earliest (at the most advanced phase), the second earliest (at the second most advanced phase), and the radio resources for the feedback signal. The radio resource information (control data) may be transmitted from the first radio device, defined in the specifications, or held in the second radio device.

[0118] As shown in the example in Figure 9, the first radio device may transmit at least one of multiple reference signals and downlink control data in a resource for reference signals and downlink control data, and the second radio device may receive at least one of multiple reference signals and downlink control data in that resource. Downlink control data may also be control data (radio resource information). The first radio device may transmit downlink communication data in a resource for downlink communication data, and the second radio device may receive downlink communication data in that resource. The second radio device may transmit uplink control data in a resource for uplink control data, and the first radio device may receive multiple uplink control data in that resource. The second radio device may transmit uplink communication data in a resource for uplink communication data, and the first radio device may receive multiple uplink communication data in that resource. As shown in the example in Figure 9, the resource for uplink control data may include multiple candidate radio resources for feedback signals. The second radio device may select the radio resources corresponding to the reference signal received earliest and the second earliest from among the multiple candidates, and use those radio resources to transmit feedback signals. The feedback signal may be transmitted by PUCCH, PUSCH, or PRACH. The radio resource for the feedback signal may be a PUCCH resource, a PUSCH resource [allocated / UL granted], or a PRACH occasion (PRACH resource).

[0119] A second radio device that receives and holds the contents of the table shown in Figure 8 as control data can identify the reference signal received at the most advanced phase and the reference signal received at the second most advanced phase, and then determine the radio resource corresponding to the identified pair of reference signals among the resources for uplink control data in the radio frame shown in Figure 9 as the [selected] radio resource. The radio resource information is not limited to the table in Figure 8; for example, it could be a table (association, list) showing radio resources that further take into account the difference between the phase at which the earliest (most advanced) received reference signal was received and the phase at which the third earliest (third most advanced) received reference signal was received.

[0120] The wireless protocol control unit 310 is further configured to receive communication data and control data transmitted by the second wireless device from the data reception signal processing unit 470, analyze their contents, and send the communication data to an external location (or a higher layer of the device) or to reflect the control data in subsequent wireless protocol processing. The operation of reflecting the control data in subsequent wireless protocol processing includes controlling the directivity of the directional antenna (data signal transmission and reception antenna) used when transmitting and receiving communication data and control data with the second wireless device, according to the wireless resource that has received a feedback signal from the second wireless device.

[0121] The reference signal generation unit 320 is configured to generate a data sequence defined as a reference signal (hereinafter also referred to as the "reference signal sequence") at the timing instructed by the wireless protocol control unit 310, and to send the generated reference signal sequence to the baseband signal generation unit. Figure 10 shows an example of a generator that generates a reference signal sequence. According to the generator in Figure 10, a Gold sequence is generated by two M sequences that are generated according to the generation polynomials of equations (3) and (4) below.

number

number

[0122] By configuring the reference signal generation unit to use a common initial value #1 for reference signals corresponding to all reference signal transmitting antennas, and to assign different initial values ​​#2 to reference signals corresponding to different reference signal transmitting antennas, reference signals following different reference signal sequences can be transmitted from different reference signal transmitting antennas. Reference signal sequences can include the Gold sequence generated by the generator shown in Figure 10, as well as sequences with low cross-correlation, such as the Walsh-Hadamard sequence and the Zadoff-Chu sequence (low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) sequence). The Walsh-Hadamard sequence is an example of a sequence with zero cross-correlation. While the Gold and Walsh-Hadamard sequences generated by the generator shown in Figure 10 consist of binary values ​​of "1" or "-1", sequences like the Zadoff-Chu sequence can also be represented by complex numbers. Low cross-correlation between multiple reference signal sequences transmitted from multiple reference signal transmitting antennas allows for CDM (Continuous Data Manipulation), improving resource utilization efficiency. Among multiple reference signal sequences, at least one of the generator's initial value, the sequence group number, the sequence number, and the initial cyclic shift index may differ.

[0123] The data transmission signal generation unit 420 is configured to generate a signal (hereinafter also referred to as the "data transmission signal sequence") for transmitting communication data and control data received from the wireless protocol control unit 310 at a timing instructed by the wireless protocol control unit 310, and send it to the baseband signal generation unit 430.

[0124] The baseband signal generation unit 330 is configured to generate a continuous baseband signal that represents the amplitude and phase of the reference signal or data transmission signal transmitted from each reference signal transmitting antenna 350 or data signal transmitting antenna 450, corresponding to the reference signal sequence received from the reference signal generation unit 320 or the data transmission signal sequence received from the data transmission signal generation unit. The reference signal transmitting antenna 350 and the data signal transmitting antenna 450 may be antennas 910.

[0125] The radio units 340 and 440 are configured to receive a continuous baseband signal from the baseband signal generation units 330 and 430, generate radio frequency signals with corresponding amplitude and phase, and supply them to the antennas (reference signal transmitting antenna 350 and data signal transmitting / receiving antenna 450). The radio unit 440 is also configured to generate a baseband signal corresponding to the amplitude and phase of the radio signal received by the data signal transmitting / receiving antenna 450 and send it to the baseband signal processing unit 460. The radio units 340 and 440 may also be RF circuits 920.

[0126] The baseband signal processing unit 460 is configured to obtain a sequence (hereinafter also referred to as the "data reception signal sequence") containing communication data and control data from the baseband signal corresponding to the radio frequency signal received by the data signal transmission / reception antenna 450, and send it to the data reception signal processing unit 470.

[0127] The data reception signal processing unit 470 is configured to extract communication data and control data from the data reception signal sequence obtained from the baseband signal processing unit 460 and send them to the radio protocol control unit 310. The data reception signal processing unit 470 may also be configured to send to the radio protocol control unit 310 information regarding the position on the radio frame that contained the communication data and control data.

[0128] FIG. 5 shows processing blocks for the second wireless device 10 to receive reference signals transmitted from each of a plurality of reference signal transmission antennas 350 of the first wireless device 20, measure the phase differences thereof, and determine and transmit a radio resource for transmitting a feedback signal to the first wireless device 20 based on the measured phase differences. The second wireless device 10 has other processing blocks, a power supply unit, etc., but illustration thereof is omitted in the description of this embodiment because it is not directly necessary.

[0129] Among the respective processing blocks included in the second wireless device 10 shown in FIG. 5, the processing to be performed by the baseband signal generation unit 630, the data transmission signal generation unit 620, and the radio unit 540 is substantially the same as that of the processing blocks of the same name in the first wireless device 20. Also, similar to the first wireless device 20, the processing blocks other than the radio unit 540 can be implemented by hardware such as a processor 930 (e.g., a CPU) and a memory 960, and software that performs respective arithmetic processes.

[0130] The baseband signal processing unit 560 included in the second wireless device is configured to generate a received signal sequence corresponding to a reference signal sequence from a baseband signal corresponding to the amplitude and phase of the received radio signal and send it to the reference signal extraction unit 570. The received signal sequence corresponding to the reference signal sequence is obtained by multiplying each reference signal sequence corresponding to each reference signal by A k (n), and is represented by the following mathematical formula (5). [Equation]

[0131] z k (n) is a component of other signals and a noise component that were transmitted at the same time and the same frequency as the reference signal. α k , θ k are the amplitude component and the phase component of the transfer coefficient in the path from the output of the baseband signal generation unit of the first wireless device to the baseband signal processing unit of the second wireless device. If the first wireless device and the second wireless device are properly calibrated, α k = 1, θk θ can be considered as the phase component of the propagation path constant from the reference signal transmitting antenna of the first radio device to the receiving antenna of the second radio device. k L is the propagation path length from the k-th reference signal transmitting antenna of the first radio device to the receiving antenna of the second radio device. k If the wavelength of the radio wave is λ, then the following equation (6) is obtained.

number

[0132] mod (L k ,λ) is L k From L k This operation involves subtracting the largest integer multiple of λ that does not exceed [a certain value].

[0133] The baseband signal processing unit 560 of the second radio device is also configured to obtain a sequence containing control data from the baseband signal (hereinafter also referred to as the "data reception signal sequence") and send it to the data reception signal processing unit 670.

[0134] The data reception signal processing unit 670 of the second radio device is configured to extract control data from the data reception signal sequence obtained from the baseband signal processing unit and send it to the radio protocol control unit 510.

[0135] The reference signal extraction unit 570 of the second wireless device receives the reference signal sequence r corresponding to the reference signal sequence sent from the baseband signal processing unit 560. k (n) is configured to extract the components of the reference signal and send them to the phase difference measurement unit. The component R of the reference signal k The operation to extract is as follows: equation (7) is the r of equation (5) k This can be done by summing the products of (n) and the complex conjugate of the reference signal sequence.

number

[0136] Here, N is the sequence length of the reference signal sequence. k (n) The components and noise components of other signals transmitted at the same time and frequency as the said reference signal, including other reference signals transmitted simultaneously by a different reference signal sequence, are A k Since the correlation with (n) is considered to be low or nonexistent, Z in equation (7) k is, e jθk This number is significantly smaller than 1, which is the magnitude of the signal. If the reference signal is not transmitted, equation (7) becomes Z k Only R k This will be a number significantly smaller than 1.

[0137] The phase difference measurement unit 580 of the second wireless device is configured to detect the phase difference between each reference signal and send the result to the wireless protocol control unit 510. Specifically, the phase difference measurement unit 580 receives the components R1...R of each reference signal from the reference signal extraction unit 570. K The system receives the data, calculates the phase difference between each of them, which is expressed by the following formula (8), and sends it to the wireless protocol control unit 510.

number

[0138] The phase difference measurement unit 580 is R k , R m The system may be configured to detect if the magnitude of at least one of the two is small and to inform the wireless protocol control unit 510 that the phase difference cannot be calculated.

[0139] The wireless protocol control unit 510 of the second wireless device is configured to hold wireless resource information within the control data when it receives control data from the data reception signal processing unit. The wireless resource information is information used to determine which wireless resource to use when transmitting a feedback signal based on the phase difference at the time of receiving the reference signal. The wireless protocol control unit 510 is also configured to determine which wireless resource to use to transmit a feedback signal to the first wireless device based on the phase difference information between each reference signal sent from the phase difference measurement unit 580. This determination is made based on the held wireless resource information used to determine which wireless resource to use based on the phase difference at the time of receiving the reference signal. For example, if the table shown in Figure 8 is held as wireless resource information, the wireless protocol control unit 510 identifies the reference signal received earliest (at the most advanced phase) and the reference signal received second earliest (at the second most advanced phase), selects a wireless resource based on the wireless resource information, and determines it to be the wireless resource to use to transmit a feedback signal to the first wireless device.

[0140] The wireless protocol control unit 510 of the second wireless device is also configured to send an instruction to the data transmission signal generation unit 620 to generate a feedback signal at the timing corresponding to the determined wireless resource, thereby transmitting the feedback signal to the first wireless device using the determined wireless resource.

[0141] Since the following embodiments can be adapted from some of the configurations and operations of Embodiment 1, the differences from Embodiment 1 will be described primarily.

[0142] <<Embodiment 2>> Embodiment 2 uses a first radio device having a similar functional configuration to Embodiment 1, but may be applied when the distance between the multiple reference signal transmitting antennas that transmit the reference signal is equal to or greater than the distance over which radio waves propagate within the duration of one symbol in the reference signal sequence. For example, if the distance between the multiple antennas that transmit the reference signal is d and the wavelength of the carrier wave of the reference signal is λ, then Embodiment 2 may be applied when d > 100λ.

[0143] Figure 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a second wireless device according to Embodiment 2 of this disclosure. It includes an arrival time measuring unit 581 instead of the phase difference measuring unit 580 in the second wireless device of Embodiment 1.

[0144] The reference signal extraction unit 570 in the second wireless device of Embodiment 2 receives the reference signal sequence r corresponding to the reference signal sequence sent from the baseband signal processing unit. k (n) is configured to extract components of the reference signal and send them to the arrival time measurement unit. The received signal sequence r sent from the baseband signal processing unit to the reference signal extraction unit k (n) is expressed by the following formula (9).

number

[0145] ν k This is the propagation time from the reference signal transmitting antenna of the first radio device to the receiving antenna of the second radio device, normalized by the duration of one symbol in the reference signal sequence. Note that the above equation (5) assumes d << 100λ, and in equation (9) ν k This corresponds to the equation where ≈ 0. The calculation for extracting the components of the reference signal in the reference signal extraction unit 570 is as follows: equation (10), r k The sum of products of (n) and the complex conjugate of the reference signal sequence is r k Perform this for each symbol shift of (n).

number

[0146] Here, τ is the symbol shift amount of the received signal sequence. τ = ν k The autocorrelation of the reference signal sequence for symbol shifts other than A is small, and A k(n) The components and noise components of other signals transmitted at the same time and frequency as the said reference signal, including other reference signals transmitted simultaneously by a different reference signal sequence, are A in any symbol shift. k Considering that the correlation with (n) is considered to be low or nonexistent, the R in equation (10) k (τ) is τ = ν k The largest value occurs at this time, and for all other τ, R k The magnitude of (τ) will be a value less than 1.

[0147] The arrival time measuring unit 581 of the second wireless device in Embodiment 2 uses the R calculated by the reference signal extraction unit 570. k The value of (τ) is maximized by τ = τ k The system is configured to determine the arrival time of the reference signal, use that as the arrival time of the reference signal, and send information about the difference in arrival times of each reference signal to the wireless protocol control unit 510.

[0148] The wireless protocol control unit 510 in the second wireless device in Embodiment 2 is configured to hold wireless resource information, determine which wireless resources to transmit a feedback signal to the first wireless device based on the held wireless resource information and information on the difference in arrival times between each reference signal sent from the arrival time measurement unit, and send an instruction to the data transmission signal generation unit 620 to generate a feedback signal at the timing corresponding to the determined wireless resource.

[0149] <<Embodiment 3>> As shown in Figure 12, in the first radio device according to Embodiment 3, three [reference signal transmission] antennas #1 to #3 are arranged at (0,1 / sqrt(3)), (1 / 2,-sqrt(3) / 2), and (-1 / 2,-sqrt(3) / 2) respectively on a wall surface whose position is represented by coordinates (x,y), and the first radio device simultaneously transmits a reference signal from antennas #1 to #3. These positions correspond to the vertices of an equilateral triangle with side length 1, but they do not necessarily have to be the vertices of an equilateral triangle; they may be three points that are not on the same straight line. When the second radio device (terminal) is located on a surface opposite the wall surface (for example, the ground surface), region A is the region where the propagation distance from antenna #1 is shortest, and when the second radio device is in this region, it receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 earliest, or at the most advanced phase. Furthermore, when the second radio device is in region A1 within region A, it receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 in the second earliest or leading phase after the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1. When the second radio device is in region A2 within region A, it receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #3 in the second earliest or leading phase after the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1. By determining which reference signal it receives in the earliest or leading phase and which reference signal it receives in the second earliest or leading phase, the second radio device can identify which of the six regions A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 shown in Figure 13 it is located in.

[0150] Therefore, if the first radio device is configured to transmit control data including radio resource information as shown in Figure 8, or if the radio resource information is defined in the specifications and the second radio device is configured to determine a radio resource for feedback to the first radio device based on the radio resource information and the phase difference or arrival time difference when receiving a reference signal, and to provide feedback to the first radio device using the determined radio resource, then the first radio device can determine the location of the second radio device through this feedback and control the directivity of the directional antenna (data signal transmission and reception antenna) used when sending and receiving communication data and control data with the second radio device.

[0151] <<Embodiment 4>> In Embodiment 4, in Embodiments 1 to 3, the radio resource information included in the control data transmitted by the first radio device to the second radio device is information for determining radio resources based on the arrival time difference or phase difference between the reference signal received at the earliest or latest phase and the reference signal received at the third earliest or latest phase. The radio protocol control unit 510 of the second radio device is further configured to determine the radio resources to provide feedback to the first radio device based on the radio resource information, also based on the phase difference or arrival time difference between the reference signal received at the earliest or latest phase and the reference signal received at the third earliest or latest phase, and to provide feedback to the first radio device using the determined radio resources.

[0152] Figure 14A shows the distribution of phase difference or arrival time difference when the second radio device in region A shown in Figure 12 and region A1 shown in Figure 13 of Embodiment 3 receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #3 of the first radio device. Similarly, Figure 14B shows the distribution of phase difference or arrival time difference when the second radio device in region A shown in Figure 12 and region A2 shown in Figure 13 of Embodiment 3 receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 of the first radio device. Within region A1 in Figure 14A and within region A2 in Figure 14B, the phase difference or arrival time difference is represented by 0, small, medium, and large. In region A1, the second radio device receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 of the first radio device at the earliest or leading phase, the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 at the second earliest or leading phase, and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #3 at the third earliest or leading phase. Similarly, in region A2, the second radio device receives the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 at the third earliest or leading phase. In all cases, the second radio device can determine / feed back how far it is from the center of the circular region in Figure 13 by the phase difference or arrival time difference between the reference signal received at the earliest or leading phase and the reference signal received at the third earliest or leading phase. This relationship is the same in the other regions B1, B2, C1, and C2.

[0153] Therefore, by defining a threshold value for the phase difference or arrival time difference between the reference signal received with the earliest or latest phase and the reference signal received with the third earliest or latest phase, and adding whether it is greater than or less than this threshold to the determination condition / wireless resource information in Figure 8, the six regions in Figure 13 can be further subdivided into 12 regions A as shown in Figure 15. 1A ,A 2A ,B 1A ,B 2A ,C 1A ,C 2A ,A 1B ,A 2B ,B1B ,B 2B ,C 1B ,C 2B It can be divided into regions, and the position of the second radio device can be determined / feedback based on the determination conditions shown in Figure 16. Multiple regions in Figures 15 and 16 may each be associated with multiple radio resources. Radio resource information may represent the information in Figure 16, may be transmitted from the first radio device, may be defined in the specifications, or may be held in the second radio device. Also, as shown in Figure 17, there is a region (region A in Figure 15) where the phase difference or arrival time difference between the reference signal received with the earliest or latest phase and the reference signal received with the third earliest or latest phase is less than or equal to a certain threshold value. 1A ,A 2A ,B 1A ,B 2A ,C 1A ,C 2A ) are collectively referred to as a single region D, and [Region A in Figure 15] 1B ,A 2B ,B 1B ,B 2B ,C 1B ,C 2B Let these be regions A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2, respectively. It is also possible to configure the system to make decisions based on the determination conditions shown in Figure 18. Multiple regions in Figures 17 and 18 may each be associated with multiple radio resources. Radio resource information may be the information shown in Figure 18, may be transmitted from the first radio device, may be defined in the specifications, or may be held by the second radio device. Conversely, if two or more threshold values ​​are defined as threshold values ​​for determining the phase difference or arrival time difference between the reference signal received with the earliest or latest phase and the reference signal received with the third earliest or latest phase, and the second radio device is configured to determine the region based on those threshold values, the second radio device can determine / feed back its own position more precisely.

[0154] Multiple regions may correspond to areas covered by a wide beam [formed by a reference signal transmitting antenna]. Each of the multiple regions may correspond to an area covered by a narrow beam [formed by a data signal transmitting and receiving antenna].

[0155] Thus, if the second radio device is configured to determine a radio resource based on the phase difference or arrival time difference between the reference signal received at the earliest or latest phase and the reference signal received at the third earliest or latest phase, and to transmit feedback at the determined radio resource, the first radio device can use this feedback to pinpoint the location of the second radio device and control the directivity of the directional antenna used when sending and receiving communication data and control data with the second radio device.

[0156] <<Embodiment 5>> As shown in Figure 19, on a wall surface whose position is represented by coordinates (x,y), four antennas #1 to #4 for transmitting the reference signal are positioned at d(1 / 2,1 / 2), d(-1 / 2,1 / 2), d(-1 / 2,-1 / 2), and d(1 / 2,-1 / 2), respectively, and the first radio device transmits the reference signal simultaneously from the four antennas. Here, d is the distance between the antennas, and may be selected to be approximately the same as or about 10 times the wavelength of the radio wave used. Now, as shown in Figure 20, when the second radio device (terminal) is located at a position sufficiently far from the wavelength λ of the radio wave used in the direction of the azimuth angle θ and elevation angle ψ with respect to the x-axis on the plane in which the antennas are positioned, the difference in propagation path length from antenna #1 and antenna #2, and from antenna #4 and antenna #3 to the second radio device is expressed by the following formula (11).

number

[0157] The difference in propagation path length between antenna #1 and antenna #4, or between antenna #2 and antenna #3, is expressed by the following equation (12).

number

[0158] Due to these path length differences, the phase of the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 or antenna #4 received by the second radio equipment leads the phase of the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 or antenna #3 by the phase difference expressed by the following equation (13).

number

[0159] With respect to the phase of the reference signal transmitted from antenna #4 or antenna #3 received by the second radio equipment, the phase of the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 or antenna #2 received by the second radio equipment leads by the phase difference expressed by the following equation (14).

number

[0160] When d=λ, the phase difference between equations (13) and (14) is expressed by equations (15) and (16), respectively.

number

number

[0161] The reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 are φ 12 The phase difference is received, and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #4 and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #3 are φ 43 If we assume that the signals are received with a phase difference of φ, then the average value of those signals is φ x =( φ 12 +φ 43) / 2 can be the measurement result of 2πcosθcosψ shown in equation (15). Similarly, the reference signal transmitted from antenna #1 and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #4 are φ 14 The phase difference is received, and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #2 and the reference signal transmitted from antenna #3 are φ 23 If we assume that the signals are received with a phase difference of φ, then the average value of those signals is φ y =( φ 14 +φ 23 ) / 2 can be the measurement result of 2πsinθcosψ shown in equation (16). From these, the estimated values ​​of the azimuth angle θ and elevation angle ψ from the xy plane in which antennas #1 to #4 are positioned to the second radio device, based on the phase difference of the received reference signal, are θ. ^ and elevation angle ψ ^ This can be expressed by the following equations (17) and (18).

number

number

[0162] θ ^ ψ ^ The calculation is performed by finding the θ such that the difference in phase differences obtained using equations (15) and (16) with respect to the observed phase difference is minimized, instead of using equations (17) and (18). ^ ψ ^ This can also be calculated using well-known algorithms such as the least squares method.

[0163] Therefore, if the first radio device is configured to transmit control data including radio resource information, as shown in Figure 21, for determining a radio resource (one of A to G) based on the estimated azimuth angle [range / threshold value] and elevation angle [range / threshold value], or if the radio resource information is defined in the specifications, and the second radio device is configured to determine a radio resource based on the radio resource information and the estimated azimuth angle and elevation angle, and to provide feedback to the first radio device with the determined radio resource, as shown in Figure 22, then the first radio device can use this feedback to locate the second radio device and control the directivity of the directional antenna used when sending and receiving communication data and control data with the second radio device. The radio resource information may be transmitted from the first radio device, defined in the specifications, or held in the second radio device.

[0164] Furthermore, even when the first radio device transmits a reference signal using four antennas, the second radio device can be configured to determine the radio resources for the feedback signal, similar to embodiments 3 and 4, based on the phase difference at the time of reception between the reference signal received at the most advanced phase, the reference signal received at the second most advanced phase, and further between the reference signal received at the most advanced phase and the reference signal received at the third most advanced phase, and then provide feedback to the first radio device using the determined radio resources.

[0165] In this embodiment, an example using four reference signal transmitting antennas has been described, but it may also be applied to three reference signal transmitting antennas, or to five or more reference signal transmitting antennas.

[0166] <<Embodiment 6>> This embodiment relates to the attributes of a feedback signal. The feedback signal in this embodiment may be applied to at least one of embodiments 1 to 5.

[0167] In this embodiment, the first radio device may, instead of providing the radio resource information that the first radio device provided to the second radio device in embodiments 1 to 5, provide feedback signal attribute information as control data for determining the attributes of the feedback signal. The feedback signal attribute information may be defined in the specifications or may be held in the second radio device. When a signal modulated by a pseudo-random sequence modulates the radio carrier is used as the feedback signal, the feedback signal attribute information may be information for determining the pseudo-random sequence. For example, the pseudo-random sequence may be any of the Gold sequence, Walsh-Hadamard sequence, or Zadoff-Chu sequence (low PAPR sequence). For example, the attributes may include at least one of the generator's initial value, sequence group number, sequence number, and [initial] cyclic shift index. The second radio device determines the attributes of the feedback signal based on information about the phase difference or propagation time difference when it receives the reference signal, or based on the region, azimuth angle, and elevation angle determined based on the phase difference or propagation time difference, and transmits the feedback signal having the determined attributes to the first radio device. The first radio device attempts to detect a feedback signal having predetermined attributes in the signal received by an antenna with directivity set to correspond to the area, azimuth, and elevation angle in which the second radio device may be located. The detected feedback signal can be used to identify the area, azimuth, and elevation angle in which the second radio device is located.

[0168] <<Embodiment 7>> This embodiment relates to the content of a feedback signal. The feedback signal may include a field for transmitting information about the phase difference or propagation time difference when the second radio device receives a reference signal, or information about the region, azimuth angle, and elevation angle determined based on the phase difference or propagation time difference. The feedback signal in this embodiment may be applied to at least one of embodiments 1 to 5.

[0169] In this embodiment, a field is provided in the feedback signal for feedback from the second radio device to the first radio device for transmitting information about the phase difference or propagation time difference when the second radio device receives the reference signal, or information about the region, azimuth angle, and elevation angle determined based on the phase difference or propagation time difference. The position and number of bits of the field in the feedback signal, the method of encoding the information to be fed back into a bit sequence that fits in the field, etc., can be predetermined (they may be defined in the specifications or set). Multiple methods for handling / interpreting the field can be predetermined, and the first radio device can provide the second radio device with information about how to handle the field as control data so that the second radio device can select one of these multiple methods to perform the feedback. The second radio device encodes the phase difference or propagation time difference when it receives the reference signal from the first radio device, or the region, azimuth angle, and elevation angle determined based on the phase difference or propagation time difference, according to a predetermined method, or according to how to handle the field indicated by the control data received from the first radio device, stores the encoding result in a predetermined position in the field, and transmits the feedback signal. The first radio device can determine the region where the second radio device is located, or its azimuth and elevation angles, from the data in the field within the feedback signal received from the second radio device.

[0170] <Note> The following invention is added with respect to one embodiment of this disclosure. [Note 1] A receiving unit that receives three or more reference signals, A control unit that determines the relationship between multiple reference signals from the three or more reference signals based on their reception phase or reception timing, maintains radio resource information indicating the association between the relationship and a radio resource for feedback based on the relationship, and determines the radio resource based on the relationship and the radio resource information. A second wireless device having a transmitting unit that transmits the feedback using the aforementioned wireless resources. [Note 2] The receiving unit is the second wireless device described in Appendix 1, which receives the wireless resource information. [Note 3] The aforementioned plurality of reference signals are, among the three or more reference signals, a first reference signal received at the most advanced phase or at the earliest timing, and a second reference signal received at the second most advanced phase or at the second earliest timing. The aforementioned relationship pertains to which of the three or more reference signals is the first reference signal and which is the second reference signal, as described in Appendix 1 or Appendix 2, for the second radio device. [Note 4] The plurality of reference signals further include a third reference signal which is received at the third most advanced phase or at the third earliest timing among the three or more reference signals. The aforementioned relationship also relates to the reception phase difference or reception timing difference between the first reference signal and the third reference signal, as described in Appendix 3, for the second wireless device. [Note 5] The relationship described above relates to the direction of the second radio device as seen from the first radio device that transmitted the three or more reference signals, as described in claim 1 or claim 2. [Note 6] The third or more reference signals are transmitted simultaneously using different frequencies or in sequences that are orthogonal to each other, in the second radio device as described in any of Appendix 1 to 5. [Note 7] A transmitting unit that transmits three or more reference signals from three or more antennas, A receiving unit that receives feedback transmitted using radio resources determined based on the relationship between multiple reference signals among the three or more reference signals in the second wireless device, based on the reception phase or reception timing of multiple reference signals, A first wireless device having a control unit that determines the location of the second wireless device based on the wireless resources used for the feedback. [Note 8] The first radio device as described in Appendix 7, wherein the three or more antennas are not arranged in the same straight line. [Note 9] The steps include receiving three or more reference signals, The steps include determining the relationship between multiple reference signals from the three or more reference signals based on their reception phase or reception timing, A step of holding wireless resource information that shows the association between the aforementioned relationship and wireless resources for feedback based on the aforementioned relationship, The steps include determining the wireless resource based on the aforementioned relationship and the wireless resource information, A wireless communication method for a second wireless device, comprising the step of transmitting the feedback using the wireless resources. [Note 10] The steps include transmitting three or more reference signals from three or more antennas, The steps include receiving feedback transmitted using radio resources determined based on the relationship between multiple reference signals among the three or more reference signals in the second radio device, based on the reception phase or reception timing of the reference signals, A wireless communication method for a first wireless device, comprising the step of determining the location of the second wireless device based on the wireless resources used for the feedback. [Note 11] The wireless communication method for the first radio device described in Appendix 10, wherein the three or more antennas are not arranged in the same straight line. [Note 12] The first radio device described in Appendix 7 or Appendix 8, A wireless communication system having a second wireless device as described in any of the appendices 1 to 6.

[0171] <Variation> In addition, terms used in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meaning.

[0172] In this disclosure, terms such as apparatus, circuit, device, section, and unit are interchangeable.

[0173] The information, parameters, etc., described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values ​​from a given value, or corresponding other information. For example, wireless resources may be indicated by a given index.

[0174] The names used for parameters and other elements in this disclosure are not restrictive in any way. Furthermore, mathematical formulas and other elements that use these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure.

[0175] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of the various different techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0176] Input and output information and signals may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using a management table. Input and output information and signals may be overwritten, updated, or appended to. Output information and signals may be deleted. Input information and signals may be transmitted to other devices.

[0177] Any information described in this disclosure (e.g., variables, constants, parameters) may be notified from any first device (e.g., UE / BS) to any second device (e.g., BS / UE), even if not specifically stated in the embodiments described above. Notification of any information may be interpreted as notification of information indicating / specifying (or relating to) the value of such any information.

[0178] In this disclosure, the words “notify,” “request,” “activate,” “deactivate,” “indicate,” “select,” “configure,” “update,” and “determine” may be interpreted as interchangeable.

[0179] In this disclosure, the terms “support,” “control / operate / use,” and “are controllable / operate / available” may be interpreted as interchangeable.

[0180] In this disclosure, notification of information is not limited to the manner / embodiments described herein and may be carried out by other means. For example, notification of information in this disclosure may be carried out by radio access-related signaling, RAN-related signaling, core network-related signaling, other signals, or a combination thereof. In this disclosure, signaling, messages, parameters, fields, information elements (IE), settings, etc., may be interpreted interchangeably.

[0181] Wireless access-related signaling may include signaling related to wireless access (wireless interface) between UE-RAN, and may also fall under Access Stratum (AS) signaling. Wireless access-related signaling may also include physical layer signaling, upper layer signaling, etc.

[0182] Physical layer signaling may include, for example, Downlink Control Information (DCI) and Uplink Control Information (UCI). Upper layer signaling may include, for example, Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling.

[0183] RRC signaling may include broadcast information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)). MAC signaling may include MAC Control Element (MAC CE), MAC Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU), etc.

[0184] RAN-related signaling may include signaling for RAN-to-RAN control, such as Xn Application Protocol (XnAP) signaling.

[0185] Core network-related signaling may include signaling for control between UEs and CNs, such as Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling. Core network-related signaling may also include signaling for control between CNs, such as Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messages.

[0186] Furthermore, notification of the specified information (for example, notification that "X is the case") is not limited to explicit notification, but may also be made implicitly (for example, by not notifying the specified information or by notifying other information).

[0187] Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, and so on, whether they are called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or by any other name.

[0188] Furthermore, software, instructions, information, etc., may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired technology (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) and wireless technology (such as infrared or microwave), then at least one of these wired and wireless technologies is included in the definition of a transmission medium.

[0189] The terms “system” and “network” as used in this disclosure may be used interchangeably. “Network” may also mean the equipment included in the network (e.g., base stations).

[0190] In this disclosure, terms such as “precoding,” “precoder,” “spatial domain filter,” “transmit power,” “phase rotation,” “layer,” “rank,” “resource,” “resource set,” “beam,” “antenna,” “antenna element,” “antenna port,” “panel,” and “UE panel” may be used interchangeably.

[0191] In this disclosure, terms such as "Base Station (BS)", "Radio Base Station", "Relay Station", "Fixed Station", "NodeB", "eNB (eNodeB)", "gNB (gNodeB)", "Radio Access Network (RAN)", "Access Point", "Transmission Point (TP)", "Reception Point (RP)", "Transmission / Reception Point (TRP)", "Panel", "[Super / Macro / Small / Femto / Pico] Cell", "Sector", "Cell Group", "Carrier", and "Component Carrier" may be used interchangeably.

[0192] In this disclosure, the transmission of information by a base station to a terminal may be interpreted as the base station instructing the terminal to perform a control / operation based on said information.

[0193] In this disclosure, terms such as "Mobile Station (MS)," "Mobile Node," "User Terminal," "Terminal Station," "Terminal," and "User Equipment (UE)" may be used interchangeably.

[0194] Note that BS / UE may also be classified as a Road-Side Unit (RSU).

[0195] Any device in this disclosure may also be called a server, device, transmitter, receiver, wireless communication device, information processing device, etc., and these terms may be interchangeable. Any device in this disclosure may be a device mounted on a moving object, a device contained within a moving object (held by a person riding in the moving object), or the moving object itself. Such moving objects include, but are not limited to, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, handcarts, rickshaws, ships and other watercraft, airplanes, rockets, satellites, drones, multicopters, quadcopters, balloons, and items mounted on them. Such moving objects may also be autonomous / autonomous. In this disclosure, a moving object may also be interchangeable with a non-moving object (for example, a non-moving object that a person can ride in).

[0196] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched and used during execution. Also, regarding the processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure, as long as there is no contradiction, the order of the procedures / steps may be swapped, or some of the procedures / steps may be omitted. For example, regarding the methods described in the present disclosure, the elements of various steps are presented using an exemplary order and are not limited to the specific order presented.

[0197] The description "based on" used in the present disclosure does not mean "only based on" unless otherwise specified. In other words, the description "based on" means both "only based on" and "at least based on".

[0198] Any reference to an element using designations such as "first", "second", etc. used in the present disclosure does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in the present disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Therefore, a reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be adopted or that the first element must precede the second element in some form.

[0199] The terms "connected" and "coupled" used in the present disclosure, or any variations thereof, mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements and can include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination of these. The coupling or connection between elements may be a connection via at least one of wired and wireless.

[0200] In this disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "combine" may be interpreted similarly to "different."

[0201] Where the terms “include,” “including,” and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, as is the term “comprising.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this disclosure is not intended to mean exclusive OR.

[0202] In this disclosure, if articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, this disclosure may include the fact that the noun following these articles is plural.

[0203] In this disclosure, words such as "decision," "judgment," "determination," "selection," "specification," "calculation," "calculation," "processing," "derivation," "search," "confirmation," "assumption," and "expectation" may be interpreted as interchangeable.

[0204] In this disclosure, terms such as "less than or equal to," "less than," "greater than or equal to," "more than," and "equal to" may be interpreted interchangeably. In addition, in this disclosure, terms meaning "good," "bad," "big," "small," "high," "low," "early," "slow," "wide," and "narrow" may be interpreted interchangeably, not limited to the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees. Furthermore, in this disclosure, terms meaning "good," "bad," "big," "small," "high," "low," "early," "slow," "wide," and "narrow" may be interpreted interchangeably, not limited to the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees, by adding "i-th" (where i is any integer) to the expression (for example, "highest" may be interpreted interchangeably with "i-th highest").

[0205] In this disclosure, "of," "for," "regarding," "related to," and "associated with" may be interpreted as being interchangeable.

[0206] Although the invention described herein has been explained in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the invention described herein is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The descriptions herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation on the invention described herein.

Claims

1. A receiving unit that receives three or more reference signals, A control unit that determines the relationship between multiple reference signals from the three or more reference signals based on their reception phase or reception timing, maintains radio resource information indicating the association between the relationship and a radio resource for feedback based on the relationship, and determines the radio resource based on the relationship and the radio resource information. A second wireless device having a transmitting unit that transmits the feedback using the aforementioned wireless resources.

2. The receiving unit receives the wireless resource information, the second wireless device according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned plurality of reference signals are, among the three or more reference signals, a first reference signal received at the most advanced phase or at the earliest timing, and a second reference signal received at the second most advanced phase or at the second earliest timing. The above relationship relates to which of the three or more reference signals is the first reference signal and which reference signal is the second reference signal, as described in claim 1 or 2 of the second wireless device.

4. The plurality of reference signals further include a third reference signal that is received at the third most advanced phase or at the third earliest timing among the three or more reference signals. The relationship also relates to the reception phase difference or reception timing difference between the first reference signal and the third reference signal, as described in claim 3, for the second wireless device.

5. The above relationship relates to the direction of the second radio device as seen from the first radio device that transmitted the three or more reference signals, as described in claim 1 or claim 2.

6. The second wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the three or more reference signals are transmitted simultaneously using different frequencies or using sequences that are orthogonal to each other.

7. A transmitting unit that transmits three or more reference signals from three or more antennas, A receiving unit that receives feedback transmitted using radio resources determined based on the relationship between multiple reference signals among the three or more reference signals in the second wireless device, based on the reception phase or reception timing of multiple reference signals, A first wireless device having a control unit that determines the location of the second wireless device based on the wireless resources used for the feedback.

8. The first wireless device according to claim 7, wherein the three or more antennas are not arranged in the same straight line.

9. The steps include receiving three or more reference signals, The steps include determining the relationship between multiple reference signals from the three or more reference signals based on their reception phase or reception timing, A step of holding wireless resource information that shows the association between the aforementioned relationship and wireless resources for feedback based on the aforementioned relationship, The steps include determining the wireless resource based on the aforementioned relationship and the wireless resource information, A wireless communication method for a second wireless device, comprising the step of transmitting the feedback using the wireless resources.

10. The steps include transmitting three or more reference signals from three or more antennas, The steps include receiving feedback transmitted using radio resources determined based on the relationship between multiple reference signals among the three or more reference signals in the second radio device, based on the reception phase or reception timing of the reference signals, A wireless communication method for a first wireless device, comprising the step of determining the location of the second wireless device based on the wireless resources used for the feedback.

11. The wireless communication method for the first wireless device according to claim 10, wherein the three or more antennas are not arranged in the same straight line.

12. The first wireless device according to claim 7 or claim 8, A wireless communication system comprising a second wireless device according to claim 1 or claim 2.

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