Beam management method and apparatus

Abstract

A beam management method and apparatus, which relate to the technical field of wireless communications. In the method, a terminal device receives first information from a first network device, the first information comprising matrix indication information and first weight information of each of K second network devices, wherein the matrix indication information indicates a matrix having a dimension of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1); and the terminal device receives a plurality of downlink reference signals, and sends second information to the first network device, the second information being determined on the basis of the plurality of downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix. The terminal device can determine the optimal reflection weights of the K second network devices on the basis of the downlink reference signal, the first weight information and the matrix, and can indicate the optimal reflection weights to the first network device by means of the second information, without the need to perform beam management on each beam of each second network device, thus effectively reducing the beam management time.

Description

Beam management method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on August 30, 2023, with application number 202311116771.2 and application name "A Beam Management Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a beam management method and device. Background Art

[0004] In real-world communication scenarios, obstructions from buildings and walls can result in a lack of an observer-to-target propagation path (LOS) between a terminal device and the base station. This can lead to poor signal quality for user equipment (UE), thus impacting communication performance. Deploying intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) can enhance UE signal quality and improve communication performance.

[0005] As a low-cost network device, the IRS consists only of passive antenna arrays and a terminal module for receiving control signaling from macro base stations. It switches reflection weights based on instructions from the base station (BS). Prior to this, the base station must first perform beam management. As the IRS switches between different reflection weights, the UE measures and reports the quality of the downlink reference signal. The base station can then determine the impact of these changes on the UE's received signal quality and select the reflection weight that significantly improves the UE's received signal quality for subsequent communications.

[0006] Currently, in the beam management of the IRS, it is necessary to perform beam management on multiple beams of the IRS. Since beam management requires each beam to be scanned for a certain time, the beam management time of the traditional method is long, which will affect the communication performance.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a beam management method and apparatus to reduce the time of beam management.

[0009] In the first aspect, a beam management method is provided. The method can be executed by a terminal device, or by a chip / chip system. In the method, the terminal device receives first information from a first network device, the first information including matrix indication information and first weight information of each of K second network devices, where K is a positive integer. The matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The terminal device receives multiple downlink reference signals, and the number of the multiple downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to O. When the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the K elements contained in the (K+1) elements in each row correspond one-to-one to the K second network devices. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the K elements contained in the (K+1) elements in each column correspond one-to-one to the K second network devices. The terminal device sends second information to the first network device, where the second information is determined based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix.

[0010] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can determine the optimal reflection weights of K second network devices based on the downlink reference signal, the first weight information and the matrix, and indicate it to the network device through the second information. There is no need to perform beam management on each beam of each second network device, which effectively reduces the time of beam management.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the indication information includes at least one of the following: matrix dimensions and quantized values ​​of each matrix element. Exemplarily, the matrix dimensions and quantized values ​​of each matrix element are used to determine the matrix. Based on this solution, the network device can indicate the structure of the matrix and multiple elements in the matrix to the terminal device.

[0012] In one possible implementation, a terminal device receives third information from a first network device, where the third information indicates the number of weight information corresponding to the second information. The weight information can be indicated by a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index. Based on this solution, the terminal device can determine the number of weights to report to the network device based on the third information from the network device.

[0013] In one possible implementation, the first weight information includes array information of the corresponding second network device, and at least one of the following: L basis index information of the corresponding second network device, L amplitude coefficients of the corresponding second network device, and L phase coefficients of the corresponding second network device. L is a positive integer. The L basis index information, L amplitude coefficients, and L phase coefficients are associated with the array information.

[0014] In one possible implementation, K pieces of first power threshold information are received from a first network device. The K pieces of first power threshold information, first weight information, a matrix, and multiple downlink reference signals are used to determine second information. Exemplarily, the first power threshold information is used to determine whether the second information includes a preset value.

[0015] In one possible implementation, a terminal device receives index indication information from a first network device, wherein the index indication information indicates multiple indexes. Each index indicates a corresponding relationship, where each corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals and a row or column of a matrix.

[0016] Based on this solution, the network device can indicate to the terminal device the correspondence between the rows or columns of the matrix and the time-frequency resources through index indication information.

[0017] In one possible implementation, the matrix satisfies the following S, or S through elementary row or elementary column transformations, where A is a non-zero integer:

[0018] Based on this solution, the network device can indicate the dimension of the matrix to the terminal device, and the terminal device can determine the structure of the matrix based on S.

[0019] It is understandable that the matrix can be expressed as In this case, the matrix S′ can be considered to be obtained by elementary column transformation or elementary row transformation of S.

[0020] In a second aspect, a beam management method is provided. The method can be executed by a first network device, or by a chip / chip system. In the method, first information is sent to a terminal device, the first information including matrix indication information and first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, K is a positive integer, wherein the matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The first network device sends multiple downlink reference signals to the terminal device, and the number of the multiple downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to O. Wherein, when the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding one-to-one to the K second network devices. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, one column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements includes K elements corresponding one-to-one to the K second network devices. The first network device receives second information from the terminal device, where the second information is determined based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix.

[0021] In a possible implementation, the indication information includes at least one of the following: a dimension of a matrix, a quantized value of each element of the matrix. Exemplarily, the dimension of the matrix and the quantized value of each element of the matrix are used to determine the matrix.

[0022] In a possible implementation, third information is sent to the terminal device, where the third information is used to indicate the number of weight information corresponding to the second information. The weight information can be indicated by a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index.

[0023] In one possible implementation, the first weight information includes array information of the corresponding second network device, and at least one of the following: L basis index information of the corresponding second network device, L amplitude coefficients of the corresponding second network device, and L phase coefficients of the corresponding second network device. L is a positive integer. The L basis index information, L amplitude coefficients, and L phase coefficients are associated with the array information.

[0024] In one possible implementation, K pieces of first power threshold information are sent to a terminal device. The K pieces of first power threshold information, the first weight information, the matrix, and the plurality of downlink reference signals are used to determine the second information. Exemplarily, the first power threshold information is used to determine whether the second information includes a preset value.

[0025] In one possible implementation, index indication information is sent to a terminal device, wherein the index indication information indicates multiple indexes. Each index indicates a corresponding relationship, where each corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals and a row or column of a matrix.

[0026] In a possible implementation, first phase information and first resource indication information are sent to the kth second network device, where the first phase information indicates M first phase information. The first resource indication information is used to indicate the M time-frequency resources corresponding to the first phase information, and the M time-frequency resources and the M first phase information. The corresponding relationship between M first phases Not all the same, k ranges from 1 to K, M is a positive integer. Optional, the first phase Indicated by 1 bit.

[0027] In a possible implementation, at least two of the M first phases are in opposite phases to each other, where being in opposite phases to each other can be understood as a phase difference of π between the two phases.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the matrix satisfies the following S, or S through elementary row or elementary column transformations, where A is a non-zero integer:

[0029] According to a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processing unit and a transceiver unit.

[0030] A transceiver unit is configured to receive first information from a first network device, the first information including matrix indication information and first weight information for each of K second network devices, where K is a positive integer, wherein the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O or O*(K+1) matrix, the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The transceiver unit is further configured to receive multiple downlink reference signals, the number of which is greater than or equal to O. When the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the K elements contained in each row of (K+1) elements correspond one-to-one with the K second network devices. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the K elements contained in each column of (K+1) elements correspond one-to-one with the K second network devices. The processing unit is configured to determine the second information according to the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix. The transceiver unit is further configured to send the second information to the first network device.

[0031] In a possible implementation, the indication information includes at least one of the following: a dimension of a matrix, a quantized value of each element of the matrix. Exemplarily, the dimension of the matrix and the quantized value of each element of the matrix are used to determine the matrix.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive third information from the first network device, where the third information indicates the number of weight information corresponding to the second information. The weight information may be indicated by a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index.

[0033] In one possible implementation, the first weight information includes array information of the corresponding second network device, and at least one of the following: L basis index information of the corresponding second network device, L amplitude coefficients of the corresponding second network device, and L phase coefficients of the corresponding second network device. L is a positive integer. The L basis index information, L amplitude coefficients, and L phase coefficients are associated with the array information.

[0034] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive K pieces of first power threshold information from the first network device. The K pieces of first power threshold information, the first weight information, the matrix, and the plurality of downlink reference signals are used to determine the second information. Exemplarily, the first power threshold information is used to determine whether the second information includes a preset value.

[0035] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive index indication information from the first network device. The index indication information indicates multiple indexes. Each index indicates a corresponding relationship, where each corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals and a row or column of the matrix.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the matrix satisfies the following S, or S through elementary row or elementary column transformations, where A is a non-zero integer:

[0037] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processing unit and a transceiver unit.

[0038] A processing unit is configured to generate first information. A transceiver unit is configured to send the first information to a terminal device. The first information includes matrix indication information and first weight information of each of K second network devices, where K is a positive integer. The matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O or O*(K+1) matrix, the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The transceiver unit is further configured to send multiple downlink reference signals to the terminal device, where the number of the multiple downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to O. When the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding to the K second network devices in a one-to-one correspondence. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding to the K second network devices in a one-to-one correspondence. The transceiver unit is further used to receive second information from the terminal device, where the second information is determined based on multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the indication information includes at least one of the following: a dimension of a matrix, a quantized value of each element of the matrix. Exemplarily, the dimension of the matrix and the quantized value of each element of the matrix are used to determine the matrix.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to send third information to the terminal device, where the third information is used to indicate the number of weight information corresponding to the second information. The weight information can be indicated by a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index.

[0041] In one possible implementation, the first weight information includes array information of the corresponding second network device, and at least one of the following: L basis index information of the corresponding second network device, L amplitude coefficients of the corresponding second network device, and L phase coefficients of the corresponding second network device. L is a positive integer. The L basis index information, L amplitude coefficients, and L phase coefficients are associated with the array information.

[0042] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to send K pieces of first power threshold information to the terminal device. The K pieces of first power threshold information, the first weight information, the matrix, and the multiple downlink reference signals are used to determine the second information. Exemplarily, the first power threshold information is used to determine whether the second information includes a preset value.

[0043] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to send index indication information to the terminal device. The index indication information indicates multiple indexes. Each index indicates a corresponding relationship, where each corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals and a row or column of the matrix.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to send first phase information and first resource indication information to the kth second network device, where the first phase information indicates M first phase information. The first resource indication information is used to indicate the M time-frequency resources corresponding to the first phase information, and the M time-frequency resources and the M first phase information. The corresponding relationship between M first phases Not all the same, k ranges from 1 to K, M is a positive integer. Optional, the first phase Indicated by 1 bit.

[0045] In a possible implementation, at least two first phases among the M first phases are in opposite phases.

[0046] In one possible implementation, the matrix satisfies the following S, or S through elementary row or elementary column transformations, where A is a non-zero integer:

[0047] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being configured to store computer programs or instructions, and the processor being configured to execute the computer programs or instructions to perform the respective implementation methods of the first and second aspects described above. The memory may be located within or outside the device. The number of processors may be one or more.

[0048] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising: a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to communicate with other devices, and the processor being used to implement the various methods of the first and second aspects above.

[0049] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided. The device includes a logic circuit and an input / output interface. The logic circuit is configured to execute the operations performed by the terminal device and the first network device in each implementation method of the first and second aspects. The input / output interface is configured to communicate with other communication devices.

[0050] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising: a terminal device and a first network device for executing each implementation method of the above-mentioned first and second aspects, and K second network devices.

[0051] In a ninth aspect, the present application also provides a chip system, comprising: a processor for executing the various implementation methods of the first and second aspects above.

[0052] In a tenth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product, comprising computer execution instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the implementation methods of the first and second aspects to be executed.

[0053] In the eleventh aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the instruction is executed on a computer, the implementation methods of the first and second aspects mentioned above are implemented.

[0054] The technical effects achieved in the above-mentioned second to eleventh aspects can refer to the technical effects in the first aspect and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG3 is an exemplary flow chart of a beam management method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0063] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to New Radio (NR) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, etc., without limitation herein.

[0064] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG1 , the communication system includes a wireless access network 100. The wireless access network 100 may include at least one network device (such as 110a and / or 110b in FIG1 ) and may also include at least one terminal device (such as at least one of 120a-120j in FIG1 ). The terminal device is connected to the access network device wirelessly, and the access network device is connected to the core network device wirelessly or by wire. Terminal devices and network devices may be connected to each other by wire or by wireless. FIG1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG1 .

[0065] A network device is a network-side device with wireless transceiver capabilities. A network device can be a device in a radio access network (RAN) that provides wireless communication capabilities for terminal devices, and is called a RAN device. For example, a network device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in a sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a Wi-Fi system. It can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, such as a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The CU here completes the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also complete the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also complete the functions of part of the physical layer or all of the physical layer. For the specific description of the above-mentioned various protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, the base station is used as an example for explanation.

[0066] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes implement part of the functions of the base station respectively. For example, the RAN node can be a CU, DU, CU-control plane (CP), CU-user plane (UP), or radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0067] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0068] A terminal device is a user-side device with wireless transceiver capabilities. A terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. The terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a robotic arm, a smart home appliance, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device. The embodiments of this application are described by taking the terminal as an example.

[0069] Network devices and terminal devices can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; and in the air on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of network devices and terminal devices.

[0070] The roles of network devices and terminal devices can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile network device. To terminal devices 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal device 120i is a network device. However, to network device 110a, 120i is a terminal device, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via an interface protocol between network devices. In this case, 120i is also a network device relative to 110a. Therefore, both network devices and terminal devices can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with network device functionality, while 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with terminal device functionality.

[0071] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem that includes the network device functions. The control subsystem that includes the network device functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device that includes the terminal device functions.

[0072] In real-world communication scenarios, obstructions from buildings and walls can result in a lack of an observer-to-target (LOS) path between a terminal device and the base station. This can lead to poor UE received signal quality, thus impacting communication performance. Deploying intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) can enhance UE signal quality and improve communication performance.

[0073] IRS is a passive reflection array. It does not have a signal receiving module or power amplifier, and only has the ability to control the reflection phase of each array element. It can change the direction of the reflected beam by adjusting the phase distribution on the surface of the reflection surface, thereby reflecting the signal transmitted from the BS to the IRS in the desired direction, thereby achieving functions such as improving the channel environment in weak coverage areas and improving the NLOS path to the LOS path. Since IRS can improve the channel conditions in weak coverage areas at a low cost, IRS is considered to be one of the key technologies for the next generation of mobile communication networks. Refer to Figure 2, which shows an architectural diagram of the deployment of IRS applicable to the embodiment of the present application.

[0074] As a low-cost network device, the IRS consists solely of passive antenna arrays and a terminal module for receiving control signaling from macro base stations. It switches reflection weights based on instructions from the base station (BS). Prior to this, the base station must first perform beam management on the IRS to determine a reflection beam that provides gain for the UE. As the IRS switches between different reflection weights, the UE measures and reports the quality of the downlink reference signal. The base station then determines the impact of these changes on the UE's received signal quality and selects the reflection weight that significantly improves the UE's received signal quality for subsequent communications.

[0075] Because the IRS is a passive reflector array with no power amplification capability, ensuring the strength of the reflected signal requires a larger size. This is because a larger IRS provides more elements to reflect signals in space, thereby increasing the beam gain and ensuring a strong reflected signal. While more elements provide greater beam gain, it also reduces the beamwidth. Beamwidth is generally defined as the angle between two directions where the power drops by 3dB on either side of the direction of maximum radiation. A smaller beamwidth requires more beams to scan the same angle. Since beam management requires each beam to be scanned for a certain amount of time, scanning more beams increases the beam management time, which can affect communication performance.

[0076] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam management method. In this method, a terminal device receives first information from a first network device. The first information may include matrix indication information and first weight information of each of the K second network devices. The first weight information may indicate the weights of the K IRSs, or the reflection weights of the K IRSs. The matrix indication information may indicate a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), and the rank of the matrix is ​​K+1. The terminal device may receive multiple downlink reference signals. The number of multiple downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to O, and when the matrix indication information indicates a matrix of O*(K+1), a row of the matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements that correspond one-to-one to the K second network devices. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements includes K elements corresponding one-to-one to K second network devices. The terminal device determines the second information based on the downlink reference signal, the first weight information, and the matrix, and sends the second information to the network device.

[0077] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can determine the optimal reflection weights of K second network devices based on the downlink reference signal, the first weight information and the matrix, and indicate it to the network device through the second information. Compared with the beam management method introduced above, there is no need to perform beam management on each beam of each second network device, which effectively reduces the time of beam management.

[0078] Referring to FIG3 , which is an exemplary flowchart of a beam management method provided in an embodiment of the present application, the method may include the following operations. In the embodiment shown in FIG3 , the first network device may be a base station as shown in FIG2 , and the second network device may be an IRS as shown in FIG2 or a base station.

[0079] S301: The base station sends first information to the terminal device.

[0080] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the base station.

[0081] The first information may include matrix indication information and first weight information of each of the K IRSs. In one example, each first weight information may include IRS information, such as one or more of an IRS identifier / index and IRS array information.

[0082] For example, the array information of the IRS includes the number of horizontal array elements N and the number of vertical array elements M. The terminal device can determine the basis matrix D of the IRS according to a predefined relationship, where the (i-1)M+kth column is recorded as NIRS =N*M, where

[0083] In a possible case, the first weight information may indicate a weight corresponding to the IRS, or a reflection weight corresponding to the IRS.

[0084] In another possible scenario, the first weight information may indicate L basis index information corresponding to the IRS, L amplitude coefficients corresponding to the IRS, and L phase coefficients corresponding to the IRS. The L basis index information, L amplitude information, and L phase coefficients may be used to determine the weight of the IRS corresponding to the IRS. It will be appreciated that the L basis index information, L amplitude information, and L phase coefficients may be associated with the array information of the corresponding IRS.

[0085] For example, the lth basis index information, the lth amplitude coefficient and the lth phase coefficient are respectively recorded as i l , α l 、φ l , the weight of the kth IRS can be determined

[0086] For example, when L is 1, Can be expressed or or or

[0087] It can be understood that the above formula is explained by taking l ranging from 0 to L-1 as an example, that is, taking the initial value of l as 0 as an example. In fact, the initial value of l is 1, that is, l ranges from 1 to L. This application does not make specific limitations.

[0088] In one example, the first information may also include indication information of the time-frequency resource corresponding to the first weight information. For example, the indication information may indicate a time-frequency resource and indicate the first weight information corresponding to the time-frequency resource, and the first weight information corresponds to an IRS, such as IRS1. Then, when the downlink reference signal on the time-frequency resource is sent by IRS1, the weight adopted by IRS1 is the weight indicated by the first weight information. Based on the indication information, the terminal device can determine the weights adopted by K IRSs.

[0089] Optionally, for each IRS, among the weights corresponding to multiple time-frequency resources, there are at least two time-frequency resource corresponding weights whose phases are opposite to each other. The phases being opposite to each other can be understood as a phase difference of π, such as phase 0 and π are opposite to each other. For example, in the case of a single IRS, the base station sends a reference signal on time-frequency resources t1 and t2 respectively, and the IRS can also receive the reference signal of the base station and transmit the reference signal on t1 and t2. At t1 and t2, the weights of the single IRS are opposite, such as Φ on t1 and -Φ on t2. Therefore, optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the first weight information can indicate the weight associated with each time-frequency resource of the K IRSs, or can also indicate the weight associated with part of the time-frequency resources, and the weights associated with the remaining time-frequency resources that are not indicated can be weights that are opposite to the indicated weights.

[0090] In an embodiment of the present application, the matrix indication information may indicate (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), which is a matrix of rank K+1. O≥K+1. For example, when the value of K is 2, the matrix may be a 3*O or O*3 matrix, where O may be greater than or equal to 3, such as 4, 5, etc.

[0091] In one possible scenario, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, one column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements includes K elements corresponding one-to-one to the K IRSs. Exemplarily, when the number of multiple downlink reference signals is O and one time-frequency resource carries one downlink reference signal, the O columns of the matrix may correspond one-to-one to the O time-frequency resources of the O downlink reference signals. It is understandable that when the number of multiple downlink reference signals is greater than O, such as O+J, and one time-frequency resource carries one downlink reference signal, the number of time-frequency resources is also greater than O, such as O+J. In this case, the O columns of the matrix may correspond one-to-one to the O time-frequency resources, and the remaining J time-frequency resources may also correspond one-to-one to J columns of the O columns of the matrix, such as the one-to-one correspondence of the first J columns. J may be equal to or less than O.

[0092] In addition, each column of (K+1) elements includes K elements corresponding one-to-one with K IRSs, and the first K elements may correspond one-to-one with the K second network devices, or the last K elements may correspond one-to-one with the K IRSs, or any K elements of the K+1 elements may correspond one-to-one with the K IRSs.

[0093] In one possible implementation, the correspondence between the (K+1)*O matrix columns and the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals can be predefined. The correspondence between the K elements in each column (K+1) and the K IRSs can also be predefined. For example, assuming the matrix is When the number K is 2 and the number of downlink reference signals is 3, the first column of the matrix can be predefined to correspond to IRS1, and the second column can correspond to IRS2. In the matrix S, it can be predefined that the first row can correspond to the first time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, the second row can correspond to the second time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the third row can correspond to the third time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals.

[0094] For example, when the number K is 2 and the number of downlink reference signals is 6, the first column of the predefined matrix may correspond to IRS1, and the second column may correspond to IRS2. In the matrix S, it may be predefined that the first row may correspond to the first time-frequency resource and the fourth time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, the second row may correspond to the second time-frequency resource and the fifth time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the third row may correspond to the third time-frequency resource and the sixth time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals.

[0095] In another possible implementation, the correspondence between the (K+1)*O matrix columns and the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals may be indicated by the base station. The correspondence between the K elements in each column of (K+1) elements and the K IRSs may also be predefined. For example, the base station may send index indication information to the terminal device, and the index indication information may indicate multiple indexes. One index may indicate a correspondence, which may be a correspondence between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals and one column of the (K+1)*O matrix.

[0096] For example, suppose the matrix is When the number of K is 2 and the number of downlink reference signals is 3, it can be predefined that the first column of the matrix can correspond to IRS1 and the second column can correspond to IRS2. The base station receives index indication information. If the index indication information indicates "0", "1" and "2" respectively, it can be predefined that the multiple indexes can correspond to the time-frequency resources of multiple downlink reference signals, such as index "0" corresponds to the first time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources of multiple downlink reference signals, index "1" corresponds to the second time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources of multiple downlink reference signals, and index "2" corresponds to the third time-frequency resource among the time-frequency resources of multiple downlink reference signals. In addition, the index can also indicate the matrix column, such as index "0" can indicate the first column of the matrix, index "1" can indicate the second column of the matrix, and index "2" can indicate the third column of the matrix. In this way, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between the matrix column of (K+1)*O and the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals through the index indication information.

[0097] In another possible scenario, when the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements that correspond one-to-one with K IRSs. The correspondence between the rows of the matrix and the time-frequency resources, and the correspondence between the K elements in each row and the K IRSs can be implemented with reference to the correspondence between the columns of the aforementioned (K+1)*O matrix and the time-frequency resources, and the correspondence between the K elements in each column and the K IRSs, and will not be repeated here.

[0098] In one possible scenario, the terminal device and the base station may preconfigure a matrix calculation formula, and the matrix dimensions may be obtained according to the predefined formula. The matrix indication information may indicate the matrix dimensions. In this way, the terminal device can determine the matrix indicated by the base station based on the matrix dimensions.

[0099] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, at least K columns among the (K+1) columns of the matrix are different, and each of the K columns contains only the element X k,1 and element X k,2 , or the matrix contains (K+1) rows with at least K rows being different and each of the K rows containing only the element X k,1 and element X k,2 For example, O=K+1, element X k,1 and element X k,2 are all integers, and the element X k,1 ≠ element X k,2 .

[0100] For example, the matrix can be determined by the expression shown below:

[0101] Where A is a non-zero integer. As can be seen from S, the matrix contains elements X k,1 Can be A or 0, similar to element X k,2 It can be A or 0. For example, element X k,1 When A is the element X k,2 is 0, that is, the K columns or K rows of the matrix contain only two elements, A and 0.

[0102] For example,

[0103] Element X k,1 When A is the element X k,2 is -A, that is, the K columns or K rows of the matrix contain only two elements, -A and A.

[0104] For example,

[0105] Element X k,1 When it is 0, the element X k,2 is A, that is, the K columns or K rows of the matrix contain only two elements, 0 and A.

[0106] It can be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the matrix can be the matrix shown in S above, or it can be a matrix in which S is changed through elementary rows or elementary columns.

[0107] Take A=1 and K=2 as an example. Since K=2, the matrix can be a 3*3 matrix, which contains at least two rows or two columns that are different, and these two rows or two columns only contain elements 1 and -1, or elements 1 and 0, or elements -1 and 0, such as the matrix It can be understood that the matrix S is shown only as an example to facilitate understanding of the structure of the matrix proposed in the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the matrix proposed in the embodiment of the present application.

[0108] Optionally, in the above-mentioned method of determining the matrix through S, the matrix indication information may indicate that the dimension of the matrix is ​​K, and then the terminal device may determine that the dimension of the matrix is ​​a (K+1)*(K+1) matrix.

[0109] In another possible case, the matrix indication information may indicate the dimension of the matrix and the quantized value of each element of the matrix. That is, the matrix indication information may indicate the elements of each position of the matrix. For example, the matrix indication information may indicate K+1 and O, then the terminal device may determine that the matrix is ​​a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1). For another example, the matrix indication information may indicate O and K+1, then the terminal device may determine that the matrix is ​​a matrix of O*(K+1) or (K+1)*O.

[0110] Optionally, the first few bits of the predefined matrix indication information may indicate the rows of the matrix and the last few bits may indicate the columns of the matrix, or the first few bits may indicate the columns of the matrix and the last few bits may indicate the rows of the matrix. For example, in the case where the first few bits of the predefined matrix indication information indicate the rows of the matrix and the last few bits indicate the columns of the matrix, if the matrix indication information indicates K+1 and O, then the terminal device may consider the matrix to be a (K+1)*O matrix. If the first few bits of the predefined matrix indication information indicate the columns of the matrix and the last few bits indicate the rows of the matrix, the matrix indication information indicates K+1 and O, then the terminal device may consider the matrix to be an O*(K+1) matrix.

[0111] In one scenario, the base station may generate the first information by the CU, and the base station may send the first information by the DU. The CU may send the generated first information to the DU. In another scenario, the base station may generate the first information by the CU-CP, and the base station may send the first information by the DU. The CU-CP may send the generated first information to the DU. Optionally, the DU may send the first information through the RU.

[0112] S302: The base station sends multiple downlink reference signals.

[0113] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives multiple downlink reference signals.

[0114] It can be understood that the multiple downlink reference signals received by the terminal device may include downlink reference signals received from the base station, and may also include downlink reference signals reflected by K IRSs.

[0115] In the embodiment of the present application, the weights of the K IRSs when sending downlink reference signals may be indicated by the base station. For example, the base station may send weight information to each of the K IRSs to indicate the weights of the K IRSs, and send resource indication information to the K IRSs to indicate the time-frequency resources corresponding to the weights of the K IRSs.

[0116] For example, the embodiment shown in FIG3 may further include S304 .

[0117] S304: The base station may send K pieces of first phase information and K pieces of first resource indication information to K IRSs.

[0118] Correspondingly, the K IRSs may receive K first phase information and K first resource indication information from the base station.

[0119] For example, the base station may send a first phase information and a first resource indication information to the kth IRS. It is understandable that S304 may be performed before S302.

[0120] The first phase information may indicate the M first phases of the kth IRS. The first resource indication information may indicate the M time-frequency resources corresponding to the first phase information, and the M time-frequency resources and the M first phase information. The corresponding relationship between them.

[0121] It can be understood that the corresponding relationship between time-frequency resources and weights can be understood as the kth IRS can be calculated based on the first phase And the first weight Φ kAdjust the first to send the downlink reference signal received on the corresponding time-frequency resource to the terminal device, that is, the correspondence between the time-frequency resource and the first phase can indicate the working state of the kth IRS when sending the downlink reference signal received on a certain time-frequency resource. The kth IRS can be instructed by the base station according to the first phase. Adjusting the downlink reference signal on the corresponding time-frequency resource corresponding to the corresponding reflection may be implemented with reference to the aforementioned time-frequency resource corresponding to the first weight information, which will not be described in detail here.

[0122] Similarly, for each IRS, among the multiple time-frequency resource corresponding weights, there are at least two time-frequency resource corresponding weights with a phase difference of π, which will not be described in detail here.

[0123] It should be noted that the first phase information sent by the base station to the IRS and the M time-frequency resources corresponding to the first phase information need to be the same as the first weight information sent by the base station to the terminal device and the time-frequency resources corresponding to the first weight information. Optionally, the above M weights are not all the same.

[0124] In one scenario, the base station may generate a downlink reference signal by the CU, and the base station may send the downlink reference signal by the DU. The CU may send the generated downlink reference signal to the DU. In another scenario, the base station may generate a downlink reference signal by the CU-UP, and the base station may send the downlink reference signal by the DU. The CU-UP may send the generated downlink reference signal to the DU. Optionally, the DU may send the downlink reference signal through the RU.

[0125] S303: The terminal device sends second information to the base station.

[0126] Correspondingly, the base station receives the second information from the terminal device.

[0127] The terminal device may determine the second information based on the received multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix. The matrix may indicate how the terminal device processes the multiple downlink reference signals, and the first weight information may indicate the working state of the corresponding IRS when sending the downlink reference signal.

[0128] Optionally, before sending the second information, the terminal device may further receive third information from the base station. The third information may indicate the number of weight information corresponding to the second information. Exemplarily, the number of weight information corresponding to the second information sent by the terminal device may be the same as or less than the number indicated by the third information. In one possible scenario, the second information may include a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index, that is, the weight information may be indicated by a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index.

[0129] In one scenario, the base station may receive the second information by a DU, which may send the received second information to a CU. In another scenario, the base station may receive the second information by a DU, which may send the second information to a CU-CP and a CU-UP. Optionally, the DU may receive the second information through the RU.

[0130] The following describes how the terminal device determines the second information.

[0131] Assuming that K IRSs are deployed in each sector, a terminal device will receive downlink reference signals from multiple devices, including the downlink reference signal of the direct channel directly from the base station and the downlink reference signal of the reflected channel from the base station to the IRS to the terminal device.

[0132] It should be noted that since there are K IRSs in each sector, the terminal device can receive multiple reflected channels of the sector, such as the downlink reference signal. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device does not consider the signal from the adjacent sector base station, nor does it consider the signal reflected by the adjacent sector IRS.

[0133] In the tth time-frequency resource, ideally, the signal received by the terminal device can be expressed as follows:

[0134] For each channel segment, the time when the base station sends the downlink reference signal is designed. At this time, the time interval between base station signals is short, so the channel is considered to be approximately unchanged. Therefore, the time subscript t is omitted in the description of the channel.

[0135] in, is the pilot signal, is the precoding matrix, It is the direct transmission channel from the base station to the terminal equipment. is the channel from the kth IRS to the terminal device, is the weight of the k-th IRS at the t-th time-frequency resource, is the channel from the base station to the kth IRS, where 1≤k≤K.

[0136] In the tth time-frequency resource, the base station sends the CSI-RS signal. If only the kth IRS is considered, then

[0137] For the above signal, assuming the terminal device is a single receiving antenna, then

[0138] in is the vector expression of the weight of the k-th IRS, is the channel from the kth IRS to the terminal device, w k is the precoding matrix generated by the base station according to the kth IRS.

[0139] In one possible scenario, if K is 1, that is, with a single IRS, the terminal device can eliminate interference from the base station's direct channel signal and obtain the optimal weight for this single IRS using the following method. When there is only one IRS, the terminal device receives signals from both the direct channel and the reflected channel. Analyzing the optimal IRS weight from the received signal requires eliminating interference from the direct channel.

[0140] One feasible method is to make the weights of the kth IRS in the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource be and Then we can solve the equations together and get

[0141] That is, the first phase information that the base station can send to the IRS is e j0 and e jπ (ie, the first phase information is 1 and -1 respectively), and corresponds to the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource respectively. Similarly, the first weight information sent by the base station to the terminal device is e j0 and e jπ , and correspond to the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource respectively.

[0142] Subtracting the above two equations, we can obtain the reflection channel of the kth IRS, which is recorded as

[0143] For each channel, it can be represented by the outgoing steering vector at the transmitting end and the incoming steering vector at the receiving end at various angles, that is,

[0144] Among them, β1 and β2 are the large-scale coefficients of the channels between the base station and IRS and between the IRS and the terminal device, respectively. are the outgoing steering vector and the incoming steering vector of the base station-IRS channel, respectively. j represents the jth angle. It should be noted that the above example assumes that the terminal device has a single antenna, so the input steering vector is omitted.

[0145] For the precoding matrix, let W k =a BS , β=β1β2, then we have

[0146] for The essence is an N IRS ×1 vector. For a vector, it can be represented by a complete orthogonal basis multiplied by a selection matrix, that is, in, is a complete basis matrix, is a selection vector. This equation can be understood as selecting a number of columns in A and adding them together, which can be equal to the left equation.

[0147] make Then there is

[0148] For this problem, is a vector The product of each column vector of a basis A. For each column vector of the vector basis A, its physical meaning is a set of multiple orthogonal weights of IRS.

[0149] Due to the channel sparsity caused by the increase of communication frequency band and narrowing of IRS beam, it can be considered that Δy k Only affected by the individual reflected beams of IRS, that is, it is considered to be affected by Θ t,k The impact of individual columns.

[0150] So, for The terminal device solves the optimization problem Ψ = argmin‖Ψ‖0, which minimizes the number of non-zero positions in Ψ. This yields Ψ, where Ψ contains many zero positions and a few non-zero positions. The non-zero position column index corresponds to the second information that the IRS affects the terminal device.

[0151] It should be noted that this application does not specifically limit the method for the terminal device to solve the optimization problem. The following is an exemplary method for the terminal device to solve the optimization problem. For the optimization problem Ψ = argmin ‖Ψ ‖ 0, it can be solved by the following orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm:

[0152] First, the terminal device can be initialized: B0 = {null}, l=0,r0=Δy k , K. K is the sparsity, which is indicated by the base station. Next, the terminal device can repeat the following operations until l=K.

[0153] Among them, the terminal device sets l=l+1, The terminal device determines the residual r l-1 and The subscript j corresponding to the column with the largest correlation is denoted as λ l =j. Let B0 = B0∪λ l , 6. in is Θ t,k Get the column corresponding to B0. The terminal device orders The elements in B0 correspond to the index of the optimal weight of the IRS, and the second information reports the index of the optimal weight.

[0154] For example, the orthogonal basis A may be a DFT basis, which can be expressed as follows: For an IRS array, let the number of horizontal array elements be N and the number of vertical array elements be M, then the DFT vectors u and v are respectively

[0155] Then, for the horizontal i-th and vertical j-th DFT vectors, we can obtain the (i-1)M+k-th column of matrix A, where N IRS =N*M Formula (16)

[0156] It should be noted that IRS dual polarization is not considered in the above calculation.

[0157] For example, the second information reports the index of the optimal weight as q, and the second information may also report the angle corresponding to the optimal weight. The quantitative value of . exist where ρ pre is a predefined threshold.

[0158] For example, the second information reports the index of the optimal weight as q, and the second information may also report the angle corresponding to the optimal weight. The corresponding index (h1,v1) in the predefined set of angles.

[0159] For example, the index of the weight reported in the second information, or the angle corresponding to the weight, or the number of indexes of the angles, can be determined based on the third information. For example, if the third information indicates that two weight information is reported, then the second information can be {q1, q2}, or or {(h1,v1), (h2,v2)}.

[0160] Exemplarily, the second information may be represented by a bitmap. For example, index q=16 may be represented by 00010000.

[0161] Based on the above, we have described how a terminal device determines the second information in the case of a single IRS. The following describes how a terminal device determines the second information in the case of multiple IRSs, such as K IRSs. When there are K IRSs in the network, if the reflection channel for each IRS can be obtained separately, the terminal device can obtain the optimal weight for each IRS using the same optimization problem as described for the single IRS case. Therefore, the question becomes how to use the signals from multiple IRSs to:

[0162] Get the signal of the reflection channel from the kth IRS:

[0163] The following shows how to obtain the reflected channel signal from the first IRS through multiple measurements when there are two IRSs in the network.

[0164] In the t1th time-frequency resource, let the reflection weights of IRS1 and IRS2 be Then there is

[0165] In the t2th time-frequency resource, let the reflection weights of IRS1 and IRS2 be Then there is

[0166] That is, the first weight information that the base station can send to IRS1 is And the first phase information 1, -1. The first weight information Corresponds to the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource, and the first phase information 1 and -1 correspond to the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource respectively. Similarly, the first weight information sent to IRS2 is And the first phase information 1, 1. The first weight information Corresponding to the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource, and the first phase information 1, 1 corresponds to the t1th time-frequency resource and the t2th time-frequency resource respectively. Similarly, the first weight information of IRS1 sent by the base station to the terminal device is The first weight information of IRS2 is I will not go into details here.

[0167] Then, there is

[0168] Since ΔY1 is known, the terminal device can obtain the optimal weight set I1 of IRS1 and the optimal weight set I2 of IRS2 according to the method of solving the optimization problem in the case of a single IRS, which will not be repeated here.

[0169] In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can obtain information on the optimal weights of K IRSs through the above process, that is, the second information.

[0170] In a possible implementation, in the above process, how the terminal device determines which time-frequency resource to subtract the downlink reference signal received on from which time-frequency resource to retain the signal received by an IRS can be determined based on the first weight information and the indication information of the time-frequency resource associated with the first weight information. As can be seen from S301, the first information can indicate the time-frequency resource corresponding to the first weight information. In this way, the terminal device can determine the weights used by K IRSs in each time-frequency resource based on the correspondence between the time-frequency resource and the first weight information, which are respectively recorded as Subtract the downlink reference signals received at t1 and t2 from the two time-frequency resources with a phase difference of π at the k-th IRS weight to retain the signal reflected from the k-th IRS, where the k-th IRS weight satisfies

[0171] In another possible implementation, the first weight information is used to indicate the weights of K IRSs, and the matrix can indicate the phase of the weight indicated by the first weight information. The K columns of the matrix or the K rows of the matrix can correspond one-to-one to the K phase distributions of the IRSs. For example, a row or column of the matrix can correspond to K IRSs, and the remaining row or column of the matrix can be understood as corresponding to a base station. Assuming that the element of the matrix is ​​A, the first phase can be considered to be e j0 (i.e. the phase is positive), that is, the weight of the kth IRS is When the element is -A or 0, the first phase can be considered to be e jπ (ie the phase is negative), that is, the weight of the k-th IRS is Conversely, when the element of the matrix is ​​-A, the weight of the kth IRS can be considered to be When the element is A or 0, the weight of the kth IRS is This application does not make specific limitations.

[0172] In one possible scenario, the correspondence between each row or column of the matrix and the time-frequency resources can be predefined. For example, if each column of the matrix corresponds to K IRSs and base stations, the correspondence between each row and the time-frequency resources can be predefined. For another example, if each row of the matrix corresponds to K IRSs and base stations, the correspondence between each column and the time-frequency resources can be predefined.

[0173] For example, suppose the matrix is The first row of the matrix corresponds to IRS1, the second row corresponds to the base station, and the third row corresponds to IRS2. In addition, the first column is predefined to correspond to the first time-frequency resource, the second column of the matrix corresponds to the second time-frequency resource, and so on. The weights of IRS1 and IRS2 can be indicated by the first weight information, which are respectively and From the matrix S, we can know that the weight of IRS1 on the first time-frequency resource is The phase is positive, and the weight of IRS2 is The phase is negative. Similarly, on the second time-frequency resource, the weight of IRS1 is The phase is positive, and the weight of IRS2 is The phase is positive, and on the third time-frequency resource, the weight of IRS1 is The phase is negative, and the weight of IRS2 is The phase is positive.

[0174] In this way, if the terminal device subtracts the downlink reference signal received on the first time-frequency resource from the downlink reference signal received on the second time-frequency resource, the interference from the reflected signal from IRS1 and the signal from the base station can be eliminated, and only the signal received from IRS2 can be retained. Similarly, if the interference from the reflected signal from IRS1 and the signal from the base station is eliminated, and only the signal received from IRS1 is retained, the downlink reference signal received on the third time-frequency resource can be subtracted from the downlink reference signal received on the second time-frequency resource.

[0175] In another possible scenario, the base station may send index information to the terminal device, where the index indication information indicates multiple indexes, wherein one index is associated with one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the received downlink reference signal, and the one index may correspond to a column or a row in the matrix.

[0176] For example, suppose the matrix is The first row of the matrix corresponds to IRS1, the second row corresponds to the base station, and the third row corresponds to IRS2. The first weight information can indicate the weights of IRS1 and IRS2, which are respectively and Assume that the index indication information indicates that the index is "0", corresponding to the first column of the matrix, and the index corresponds to the first time-frequency resource t1, and the index is "1" corresponding to the second column of the matrix, and the index corresponds to the second time-frequency resource t2. Then it can be considered that the weight of the downlink reference signal sent by IRS1 on the time-frequency resource t1 is The phase is positive. Similarly, the weight of IRS2 sending the downlink reference signal on the time-frequency resource t1 is The phase is negative. Similarly, on the time-frequency resource t2, the weight of IRS1 is The phase is negative, and the weight of IRS2 is The phase is positive.

[0177] In this way, if the terminal device subtracts the downlink reference signal on the first time-frequency resource from the downlink reference signal on the second time-frequency resource, it can eliminate the interference of the reflected signal from IRS1 and the signal from the base station, and only retain the signal received from IRS2.

[0178] In a possible implementation, the terminal device may further receive K first power threshold information from the base station. The first power threshold information may indicate a first power threshold. The K first power thresholds are associated with K IRSs. When the terminal device subtracts any two signals and the resulting signal power is less than the associated first power threshold, the terminal device may deem that the associated IRS has no optimal weight for the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may Afterwards, if the obtained signal power is less than the first power threshold associated with IRS1, it can be considered that IRS1 has no optimal weight for the terminal device.

[0179] That is, the first power threshold of the first IRS is denoted as ρ1.

[0180] When ρ is satisfied k ≥‖ΔY k ‖2, it is considered that IRS1 has no optimal weight for the terminal device.

[0181] Optionally, in the second information sent by the terminal device to the base station, the weight information of IRS1 can be indicated as a predetermined value, such as -1, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0182] Based on the concepts of the above embodiments, referring to Figure 4, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 400, which includes a processing unit 401 and a transceiver unit 402. The device 400 can be a communication device, or a device applied to a communication device that can support the communication device to perform a signal processing method.

[0183] The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver module, transceiver, transceiver, transceiver device, etc. The processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing unit, processing device, etc. Optionally, the device used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver unit may be considered a receiving unit. It should be understood that the transceiver unit is used to perform the sending and receiving operations of the communication device in the above method embodiments, and the device used to implement the sending function in the transceiver unit is considered a sending unit, that is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a sending unit.

[0184] In addition, it should be noted that if the device is implemented using a chip / chip circuit, the transceiver unit can be an input and output circuit and / or a communication interface, performing input operations (corresponding to the aforementioned receiving operations) and output operations (corresponding to the aforementioned sending operations); the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

[0185] The following describes in detail an implementation of applying the apparatus 400 to a terminal device and a first network device.

[0186] For example, when the apparatus 400 is applied to a terminal device, the operations performed by each unit thereof are described in detail.

[0187] In an optional embodiment, the communication device 400 can be applied to a terminal device to execute the method executed by the above-mentioned terminal device, specifically, for example, the method executed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above. The transceiver unit 402 is a transceiver unit for receiving first information from a first network device, the first information including matrix indication information and first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, K is a positive integer, wherein the matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The transceiver unit 402 is also used to receive multiple downlink reference signals, the number of multiple downlink reference signals being greater than or equal to O. Wherein, when the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding one-to-one to the K second network devices. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding one-to-one to K second network devices. Processing unit 401 is configured to determine second information based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix. Transceiver unit 402 is further configured to send the second information to the first network device.

[0188] For example, when the apparatus 400 is applied to the first network device, the operations performed by each unit thereof are described in detail.

[0189] In an optional embodiment, the communication device 400 can be applied to a first network device to execute the method executed by the above-mentioned first network device, specifically, for example, the method executed by the first network device in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above. The processing unit 401 is used to generate the first information. The transceiver unit 402 is used to send the first information to the terminal device. The first information includes matrix indication information and first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, where K is a positive integer. The matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The transceiver unit 402 is also used to send multiple downlink reference signals to the terminal device, and the number of the multiple downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to O. When the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding to the K second network devices in a one-to-one manner. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, one column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements includes K elements corresponding one-to-one to the K second network devices. The transceiver unit 402 is further configured to receive second information from the terminal device, where the second information is determined based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix.

[0190] Based on the concepts of the embodiments, as shown in FIG5 , an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 500. The communication device 500 includes a processor 510. Optionally, the communication device 500 may further include a memory 520 for storing instructions executed by the processor 510, or storing input data required by the processor 510 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 510 executes instructions. The processor 510 can implement the method shown in the above method embodiment through the instructions stored in the memory 520.

[0191] Based on the concept of the embodiment, as shown in Figure 6, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 600, which can be a chip or a chip system. Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0192] Communication device 600 may include at least one processor 610 coupled to a memory. Optionally, the memory may be located within or outside the device. For example, communication device 600 may also include at least one memory 620. Memory 620 stores the necessary computer programs, configuration information, computer programs or instructions, and / or data for implementing any of the aforementioned embodiments. Processor 610 may execute the computer programs stored in memory 620 to perform the methods of any of the aforementioned embodiments. Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor.

[0193] The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units, or modules. The processor 610 may operate in conjunction with the memory 620. The specific connection medium between the transceiver 630, the processor 610, and the memory 620 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0194] The communication device 600 may also include a transceiver 630, and the communication device 600 can exchange information with other devices through the transceiver 630. The transceiver 630 can be a circuit, a bus, a transceiver or any other device that can be used for information exchange, or is called a signal transceiver unit. As shown in Figure 6, the transceiver 630 includes a transmitter 631, a receiver 632 and an antenna 633. In addition, when the communication device 600 is a chip-type device or circuit, the transceiver in the communication device 600 can also be an input and output circuit and / or a communication interface, which can input data (or receive data) and output data (or send data). The processor is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit, and the processor can determine the output data based on the input data.

[0195] In one possible implementation, the communication device 600 can be applied to a communication device. Specifically, the communication device 600 can be a communication device or a device capable of supporting a communication device to implement the functions of the terminal device or the first network device in any of the above-mentioned embodiments. The memory 620 stores the necessary computer programs, computer programs, instructions, and / or data to implement the functions of the terminal device or the first network device in any of the above-mentioned embodiments. The processor 610 can execute the computer program stored in the memory 620 to perform the method performed by the terminal device or the first network device in any of the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0196] Since the communication device 600 provided in this embodiment can be applied to a terminal device or a first network device to implement the method performed by the terminal device or the first network device, the technical effects that can be obtained can be referred to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0197] In the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented as being executed by a hardware processor, or may be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0198] In an embodiment of the present application, the memory may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory may also be any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory in an embodiment of the present application may also be a circuit or any other device that can implement a storage function, for storing computer programs, computer programs or instructions and / or data.

[0199] Based on the above embodiments, referring to FIG7 , an embodiment of the present application also provides another communication device 700, including: an input / output interface 710 and a logic circuit 720; the input / output interface 710 is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the logic circuit 720; the logic circuit 720 is used to run code instructions to execute the method executed by the terminal device or the first network device in any of the above embodiments.

[0200] The following describes in detail the operations performed by the apparatus 700 when applied to the terminal device or the first network device.

[0201] In an optional embodiment, the communication device 700 can be applied to a terminal device to execute the method executed by the above-mentioned terminal device, specifically, for example, the method executed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above. The input and output interface 710 is used to input the first information from the first network device, the first information includes matrix indication information and the first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, K is a positive integer. The matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The input and output interface 710 is also used to input multiple downlink reference signals. Each row of the matrix corresponds to one of the multiple downlink reference signals, and the element X in each column corresponds to one of the multiple downlink reference signals. k,1 and element X k,2corresponds to K second network devices, or each column of the matrix corresponds to one of the multiple downlink reference signals, and the element X in each row k,1 and element X k,2 Corresponding to K second network devices. The logic circuit 720 is configured to determine the second information based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix. The input / output interface 710 is further configured to output the second information to the first network device.

[0202] In an optional embodiment, the communication device 700 can be applied to a first network device to execute the method executed by the above-mentioned first network device, specifically, for example, the method executed by the first network device in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above. The logic circuit 720 is used to generate the first information. The input and output interface 710 is used to output the first information to the terminal device. The first information includes matrix indication information and first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, where K is a positive integer. The matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1. The input and output interface 710 is further used to output multiple downlink reference signals to the terminal device, and the number of the multiple downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to O. When the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each row of (K+1) elements contains K elements corresponding to the K second network devices in a one-to-one manner. Alternatively, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, one column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and each column of (K+1) elements includes K elements corresponding one-to-one to K second network devices. Input / output interface 710 is further configured to input second information from the terminal device, where the second information is determined based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information, and the matrix.

[0203] Since the communication device 700 provided in this embodiment can be applied to a terminal device or a first network device to execute the method executed by the terminal device or the first network device, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0204] Based on the above embodiments, the present application also provides a communication system, which includes at least one terminal device and at least one first network device. The technical effects that can be obtained can be referred to the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0205] Based on the above embodiments, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions. When the instructions are executed, the method performed by the communication device in any of the above embodiments is implemented. The computer-readable storage medium may include any medium capable of storing program code, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard drive, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0206] To implement the functions of the communication devices shown in Figures 4 to 7 above, embodiments of the present application further provide a chip including a processor for supporting the communication device in implementing the functions of the terminal device or first network device in the above method embodiments. In one possible design, the chip is connected to or includes a memory, and the memory is used to store computer programs, instructions, and data necessary for the terminal device or first network device.

[0207] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0208] The present application is described with reference to the flow chart and / or block diagram of the method, device (system) and computer program product according to the embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that each flow process and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram and the combination of the flow process and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram can be realized by a computer program or instruction. These computer programs or instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processing machine or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for realizing the function specified in one flow chart flow or multiple flows and / or one box or multiple boxes of the block diagram.

[0209] These computer programs or instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a manufactured product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0210] These computer programs or instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0211] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A beam management method, characterized in that: include: Receive first information from a first network device, wherein the first information includes matrix indication information and first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, where K is a positive integer; wherein the matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), and the rank of the matrix is ​​K+1, where O≥K+1; receiving a plurality of downlink reference signals, the number of the plurality of downlink reference signals being greater than or equal to O; wherein, when the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the plurality of downlink reference signals, and the K elements contained in the (K+1) elements in each row correspond one-to-one to the K second network devices; or, when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the plurality of downlink reference signals, and the K elements contained in the (K+1) elements in each column correspond one-to-one to the K second network devices; Sending second information to the first network device, where the second information is determined according to the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The matrix indication information includes at least one of the following: the dimension of the matrix, the quantized value of each element of the matrix; At least one of a dimension of the matrix and a quantized value of each element of the matrix is ​​used to determine the matrix.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that: Also includes: Receive third information from the first network device, where the third information is used to indicate the number of weight information corresponding to the second information, and the weight information includes a weight index, an angle quantization value, or an angle index.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The first weight information includes the array information of the corresponding second network device, and at least one of the following: L basis index information of the corresponding second network device, L amplitude coefficients of the corresponding second network device, and L phase coefficients of the corresponding second network device, where L is a positive integer; the L basis index information, L amplitude coefficients, and L phase coefficients are associated with the array information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: Also includes: Receiving K first power threshold information from the first network device; The second information is determined based on the K first power threshold information, the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix, and the K first power threshold information is used to determine whether the second information contains a preset value.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: Before sending the second information to the first network device, the method further includes: Receive index indication information from the first network device, where the index indication information indicates multiple indexes; wherein one index indicates a corresponding relationship, and the one corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals and a row or column of the matrix.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The matrix indication information indicates a dimension K, and the matrix satisfies the following S, or the S is transformed into an elementary row or elementary column form, where A is a non-zero integer:

8. A beam management method, characterized in that: include: Sending first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information includes matrix indication information and first weight information of each second network device in K second network devices, where K is a positive integer; wherein the matrix indication information indicates a matrix of (K+1)*O or O*(K+1), and the matrix rank is K+1, and O≥K+1; Sending multiple downlink reference signals to the terminal device; When the matrix indication information indicates an O*(K+1) matrix, a row of the O*(K+1) matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the K elements included in the (K+1) elements in each row correspond to the K second network devices one-to-one, or when the matrix indication information indicates a (K+1)*O matrix, a column of the (K+1)*O matrix corresponds to one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals, and the K elements included in the (K+1) elements in each column correspond to the K second network devices one-to-one; Receive second information from the terminal device, where the second information is determined based on the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The indication information includes at least one of the following: the dimension of the matrix, the quantized value of each element of the matrix; At least one of a dimension of the matrix and a quantized value of each element of the matrix is ​​used to determine the matrix.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: Also includes: Send third information to the terminal device, where the third information is used to indicate the number of weight information corresponding to the second information, and the weight information includes a weight index, an angle quantization value or an angle index.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that: The first weight information includes the array information of the corresponding second network device, and at least one of the following: L basis index information of the corresponding second network device, L amplitude coefficients of the corresponding second network device, and L phase coefficients of the corresponding second network device, where L is a positive integer; the L basis index information, L amplitude coefficients, and L phase coefficients are associated with the array information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that: Also includes: Sending K first power threshold information to the terminal device; The second information is determined based on the K first power threshold information, the multiple downlink reference signals, the first weight information and the matrix, and the K first power threshold information is used to determine whether the second information contains a preset value.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that: Before receiving the second information, the method further includes: Index indication information is sent to the terminal device, wherein the index indication information indicates multiple indexes; wherein one index indicates a corresponding relationship, and the one corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between one of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the multiple downlink reference signals and a row or column of the matrix.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that: Also includes: Sending first phase information and first resource indication information to the kth second network device, wherein the first phase information indicates M first phases The first resource indication information is used to indicate the M time-frequency resources corresponding to the first phase information, and the M time-frequency resources and the M first phase The corresponding relationship between the M first phases Not all the same; The k ranges from 1 to K, and M is a positive integer.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that Among the M first phases, there are at least two first phases whose phase difference is π.

16. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 15, characterized in that: The matrix indication information indicates a dimension K, and the matrix satisfies the following S, or the S is transformed into an elementary row or elementary column form, where A is a non-zero integer:

17. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or comprises a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 16.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: include: Processor and memory; The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; The processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction in the memory, so that the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or the device executes the method according to any one of claims 8 to 16.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, which, when called by an electronic device, enable the electronic device to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, or enable the electronic device to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 16.

20. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

21. A chip system, characterized in that: The chip system comprises: Communication interface; A processor is used to call and run the instruction through the communication interface, so that the device equipped with the chip system executes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7, or the device equipped with the chip system executes the method as described in any one of claims 8 to 16.

22. A communication system, characterized in that: A communication device comprising a method for executing any one of claims 1 to 7, A communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 16 and K second network devices, K being a positive integer.

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