Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications. Provided are a communication method and apparatus. In the method, a first communication apparatus can determine that the configurations of antennas of a device (e.g., an access network device) need to be updated from a first configuration to a second configuration, determine antennas that need to be deactivated and / or antennas that need to be activated for the update, and give an instruction to deactivate and / or activate the corresponding antennas, thereby flexibly updating the configurations of the antennas of the access network device. As it is not necessary to replace hardware of the access network device, the process of updating the configurations of the antennas can be simplified.

Description

Communication 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 China on September 28, 2023, with application number 202311284929.7 and application name “A Communication 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 communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology is a key breakthrough in wireless communications, crucial for improving system capacity and perceived uplink and downlink rates. MIMO leverages technologies such as receive diversity, beamforming, and spatial division multiplexing to achieve multiplexing gain, diversity gain, interference cancellation gain, and array gain, ultimately doubling system spectral efficiency and capacity, meeting the ever-increasing transmission rate and quality demands of wireless air interfaces. With the continuous advancement of MIMO technology, the number of antennas compatible with MIMO is also increasing.

[0005] Currently, if a device's antenna needs to be replaced, staff must locate the device, manually remove the original antenna, install the new one, and repeatedly test the replaced antenna until it communicates successfully. This makes the process of replacing a device's antenna rather cumbersome.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for simplifying the process of updating the antenna of a device.

[0008] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. The method is performed by a first communication device, which may be an access network device, a software module in the access network device, or a hardware module (such as a baseband unit, a baseband chip, or a baseband board). The method includes: determining that the antenna form needs to be updated from a first form to a second form, wherein at least one of the coverage range, direction, and strength of the beam of the antenna in the first form is different from that in the second form; determining M antennas to be turned off and / or N antennas to be turned on in X TRPs, where N and M are both positive integers, wherein the first communication device is deployed to communicate with the X transmitting and receiving points TRPs, and X is an integer greater than 1; sending a first indication message to each TRP in at least one of the X TRPs, the first indication message indicating to turn off the antennas belonging to the M antennas in each TRP, and / or turn on the antennas belonging to the N antennas in each TRP, wherein the second form is formed by turning off the M antennas and / or the N antennas in the first form.

[0009] It should be understood that the X TRPs may be TRPs deployed in a device corresponding to the first communication device (which may be the device where the first communication device is located, specifically, for example, an access network device). These X TRPs may include antennas included in the access network device. It can also be further understood that the access network device may have a maximum of X TRPs in an enabled state. A TRP refers to a unit capable of transmitting and receiving information. A TRP may be an AAU and / or an antenna array, etc., which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. The antenna form refers to the form of the antenna of the access network device. The antenna in the first form may also be referred to as the antenna included in the first form, or the antenna included in the first form, or the antenna corresponding to the first form. It can be understood that the antenna of the access network device is in the first form and the antenna is enabled in the access network device. The number of antennas in the first form and the number of antennas in the second form may be the same or different, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The first form can be considered as the antenna form of the access network device before the access network device is updated, and the second form can be considered as the antenna form of the access network device after the access network device is updated. In this embodiment of the present application, the antennas in the first form are distributed in L TRPs, and the antennas in the second form are distributed in K TRPs as an example, where L and K are both positive integers.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present application, when the first communication device determines that the antenna configuration needs to be updated, it can instruct to shut down some antennas deployed on the access network device and / or turn on some or all antennas of the access network device, so that the antenna configuration of the access network device can be updated in a timely manner. Since there is no need to manually replace the antenna of the access network device, the process of updating the antenna of the access network device is simplified and the process of updating the antenna of the access network device is reduced. In addition, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to updating antennas of any configuration in the access network device, for example, it can be applied to updating the antenna configuration of the access network device under MIMO technology, that is, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application has good applicability.

[0011] In one possible implementation, two methods are provided for determining whether an antenna configuration needs to be updated from a first configuration to a second configuration, specifically Method 1 and Method 2 below. In Method 1, a first communications device receives second indication information from a core network, thereby determining that the antenna configuration needs to be updated to the second configuration. In Method 2, the first communications device may determine, based on the communication quality of the first communications device and / or information about the user being served, that the antenna configuration needs to be updated from the first configuration to the second configuration.

[0012] In the above-mentioned embodiment, under mode 1, the first communication device can update the antenna shape based on the instructions of the core network, which can reduce the processing volume of the first communication device. Under mode 2, the first communication device can determine the need to update the antenna shape based on its own communication quality and / or information of the users it serves. This allows the updated antenna shape to relatively improve the communication quality of the first communication device and / or better provide services to users. In short, it is beneficial to improve the communication conditions of the access network equipment.

[0013] In one possible embodiment, the communication quality includes communication interference of the first communication device; when the communication interference of the first communication device is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the number of antennas in the second form is greater than the number of antennas in the first form; or, when the communication interference of the first communication device is less than a second threshold, the number of antennas in the second form is less than the number of antennas included in the first form; wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

[0014] In the above embodiment, if the communication interference to the first communication device is significant, the first communication device may increase the number of antennas accordingly, thereby enhancing the communication performance of the access network device and reducing the impact of the communication interference. Alternatively, if the communication interference to the first communication device is minimal, the first communication device may reduce the number of antennas. This allows fewer antennas to be used while maintaining the communication quality of the first communication device, thereby saving energy consumption on the access network device.

[0015] In one possible embodiment, the information of the users served includes the number of users served; when the number of users served by the first communication device is greater than or equal to a third threshold, the number of antennas included in the second form is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form; or, when the number of users served by the first communication device is less than a fourth threshold, the number of antennas in the second form is less than the number of antennas included in the first form; wherein the third threshold is greater than the fourth threshold.

[0016] In the above embodiment, if the first communication device serves a large number of users, the first communication device may increase the number of antennas accordingly, thereby providing higher-quality service to these users. Alternatively, if the first communication device serves a small number of users, the first communication device may reduce the number of antennas, thereby saving energy consumption on the access network equipment while maintaining the communication quality of the first communication device.

[0017] In a possible implementation manner, the N antennas are distributed in one TRP of the X TRPs; or, the N antennas are distributed in at least two TRPs of the X TRPs.

[0018] In the above embodiment, the N antennas to be turned on can be distributed on one or at least two TRPs among the X TRPs, which means that the updated antenna form can flexibly turn on the antennas on one or more TRPs among the X TRPs, making the updated antenna form more flexible.

[0019] In one possible embodiment, the antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, the L TRPs belong to the X TRPs, and L is a positive integer; the M antennas are distributed in one TRP of the L TRPs; or, the M antennas are distributed in at least two TRPs of the L TRPs.

[0020] In the above embodiment, the M antennas that need to be turned off can be distributed on one or at least two TRPs among the L TRPs, which means that the updated antenna form can flexibly turn off the antennas on one or more TRPs among the L TRPs, which is conducive to improving the flexibility of the updated antenna form.

[0021] In one possible implementation, the antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, the L TRPs belong to the X TRPs, and L is a positive integer; the L TRPs are deployed at different geographical locations; or, the L TRPs are deployed at the same site.

[0022] In the above embodiment, the first form can be multiple types of antenna forms, such as a distributed MIMO form, in which case L TRPs can be deployed at different geographical locations, or a co-site MIMO form, in which case L TRPs can be co-sited. Since the first form is the form of the antenna before the access network equipment is updated, the above embodiment enriches the form of the first form. In addition, the above embodiment can support updates to the forms of multiple types of antennas, making the applicability of this embodiment better.

[0023] In one possible embodiment, the antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, the L TRPs belong to the X TRPs, and L is a positive integer; any two of the L TRPs include the same number of antennas; or, at least two of the L TRPs include a different number of antennas.

[0024] It should be understood that, for example, when the first form is distributed MIMO or co-site MIMO, the antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, and the number of antennas included in any two TRPs in these L TRPs can be different or the same, enriching the specific content of the first form.

[0025] In one possible embodiment, the antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, and the antennas in the second form are distributed on K TRPs, the L TRPs and the K TRPs both belong to the X TRPs, and L and K are positive integers; after sending the first indication information to each TRP in at least one of the X TRPs, the method further includes one of the following: sending a weighting coefficient of the antenna in any TRP in the K TRPs; or, sending an index corresponding to each TRP in the K TRPs and a weighting coefficient of the antenna in each TRP in the K TRPs to the K TRPs respectively; wherein the weighting coefficient is used to constrain at least one of the coverage range, direction and strength of the antenna beam.

[0026] In the above embodiment, after updating the antenna shape, the weighting coefficients of the antennas in the corresponding TRPs can be indicated to the K TRPs. The first communication device can indicate the weighting coefficients of the corresponding antennas to the K TRPs respectively, so that a certain TRP can directly receive the weighting coefficients of the antennas corresponding to the TRP, or the first communication device can send the weighting coefficients of the antennas in the K TRPs and the weighting coefficients of the corresponding TRPs to all K TRPs. The first communication device does not need to generate corresponding information for the K TRPs respectively, which can help reduce the processing volume of the first communication device.

[0027] In one possible embodiment, K first signals corresponding to the K TRPs are obtained, wherein each of the K first signals is a first reference signal or an intermediate parameter received by any TRP in the K TRPs, and the intermediate parameter is determined based on the first reference signal received by any TRP; based on the K first signals, the weighting coefficients of the antennas in the K TRPs are determined.

[0028] It should be understood that the K first signals may all be K first reference signals. Alternatively, the K first signals may all be K intermediate parameters. Alternatively, the K first signals may partially be first reference signals corresponding to a portion of the K TRPs, or may be intermediate parameters corresponding to another portion of the K TRPs. The intermediate parameters of any one of the K TRPs may be, for example, the channel matrix corresponding to the any one TRP, or the result of SVD decomposition of the channel matrix of the any one TRP.

[0029] In the above embodiment, the K first signals can be implemented in a variety of ways, such as K first reference signals, or intermediate parameters corresponding to the K TRPs, or based on the first reference signals of some of the K TRPs and the intermediate parameters corresponding to another portion of the TRPs, thereby enriching the content of the first signal and determining the weighting coefficients of the antennas in the K TRPs based on the K first signals, providing a variety of ways to determine the weighting coefficients of the antennas. Furthermore, by jointly solving the first signals of the K TRPs, the weighted implementation of the determined antennas in the K TRPs can achieve the joint gain of the K TRPs.

[0030] In one possible embodiment, after determining the weighting coefficients of the K TRP antennas, the method further includes: adjusting the weighting coefficient of any TRP antenna based on the expected communication quality parameters of the antenna in any TRP and the actual communication quality parameters of the antenna in any TRP.

[0031] It should be understood that the communication quality parameters expected by the antenna in any TRP may be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device, for example, may be configured in the first communication device through a protocol, or may be received by the first communication device from the core network, without limitation. The communication quality parameters may, for example, indicate the delay and / or signal strength of any TRP.

[0032] In the above embodiment, the first communication device can adjust the value of the weighting coefficient of the antenna in any TRP based on the communication quality parameters of the antenna in any TRP, so that the adjusted weighting coefficient of the antenna can meet the communication quality parameters of the antenna.

[0033] In one possible embodiment, the antennas in the second form are distributed on K TRPs, and the K TRPs all belong to the X TRPs, where K is a positive integer; the method further includes: receiving channel calibration parameters of the antennas in any TRP of the K TRPs; wherein the channel calibration parameters of any TRP include physical parameters and / or transmission parameters of the antennas in any TRP, and are used to calibrate the antennas in any TRP.

[0034] In the above embodiment, the first communication device does not need to calculate the channel calibration parameters of the antenna of any TRP, which can reduce the calculation amount of the first communication device.

[0035] In one possible embodiment, the antennas in the second form are distributed on K TRPs, and the K TRPs all belong to the X TRPs, where K is a positive integer; the method further includes: measuring a second reference signal from any TRP of the K TRPs to determine the transmission parameters of the antenna in any TRP; and sending the transmission parameters of the antenna in any TRP to the any TRP, where the transmission parameters of the antenna in any TRP are used to calibrate the antenna in any TRP.

[0036] In the above embodiment, the first communication device can measure the K second reference signals corresponding to the K TRPs to determine the transmission parameters of the antennas in these K TRPs, providing another way to determine the transmission parameters of the antennas in the K TRPs.

[0037] In one possible implementation, the transmission parameter of the antenna in any TRP indicates one of the following: at least one of the delay, phase, or amplitude of the antenna in any TRP; or at least one of the delay difference, phase difference, or amplitude difference between one antenna in any TRP and another antenna. In the above implementation, multiple implementation forms of the transmission parameters are provided.

[0038] In one possible implementation, the physical parameters of the antennas in any TRP include: the number of antennas in the on state; the arrangement of the antennas in the on state; or the type of antennas in the on state. In the above implementation, the implementation form of the physical parameters is provided.

[0039] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the first communication device in the first aspect above, or a software module or hardware module (such as a baseband chip) in the first communication device, or a larger device including the first communication device. The communication device includes corresponding means (means) or modules for executing the first aspect or any possible implementation method above. For example, the communication device includes a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit), and a transceiver module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver unit).

[0040] For example, a processing module is used to determine that the antenna form needs to be updated from a first form to a second form, and to determine M antennas that need to be turned off and / or N antennas that need to be turned on in X TRPs, where N and M are both positive integers; and a transceiver module is used to send first indication information to each TRP in at least one TRP among the X TRPs.

[0041] The communication device can also be used to implement any possible implementation of the first aspect above, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0042] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement a method as described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0043] In the specific implementation process, the communication device can be a chip, and the processor can be a transistor, a gate circuit, a trigger, and various logic circuits, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation method of the processor.

[0044] In one implementation, the communication device may be a wireless communication device, that is, a computer device that supports wireless communication functions. Specifically, the wireless communication device may be a terminal such as a smartphone, or a wireless access network device such as a base station. The system chip may also be referred to as a system on chip (SoC), or simply as an SoC chip. The communication chip may include a baseband processing chip and a radio frequency processing chip. The baseband processing chip is sometimes also referred to as a modem or baseband chip. The radio frequency processing chip is sometimes also referred to as a radio frequency transceiver or radio frequency chip. In a physical implementation, some or all of the chips in the communication chip may be integrated inside the SoC chip. For example, the baseband processing chip is integrated into the SoC chip, and the radio frequency processing chip is not integrated with the SoC chip. The interface circuit may be the radio frequency processing chip in the wireless communication device, and the processor may be the baseband processing chip in the wireless communication device.

[0045] In another implementation, the communication device may be a component of a wireless communication device, such as an integrated circuit product such as a system-on-chip (SoC) or a communication chip. The interface circuit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip or chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0046] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store one or more computer programs, and the one or more computer programs include computer execution instructions. When the communication device is running, the processor executes the one or more computer programs stored in the memory, so that the communication device performs a communication method as described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method.

[0047] Optionally, the communication device further includes other components, such as an antenna, an input / output module, an interface, etc. These components may be hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0048] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, comprising: a processor and an interface. The processor is configured to call and execute instructions from the interface, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication method of any one of the above-mentioned first aspect and possible implementation methods is implemented.

[0049] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store computer programs or instructions, and when it is executed, implements the communication method of the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method.

[0050] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, implements the communication method of the first aspect and any of the possible implementation methods described above.

[0051] Regarding the beneficial effects of any technical solution in the second to seventh aspects above, reference can be made to the beneficial effects discussion of the corresponding technical solution in the first aspect, and the repeated parts will not be listed here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication system applicable to the embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG5A is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG5B is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a TRP provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a first form and a second form provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of another first form and a second form provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of another first form and second form provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of a method for determining an antenna weighting coefficient provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of a method for calibrating an antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG14 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG15 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0070] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0071] As discussed in the background art, updating the antenna of a device requires manual hardware replacement of the antenna of the device, which results in a cumbersome process for updating the antenna of the device.

[0072] To this end, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, in which if the antenna shape (or simply referred to as antenna shape) of a device (such as an access network device) needs to be updated from one (or type of) shape (such as a first shape) to another shape (such as a second shape), then the first communication device can determine the M antennas that need to be turned off and / or the N antennas that need to be turned on, thereby instructing to turn off the N antennas and / or turn off the M antennas, so that the shape of the antenna of the access network device is updated from the first shape to the second shape, thereby realizing the update of the shape of the antenna of the access network device. In this method, the first communication device can flexibly turn on and / or turn off the antenna to realize the update of the antenna shape of the access network device, without the need to replace the antenna of the device in hardware, thereby simplifying the process of updating the antenna of the device. Moreover, this method is applicable to the update of various types of antenna shapes, for example, it can be applied to the update of the antenna shape under MIMO technology. In other words, the method has good universality.

[0073] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems (or networks), such as: fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, wireless local area networks (WLAN) systems, satellite communication systems, future communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems, or a fusion system of multiple systems. The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems.

[0074] For example, please refer to Figure 1, which is a structural diagram of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes at least one terminal device, at least one network device and a core network. In Figure 1, the number of terminal devices and access network devices is 1 as an example, and the number of terminal devices and core network devices is not actually limited. Any terminal device in at least one terminal device interacts with part or all of the signals in at least one core network device. The signals may include information, signaling or data, etc. The device may also be replaced by a network element, an entity, a network entity, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node or a communication device, etc. The embodiment of the present application is described by taking the device as an example. It can be understood that the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application can be replaced by a first network element or a first communication device, and the core network device can be replaced by a second network element or a second communication device.

[0075] The following is an example of possible implementation methods for terminal devices and core network devices.

[0076] 1. A terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0077] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with a wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminals are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). The terminal equipment in the network (PLMN), etc., is not limited to this in the embodiments of the present application.

[0078] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be called wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0079] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the embodiments of the present application, only the terminal device is used as an example for description, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0080] 2. An access network device may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, such as an access network device or a wireless access network device. For example, the access network device may be a base station. The access network device in the embodiments of the present application may be, for example, a radio access network (RAN) device (or node) that connects the terminal device to a wireless network. A base station may broadly cover various names as follows, or replace the following names, such as: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master station, secondary station, multi-standard radio (motor slide retainer, MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), radio unit (RU), positioning node, etc. A base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or a combination thereof. The base station may also refer to a communication module, modem or chip used to be set in the aforementioned equipment or device. The base station may also be a mobile switching center and a device that performs the base station function in D2D, V2X, and M2M communications, a network side device in a 6G network, a device that performs the base station function in future communication systems, etc. The base station can support networks with the same or different access technologies. Optionally, the RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an on-board device, etc. For example, the access network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the core network equipment.

[0081] In some deployments, the access network device mentioned in the embodiments of this application may include a CU, a DU, or both a CU and a DU, or a control plane CU node (centralized unit control plane (CU-CP) node, centralized unit user plane (CU-UP) node) and a DU node. For example, the access network device may include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, and a gNB-DU.

[0082] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functionality. For example, a RAN node can be a CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, or RU. The CU and DU can be separate or included in the same network element, such as the BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio unit, such as an RRU, AAU, or RRH.

[0083] The RAN node may support one or more types of fronthaul interfaces, with different fronthaul interfaces corresponding to DUs and RUs with different functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is a common public radio interface (CPRI), the DU is configured to implement one or more baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement one or more radio frequency functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is another type of interface, relative to the CPRI, some of the downlink and / or uplink baseband functions, such as precoding, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) for downlink, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation; and for uplink, one or more of digital beamforming (BF), or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) removal, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation. In one possible implementation, the interface may be an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI). In the eCPRI architecture, the division between the DU and RU is different, corresponding to different types (category, Cat) of eCPRI, such as eCPRI Cat A, B, C, D, E, and F.

[0084] Taking eCPRI Cat A as an example, for downlink transmission, based on layer mapping, the DU is configured to implement layer mapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping). Other functions after layer mapping (e.g., RE mapping, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) addition) are moved to the RU for implementation. For uplink transmission, based on RE demapping, the DU is configured to implement demapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of decoding, rate matching, descrambling, demodulation, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), channel equalization, and RE demapping). Other functions after demapping (e.g., one or more of digital BF or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / CP removal) are moved to the RU for implementation. It is understandable that for the functional description of DU and RU corresponding to various types of eCPRI, reference can be made to the eCPRI protocol, which will not be described in detail here.

[0085] In one possible design, the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the BBU is called a baseband high layer (BBH) unit, and the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the RRU / AAU / RRH is called a baseband low layer (BBL) unit.

[0086] 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. 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.

[0087] Terminal equipment can access the core network through access network equipment. The core network may include one or more core network devices (or network elements or functions).

[0088] The access network equipment and / or terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on the water surface; they can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and satellites in the air. In the embodiments of the present application, there is no limitation on the scenarios in which the access network equipment and terminal equipment are located. In addition, the terminal equipment and access network equipment can be hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, software functions running on general hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform), or entities including dedicated or general hardware devices and software functions. The present application does not limit the specific form of the terminal equipment and access network equipment.

[0089] In the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the functions of an access network device may be an access network device, or an access network system composed of one or more access network devices; or a device capable of supporting the access network device in implementing the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The apparatus may be installed in the access network device or used in conjunction with the access network device. In the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the functions of an access network device is described as an access network device, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0090] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the devices in the communication system are connected through interfaces (such as NG, Xn) or air interfaces. Figure 2 illustrates core network equipment, access network equipment (such as RAN equipment), terminal equipment or operation, management and maintenance (OAM), etc. The access network equipment involved in Figure 2 is, for example, the access network equipment shown in Figure 1. Unlike Figure 1, Figure 2 also illustrates a schematic diagram of the structure of the access network equipment.

[0091] The access network device can serve as a separate RAN node or include multiple RAN nodes, for example, a CU and a DU. Optionally, the CU can also be split into a CU-CP and a CU-UP. At least one of the access network device, core network device, CU in the access network device, DU in the access network device, CU-CP in the access network device, or CU-UP in the access network device involved in Figure 2 can be regarded as an example of the network device involved in Figure 1.

[0092] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG3 , the communication system includes a RAN intelligent controller (RIC). The RIC includes a near-real time RIC (near-real time RIC, near-RT RIC) and a non-real time RIC (non-real time RIC, Non-RT RIC). The non-real time RIC mainly processes non-real-time information, such as data that is not sensitive to time delay, and the delay of the data can be in the order of seconds. The real-time RIC mainly processes near-real-time information, such as data that is relatively sensitive to time delay, and the delay of the data is in the order of tens of milliseconds. Optionally, the near-real time RIC and the non-real-time RIC can also be set up separately as a network element.

[0093] The near real-time RIC can obtain network-side and / or terminal device information from access network devices (eg, at least one of CU, DU, and RU) and / or terminal devices. The access network devices involved in FIG3 are, for example, the access network devices involved in FIG1.

[0094] Optionally, the near-real-time RIC can process this information and send the results to the RAN node and / or terminal device. Optionally, the processing results can be exchanged between the CU and DU, and / or between the DU and RU. For example, the near-real-time RIC can submit the processing results to the DU, which then sends them to the RU.

[0095] The non-real-time RIC can obtain network-side and / or terminal-side information from the wireless access device (e.g., at least one of the CU, DU, and RU) and / or the terminal device. Optionally, the non-real-time RIC can also process this information and send the processing results to the RAN node and / or the terminal device. Optionally, the processing results can be exchanged between the CU and DU, and / or between the DU and RU. For example, the non-real-time RIC can submit the processing results to the DU, which then sends them to the RU.

[0096] The near-real-time RIC and non-real-time RIC can also be set up as separate network elements. Optionally, the near-real-time RIC and non-real-time RIC can also be part of other devices. For example, the near-real-time RIC is set up in access network equipment (e.g., CU, DU), while the non-real-time RIC is set up in OAM, cloud server, core network equipment, or other network equipment.

[0097] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. Compared with Figure 3, Figure 4 separates the CU into CU-CP and CU-UP.

[0098] Please refer to Figure 5A, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of an access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 5A, the access network device includes a first communication device and X TRPs (specifically TRP1, TRP2...TRPX as shown in Figure 5A) that communicate with the first communication device. X is an integer greater than 1. Unless otherwise specified, the device involved in the embodiment of the present application can be one or more hardware devices, software modules in hardware devices, or hardware modules (such as chips) in hardware devices.

[0099] The first communication device may be, for example, at least one of CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP and RIC. CU may be, for example, the CU involved in any one of Figures 2 to 4, DU may be, for example, the DU involved in any one of Figures 2 to 4, CU-CP may be, for example, the CU-CP involved in Figure 4, CU-UP may be, for example, the CU-UP involved in Figure 4 above, and RIC may be, for example, the RIC involved in Figure 4. Alternatively, the first communication device may be, for example, a BBU, a baseband board (or baseband processing board), a baseband chip or a main control chip, etc. A baseband unit may be deployed with one or more baseband boards, and a baseband processing board may be deployed with a main control chip and one or more baseband chips.

[0100] Optionally, when the first communication device is a BBU and one of the X TRPs is an AAU, the first communication device communicates with the TRP through a fronthaul interface.

[0101] One TRP among X TRPs refers to a unit that can independently realize information transmission and reception. One of the TRPs can be understood as an independent transceiver unit or antenna unit in the access network device. A TRP can be, for example, a macro cell, a small cell, a micro cell, a femto cell, a remote radio head (RRH), an RRU+antenna (referring to an antenna communicating with the RRU), a relay node, an active antenna unit (AAU) or an antenna array, etc. A TRP in the embodiment of the present application may include (or distribute, or configure) one or more antennas. An antenna may include one or more antenna elements (or simply referred to as elements).

[0102] Optionally, any two of the X TRPs include the same number of antennas. Alternatively, at least two of the X TRPs include different numbers of antennas. The different numbers of antennas included in at least two of the X TRPs include any two of the X TRPs including different numbers of antennas, or any two of some of the X TRPs include the same number of antennas, while any two of the other TRPs include different numbers of antennas.

[0103] It should be understood that the X TRPs included in the access network device can be understood as TRPs deployed on the access network device, or can be understood as X TRPs deployed and capable of communicating with the first communication device. However, since the antennas in the access network device can be flexibly turned off or on in the embodiment of the present application, the number of TRPs in the access network device that are in the on state can actually be arbitrary. For example, the TRPs in the access network device that are in the on state can be some or all of the X TRPs, and the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this. Among them, the TRP in the on state can be understood as the presence of at least one antenna in the on state on the TRP, or it can be described as the antennas included in the TRP are not all in the off state. It should be understood that any two TRPs in the X TRPs can be provided by the same manufacturer or by different manufacturers, and the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this. The types of antennas included in any two TRPs in the X TRPs can be the same or different. For example, the X TRPs include TRP1 and TRPX, the antennas included in TRP1 are all AAUs, and the antennas included in TRPX are all RRU+s. The types of multiple antennas included in one TRP may also be the same or different. For example, XTRP includes TRP1, TRP1 includes antenna 1 and antenna 2, antenna 1 may be AAU, and antenna 2 may be RRU+.

[0104] Please refer to Figure 5B, which is another schematic diagram of the structure of an access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The access network device includes a BBU and an RRU / AAU. The BBU may be included in the first communication device of Figure 5A, and the RRU / AAU may be considered as an example of the antenna in Figure 5B.

[0105] The BBU can be considered a control network element, which can support functions above the interface based on the eCPRI protocol (for example, functions above the physical layer (physical payer-high, PHY-high), specifically including the radio resource control layer (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer, radio link control (radio link control, RLC), media access control address (media access control address, MAC) and PHY-High layer functions). Specifically, the BBU can implement functions such as encoding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation and layer mapping, as well as decoding, descrambling, inverse Fourier transform (inverse discrete Fourier transform, IDFT) and channel estimation / equalization.

[0106] The RRU / AAU can be considered as an execution network element, which can support functions below the interface based on the CPRI protocol (for example, functions below the radio frequency function). The RRU / AAU may include a radio unit (RU), which may include an RF and an antenna.

[0107] The RRU / AAU and BBU can communicate via an intermediate network element, which can provide various low-level physical layer (PHY-Low) functions (e.g., precoding, resource element (RE) mapping, RE inverse mapping, etc.). The intermediate network element is not specifically illustrated in FIG5B . Optionally, the intermediate network element can also be included in the first communication device of FIG5A . In other words, the BBU and intermediate network element in FIG5B are both examples of the first communication device.

[0108] Specifically, control network elements can be divided into non-real-time control network elements and real-time control network elements. A non-real-time control network element can be connected to at least one real-time control network element, which can be connected to at least one execution network element. Optionally, an execution network element can also be connected to another execution network element. A non-real-time control network element is a network element in a base station system that performs non-real-time control processing and is used to configure commands or parameters used in the real-time control processing for the real-time control network element and / or the execution network element. Specifically, the non-real-time control network element can be a network element that supports non-real-time wireless high-layer protocol stack functions.

[0109] Exemplarily, the real-time control network element may be a distributed unit (DU), or the real-time control network element may be a real-time control unit that is independent of the DU in conventional technology and capable of implementing the functions of the real-time control network element, or a network element implemented by combining the DU in conventional technology and the real-time control unit. Furthermore, the real-time control network element may be a BBU.

[0110] In addition, the execution network element is a network element that executes real-time control services in the base station system. The execution network element can receive real-time control information from the real-time control network element, and then perform corresponding real-time control service processing based on the aforementioned real-time control information. Specifically, the execution network element can be a network element that processes services related to wireless signals (for example, intermediate frequency signals, radio frequency signals, etc.). For example, RU, RRU, RRH. The execution network element can also be an antenna device connected to the network element that processes the aforementioned radio frequency-related services, for example, an antenna line device (ALD) (also known as an antenna linear device). In addition, the execution network element can also be a combination of the aforementioned radio frequency unit and the antenna device. For example, in the 5G NR system, the aforementioned execution network element can also be an AAU, that is, a processing unit integrated by the RRU (or RRH) and the antenna device.

[0111] It should be understood that the aforementioned intermediate network element can be used to connect the real-time control network element and the execution network element, and can also be used to connect a certain execution network element with another execution network element. For example, if the real-time control network element is a baseband unit and the execution network element is a wireless unit, then the intermediate network element can be an intermediate unit (baseband radio middle unit, BRMU) that connects the baseband unit and the wireless unit (for example, a baseband gateway, a radio frequency hub (RRU) HUB, and various extended network elements); if the execution network element is a wireless unit and the antenna device is another execution network element that needs to be connected to the wireless unit, then the intermediate network element can also be an intermediate unit (radio antenna middle unit, RAMU) that connects the wireless unit and the antenna device. It should be understood that when the intermediate network element is a BRMU, the intermediate network element can have some of the functions of the connected baseband unit (for example, DU or BBU) or wireless unit (for example, RU or RRU) to facilitate the connection between baseband units and wireless units with different performance parameters (for example, device version, device interface or protocol version, etc.) on both sides. When the intermediate network element is a RAMU, the intermediate network element can have some functions of the connected radio frequency unit (for example, RU or RRU) or antenna device (for example, ALD) to facilitate the docking of wireless units and antenna devices with different performance parameters (for example, device version, device interface or protocol version, etc.) on both sides.

[0112] Optionally, if the CU is a non-real-time control network element and the DU is a real-time control network element, the CU can be connected to at least one DU via a backplane bus or optical fiber.

[0113] Please refer to Figure 6, which is a schematic diagram of a TRP provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 uses an example in which X TRPs include two TRPs (such as TRP1 and TRP2 described in Figure 6). As shown in Figure 6, TRP1 includes 12 (or root) antennas, each of which includes two antenna elements. TRP2 includes 6 antennas, each of which also includes two antenna elements.

[0114] Please refer to Figure 7, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of an access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the access network device includes a first communication device that communicates with multiple first communication devices, including X TRPs (specifically, TRP1, TRP2, ..., TRPX, as shown in Figure 7). Unlike Figure 5A, some of the X TRPs in Figure 7 can also communicate with other communication devices (such as the second communication device described in Figure 7). The second communication device can communicate with the first communication device.

[0115] As shown in Figure 7, the first communication device can communicate with X TRPs, and at least one of the X TRPs (TRPX is used as an example in Figure 7) can communicate with the second communication device. The first communication device can communicate with TRPX through the second communication device.

[0116] The contents of the first communication device and the TRP can refer to the contents of the first communication device and the TRP discussed in FIG5A above, respectively. The implementation of the second communication device can refer to the implementation of the first communication device discussed in FIG5A above, and the repeated parts are not listed here. For example, the first communication device and the second communication device are both baseband units, baseband boards, or baseband chips. For another example, the first communication device is a baseband unit and the second communication device is a baseband chip.

[0117] The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application, all steps represented by dotted lines are optional steps. In addition, the access network equipment involved in the various embodiments of the present application is, for example, the access network equipment involved in any of Figures 1 to 5A, 5B and 7 above, the first communication device is, for example, the first communication device involved in Figure 5A, 5B, 6 or 7, the second communication device is, for example, the second communication device involved in Figure 7, the terminal device is, for example, the terminal device involved in any of Figures 1 to 4, the X TRPs are, for example, the X TRPs involved in Figure 5A, 5B or 7, and the antenna is, for example, the antenna involved in Figure 5A, 5B, 6 or 7. It should be understood that if the technical solutions provided in the various embodiments of the present application are applied to other communication systems, the name and / or function of the device or equipment may change, and there is no limitation on this.

[0118] Please refer to Figure 8, which is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8 illustrates three steps S801 to S803, which are described below.

[0119] S801: The first communication device determines that the antenna configuration needs to be updated from a first configuration to a second configuration.

[0120] The form of the antenna can also be simply referred to as the antenna form, which refers to the form of the antenna in the device (such as the access network device) where the first communication device is located. It should be noted that the antenna of the access network device in the embodiment of the present application can be flexibly turned off and / or turned on, which makes the number of antennas in the access network device in the turned-on state flexible. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the antenna in the access network device in the embodiment of the present application may refer to the antenna in the access network device in the turned-on state. Correspondingly, the form of the antenna can be understood as the form presented by the antenna in the turned-on state in the access network device.

[0121] The antenna configurations of access network devices include, but are not limited to, distributed multiple input / output (DIM) MIMO or co-site (multi-panel) MIMO. Under DMIMO, multiple TRPs of access network devices are distributed across different geographical locations, thereby expanding the signal coverage of the access network devices. Under co-site MIMO, the large number of antenna elements of the access network device are decomposed into different antenna array planes, which can transmit data through joint transmission (JT). This allows multiple antenna array planes to be logically expanded, achieving better transmission performance.

[0122] The shape of the antenna of the access network device is related to the physical parameters of the antenna of the access network device, or it can be understood that the physical parameters of the antenna of the access network device can affect the shape of the antenna of the access network device. The physical parameters of the antenna represent the physical characteristics (or properties) of the antenna. The physical parameters of the antenna include, for example, at least one of the number, arrangement or standard of the antennas in the access network device. The number of antennas in the access network device can be specifically understood as the number of antennas in the access network device that are in the turned-on state. The arrangement of the antennas can be regarded as the distribution method of the antennas, or it can be understood as the arrangement structure of the antennas of the access network device that are in the turned-on state. The standard of the antenna refers to the communication method corresponding to the antenna in the access network device, for example, 5G standard or 4G standard.

[0123] The antenna shape of an access network device is related to its physical parameters, which in turn affect the beam information associated with the antenna. Therefore, different antenna shapes result in different beam information. The following describes the concept of beams.

[0124] A beam can be called a spatial domain filter, a spatial filter, a spatial domain parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial domain setting, a spatial setting or quasi-colocation (QCL) information, etc. A beam can be regarded as a communication resource, or as a spatial behavior of signal transmission. For example, a beam can be understood as the main lobe of the radiation pattern of an antenna array, or a beam can be understood as the distribution of signal strength formed in different transmission directions in space after the signal is transmitted through the antenna. The beam can be a wide beam, a narrow beam or other types of beams. Optionally, the first communication device can adjust the weighting coefficient of the antenna so that the beam of the access network device can point to different directions, thereby corresponding to different coverage ranges.

[0125] After introducing the concept of beam, the content of beam information is introduced below. The information of the beam may indicate at least one of coverage, strength and direction. The coverage of the beam may also be called the beam coverage area, or the coverage of the beam, which refers to the area covered by the signal of the beam. The coverage of the beam includes the coverage of the beam in the first direction, and / or the coverage in the second direction. The first direction is, for example, the direction along the ground, and the second direction is, for example, the direction perpendicular to the ground. The strength of the beam may refer to at least one of the maximum transmission power, average transmission power and minimum transmission power of the signal of the beam. The direction of the beam may include the first direction and / or the second direction, and the first direction and the second direction may further specifically include multiple sub-directions. For example, the first direction may include multiple sub-directions such as east, south, west or north along the ground.

[0126] In the embodiment of the present application, an example is given in which the antenna of an access network device needs to be updated from a first form to a second form. The first form and the second form are first introduced below.

[0127] The first form can be understood as the form of the antenna of the access network device that is currently in the on state, or can be regarded as the form of the antenna of the access network device before the update. The antennas in the first form can be distributed (or set or configured) on L TRPs, or can be regarded as the first form corresponding to L TRPs. In other words, in the first form, the access network device has only L TRPs in the on state, or L TRPs include antennas in the on state, and L is a positive integer. The L TRPs can be all or part of the X TRPs included in the access network device. In the case where the L TRPs are part of the X TRPs, it means that in the first form, the antennas in the TRPs other than the L TRPs in the X TRPs are all in the off state. There is no specific limitation on the number of TRPs included in any two of the L TRPs, or the number of TRPs included in at least two of the L TRPs is different. An antenna in a certain form refers to an antenna in an turned-on state in an access network device in a certain form, and can also be described as an antenna included in a certain antenna or an antenna corresponding to a certain form. For example, an antenna in a first form can be described as an antenna included in the first form or an antenna corresponding to the first form; for another example, an antenna in a second form can be described as an antenna included in the second form or an antenna corresponding to the second form.

[0128] Optionally, the first form may be DMIMO. In this case, the L TRPs are distributed in different geographical locations. Optionally, the first form may be specifically symmetric DMIMO (or symmetric DMIMO), in which case any two of the L TRPs include the same number of antennas. Alternatively, the first form may be specifically asymmetric DMIMO (also called asymmetric DMIMO), in which case at least two of the L TRPs include a different number of antennas.

[0129] Alternatively, the first form may be co-site MIMO, in which case the L TRPs are co-located. Optionally, the first form may be specifically symmetric co-site MIMO (or symmetric co-site MIMO), in which case any two of the L TRPs include the same number of antennas. Alternatively, the first form may be specifically asymmetric co-site MIMO (also called asymmetric co-site MIMO), in which case at least two of the L TRPs include a different number of antennas.

[0130] The above is an example of the first form. In fact, the first form can also be any form and is not specifically limited to this.

[0131] The second form can be understood as the form of the antenna after the access network device is updated, or can be understood as the form of the antenna expected by the access network device. The antennas in the second form can be distributed on K TRPs, or can be regarded as the second form corresponding to K TRPs, where K is a positive integer. In other words, in the second form, the access network device has only K TRPs in the on state, or L TRPs include antennas in the on state. The K TRPs can be all or part of the X TRPs included in the access network device, and there is no limitation on this. In the case where the K TRPs are part of the X TRPs, it means that in the second form, the antennas in the TRPs other than the K TRPs in the X TRPs are all in the off state. Any two TRPs in the K TRPs include the same number, or at least two TRPs in the K TRPs include different numbers, and there is no specific limitation on this.

[0132] Optionally, the second form may be DMIMO, specifically, for example, symmetric DMIMO or asymmetric DMIMO. Alternatively, the first form may be co-site MIMO, specifically, for example, symmetric co-site MIMO or asymmetric co-site MIMO. Of course, the second form may have various forms, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0133] The values ​​of L and K can be arbitrary, for example, the values ​​of L and K are the same, or the value of L is smaller than the value of K, or the value of L is larger than the value of K, and there is no limitation on this.

[0134] It should be understood that the first form and the second form are two different forms, and therefore the antenna beam information included in the first form is different from the antenna beam information included in the second form. The content of the beam information can be referred to the content discussed above and is not listed here.

[0135] The difference between the information about the antenna beam included in the first form and the information about the antenna beam included in the second form, for example, includes at least one of: different coverage ranges of the antenna beam included in the first form and the antenna beam included in the second form, different directions of the antenna beam included in the first form and the antenna beam included in the second form, and different coverage ranges of the antenna beam included in the first form and the antenna beam included in the second form. The direction of the antenna beam included in the first form and the antenna beam included in the second form are different, for example, the direction of the antenna beam included in the first form is a first direction, and the direction of the antenna beam included in the second form is a second direction.

[0136] In addition to the different beams of the antennas corresponding to the first and second forms, the physical parameters of the antennas included in the first form and the antennas included in the second form may also be different. The content of the physical parameters of the antennas can be referred to above. The difference in physical parameters between the antennas included in the first form and the antennas included in the second form includes, for example, at least one of: the number of antennas included in the first form is different from the number of antennas included in the second form, the standard of the antennas included in the first form is different from the standard of the antennas included in the second form, and the arrangement of the antennas included in the first form is different from the arrangement of the antennas included in the second form. The standard of the antennas included in the first form is different from the standard of the antennas included in the second form, which can be that the standard of at least one antenna included in the second antenna is different from the standard of the antennas included in the first antenna.

[0137] After introducing the first form and the second form, the following describes a method for the first communication device to determine that the antenna form needs to be updated from the first form to the second form.

[0138] Method 1: The second communication device determines, according to an instruction from the core network, that the antenna shape of the access network device needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape.

[0139] For example, a core network (specifically, an access and mobility management function (AMF) or a proprietary network element in the core network) sends a second indication to the first communications device. The second indication may indicate that the antenna configuration needs to be updated to a second configuration. Upon receiving the second indication, the first communications device can determine that the antenna configuration of the access network device needs to be updated from the first configuration to the second configuration.

[0140] The second indication information may specifically indicate the updated antenna form (i.e., the second form), or the second indication information may specifically indicate the form of the antenna before the update (i.e., the first form) and the updated antenna form (i.e., the second form). The second indication information may be carried in proprietary signaling or using existing signaling, and there is no specific limitation on this. For example, the second indication information may carry an identifier of the second form, and the first communication device may determine that the antenna form needs to be updated to the second form based on the identifier of the second form.

[0141] Exemplarily, the access network device may pre-store a first correspondence relationship, which may be configured by protocol in the access network device and the core network, or may be determined through negotiation between the access network device and the core network device. The first correspondence relationship indicates identifiers (or indexes or numbers) corresponding to each of the multiple antenna configurations, and the antenna configuration corresponding to each of the multiple identifiers.

[0142] For example, please refer to Table 1 below, which is an example of a first corresponding relationship provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0143] Table 1

[0144] As shown in Table 1 above, if the value of the second indication information is 01, it is equivalent to indicating that the form of the updated antenna of the access network device is the second form.

[0145] In one possible implementation, the second indication information may further indicate physical parameters of the antenna in the second form. For example, the second form identifier in the second indication information may further indicate the physical parameters of the antenna in the second form. Alternatively, the physical parameters of the antenna in the second form may be preconfigured or predefined in the access network device, for example, manually or through a protocol.

[0146] Method 2: The first communication device determines on its own that the antenna shape of the access network device needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape.

[0147] In the second method, the first communication device may adopt any of the following methods A1-A3 to determine that the antenna shape of the access network device needs to be updated to the second shape, which are described below.

[0148] A1. The first communication device determines that the antenna configuration needs to be updated from a first configuration to a second configuration based on the communication quality of the first communication device. The communication quality indicates the communication status of the first communication device (or access network device).

[0149] Exemplarily, if the communication quality of the access network device is poor, the first communication device may determine to increase the number of antennas of the access network device, so the first communication device may select an antenna form from multiple antenna forms, in which the number of antennas is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form, for example, determining to update the first form to the second form (i.e., in this case, the number of antennas included in the second form is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form).

[0150] Optionally, the access network device may select an antenna form in which the number of antennas is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form (i.e., determine the second form) based on the second corresponding relationship. The second corresponding relationship may be preconfigured or predefined in the access network device. For example, the second corresponding relationship may be manually configured in the access network device, or configured in the access network device by protocol, or received from the core network (such as AMF or proprietary network element, etc.), and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this. The second corresponding relationship indicates the form of multiple antennas, and the physical parameters of the antenna under the form of each antenna in the multiple antenna forms.

[0151] If the communication quality of the access network device is normal, the first communication device determines that the antenna configuration does not need to be updated.

[0152] If the access network device has good communication quality, the first communication device may optionally determine to reduce the number of antennas of the access network device to save energy. The first communication device may select an antenna configuration from the multiple antenna configurations that has fewer antennas than the first configuration, for example, by determining to update the first configuration to the second configuration (i.e., in this case, the second configuration includes fewer antennas than the first configuration). Optionally, the access network device may also select an antenna configuration that has fewer antennas than the first configuration based on the second corresponding relationship.

[0153] For example, communication quality may include other parameters such as communication interference. The embodiments of this application primarily use communication interference as an example for illustration. Communication interference, for example, is sounding reference signal (SRS) interference. Greater communication interference indicates worse communication quality, while less communication interference indicates better communication quality.

[0154] Optionally, the access network device (specifically, the first communication device) measures a reference signal (such as an SRS) from the terminal device to determine communication interference. Of course, there are many other ways to determine communication interference, which are not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0155] If the communication interference is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first communication device may determine to increase the number of antennas of the access network device. Accordingly, the first communication device may select an antenna form with more antennas than the number of antennas included in the first form from the multiple antenna forms, for example, determining to update the first form to the second form (that is, in this case, the number of antennas included in the second form is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form). The first threshold may be preconfigured or predefined in the access network device, for example, the first threshold may be predefined in the access network device through a protocol, or may be determined by negotiation between the access network device and other devices (such as terminal devices or core networks).

[0156] If the communication interference is less than the first threshold and greater than or equal to the second threshold, the access network device's communication quality is normal, and therefore the antenna configuration does not need to be updated. The first threshold is greater than the second threshold. The method for the first communication device to obtain the second threshold can be referred to above regarding the method for obtaining the first threshold and is not further detailed here.

[0157] If the communication interference is less than the second threshold, the first communications device may determine to reduce the number of antennas of the access network device. The first communications device may select an antenna configuration from the multiple antenna configurations that has fewer antennas than the first configuration, for example, determining to update the first configuration to a second configuration (i.e., in this case, the second configuration includes fewer antennas than the first configuration).

[0158] A2. The first communication device determines that the antenna configuration needs to be updated from the first configuration to the second configuration based on information of a user served by the first communication device. The user served can be replaced by a terminal device served by the first communication device.

[0159] For example, the information about the served user may indicate the communication quality of the served user. It should be understood that the number of users served by the access network device may be one or more. If the access network device serves multiple users, the communication quality of the served user may be the average of the communication qualities corresponding to the multiple users, or may be the minimum or maximum value of the communication qualities corresponding to the multiple users, etc., which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0160] Exemplarily, if the communication quality of the user being served is poor, the first communication device may determine to increase the number of antennas of the access network device. Therefore, the first communication device may select an antenna form with fewer antennas than the number of antennas in the first form from among the multiple antenna forms, for example, determining to update the first form to the second form (i.e., in this case, the number of antennas included in the second form is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form). Alternatively, if the communication quality of the user being served is normal, the first communication device may determine not to update the antenna form. Alternatively, if the communication quality of the user being served is good, the first communication device may determine to reduce the number of antennas of the access network device, so the first communication device may select an antenna form with fewer antennas than the number of antennas in the first form from among the multiple antenna forms, for example, determining to update the first form to the second form (i.e., in this case, the number of antennas included in the second form is less than the number of antennas included in the first form).

[0161] In a possible implementation, the information of the service users indicates the number of service users.

[0162] If the number of users being served is greater than or equal to a third threshold, the first communications device may determine to increase the number of antennas in the access network device. Therefore, the first communications device may select, from the multiple antenna configurations, an antenna configuration with fewer antennas than the first configuration, for example, determining to update the first configuration to a second configuration (i.e., in this case, the second configuration includes more antennas than the first configuration). The method for obtaining the third threshold can be found in the aforementioned configuration for obtaining the first threshold and is not further detailed here.

[0163] If the number of users served is less than the third threshold and greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, the first communication device may determine not to update the antenna form. Alternatively, the information of the users served also includes the number and distribution direction of the users served. If the number of users served is less than the third threshold and greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, but the distribution direction of the users served changes, for example, from the first direction to the second direction, then the first communication device may determine to update the antenna form, for example, update the coverage direction of the antenna beam. Therefore, the first communication device may select an antenna form from the multiple antenna forms whose coverage direction of the beam is different from that of the antenna included in the first form, that is, determine to update the first form to the second form (that is, in this case, the coverage direction of the beam of the antenna included in the first form is different from the coverage direction of the beam of the antenna included in the second form). Optionally, the number of antennas included in the first form may be the same as or different from the number of antennas included in the second form, and this is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0164] If the number of users being served is less than the fourth threshold, the first communications device may determine to reduce the number of antennas in the access network device. Therefore, the first communications device may select, from the multiple antenna configurations, an antenna configuration having fewer antennas than the first configuration, i.e., determine to update the first configuration to the second configuration (i.e., in this case, the second configuration includes fewer antennas than the first configuration). The third threshold is greater than the fourth threshold. The method for obtaining the fourth threshold can be referred to in the preceding description of the method for obtaining the first threshold and is not further detailed here.

[0165] A3. The first communication device determines that the antenna configuration needs to be updated from the first configuration to the second configuration based on the communication quality of the first communication device and the information of the served users. The following example uses the case where the communication quality includes communication interference and the information of the served users indicates the number of served users.

[0166] If the communication interference is greater than or equal to the first threshold and / or the number of users served is greater than or equal to the third threshold, the first communication device may determine to increase the number of antennas of the access network device. Therefore, the first communication device may select an antenna form from the multiple antenna forms, in which the number of antennas is greater than the number of antennas in the first form, that is, determine to update the first form to the second form.

[0167] If the communication interference is greater than or equal to the second threshold and less than the first threshold, and the number of served users is greater than or equal to the third threshold and less than the fourth threshold, it is determined not to update the antenna configuration.

[0168] If the communication interference is less than the second threshold and the number of users served is less than the fourth threshold, the first communication device may determine to reduce the number of antennas of the access network device. Therefore, the first communication device may select an antenna form from the multiple antenna forms, in which the number of antennas is less than the number of antennas in the first form, that is, determine to update the first form to the second form.

[0169] Of course, the above is an example of how the first communication device determines that the antenna shape needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape. In fact, there are many other ways for the first communication device to determine that the antenna shape needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0170] S802. The first communication device determines M antennas that need to be turned off and / or N antennas that need to be turned on in X TRPs.

[0171] In one possible implementation, when the second indication information further indicates physical parameters of the antennas included in the second form, the first communications device may determine, based on the physical parameters of the antennas included in the second form indicated by the second indication information, which antennas need to be turned on and / or off when the first form is updated to the second form. It should be understood that since the contents of the first form and the second form are uncertain, the first communications device may need to turn on some antennas in the X TRPs, turn off some antennas in the X TRPs, or both turn on and off some antennas in the X TRPs when determining to update to the second form.

[0172] In another possible implementation, the first communication device may determine the physical parameters of the antennas included in the second form based on the second correspondence, thereby determining the antennas to be turned on and / or off when the first form is updated to the second form. The details of the second correspondence can be found in the second correspondence in S801 above and are not repeated here.

[0173] In the embodiment of the present application, after M antennas in X TRPs are turned off, and / or after N antennas in X TRPs are turned on, the form of the antenna of the access network device can be updated to the second form (it can also be described as K TRPs (or the second form) being obtained by turning off M antennas and / or turning on N antennas in X TRPs on the basis of the first form). In this example, the first communication device can determine that the antennas required to be turned on for updating to the second form are N antennas, and / or the antennas required to be turned off are M antennas. Wherein, N and M are both positive integers. The values ​​of N and M can be arbitrary, for example, the values ​​of N and M are the same, the value of N is smaller than the value of M, or the value of N is larger than the value of M.

[0174] When the first communication device determines to activate N antennas, these N antennas may be distributed over one of the X TRPs included in the access network device. This TRP may be one of the L TRPs, or a TRP other than the L TRPs in the X TRPs. Alternatively, the N antennas may be distributed over at least two of the X TRPs included in the access network device. Both of these at least two TRPs may belong to the L TRPs, or some of these at least two TRPs may belong to the L TRPs and another part may belong to a TRP other than the L TRPs in the X TRPs, or some of these at least two TRPs may belong to a TRP other than the L TRPs in the X TRPs.

[0175] When the first communication device determines to turn off M antennas, these M antennas can be distributed on one TRP among L TRPs, or distributed on at least one TRP among L TRPs. This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0176] For example, please refer to Figure 9, which is a schematic diagram of a first form and a second form provided in an embodiment of the present application. (1) in Figure 9 can be regarded as an example of the first form, and (2) and (3) in Figure 9 can be regarded as two examples of the second form. Figure 9 takes the example of an access network device including X TRPs including TRP1 and TRP2, TRP1 including antennas 1 to 8, and TRP2 including antennas 9 to 16.

[0177] As shown in (1) of FIG9 , in the first state, the L TRPs include TRP1 and TRP2, and all antennas included in TRP1 and TRP2 are in an on state.

[0178] As shown in (2) of Figure 9, in the second configuration, the K TRPs include TRP1 and TRP2, antennas 5 to 8 in TRP1 are turned on, and antennas 13 to 16 in TRP2 are turned on. In this case, the M antennas include antennas 1 to 4 in TRP1 and antennas 13 to 16 in TRP2.

[0179] Alternatively, as shown in (3) of Figure 9, in the second configuration, the K TRPs include TRP1, and antennas 1 to 8 in TRP1 are in an on state. In this case, the M antennas include antennas 9 to 16 in TRP2.

[0180] For example, please refer to Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of a first form and a second form provided in an embodiment of the present application. (1) in Figure 10 can be regarded as an example of the first form, and (2) in Figure 10 can be regarded as an example of the second form. Figure 10 takes the example of an access network device including X TRPs including TRP1, TRP2, TRP3 and TRP4, TRP1 including antenna 1 to antenna 8, TRP2 including antenna 9 to antenna 16, TRP3 including antenna 17 to antenna 24, and TRP4 including antenna 25 to antenna 32.

[0181] As shown in (1) in Figure 10, in the first form, the L TRPs include TRP1 and TRP2, and antennas 5 to 8 in TRP1 are in the on state, and antennas 13 to 16 in TRP2 are in the on state. In the first form, all antennas in TRP3 and TRP4 are in the off state.

[0182] As shown in (2) of Figure 10, in the second configuration, the K TRPs include TRP1, TRP2, TRP3, and TRP4, and the antennas included in TRP1, TRP2, TRP3, and TRP4 are all in the on state. In this case, the N antennas include antennas 1 to 4 in TRP1, antennas 9 to 12 in TRP2, antennas 17 to 24 in TRP3, and antennas 25 to 32 in TRP4.

[0183] For example, please refer to Figure 11, which is a schematic diagram of a first form and a second form provided in an embodiment of the present application. (1) in Figure 11 can be regarded as an example of the first form, and (2) in Figure 11 can be regarded as an example of the second form. Figure 11 takes the example of an access network device including X TRPs including TRP1, TRP2, TRP3 and TRP4, TRP1 including antenna 1 to antenna 8, TRP2 including antenna 9 to antenna 16, TRP3 including antenna 17 to antenna 24, and TRP4 including antenna 25 to antenna 32.

[0184] As shown in (1) of FIG11 , in the first form, L TRPs include TRP1, TRP2, TRP3, and TRP4, and antennas 5 to 8 in TRP1 are in an on-state, antennas 13 to 16 in TRP2 are in an on-state, all antennas included in TRP3 are in an on-state, and all antennas included in TRP4 are in an on-state. As shown in (2) of FIG11 , in the second form, K TRPs include TRP1, TRP2, TRP3, and TRP4, antennas 1 to 4 included in TRP1 are in an on-state, antennas 13 to 16 included in TRP2 are in an on-state, antennas 17 to 20 included in TRP3 are in an on-state, and antennas 29 to 32 included in TRP4 are in an on-state. In this case, N antennas include antennas 1 to 4 included in TRP1. M antennas include antennas 5 to 8 in TRP1, antennas 21 to 24 in TRP3, and antennas 25 to 28 included in TRP4.

[0185] S803: The first communication device instructs to turn off M antennas and / or turn on N antennas. Alternatively, it can be described as the first communication device controlling to turn off M antennas and / or turn on N antennas.

[0186] Exemplarily, the first communication device may send first indication information to each TRP in at least one TRP among the X TRPs. The first indication information indicates turning off antennas belonging to the M antennas in the TRP and / or turning on antennas belonging to the N antennas in the TRP.

[0187] For ease of distinction, at least one of the X TRPs here will be referred to as P TRPs below, where P is a positive integer. The P TRPs may be some or all of the X TRPs. For example, the P TRPs include TRPs distributed with M antennas and / or N antennas. The first communication device may directly send the first indication information to each of the P TRPs, or may send the first indication information to each of the P TRPs through the second communication device, or may directly send the first indication information to some of the P TRPs, and send the first indication information to another part of the P TRPs through the second communication device. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0188] Among them, when the first communication device determines to turn off M antennas and / or turn on N antennas with different contents, the content of the first indication information and the content of P TRPs are also different, which are respectively explained with examples below.

[0189] B1: The first communication device determines that M antennas need to be turned off.

[0190] Since, in the first configuration, the L TRPs include antennas that are powered on, the M antennas are distributed across the L TRPs. Accordingly, the P TRPs may be some or all of the L TRPs. For example, the P TRPs may be TRPs within the L TRPs that include at least one of the M antennas.

[0191] For example, the first indication information may indicate turning off the antennas belonging to the M antennas in each of the P TRPs. For example, the first indication information indicates the identifiers of the antennas belonging to the M antennas in each TRP. Specifically, for example, the P TRPs include a first TRP, and the first indication information may indicate the identifiers of the antennas belonging to the M antennas in the first TRP.

[0192] The first communication device and the X TRPs may both be preconfigured or predefined with the identifier of each antenna in the X TRPs. For example, the first communication device and the X TRPs may be configured with the identifier of each antenna in the X TRPs through a protocol or manually, or the first communication device and the X TRPs may negotiate to configure the identifier of each antenna in the X TRPs. In this way, after receiving the first indication information, the P TRPs may directly shut down the antennas belonging to the M antennas.

[0193] Optionally, in addition to instructing to shut down the antennas belonging to the M antennas in each of the P TRPs, the first indication information may also instruct to shut down the antennas among the M antennas other than the antennas belonging to each of the TRPs. That is, the first indication information may specifically instruct to shut down the M antennas. For example, the first indication information carries the identifiers of the M antennas. In this way, after receiving the first indication information, each of the P TRPs may determine to shut down the antennas among the M antennas belonging to the TRP.

[0194] For example, the first form is the first form shown in (1) of Figure 9, and the second form is the second form shown in (2) of Figure 9. The first communication device can send first indication information to TRP1 and TRP2 respectively, and the first indication information corresponding to TRP1 indicates to turn off antennas 1 to 4. After TRP1 receives the first indication information corresponding to TRP1, it can directly turn off antennas 1 to 4. The first indication information corresponding to TRP2 indicates to turn off antennas 9 to 12. After TRP2 receives the first indication information corresponding to TRP2, it can directly turn off antennas 9 to 12.

[0195] Alternatively, the first communication device may send first indication information to both TRP1 and TRP2, where the first indication information indicates that M antennas (i.e., antennas 1 to 4, and antennas 9 to 12) should be turned off. After receiving the first indication information, TRP1 determines that TRP1 includes antennas 1 to 4 and accordingly turns off antennas 1 to 4. After receiving the first indication information, TRP2 determines that TRP2 includes antennas 9 to 12 and accordingly turns off antennas 9 to 12.

[0196] B2: The first communication device determines that N antennas need to be turned on.

[0197] Since any TRP among the X TRPs may include an antenna in the off state, in this case, the P TRPs may be some or all of the TRPs among the X TRPs. For example, the P TRPs may be some or all of the TRPs among the L TRPs, or may be TRPs other than the L TRPs among the X TRPs, or some of the P TRPs belong to the L TRPs, and the other part of the P TRPs belong to TRPs other than the L TRPs among the X TRPs.

[0198] For example, the first indication information may indicate that an antenna belonging to N antennas in each TRP of P TRPs is turned on. For example, the first indication information indicates the identifier of the antenna belonging to N antennas in each TRP. For example, if P TRPs include a first TRP, the first indication information may indicate the identifier of the antenna belonging to N antennas in the first TRP.

[0199] Optionally, in addition to instructing to turn on the antennas belonging to the N antennas in each TRP in the P TRPs, the first indication information may also instruct to turn on other antennas other than the N antennas. That is, the first indication information may specifically instruct to turn on the N antennas. For example, the first indication information carries the identifiers of the N antennas. For example, if the P TRPs include the first TRP, the first indication information may indicate the identifiers of the antennas belonging to the N antennas in the first TRP.

[0200] For example, the first form is the first form shown in (1) of Figure 10, and the second form is the second form shown in (2) of Figure 10. The first communication device can send the first indication information to TRP1, TRP2, TRP3 and TRP4 respectively. The first indication information corresponding to TRP1 indicates to turn on antenna 1 to antenna 4. After TRP1 receives the first indication information, it can turn on antenna 1 to antenna 4. The first indication information corresponding to TRP2 indicates to turn on antenna 9 to antenna 12. After TRP1 receives the first indication information, it can turn on antenna 9 to antenna 12. Similarly, the first indication information corresponding to TRP3 indicates to turn on antenna 17 to antenna 24. After TRP3 receives the first indication information, it can turn on antenna 17 to antenna 24. The first indication information corresponding to TRP4 indicates to turn on antenna 25 to antenna 32. After TRP4 receives the first indication information, it can turn on antenna 25 to antenna 32.

[0201] Alternatively, the first communication device may send a first indication message to TRP1, TRP2, TRP3, and TRP4 respectively, where the first indication message indicates to turn on N antennas (i.e., antenna 1 to antenna 4, antenna 9 to antenna 12, antenna 17 to antenna 24, and antenna 25 to antenna 32). After receiving the first indication message, TRP1 determines that TRP1 includes antennas 1 to antenna 4, and may accordingly turn on antennas 1 to antenna 4. After receiving the first indication message, TRP2 determines that TRP2 includes antennas 9 to antenna 12, and may accordingly turn on antennas 9 to antenna 12. After receiving the first indication message, TRP3 determines that TRP3 includes antennas 17 to antenna 24, and may accordingly turn on antennas 17 to antenna 24. After receiving the first indication message, TRP4 determines that TRP3 includes antennas 25 to antenna 32, and may accordingly turn on antennas 25 to antenna 32.

[0202] B3: The first communications device determines to turn off M antennas and turn on N antennas.

[0203] Since any one of the X TRPs may include an antenna in a turned-off state, in this case, the P TRPs may be some or all of the X TRPs.

[0204] For example, the first indication information may indicate turning on the antennas belonging to the N antennas in each of the P TRPs and / or turning off the antennas belonging to the M antennas in each TRP. In this way, after receiving the first indication information, each of the P TRPs may determine to turn off the antennas belonging to the M antennas in the TRP and / or turn on the antennas belonging to the N antennas.

[0205] Alternatively, the first indication information may directly indicate that the M antennas and the N antennas are to be turned off. For example, the first indication information carries the identifiers of the M antennas and the identifiers of the N antennas. In this way, after any TRP in the P TRPs receives the first indication information, it can determine which antennas in the TRP belong to the M antennas and which antennas belong to the N antennas, thereby turning off the antennas in the M antennas and turning on the antennas in the N antennas.

[0206] For example, the first form is the first form shown in (1) of Figure 11, and the second form is the second form shown in (2) of Figure 11. The first communication device can send first indication information to TRP1, TRP3 and TRP4 respectively. The first indication information corresponding to TRP1 indicates that antennas 1 to 4 are turned on, and antennas 5 to 8 are turned off. After TRP1 receives the first indication information, it can turn on antennas 1 to 4 and turn off antennas 5 to 8. The first indication information corresponding to TRP3 can indicate that antennas 21 to 24 are turned off. The first indication information corresponding to TRP4 indicates that antennas 25 to 28 are turned off.

[0207] Alternatively, the first communication device may send a first indication message to TRP1, TRP2, TRP3 and TRP4 respectively, wherein the first indication message indicates to turn on N antennas (i.e., antenna 1 to antenna 4) and turn off M antennas (i.e., antenna 5 to antenna 8, antenna 21 to antenna 24, and antenna 25 to antenna 28).

[0208] Based on the first form, after turning off M antennas and / or turning on N antennas, the antenna form of the access network device is updated from the first form to the second form. Since the second form includes K TRPs, after updating to the second form, the TRPs in the access network device that are in the turned-on state include K TRPs.

[0209] In the embodiments of the present application, upon determining that the first form has been updated to the second form, the first communication device can instruct the corresponding antenna to be turned off and / or on. This eliminates the need to update or replace the antenna hardware, simplifying the process of updating the antenna form. Furthermore, the first form and the second form in the embodiments of the present application can have multiple possibilities, making the method provided in the embodiments of the present application more universal.

[0210] After the antenna of the access network device is updated to the second form, in one possible implementation, the first communication device may further determine the weighting coefficient of the antenna in the second form, so that the antennas in the K TRPs can perform beamforming based on the corresponding weighting coefficients. The following is an introduction to a method for determining the weighting coefficients of antennas shown in Figure 12. Figure 12 is an example of K TRPs including TRP1 and TRPK. Figure 12 illustrates steps S1201 to S1202, which are described below.

[0211] S1201, TRP1 and TRPK respectively receive a first reference signal, such as an SRS.

[0212] Figure 12 illustrates S1201 as including S1201a and S1201b. S1201a is for TRP1 to receive reference signal s1. S1201b is for TRPK to receive reference signal sK. Reference signal s1 and reference signal sK can be considered examples of first reference signals. For example, TRP1 can receive reference signal s1 from a terminal device, and TRPK can receive reference signal sK from a terminal device.

[0213] S1202: TRP1 sends a reference signal s1 to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the reference signal s1 from TRP1. In this case, the reference signal s1 can be regarded as an example of the first signal.

[0214] S1203: TRP2 sends a reference signal sK to the second communication device. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the reference signal sK from TRP1.

[0215] The execution order of S1202 and S1203 can be arbitrary, for example, executing S1202 and S1203 at the same time; or, executing S1202 first, then executing S1203; or, executing S1203 first, then executing S1202. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0216] S1204: The second communication device determines the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK.

[0217] The second communication device may determine an intermediate parameter corresponding to TRPK based on the reference signal sK. The intermediate parameter is used to assist in determining the weighting coefficients of the antennas in the K TRPs. The intermediate parameter may be the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK, or may be the result of singular value decomposition (SVD) of the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK.

[0218] Optionally, a method for calculating the channel matrix may refer to the following formula (1).

[0219] H = YX -1 (1)

[0220] Where H represents the channel matrix, for example, the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK, X represents the reference signal received by the receiving end, for example, the reference signal sK, X -1 represents the inverse matrix of the reference signal received by the receiving end, and Y represents the signal of the reference signal before it is channel processed, for example, the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal sK sent by the terminal device.

[0221] Optionally, a result of SVD decomposition of a channel matrix may refer to the following formula (2).

[0222] H=UΛV T (2)

[0223] Among them, UΛV T It can represent the result of SVD decomposition of the channel matrix, for example, it can be the result of SVD decomposition of the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK.

[0224] S1205: The second communication device sends the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK sent by the second communication device. In this case, the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK can be regarded as an example of the first signal.

[0225] S1206: The first communication device determines weighting coefficients of antennas in TRP1 and TRPK according to the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK and the reference signal s1.

[0226] Among them, when the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK are different, the way in which the first communication device determines the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRP1 and TRPK is also different, which is described below using C1 and C2 as examples.

[0227] The intermediate parameters corresponding to C1 and TRPK are the channel matrices corresponding to TRPK.

[0228] Under C1, the first communications device determines the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1 based on the reference signal s1. The first communications device may combine the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1 and the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK to obtain a first channel matrix. The first channel matrix may include elements of the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1. For example, one form of the first channel matrix is: H1 represents the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1, and HK represents the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK. The first communication device performs SVD decomposition on the first channel matrix. The formula for SVD decomposition can refer to the content of formula (2) above, thereby obtaining the weighting coefficients corresponding to each antenna in TRP1 and TRPK. Optionally, the weighting coefficients corresponding to each antenna in TRP1 and TRPK can be, for example, the matrix V in formula (2).

[0229] The intermediate parameters corresponding to C2 and TRPK are the results of the SVD decomposition of the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK.

[0230] Under C2, the first communication device may determine the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1 based on the reference signal s2. The first communication device may perform SVD decomposition on the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1 to obtain the result of the SVD decomposition of the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1. The first communication device may perform a joint solution based on the result of the SVD decomposition of the channel matrix corresponding to TRP1 and the result of the SVD decomposition of the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK, thereby determining the weighting coefficients corresponding to each antenna in TRP1 and TRPK. Alternatively, the first communication device may perform an inverse solution on the result of the SVD decomposition of the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK to determine the channel matrix corresponding to TRPK, and jointly perform SVD decomposition on the channel matrices of TRP1 and TRPK to obtain the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRP1 and the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRPK.

[0231] In one possible embodiment, the first communication device may preconfigure or predefine the communication quality parameters expected for the antenna in each TRP of at least one TRP of K TRPs, and the communication quality parameters expected for the antenna in each TRP of at least one TRP may be used to constrain (or adjust) the weighting coefficient of the antenna in each TRP of at least one TRP. The at least one TRP here may be part or all of the TRPs in the K TRPs. The communication quality parameters of the antenna in each TRP of at least one TRP may indicate the communication quality expected for the antenna in the TRP, for example, the expected delay or expected signal strength of the antenna in the TRP (such as reference signal received power (RSRP)).

[0232] The following takes the expected communication quality parameters of an antenna (such as antenna 1) in a TRP in at least one TRP as an example to illustrate the method of adjusting the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 based on the expected communication quality parameters of antenna 1.

[0233] In this case, since the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 determined by the first communication device based on S1206 has not yet been verified by communication, in an embodiment of the present application, the first communication device can adjust the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 based on the expected communication quality parameters of antenna 1 and the actual communication quality parameters of antenna 1, thereby improving the communication quality of antenna 1.

[0234] The first communication device may measure the third reference signal received by antenna 1 from the terminal device to determine the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1. Alternatively, the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 may be received by the first communication device from the second communication device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0235] Exemplarily, if the first communication device determines that the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 does not meet the expected communication quality parameter of antenna 1, the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 can be adjusted until the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 meets the expected communication quality parameter of antenna 1. The actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 meets the expected communication quality parameter of antenna 1, including that the difference between the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 and the expected communication quality parameter of antenna 1 is within a first value range. The first value range can be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device, or can be received from the core network or terminal device, and this embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0236] The specific contents of the communication quality parameters expected by antenna 1 are different, so the contents of adjusting the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 are also different, which are introduced below respectively.

[0237] G1, the expected communication quality parameter of antenna 1, includes the expected delay of antenna 1. Correspondingly, the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 also includes the actual delay of antenna 1.

[0238] If the difference between the actual delay and the expected delay of antenna 1 is greater than the maximum value of the first value range, it indicates that the actual delay of antenna 1 is large. Therefore, the first communication device may increase the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 to improve the communication quality of antenna 1. For example, the first communication device may increase the first adjustment amount based on the weighting coefficient of antenna 1. The first adjustment amount may be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device, or determined by negotiation between the first communication device and the terminal device, or determined by negotiation between the first communication device and the core network, or received by the first communication device from the core network or the terminal device.

[0239] If the difference between the actual delay and the expected delay of antenna 1 is less than the minimum value of the first value range, it indicates that the actual delay of antenna 1 is small. Therefore, the first communication device can reduce the weighting coefficient of antenna 1. For example, the first communication device can reduce the second adjustment amount based on the weighting coefficient of antenna 1. The method for the first communication device to obtain the second adjustment amount can be referred to the above description of the first communication device obtaining the first adjustment amount.

[0240] If the difference between the actual delay and the expected delay of antenna 1 is within the first value range, the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 does not need to be adjusted.

[0241] G2, the expected communication quality parameter of antenna 1 includes the expected signal strength of antenna 1. Correspondingly, the actual communication quality parameter of antenna 1 also includes the actual signal strength of antenna 1.

[0242] If the difference between the actual signal strength of antenna 1 and the expected signal strength is greater than the maximum value of the second value range, it indicates that the actual signal strength of antenna 1 is greater, so the first communication device can reduce the weighting coefficient of antenna 1. The method for reducing the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 can refer to the above content of reducing the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 in G1.

[0243] If the difference between the actual signal strength of antenna 1 and the expected signal strength is less than the minimum value of the second value range, the first communication device may increase the weighting coefficient of antenna 1. The method for increasing the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 can refer to the content of increasing the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 in G1 above.

[0244] If the difference between the actual signal strength of antenna 1 and the expected signal strength is within the second value range, the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 does not need to be adjusted.

[0245] G3, the expected communication quality parameters of antenna 1 include the expected delay of antenna 1 and the expected signal strength of antenna 1. Correspondingly, the actual communication quality parameters of antenna 1 also include the actual delay and actual signal strength of antenna 1.

[0246] In this case, if the difference between the actual delay and the expected delay of antenna 1 is greater than the maximum value of the first value range, and the difference between the actual signal strength and the expected signal strength of antenna 1 is less than the minimum value of the second value range, the first communication device can increase the weighting coefficient of antenna 1.

[0247] If the difference between the actual delay and the expected delay of antenna 1 is less than the minimum value of the first value range, and the difference between the actual signal strength and the expected signal strength of antenna 1 is greater than the maximum value of the second value range, the first communication device can reduce the weighting coefficient of antenna 1.

[0248] In other situations of G3 , the first communications device may not need to adjust the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 .

[0249] Of course, the above is an introduction based on the communication quality parameters of antenna 1 to constrain the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 as an example. The method of constraining the weighting coefficients of other antennas can also refer to the above-mentioned process of constraining the weighting coefficient of antenna 1 based on the communication quality parameters of antenna 1, which will not be listed here.

[0250] The above S1203-S1206 is a method provided in an embodiment of the present application for determining the weighting coefficients corresponding to each antenna in TRP1 and TRPK. To simplify the description, it is referred to as Method 1 below. In Method 1, the first communication device can obtain the intermediate parameters of TRPK from the second communication device, thereby relatively reducing the calculation amount of the first communication device.

[0251] S1207: TRPK sends a reference signal sK to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the reference signal sK from TRPK. In this case, the reference signal sK can be regarded as an example of the first signal.

[0252] S1208. The first communication device determines weighting coefficients of antennas in TRP1 and TRPK according to the reference signal s1 and the reference signal sK.

[0253] For example, the first communications device may determine a combined channel matrix of TRP1 and TRPK using reference signal s1 and reference signal sK. The method for determining the combined channel matrix of TRP1 and TRPK may refer to the content of formula (1) above. The first communications device may perform SVD decomposition on the combined channel matrix of TRP1 and TRPK to determine antenna weighting coefficients in TRP1 and TRPK.

[0254] The above S1207-S1208 are another method for determining the weighting coefficients corresponding to each antenna in TRP1 and TRPK provided in an embodiment of the present application. To simplify the description, it is referred to as method 2 below.

[0255] During actual communication, the first communication device can use the above-described method 1 or method 2 to determine the weighting coefficients corresponding to each antenna in TRP1 and TRPK. In other words, S1203-S1206 and S1207-S1208 are interchangeable steps, and the first communication device can either perform S1203-S1206 or S1207-S1208. S1203-S1206 and S1207-S1208 are indicated by dashed lines in FIG12.

[0256] S1209: The first communication device sends the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRP1 to TRP1. Correspondingly, TRP1 receives the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRP1 from the first communication device.

[0257] S1210: The first communication device sends weighting coefficients of antennas in TRPK to TRPK. Correspondingly, TRPK receives the weighting coefficients of antennas in TRPK from the first communication device.

[0258] Exemplarily, the first communication device may directly send the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRPK to TRPK, or the first communication device may send the weighting coefficients of the antennas in TRPK to TRPK through the second communication device.

[0259] S1211. The first communication device sends an index corresponding to each of the K TRPs and a weighting coefficient of an antenna in each of the K TRPs to TRP1. In response, TRP1 receives the weighting coefficient of an antenna in each of the K TRPs and an index corresponding to each of the K TRPs from the first communication device.

[0260] In the embodiment of the present application, K TRPs including KRP1 and KRPK are taken as an example. Therefore, the index corresponding to each TRP in the K TRPs and the weighting coefficient of the antenna in each TRP in the K TRPs may include the index of KRP1, the weighting coefficient of the antenna in TRP1, and the index of TRPK, and the weighting coefficient of the antenna in TRPK.

[0261] In this case, the first communication device may pre-configure or pre-define the indexes of K TRPs, and any TRP among the K TRPs may pre-store the index corresponding to the any TRP.

[0262] S1212. The first communication device sends an index corresponding to each of the K TRPs and a weighting coefficient of an antenna in each of the K TRPs to TRPK. In response, TRPK receives the weighting coefficient of an antenna in each of the K TRPs and an index corresponding to each of the K TRPs from the first communication device.

[0263] For example, the first communication device may directly send the index corresponding to each TRP in the K TRPs and the weighting coefficient of the antenna in each TRP in the K TRPs to TRPK. Alternatively, the first communication device may send the index corresponding to each TRP in the K TRPs and the weighting coefficient of the antenna in each TRP in the K TRPs to TRPK through the second communication device.

[0264] It should be noted that S1209-S1210 and S1211-S1212 are two methods of indicating the weighting coefficients of the antennas in the TRP provided in the embodiment of the present application. In actual implementation, the first communication device either executes S1209-S1210 or S1211-S1212, and the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this. In other words, S1209-S1210 and S1211-S1212 are interchangeable steps, which are illustrated by dotted lines in Figure 12.

[0265] After the antenna configuration of the access network device is updated to the second configuration, in one possible implementation, the K TRPs further calibrate the channels of the antennas within the K TRPs. This is described below with reference to the schematic diagram of a method for calibrating antennas, shown in Figure 13. Figure 13 illustrates K TRPs, including TRP1 and TRPK. Figure 13 illustrates steps S1301 through S1312, which are described separately below.

[0266] S1301, TRP1 and TRPK respectively receive a second reference signal, such as an SRS.

[0267] Figure 13 illustrates S1301, which includes S1301a and S1301b. S1301a represents TRP1 receiving reference signal s1'. S1301b represents TRPK receiving reference signal sK'. Reference signal s1' and reference signal sK' can be considered examples of second reference signals. For example, TRP1 can receive reference signal s1' from a terminal device, and TRPK can receive reference signal sK' from a terminal device.

[0268] The second reference signal and the first reference signal may be the same or different. For example, reference signal s1′ may be the same as reference signal s1 discussed in FIG. 12 , and reference signal sK′ may be the same as reference signal sK discussed in FIG. 12 ; or reference signal s1′ may be different from reference signal s1 discussed in FIG. 12 , and reference signal sK′ may be different from reference signal sK discussed in FIG. 12 .

[0269] S1302: TRP1 sends a reference signal s1' to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the reference signal s1' from TRP1.

[0270] S1303: TRPK sends a reference signal sK' to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the reference signal sK' from TRPK.

[0271] S1304: The first communication device determines a first channel calibration parameter set and a second channel calibration parameter set.

[0272] The first channel calibration parameter set includes the channel calibration parameters of the antennas in TRP1, or specifically, the channel calibration parameters of each antenna in TRP1 that is turned on. The second channel calibration parameter set includes the channel calibration parameters of the antennas in TRPK, or specifically, the channel calibration parameters of each antenna in TRPK that is turned on.

[0273] The first channel calibration parameter set includes the physical parameters and / or transmission parameters of the antenna in TRP1. The second channel calibration parameter set includes the physical parameters and / or transmission parameters of the antenna in TRPK. The following describes the physical parameters and transmission parameters of an antenna in TRP1 as an example.

[0274] The physical parameters of the antenna are used to describe the physical properties of the antenna, for example, including the number of antennas and / or the antenna type. The transmission parameters of the antenna are used to describe the transmission characteristics of the antenna, for example, including at least one of the delay, phase, or amplitude associated with the antenna.

[0275] The delay associated with the antenna can be the antenna's delay, that is, the absolute value of the antenna's delay, or the delay difference between the antenna and another antenna in TRP1 (i.e., relative delay). The phase associated with the antenna can be the antenna's phase, that is, the absolute value of the antenna's phase, or the phase difference between the antenna and another antenna in TRP1 (i.e., relative phase). The amplitude associated with the antenna can be the antenna's amplitude, that is, the absolute value of the antenna's amplitude, or the amplitude difference between the antenna and another antenna in TRP1 (i.e., relative phase).

[0276] The above describes the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set. The following describes how the first communication device determines the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set. Since the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set differ in their contents, the methods for determining the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set also differ.

[0277] D1, a first channel calibration parameter set includes physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1, and a second channel calibration parameter set includes physical parameters of the antenna in TRPK.

[0278] In this case, the first communications device may determine the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 and the physical parameters of the antenna in TRPK based on the first indication information. Alternatively, the first communications device may be preconfigured or predefined with the physical parameters of the antenna in the second configuration, and the first communications device may directly determine the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 and the physical parameters of the antenna in TRPK.

[0279] In this case, it is not necessary to receive the reference signal s1' and the reference signal sK'. That is, in this case, S1301 and S1302 are optional steps, which are indicated by dotted lines in FIG13 .

[0280] D2. The first channel calibration parameter set includes the transmission parameters of the antennas in TRP1, and the second channel calibration parameter set includes the transmission parameters of the antennas in TRPK.

[0281] For example, the first communications device may measure the reference signal s1 ′ to obtain the transmission parameters of the antennas in TRP1 .

[0282] For example, when the transmission parameters of an antenna include a delay associated with the antenna, the first communications device may determine the delay of the antenna based on the first moment when the terminal device transmits a reference signal corresponding to reference signal s1' and the second moment in TRP1 when the antenna actually receives the reference signal s1'. The delay of the antenna is the difference between the second moment and the first moment. The first communications device may determine the delay of the antenna as the delay associated with the antenna. Alternatively, by analogy, the first communications device may determine the delay of another antenna in TRP1 and determine the delay difference between the antenna and the other antenna in TRP1 as the delay associated with the antenna.

[0283] If the transmission parameters of an antenna include a phase associated with the antenna, the first communications device may determine the phase of the antenna based on the first phase of a reference signal corresponding to reference signal s1' transmitted by the terminal device and the second phase of the reference signal s1' actually received by the antenna in TRP1. The phase of the antenna is the difference between the first phase and the second phase. The first communications device may determine the phase of the antenna as the phase associated with the antenna. Alternatively, the first communications device may determine the phase of another antenna in TRP1 and determine the phase difference between the antenna and the other antenna in TRP1 as the phase associated with the antenna.

[0284] In the case where the transmission parameters of the antenna include an amplitude related to the antenna, the first communication device may determine the amplitude related to the antenna with reference to the above content of determining the phase related to the antenna, which is not enumerated here.

[0285] The first communication device may measure the reference signal sK' to obtain the transmission parameters of the antenna in TRPK. The manner in which the first communication device obtains the transmission parameters of the antenna in TRPK may refer to the transmission parameters of the antenna in TRP1 above and will not be repeated here.

[0286] D3. The first channel calibration parameter set includes the physical parameters and transmission parameters of the antenna in TRP1, and the second channel calibration parameter set includes the physical parameters and transmission parameters of the antenna in TRPK.

[0287] In this case, the manner in which the first communication device determines the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 and the physical parameters of the antenna in TRPK can be referred to the discussion in D1 above and will not be repeated here. The manner in which the first communication device determines the transmission parameters of the antenna in TRP1 and the transmission parameters of the antenna in TRPK can be referred to the discussion in D2 above and will not be repeated here.

[0288] S1305: The first communication device sends a first channel calibration parameter set to TRP1. Correspondingly, TRP1 receives the first channel calibration parameter set from the first communication device.

[0289] After receiving the first channel calibration parameter set, TRP1 can perform channel calibration for each antenna in TRP1 based on the first channel calibration parameter set. The contents of the first channel calibration parameter set are different, so the contents of the antenna channel calibration are also different, which are described below.

[0290] E1, the first channel calibration parameters include the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1.

[0291] Based on the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1, TRP1 verifies whether the actual physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 meet the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1. If the actual physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 meet the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1, no operation is required. If the actual physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 do not meet the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1, TRP1 may turn the antenna in TRP1 on and / or off to ensure that the actual physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1 meet the physical parameters of the antenna in TRP1.

[0292] E2. The first channel calibration parameters include the transmission parameters of the antenna in TRP1.

[0293] The method for calibrating the channel of each antenna in TRP1 is the same, and the following takes the method for calibrating the channel of the first antenna in TRP1 as an example for description.

[0294] E2-1. The transmission parameters of the first antenna include a time delay associated with the first antenna.

[0295] E2-1-1. The transmission parameters of the first antenna include a delay associated with the first antenna, and the delay associated with the first antenna is the delay of the first antenna.

[0296] In the embodiments of the present application, the latency of the first antenna is used as the first latency, and the expected latency between the access network device and the terminal device is used as the first expected latency. The first expected latency can be predefined or preconfigured in the access network device, or can be determined by negotiation between the access network device and the terminal device.

[0297] If the first delay is greater than the first expected delay, the first antenna may transmit information to the terminal device in advance by the first delay value, and may receive information from the terminal device in a delayed manner by the first delay difference, where the first delay difference is the difference between the first delay and the first expected delay.

[0298] Alternatively, if the first delay is equal to the first expected delay, then when the first antenna sends information to the terminal device, the time when the first antenna sends the information may not be adjusted; when receiving information from the terminal device, the time when receiving the information from the terminal device may also not be adjusted.

[0299] Alternatively, if the first delay is less than the first expected delay, the first antenna may delay sending information by the first delay value when sending information to the terminal device; and may receive information in advance by the first delay difference when receiving information from the terminal device.

[0300] E2-1-2. The transmission parameters of the first antenna include a delay associated with the first antenna, and the delay associated with the first antenna is a delay difference between the first antenna and another antenna.

[0301] In the embodiment of the present application, the delay difference between the first antenna and the other antenna is used as the second delay.

[0302] If the first delay is greater than 0, then when sending information to the terminal device, the first antenna can send the information in advance by the second delay relative to the other antenna; when receiving information from the terminal device, the first antenna can delay receiving the information by the second delay relative to the other antenna.

[0303] Alternatively, if the first delay is equal to 0, then when sending information to the terminal device, the first antenna and the another antenna can send the information simultaneously; when receiving information from the terminal device, the first antenna and the another antenna can also receive the information simultaneously.

[0304] Alternatively, if the first delay is less than 0, then when sending information to the terminal device, the first antenna may delay sending the information by the second delay relative to the other antenna; when receiving information from the terminal device, the first antenna may advance receiving the information by the second delay relative to the other antenna.

[0305] E2-2. The transmission parameter of the first antenna includes a phase associated with the first antenna.

[0306] In this case, the content of calibrating the phase of the first antenna can refer to the content of calibrating the delay of the first antenna in E2-1 above, and is not listed here again.

[0307] E2-3. The transmission parameter of the first antenna includes an amplitude associated with the first antenna.

[0308] In this case, the content of calibrating the amplitude of the first antenna can refer to the content of calibrating the delay of the first antenna in E2-1 above, and is not listed here again.

[0309] S1306: The first communication device sends a second channel calibration parameter set to TRPK. Correspondingly, TRPK receives the second channel calibration parameter set from the second communication device.

[0310] After receiving the second channel calibration parameter set, TRPK can perform channel calibration on each antenna in TRPK based on the second channel calibration parameter set. The method for performing channel calibration on each antenna in TRPK can refer to the channel calibration on each antenna in TRP1 described above and is not repeated here.

[0311] S1307: TRP1 sends a reference signal s1' to the second communication device. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the reference signal s1' from TRP1.

[0312] S1308: TRPK sends a reference signal sK' to the second communication device. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the reference signal sK' from TRPK.

[0313] S1309: The second communication device determines a first channel calibration parameter set and a second channel calibration parameter set.

[0314] The contents of the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set can refer to the contents of the first channel calibration parameter set and the contents of the second channel calibration parameter set, respectively, described above. The manner in which the second communication device determines the first channel calibration parameter set can refer to the manner in which the first communication device determines the first channel calibration parameter set, and the manner in which the second communication device determines the second channel calibration parameter set can refer to the manner in which the first communication device determines the second channel calibration parameter set, respectively.

[0315] S1310: The second communication device sends a first channel calibration parameter set to TRP1. Correspondingly, TRP1 receives the first channel calibration parameter set from the second communication device.

[0316] After receiving the second channel calibration parameter set, TRP1 can perform channel calibration on each antenna in TRP1 based on the first channel calibration parameter set. The method for performing channel calibration on each antenna in TRP1 can refer to the content of performing channel calibration on each antenna in TRP1 above and will not be repeated here.

[0317] S1311: The second communication device sends a second channel calibration parameter set to TRPK. Correspondingly, TRPK receives the second channel calibration parameter set from the second communication device.

[0318] After receiving the second channel calibration parameter set, the TRPK can perform channel calibration on each antenna in the TRPK based on the second channel calibration parameter set. The method for performing channel calibration on each antenna in the TRPK can refer to the content of performing channel calibration on each antenna in the TRPK above and is not listed here.

[0319] S1312: The second communication device sends the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set from the second communication device.

[0320] Optionally, the second communication device may cache the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set.

[0321] It should be understood that S1302 to S1306 described above are one method for calibrating antenna channels provided in an embodiment of the present application, hereinafter referred to as the first implementation. S1307 to S1312 are another method for calibrating antenna channels provided in an embodiment of the present application, hereinafter referred to as the second implementation. In actual implementation, either S1302 to S1306 or S1307 to S1312 are performed. In other words, S1302 to S1306 and S1307 to S1312 are interchangeable steps, as indicated by dashed lines in FIG13 .

[0322] It is understandable that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the first communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in combination with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a manner driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0323] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the first communication device or the second communication device in the above method embodiment, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects of the above method embodiment. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device can be the first communication device involved in Figures 5A, 5B, 6, or 7 above, or the second communication device as shown in Figure 7.

[0324] As shown in Figure 14, the communication device 1400 includes a processing module 1410 and a transceiver module 1420. The communication device 1400 is used to implement the functions of the first communication device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0325] For example, the communication device 1400 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG8 .

[0326] Exemplarily, the processing module 1410 is used to execute steps S801 and S802, and the transceiver module 1420 is used to execute step S803.

[0327] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may also be used to implement the possible implementation shown in FIG. 12 above.

[0328] Exemplarily, the processing module 1410 is used for steps S1206 and S1208, and the transceiver module 1420 is used to receive reference signals s1 and sK, as well as intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK, and may also be used to send antenna weighting coefficients in TRP1 and antenna weighting coefficients in TRPK. The reference signals s1 and sK, the intermediate parameters corresponding to TRPK, the antenna weighting coefficients, and the antenna weighting coefficients in TRPK can be found in the discussion of FIG. 12 above and are not further described here.

[0329] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may also be used to implement the possible implementation shown in FIG. 13 above.

[0330] Exemplarily, the processing module 1410 is used for step S1304, and the transceiver module 1420 is used for receiving reference signals s1' and sK', as well as the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set, and is further used for sending the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set. The reference signals s1' and sK', the first channel calibration parameter set and the second channel calibration parameter set, etc., can be referred to the contents discussed above in FIG. 13 and are not further described here.

[0331] A more detailed description of the processing module 1410 and the transceiver module 1420 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown in Figures 8, 12 and 13, and will not be repeated here.

[0332] Please refer to Figure 15, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 15, the communication device 1500 includes a processor 1510 and an interface circuit 1520. The processor 1510 and the interface circuit 1520 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 1520 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1500 may also include a memory 1530 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1510 or storing input data required by the processor 1510 to execute instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1510 executes instructions.

[0333] When the communication device 1500 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 8 , the processor 1510 is used to implement the functions of the processing module 1410 , and the interface circuit 1520 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver module 1420 .

[0334] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a base station, the base station module implements the functions of the base station in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The base station module receives information from other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal to the base station; or, the base station module sends information to other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the base station to the terminal. The base station module here can be a baseband chip of the base station, or it can be a DU or other module. The DU here can be an open non-central processing unit (CPU), or it can be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. In addition, the memory involved in each embodiment of the present application can include volatile memory (volatile memory), such as random access memory (RAM). The memory may also include non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD), or solid state drive (SSD).

[0335] An embodiment of the present application provides another example of a communication device, which includes at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one processor and the at least one memory being coupled, the at least one memory being used to store instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the communication device executes the method in the above embodiment. Taking the communication device including a processor and a memory as an example, as shown in Figure 16, the communication device 1600 includes a processor 1610 and a memory 1620. The processor 1610 and the memory 1620 are coupled, and the memory 1620 stores instructions. When the instructions stored in the memory 1620 are executed by the processor 1610, the communication device 1600 executes the method executed by the network device in the above embodiment.

[0336] The method steps in each embodiment of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0337] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0338] An embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, comprising: a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is configured to call and execute instructions from the interface, and when the processor executes the instructions, implements any of the methods described above, such as any of the methods described in FIG. 8 , FIG. 12 , or FIG. 13 .

[0339] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer programs or instructions, which, when executed, implements any of the methods described above, such as any of the methods described in Figures 8, 12, or 13 above.

[0340] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, implements any of the methods described above, such as any of the methods described in FIG. 8 , FIG. 12 , or FIG. 13 .

[0341] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0342] It should be understood that the various numbers used in the various embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a first communication device, the first communication device is deployed to communicate with X transmission and reception points TRP, X is an integer greater than 1; the method includes: Determining that the form of the antenna needs to be updated from a first form to a second form, wherein at least one of coverage, direction, and strength of a beam of the antenna in the first form is different from that of the antenna in the second form; Determine M antennas to be turned off and / or N antennas to be turned on in the X TRPs, where both N and M are positive integers; Sending first indication information to each TRP of at least one TRP among the X TRPs, wherein the first indication information indicates turning off the antennas belonging to the M antennas in each TRP and / or turning on the antennas belonging to the N antennas in each TRP, wherein the second form is formed by turning off the M antennas and / or the N antennas in the first form.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Determining that the antenna shape needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape includes: receiving second indication information from the core network, wherein the second indication information indicates that the antenna shape needs to be updated to the second shape; or, According to the communication quality of the first communication device and / or information of the served user, it is determined that the antenna shape needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The communication quality includes communication interference of the first communication device; When the communication interference of the first communication device is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the number of antennas in the second state is greater than the number of antennas in the first state; or, When the communication interference of the first communication device is less than a second threshold, the number of antennas in the second form is less than the number of antennas included in the first form; The first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that: Information about users of the service including the number of users of the service; When the number of users served by the first communication device is greater than or equal to a third threshold, the number of antennas included in the second form is greater than the number of antennas included in the first form; or, When the number of users served by the first communication device is less than a fourth threshold, the number of antennas in the second form is less than the number of antennas included in the first form; Wherein, the third threshold is greater than the fourth threshold.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The N antennas are distributed in one TRP of the X TRPs; or, The N antennas are distributed in at least two TRPs among the X TRPs.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, the L TRPs belong to the X TRPs, and L is a positive integer; The M antennas are distributed in one TRP of the L TRPs; or, The M antennas are distributed in at least two TRPs of the L TRPs.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, the L TRPs belong to the X TRPs, and L is a positive integer; The L TRPs are deployed in different geographical locations; or, The L TRPs are deployed at the same site.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, the L TRPs belong to the X TRPs, and L is a positive integer; Any two TRPs in the L TRPs include the same number of antennas; or, At least two TRPs among the L TRPs include different numbers of antennas.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The antennas in the first form are distributed on L TRPs, and the antennas in the second form are distributed on K TRPs, the L TRPs and the K TRPs both belong to the X TRPs, and L and K are positive integers; After sending the first indication information to each TRP of at least one TRP of the X TRPs, the method further includes one of the following: Sending weighting coefficients for antennas in each TRP to each of the K TRPs; or, Sending to the K TRPs respectively an index corresponding to each TRP in the K TRPs and a weighting coefficient of an antenna in each TRP in the K TRPs; The weighting coefficient is used to constrain at least one of the coverage, direction and strength of the antenna beam.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that Acquire K first signals corresponding to the K TRPs, wherein each of the K first signals is a first reference signal or an intermediate parameter received by any TRP of the K TRPs, and the intermediate parameter is determined based on the first reference signal received by any TRP; Based on the K first signals, weighting coefficients of the antennas in the K TRPs are determined.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that Based on the first signal, after determining the weighting coefficients of the K TRP antennas, the method further includes: Based on the expected communication quality parameters of the antenna in any TRP and the actual communication quality parameters of the antenna in any TRP, adjust the weighting coefficient of any TRP antenna.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The antennas in the second form are distributed on K TRPs, the K TRPs all belong to the X TRPs, and K is a positive integer; the method further includes: Receiving channel calibration parameters of antennas in any TRP of the K TRPs; Among them, the channel calibration parameters of any TRP include physical parameters and / or transmission parameters of the antenna in any TRP, and are used to calibrate the antenna in any TRP.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: The antennas in the second form are distributed on K TRPs, the K TRPs all belong to the X TRPs, and K is a positive integer; the method further includes: Measuring a second reference signal from any TRP of the K TRPs to determine a transmission parameter of an antenna in the any TRP; The transmission parameters of the antennas in any TRP are sent to any TRP, and the transmission parameters of the antennas in any TRP are used to calibrate the antennas in any TRP.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that The transmission parameter of the antenna in any TRP indicates one of the following: At least one of the delay, phase or amplitude of the antenna of any of the TRPs; or, At least one of the delay difference, phase difference or amplitude difference of one antenna of any TRP relative to another antenna.

15. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The physical parameters of the antenna in any TRP include: The number of antennas that are turned on; the arrangement of antennas in the switched-on state; or, The type of antenna that is turned on.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: The device is deployed to communicate with X transmission and reception points TRP, where X is an integer greater than 1; the device includes: A processing module, configured to determine that the form of the antenna needs to be updated from a first form to a second form, wherein at least one of coverage, direction, and strength of a beam of the antenna in the first form is different from that of the antenna in the second form; A processing module, used to determine M antennas to be turned off and / or N antennas to be turned on in the X TRPs, where N and M are both positive integers; A transceiver module is used to send a first indication information to each TRP in at least one TRP of the X TRPs, wherein the first indication information indicates turning off the antenna belonging to the M antennas in each TRP and / or turning on the antenna belonging to the N antennas in each TRP, wherein the second form is formed by turning off the M antennas and / or the N antennas in the first form.

17. The device according to claim 16, characterized in that The processing module is specifically used for: receiving second indication information from the core network, wherein the second indication information indicates that the antenna shape needs to be updated to the second shape; or, According to the communication quality of the communication device and / or information of the served user, it is determined that the antenna shape needs to be updated from the first shape to the second shape.

18. The device according to claim 16, characterized in that The communication quality includes communication interference of the communication device; When the communication interference of the communication device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the number of antennas in the second state is greater than the number of antennas in the first state; or When the communication interference of the communication device is less than a second threshold, the number of antennas in the second form is less than the number of antennas included in the first form; The first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

19. A communication device, characterized in that: It includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-15 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is implemented.

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