Beam pair determination method and apparatus

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of wireless communications. Provided are a beam pair determination method and apparatus. The beam pair determination method comprises: a network device sending configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the network device is located; the terminal device performing configuration of a coordinate grid network on the basis of the configuration information, the coordinate grid network being used for indicating a grid-shaped vertical plane and / or a grid-shaped horizontal plane of the communication area; the terminal device acquiring beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or state change information of the terminal device corresponding to the at least one round of beam pair scanning, and reporting same to the network device; and on the basis of the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to the at least one round of beam pair scanning, the network device determining an optimal beam pair, the state change information being used for indicating a state change condition of the terminal device during the process of the at least one round of beam pair scanning, and the state change information corresponding to the coordinate grid network. The present application can improve the accuracy of beam pair determination and take into account the privacy of a terminal device.

Description

Beam pair determination method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on December 7, 2023, with application number 202311671517.9 and invention name “Beam Pair Determination Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a beam pair determination method and apparatus. Background Art

[0003] With the advancement of communication technology, the spectrum used by communication systems is gradually evolving toward higher frequency bands. In these high-frequency bands, larger antenna arrays are often used to combat signal attenuation caused by transmission losses. Antenna beamforming, in turn, uses narrow beams to transmit signals. Narrow beams can concentrate limited transmission energy, effectively extending the network coverage range of communication systems. The relatively narrow signal coverage width also reduces interference from out-of-band directions, improving user experience.

[0004] When two communicating parties, such as a network device (e.g., a base station) and a terminal device, communicate, the network device selects an appropriate transmit beam, and the terminal device selects an appropriate receive beam. Together, they form a set of beam pairs, also known as optimal beam pairs, to maintain a good wireless connection. For example, the network device sends different candidate beams at multiple times to cover all spatial directions. The terminal device traverses a large number of candidate beams to obtain multiple beam quality information, which is equivalent to the two communicating parties performing beam pair scanning. Based on this information, the network device can determine the optimal beam pair or pairs based on this multiple beam quality information to form a set of optimal beam pairs for communication.

[0005] However, during the beam pair scanning process, the state change of the terminal device will cause the direction of the candidate beam on the terminal device side to shift, resulting in the optimal beam pair determined based on the measurement results of the candidate beam being unsuitable for the terminal device after the state change, that is, the beam pair determination result is not accurate enough. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the above technical issues, the present application provides a beam pair determination method and apparatus. In this beam pair determination method, a terminal device configures a coordinate grid based on configuration information sent by a network device, thereby determining state change information of the terminal device corresponding to the coordinate grid for the network device to use in determining the optimal beam pair, thereby improving the accuracy of beam pair determination while also taking into account the privacy of the terminal device.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a beam pair determination method, the method comprising: a network device sends configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the network device is located; wherein the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to configure a coordinate grid, and the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-shaped vertical plane and / or a grid-shaped horizontal plane of the communication area; the network device determines the optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device; wherein one round of beam pair scanning in at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to one reference signal among multiple reference signals configured by the network device for the terminal device; the state change information is used to indicate a state change of the terminal device during at least one round of beam pair scanning; and the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid.

[0008] In an embodiment of the present application, a network device sends configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the network device is located, so that the terminal device can configure a coordinate grid according to the configuration information. The coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-like vertical plane and / or a grid-like horizontal plane in the communication area where the network device is located. Based on this, when the network device configures a terminal device with multiple reference information for supporting multiple rounds of beam pair scanning, the terminal device can determine the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning based on the coordinate grid, and report it to the network device. In this way, the beam pair determined by the network device based on the beam quality information reported by the terminal device and the corresponding state change information of the terminal device is more suitable for the terminal device after the state change, thereby improving the accuracy of beam pair determination. In addition, the state change information of the terminal device corresponds to the coordinate grid, which can ensure that the state change information is information at the grid granularity of the coordinate grid, which is relatively coarse-grained and can reduce the precision of the state change information, which is conducive to protecting the privacy of the terminal device.

[0009] According to the first aspect, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; the movement direction information is used to indicate the movement direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present application, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information. The orientation change information can reflect the rotation of the terminal device, and the movement direction information can reflect the movement trend of the terminal device. Therefore, the network device can ensure that the optimal beam pair is more suitable for the terminal device whose state has changed, thereby improving the accuracy of the determined beam pair when the terminal rotates and / or moves.

[0011] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device based on the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

[0012] In the embodiment of the present application, the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid is determined by the orientation baseline, which does not require calculation based on the location information of the terminal device and is more convenient.

[0013] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among multiple reference orientations; wherein, one of the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0014] In this embodiment of the present application, multiple second predefined directions are used to indicate different directions, and the relative position between the orientation baseline and the terminal device is fixed. This allows the terminal device's orientation information to be selected from multiple reference orientations based on the relative positional relationship between the orientation baseline and each reference orientation. This allows orientation change information to be indicated based on changes in orientation information, eliminating the need for calculations and improving beam pair determination efficiency. Furthermore, orientation information determined using reference orientations does not involve precise angular information, which helps protect the privacy of the terminal device.

[0015] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among multiple reference directions; wherein, one of the multiple reference directions is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0016] In the embodiment of the present application, the plurality of second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions. In this way, when the terminal device moves, it is more convenient to determine the moving direction of the terminal device by referring to the orientation.

[0017] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

[0018] In an embodiment of the present application, the state change information indicates the state change of the terminal device within the corresponding reference information configuration period, ensuring that the beam quality information is more adapted to the terminal state, thereby further improving the accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0019] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the above first aspect, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device in the communication area where the network device is located, including: when the terminal device accesses the communication network covering the communication area, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device.

[0020] In an embodiment of the present application, when a terminal device accesses a communication network in a communication area, the network device sends a coordinate grid, thereby ensuring that the terminal device can determine and report orientation information in a timely manner, further improving the accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0021] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the first aspect above, the network device determines the optimal beam pair based on the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the state change information of the terminal device, including: the network device inputs the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the state change information of the terminal device into a pre-trained beam pair determination model to obtain optimal beam pair indication information; the network device determines the optimal beam pair among multiple candidate beam pairs based on the optimal beam pair indication information; wherein the beam pair determination model is an artificial intelligence model trained using sample measurement data and the optimal beam pair label corresponding to the sample measurement data, and the sample measurement data includes sample beam quality information and / or sample state change information of the terminal device.

[0022] In an embodiment of the present application, a network device uses a pre-trained beam pair determination model to determine an optimal beam pair, which can take into account both the efficiency and accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0023] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the first aspect above, the network device determines the optimal beam pair based on the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the state change information of the terminal device, including: the network device determines the optimal beam pair based on the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the target state change information of the terminal device; wherein the target state change information includes information indicating the state change of the terminal device in the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device; or, the state change situation includes the state change situation of the terminal device.

[0024] In this embodiment of the present application, when a terminal device reports its status information by default, the network can filter information indicating a status change from the received terminal device status information, thereby reducing the amount of model computation. Furthermore, the terminal device does not need to set up different reporting processes, making it more convenient. The terminal device reports the terminal device status information indicating a status change, thereby saving air interface resources required for reporting and reducing the computational effort required by the network device to determine beam pairs.

[0025] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam pair determination method, the method comprising: a terminal device receives configuration information sent by a network device in a communication area where the terminal device is located; the terminal device configures a coordinate grid according to the configuration information; wherein the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-shaped vertical plane and / or a grid-shaped horizontal plane of the communication area; the terminal device obtains beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or state change information of the terminal device, and reports it to the network device; wherein one round of beam pair scanning in at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to one of multiple reference signals configured by the network device for the terminal device; the state change information is used to indicate a state change of the terminal device during at least one round of beam pair scanning; the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid; the beam quality information and / or the state change information of the terminal device is used to instruct the network device to determine the optimal beam pair.

[0026] According to the second aspect, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; the movement direction information is used to indicate the movement direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid.

[0027] According to the second aspect, or any implementation of the second aspect above, the orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device based on the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

[0028] According to the second aspect, or any implementation of the second aspect above, the first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among multiple reference orientations; wherein, a reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0029] According to the second aspect, or any implementation of the second aspect above, the moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among multiple reference directions; wherein, one of the multiple reference directions is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0030] According to the second aspect, or any implementation of the second aspect above, the state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

[0031] According to the second aspect, or any implementation method of the above second aspect, the terminal device receives configuration information sent by the network device in the communication area where the terminal device is located, including: when the terminal device accesses the communication network covering the communication area, the terminal device receives the configuration information sent by the network device.

[0032] According to the second aspect, or any implementation of the second aspect above, the state change includes a state change of the terminal device.

[0033] The second aspect and any implementation of the second aspect correspond to the first aspect and any implementation of the first aspect, respectively. The technical effects corresponding to the second aspect and any implementation of the second aspect can be referred to the technical effects corresponding to the first aspect and any implementation of the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0034] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes: an information sending module for sending configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the communication device is located; wherein the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to configure a coordinate grid, and the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-shaped vertical plane and / or a grid-shaped horizontal plane of the communication area; a beam pair determination module for determining an optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device; wherein one round of beam pair scanning in at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to one reference signal among multiple reference signals configured by the communication device for the terminal device; the state change information is used to indicate a state change of the terminal device during at least one round of beam pair scanning; and the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid.

[0035] According to the third aspect, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; the movement direction information is used to indicate the movement direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid.

[0036] According to the third aspect, or any implementation of the third aspect above, the orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device based on the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

[0037] According to the third aspect, or any implementation method of the third aspect above, the first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position with respect to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among multiple reference orientations; wherein, one of the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0038] According to the third aspect, or any implementation method of the above third aspect, the moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among multiple reference directions; wherein, one of the multiple reference directions is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0039] According to the third aspect, or any implementation of the third aspect above, the state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

[0040] According to the third aspect, or any implementation of the third aspect above, the information sending module is specifically used to: send configuration information to the terminal device when the terminal device accesses the communication network covering the communication area.

[0041] According to the third aspect, or any implementation method of the third aspect above, the beam pair determination module is specifically used to: input the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the state change information of the terminal device into a pre-trained beam pair determination model to obtain optimal beam pair indication information; determine the optimal beam pair among multiple candidate beam pairs based on the optimal beam pair indication information; wherein the beam pair determination model is an artificial intelligence model trained using sample measurement data and the optimal beam pair label corresponding to the sample measurement data, and the sample measurement data includes sample beam quality information and / or sample state change information of the terminal device.

[0042] According to the third aspect, or any implementation method of the third aspect above, the beam pair determination module is specifically used to: determine the optimal beam pair based on the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the target state change information of the terminal device; wherein the target state change information includes information indicating the state change of the terminal device in the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device; or, the state change situation includes the state change situation of the terminal device.

[0043] In the third aspect, or any one of the implementations of the third aspect above, the communication device provided may be a network device, or a device, module, circuit or chip configured and set in the network device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the network device. In one design, the communication device may include a module that corresponds one-to-one to the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect, and the module may be a hardware circuit, or software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module. The receiving module is used to perform the receiving action in the method described in the first aspect above, and the processing module is used to perform the processing-related actions in the method described in the first aspect above.

[0044] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes: a receiving module for receiving configuration information sent by a network device in a communication area where the communication device is located; a configuration module for configuring a coordinate grid according to the configuration information; wherein the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-shaped vertical plane and / or a grid-shaped horizontal plane of the communication area; a reporting module for obtaining beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or state change information of the communication device, and reporting it to the network device; wherein one round of beam pair scanning in at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to one of multiple reference signals configured by the network device for the communication device; the state change information is used to indicate a state change of the communication device during at least one round of beam pair scanning; the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid; the beam quality information and / or the state change information of the communication device is used to instruct the network device to determine an optimal beam pair.

[0045] According to the fourth aspect, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the communication device in the coordinate grid; the movement direction information is used to indicate the movement direction of the communication device in the coordinate grid.

[0046] According to the fourth aspect, or any implementation of the fourth aspect above, the orientation change information is information determined by the communication device based on the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the communication device.

[0047] According to the fourth aspect, or any implementation method of the above fourth aspect, the first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position with respect to the communication device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among multiple reference orientations; wherein, one of the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in which the communication device is located in the coordinate grid; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0048] According to the fourth aspect, or any implementation method of the above fourth aspect, the moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the communication device among multiple reference directions; wherein, one reference direction among the multiple reference directions is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid in the coordinate grid network where the communication device is located; and multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0049] According to the fourth aspect, or any implementation of the fourth aspect above, the state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the communication device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

[0050] According to the fourth aspect, or any implementation of the fourth aspect above, the receiving module is specifically configured to: receive configuration information sent by the network device when the communication device accesses a communication network covering the communication area.

[0051] According to the fourth aspect, or any implementation of the fourth aspect above, the state change condition includes a state change condition of the communication device.

[0052] In the fourth aspect, or any one of the implementations of the fourth aspect above, the communication device provided may be a terminal device, or a device, module, circuit or chip configured and arranged in the terminal device, or a device that can be used in combination with the terminal device. In one design, the communication device may include a module that corresponds one to one with respect to the method / operation / step / action described in the second aspect, and the module may be a hardware circuit, or software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module. The sending module is used to perform the sending action in the method described in the second aspect above, and the processing module is used to perform the action involving processing in the method described in the second aspect above.

[0053] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores instructions, which, when executed by the processor, enable the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect to be implemented, and enable the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect to be implemented.

[0054] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor configured to process data and / or information so as to implement the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. Optionally, the communication device may further comprise a communication interface configured to receive data and / or information and transmit the received data and / or information to the processor. Optionally, the communication interface may further be configured to output the data and / or information processed by the processor.

[0055] In a seventh aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor configured to execute a program or instruction to implement the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. Optionally, the chip may further comprise a memory configured to store the program or instruction. Optionally, the chip may further comprise a transceiver.

[0056] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions, which, when executed by a processor, enables the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect to be implemented, and enables the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect to be implemented.

[0057] In the ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes computer program code or instructions. When the computer program code or instructions are executed, the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect is implemented, and the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect is implemented.

[0058] In the tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a combination of one or more of the following devices: a communication device that executes the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and a communication device that executes the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0059] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0060] Figure 1 is a conceptual example diagram of a beam;

[0061] FIG2 is a comparative example diagram of wide beam and narrow beam;

[0062] FIG3 is an example diagram of a beam management process;

[0063] FIG4a is one example diagram of a beam management process based on artificial intelligence;

[0064] FIG4 b is one example diagram of the beam management process based on artificial intelligence;

[0065] Figure 5 is an example diagram of the structure of neurons in a deep neural network;

[0066] FIG6 is a diagram showing an example of a neural network structure;

[0067] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a cell in an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a possible application framework in a communication system;

[0069] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the communication method of an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG10 is a flowchart of a beam pair determination method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG11 is an example diagram of a coordinate grid provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG12 is an example diagram of a terminal device rotation scene and orientation information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG13 is a flowchart of a beam pair determination method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG14 is one of the flowcharts of a beam pair determination method provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0075] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0076] To facilitate understanding of this embodiment, some technical terms and background technologies involved in this embodiment are first introduced:

[0077] Beam: The shape of electromagnetic waves emitted by an antenna on the Earth's surface (think of it like the beam of light from a flashlight into a dark place). The shape of the beam can be determined by the transmitting antenna, and can be global, spot, or shaped.

[0078] Synchronization Signal Block (SSB): The SSB is a cell broadcast signal that includes the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and demodulation reference signal (DMRS). The SSB is sent periodically according to the cell configuration and can be used for beam management, initial access, time-frequency synchronization, and more. In one example, the SSB signal can be considered a wide-beam signal.

[0079] Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS): CSI-RS signals are user-level signals. Network equipment can configure one or more CSI-RS resources for a user based on actual conditions. CSI-RS signals can be used for beam management, channel quality measurement, and other purposes. In one example, CSI-RS signals can be considered narrow-beam signals.

[0080] Beam scanning: Antenna elements are programmed as needed to achieve different beam directions and shapes. There are two types of beam scanning: mechanical scanning and electronic scanning. Mechanical scanning involves rotating the antenna itself, which in turn drives the beam, achieving scanning. Electronic scanning, on the other hand, involves the antenna remaining stationary, with beam scanning achieved by varying the phase of each array element. This method is typically used in phased arrays, where the array elements synthesize the beam.

[0081] Transmitter beam scanning: The transmitter (e.g., a base station) uses analog beamforming to beamform each SSB in the generated pulse. Based on the number of SSBs in the pulse and the specified scanning range, the azimuth and tilt directions of the different beams are determined. Each pulse in these directions is then formed into a beamforming waveform. The beamformed pulse waveform is then transmitted over the spatial scattering channel. This process is P1.

[0082] Receiver beam scanning: The receiver (e.g., a mobile phone) sequentially receives the transmitted beamforming pulse waveform on each receive beam. For N transmit beams and M receive beams in P1, each of the N transmit beams is transmitted M times from the gNB, so that each transmit beam is received by M receive beams.

[0083] Reference signal received power (RSRP): is the power contribution of resource elements carrying cell-specific reference signals in a specified measurement frequency band (e.g., it can be a linear average of the power contributions). In one example, RSRP can be simply considered to be the power per subcarrier.

[0084] Reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ): It is used to indicate the effect of the combination of signal strength and interference, or the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), which is the ratio of the strength of the received useful signal to the strength of the received interfering signal (noise and interference); it can be simply understood as "signal to noise ratio".

[0085] Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that gives machines human intelligence and uses computer hardware and software to simulate certain human intelligent behaviors, including machine learning and many other methods.

[0086] Machine learning: Learning models or rules from raw data. There are many different machine learning methods, such as neural networks (NN), decision trees, support vector machines, etc.

[0087] AI model: This refers to a function model that maps input of a certain dimension to output of a certain dimension. Its model parameters can be obtained through machine learning training. For example, f(x) = ax 2 +b is a quadratic function model, which can be regarded as an AI model. a and b correspond to the parameters of the model, and a and b can be obtained through machine learning training.

[0088] Neural network: Here refers to artificial neural network, which is a mathematical model that imitates the behavioral characteristics of animal neural networks and performs distributed parallel information processing. It is a special form of AI model.

[0089] Dataset: Data used for model training, validation, and testing in machine learning. The quantity and quality of data will affect the effectiveness of machine learning. The data used for model training in a dataset can be called sample data.

[0090] Model training: By selecting a suitable loss function and taking minimizing the loss function value as the training goal, the model parameters are trained using an optimization algorithm. After the training is completed, a model that can be applied to solve practical problems is obtained, which is also called a model application.

[0091] Hyperparameters: Parameters such as the number of neural network layers, the number of neurons, activation functions, and loss functions, which are usually preset or predefined before model training.

[0092] Loss function: A function that measures the difference between the model's predictions and the true values.

[0093] For example, Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram of a beam. As shown in Figure 1, a narrow beam has a spotlight-like effect, which can focus limited transmission energy in a narrow direction, thereby significantly improving the coverage distance of network equipment such as base stations. As shown in Figure 1, a narrow beam can cover terminal devices that are farther away, such as mobile phone UE1, while a wide beam covers terminal devices that are closer, such as mobile phone UE2. Figure 2 is a comparison diagram of wide beams and narrow beams. As shown in Figure 2, compared with wide beams, base stations require more narrow beams to cover the entire space. In order to select the beam that best suits them, the terminal needs to traverse and measure a large number of candidate beams. This is mainly because the base station is subject to hardware limitations and often cannot send multiple beams covering the entire cell at the same time. That is, the base station can send one beam direction at a certain moment, and send different beams at multiple times to cover the direction required by the entire cell. Accordingly, the terminal device needs to select a beam that suits it. In this way, beam management is required.

[0094] For example, Figure 3 is an example diagram of the beam management process. As shown in Figure 3, beam management is used to establish and maintain a set of suitable beam pairs between network equipment and terminal equipment. For downlink transmission, the network equipment side needs to select a suitable transmit beam, and the terminal equipment side needs to select a suitable receive beam, which together form a set of beam pairs to maintain a good wireless connection. This beam pair is also the optimal beam pair. The network equipment side can determine the optimal beam pair through service beam selection. Service beam selection can also be called beam pair scanning, which can include beam scanning and corresponding beam measurements. For example, the network equipment scans the reference signal, and the terminal equipment performs beam measurements accordingly. Among them, the reference signals mainly include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs). For example, the network device side performs SSB beam sweeping, which is the process (P1) (the same process as P1 above), and performs CSI-RS beam sweeping through information Msg1 to Msg4 and RX-QCL (the quasi-co-location relationship between different antenna ports corresponding to the transmitted beam), which is the process (P2). The network device transmits multiple beams through (P1) and (P2). Based on this, on the terminal device side, the terminal device receives the beam transmitted by the network device during the network beam scanning process, and measures the beam quality to obtain beam quality information such as RSRP, and feeds back RSRP to the network device through the CSI-RS resource indicator (CSI-RS resource indicator, CRI) (ie, CRI+RSRP). In this way, the network device can determine the base station narrow beam from the multiple beam pairs scanned based on the beam quality information, and the terminal device can determine the terminal narrow beam based on the beam quality information. These two beams are the optimal beam pairs, and the process is (P3). In this way, the communicating parties use the determined beam pair to communicate. During this period, the network equipment side uses CSI-RS beam scanning, and the terminal device performs beam maintenance through the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

[0095] In addition, still referring to Figure 3, in some scenarios, changes in the environment may cause the previously established beam pair to be blocked, and the network device side, such as the base station, and the terminal device side, such as the user equipment (UE), may not have enough time to adjust the beam. In this case, the network device and the terminal device can quickly select and establish another set of beam pairs through beam recovery, also known as beam failure recovery. For example, the network device performs beam failure detection on the terminal device. When it is detected that beam recovery is required, the network device and the terminal device select a backup beam: the terminal device transmits a beam failure recovery request (Beam Failure Recovery Request) to the network device, the network device determines the backup beam and feeds back a beam failure recovery response (Beam Failure Recovery Response) to the terminal device, thereby achieving beam recovery.

[0096] It can be understood that the subject that determines the beam pair based on the beam quality information can be at least one of the network device and the terminal device. One way to determine the beam based on the beam quality information is to predict the beam or beam pair based on AI, which is described in detail below.

[0097] For example, Figure 4a is one of the example diagrams of the beam management process based on artificial intelligence. As shown in Figure 4a, for the prediction of the downlink transmit beam, the network equipment usually configures two sets of reference signal resources. The first set of reference signal resources is used to support the first round of sparse beam scanning: sending a transmit beam to the UE is also called sparse beaming. The UE side receives the corresponding transmit beam through the receive beam corresponding to the first round of sparse beam scanning, also known as receiving, and measures the measurement results of the beam in the first round of sparse beam scanning, that is, beam quality information (such as RSRP). The UE side or the network side inputs the measurement results into a pre-trained beam prediction model, such as an AI model (for ease of description and understanding, it will be explained in conjunction with Figures 5 and 6 later) to perform AI-based beam prediction. Generally, the output of the beam prediction model can be the probability of each beam becoming the optimal beam, or directly predict the RSRP value corresponding to the beam. By screening, the UE can select the K beams that are most likely to become the optimal beam for the second round of scanning, thereby finding the optimal beam. Wherein, K is an integer greater than 1.

[0098] In the example shown in Figure 4a, each input to the beam prediction model is the measurement result of the corresponding receiver after scanning the configured sparse beams. The output of the beam prediction model is used to determine one or K optimal beams corresponding to the receiver, such as the beam indicated by the Top-K beam index shown in Figure 4a. After the terminal side predicts a sparse beam, it switches the receive beam. The network device reconfigures the sparse beam for the next round of beam scanning based on the Top-K beam index obtained in the first round of beam scanning. As indicated in the codebook, the scanned beam is the second round of Top-K beams. Accordingly, the UR side or the network side predicts the optimal beam corresponding to the receiver in the second round of Top-K beam scanning. In this way, the optimal beam and the corresponding receiver form the optimal beam pair, completing the beam pair determination.

[0099] In another example, Figure 4b is one of the example diagrams of an AI-based beam management process. As shown in Figure 4b, beam pair determination can be performed based on AI in beam management. Specifically, during a reference signal configuration period, the network device on the network side configures the reference signal corresponding to the scanned transmission for the terminal device on the terminal side, thereby implementing the scanning of the transmission; accordingly, the terminal device receives the transmission through the reception scanning during the reference signal configuration period. Similar to the example of Figure 4a, the network-side transmission in Figure 4b is sparse, that is, the reference signal configuration is performed based on the codebook of the sparse beam. The difference from the example of Figure 4a is that the input of the pre-trained beam pair determination model in Figure 4b is the measurement results of the scanned beam pairs: after scanning all receiving beams, the measurement results of all sparse beam pairs (each configured sparse transmission and all reception) are collected. The prediction result of the beam pair determination model is also the optimal one or K beam pairs, such as the beam pairs indicated by the Top-K beam pair index shown in Figure 4b. The transmit beams in a beam pair may be the same, but the receive beams may be different. The specific process for beam pair prediction may include: the network side configures the sparse transmit beams corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning, the terminal side switches to receive 1 to perform beam scanning, and obtains measurement results, which is also a beam scan for a reference signal configuration period; after completing the first round of beam pair scanning, the terminal side switches to receive 2, the network side configures the sparse transmit beams corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning, and the terminal side obtains measurement results through receive 2 scanning; the scanning and measurement steps are repeated until all beam pairs are scanned. When the network side uses AI to determine beam pairs, there are two ways to report the measurement results obtained by the terminal side: the UE reports the measurement results to the network side once each scan is completed; or the UE reports all measurement results at once after completing the scan of all receive beams. After the network side obtains the measurement results of all sparse beam pairs, the network equipment can input the obtained measurement results into a pre-trained beam pair determination model to infer the optimal beam pair. The output of the inference is the optimal one or K beam pairs.

[0100] It can be understood that the scanned transmission, scanned reception and optimal beam pairs in each reference signal configuration period in Figure 4b are only examples and do not constitute a limitation on the scanned beam pairs, which can be specifically set according to actual applications.

[0101] In the aforementioned AI-based beam pair determination, the trained beam pair determination model can be trained using supervised learning. Supervised learning uses a machine learning algorithm to learn the mapping relationship between sample values ​​and sample labels based on collected sample values ​​and sample labels, and then expresses the learned mapping relationship using a machine learning model. The process of training a machine learning model is the process of learning this mapping relationship. During training, the model parameters are optimized by calculating the error between the model's predicted values ​​and the true labels. Once the mapping relationship is learned, it can be used to predict the label of each new sample. The mapping relationship learned by supervised learning can include linear mappings and nonlinear mappings. Learning tasks can be divided into classification and regression tasks based on the type of label.

[0102] The structure of the beam pair determination model can be a neural network model, such as a deep neural network (DNN) model. This application does not limit the structure and parameters of the beam pair determination model, which can be set according to the specific application. For ease of understanding, the structure of the beam pair determination model is described below using a deep neural network model as an example.

[0103] Deep neural networks can automatically discover implicit pattern structures from large data sets, establish mapping relationships between data, and achieve performance that is superior to traditional modeling methods. The concept of DNN is derived from the neuronal structure of the brain. Each neuron performs a weighted summation operation on its input values ​​and generates an output through a nonlinear function. For example, Figure 5 shows an example of the structure of neurons in a deep neural network. As shown in Figure 5, assume that the input of the neuron is x = [x0,…,x n ], and the weight corresponding to the input is d=[d0,…,d n ], the bias of the weighted sum is b, and the form of the nonlinear function f can be diversified, for example, it can be a max{0,x} maximum function, then the execution effect of a neuron can be i is the input number, and y is the output of the model.

[0104] For example, Figure 6 illustrates the structure of a neural network. As shown in Figure 6, a DNN typically has a multi-layered structure, with each layer containing multiple neurons. The input layer processes the received values ​​through neurons and then passes them to the intermediate hidden layer. Similarly, the hidden layer then passes the calculation results to the final output layer, generating the DNN's final output. DNNs typically have more than one hidden layer, which directly impacts the ability to extract information and fit functions. Increasing the number of hidden layers or increasing the width of each layer can improve the DNN's function fitting capabilities. The weighted values ​​in each neuron are the parameters of the DNN network model. These model parameters are optimized through training, enabling the DNN network to extract data features and express mapping relationships.

[0105] It is understandable that the above is merely an example of a neural network model, and the present application does not limit the model structure used for beam pair determination.

[0106] In specific applications, the above-mentioned AI-based beam pair prediction solution has certain defects. For example, during the beam pair scanning and measurement result collection process, the beam transmission on the UE side will be offset due to the rotation of the UE. In addition, there is a situation where, after the UE completes the scanning and reporting of all beam pairs, due to the rotation of the UE, the relevant optimal beam pair information inferred by the AI ​​is no longer applicable to the rotated UE, and high-quality data transmission (based on a stable beam pair) cannot be guaranteed, resulting in the need to re-scan the beam and pair. In other words, the rotation of the UE will affect the accuracy of the beam pair determination.

[0107] Embodiments of the present application provide a beam pair determination method to address the aforementioned issues. This method involves a network device sending configuration information to a terminal device within the network device's communication area, allowing the terminal device to configure a coordinate grid based on the configuration information. The coordinate grid indicates the vertical and / or horizontal grids of the network device's communication area. Based on this, when the network device configures a terminal device with multiple reference information for supporting multiple rounds of beam pair scanning, the terminal device can determine, based on the coordinate grid, terminal device state change information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning, and report these information to the network device. In this way, the beam pair determined by the network device based on the beam quality information reported by the terminal device and the corresponding terminal device state change information is more suitable for the terminal device after the state change, thereby improving the accuracy of beam pair determination. Furthermore, the correspondence between the terminal device state change information and the coordinate grid ensures that the state change information is at the grid granularity of the coordinate grid, which is relatively coarse-grained and reduces the precision of the state change information, thus facilitating the protection of the terminal device's privacy.

[0108] Before describing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the application platform of the beam pair determination method of the embodiments of the present application is first described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the present application can be applied to the fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) system. The present application can also be applied to other communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, wireless local area network (WLAN) system, satellite communication system, future communication system, such as the sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, 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. The data can be carried on a physical channel, such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the physical side link control channel (PSCCH) and the physical side link shared channel (PSSCH).

[0109] A network element in a communication system can send a signal to another network element or receive a signal from another network element. The signal may include information, signaling, or data, etc. The network element can also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a device, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc. The present disclosure uses the network element as an example for description. For example, the communication system may include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device can send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send an uplink signal to the network device. It is understandable that the terminal device in the present disclosure can be replaced by the first network element, and the network device can be replaced by the second network element, and the two perform the corresponding communication methods in the present disclosure.

[0110] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0111] 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.

[0112] 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.

[0113] 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.

[0114] The network device in the embodiments of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device. For example, the network device may be a base station. The network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects a 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 that is 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 network equipment.

[0115] In some deployments, the network devices mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may include a CU, a DU, or both a CU and a DU, or a control plane CU node (central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), a user plane CU node (central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), and a DU node. For example, the network devices may include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, and a gNB-DU.

[0116] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminals 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.

[0117] 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.

[0118] 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.

[0119] 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.

[0120] 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.

[0121] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the functions of the network device is used as an example to illustrate, and does not constitute a limitation on the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0122] The network device and / or terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water surface; it can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and satellites in the air. The embodiments of this application do not limit the scenarios in which the network device and the terminal device are located. In addition, the terminal device and the network device can be hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, software functions running on general-purpose hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform), or entities including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. This application does not limit the specific forms of the terminal device and the network device.

[0123] For example, FIG7 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario cell of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7, the communication system can be a cell. In the cell, when the first entity is a network device and the second entity is a terminal device (such as a UE), the network device and UE1 to UE6 form a communication system. In this communication system, the terminal devices UE1 to UE6 can send uplink data to the network device, and the network device receives the uplink data sent by UE1 to UE6. In addition, the network device can send configuration information to UE1 to UE6.

[0124] In order to support AI technology in wireless networks, AI nodes may also be introduced into the network.

[0125] Optionally, the AI ​​node can be deployed in one or more of the following locations in the communication system: access network equipment, terminal equipment, or core network equipment. Alternatively, the AI ​​node can be deployed separately, for example, in a location other than any of the above devices, such as a host or cloud server in an over-the-top (OTT) system. The AI ​​node can communicate with other devices in the communication system, such as one or more of the following: network equipment, terminal equipment, or core network elements.

[0126] It is understood that this application does not limit the number of AI nodes. For example, when there are multiple AI nodes, the multiple AI nodes can be divided based on function, such as different AI nodes are responsible for different functions.

[0127] It can also be understood that AI nodes can be independent devices, or they can be integrated into the same device to implement different functions, or they can be network elements in hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, or they can be virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform). This application does not limit the specific form of the above-mentioned AI nodes.

[0128] An AI node can be an AI network element or an AI module.

[0129] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a possible application framework in a communication system. As shown in Figure 8, network elements in the communication system are connected through interfaces (such as NG, Xn) or air interfaces. One or more AI modules are provided in one or more devices of these network element nodes, such as core network equipment, access network nodes (RAN nodes), terminals or OAM (for the sake of clarity, only one is shown in Figure 8). The access network node can be a separate RAN node, or it can include multiple RAN nodes, for example, including CU and DU. The CU and / or DU can also be provided with one or more AI modules. Optionally, the CU can also be split into CU-CP and CU-UP. One or more AI models are provided in the CU-CP and / or CU-UP.

[0130] The AI ​​module is used to implement the corresponding AI function. The AI ​​modules deployed in different network elements may be the same or different. The model of the AI ​​module can implement different functions according to different parameter configurations. The model of the AI ​​module can be configured based on one or more of the following parameters: structural parameters (such as the number of neural network layers, the width of the neural network, the connection relationship between layers, the weight of the neuron, the activation function of the neuron, or at least one of the bias in the activation function), input parameters (such as the type of input parameters and / or the dimension of the input parameters), or output parameters (such as the type of output parameters and / or the dimension of the output parameters). Among them, the bias in the activation function can also be called the bias of the neural network.

[0131] An AI module can have one or more models. A model can infer an output, which includes one or more parameters. The learning, training, or inference processes of different models can be deployed on different nodes or devices, or on the same node or device.

[0132] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the communication method of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 9, the communication system 900 may include at least one network device, such as the network device 910 shown in Figure 9; the communication system 900 may also include at least one terminal device, such as the terminal device 920 and the terminal device 930 shown in Figure 9. The network device 910 and the terminal device (such as the terminal device 920 and the terminal device 930) can communicate via a wireless link. The communication devices in the communication system, for example, the network device 910 and the terminal device 920, can communicate via multi-antenna technology. The communication system 900 also includes an AI network element 940. The AI ​​network element 940 is used to perform AI-related operations, such as building a training data set or training an AI model.

[0133] In one possible implementation, the network device 910 may send data related to the training of the AI ​​model to the AI ​​network element 940, which constructs a training data set and trains the AI ​​model. For example, the data related to the training of the AI ​​model may include data reported by the terminal device. The AI ​​network element 940 may send the results of the operations related to the AI ​​model to the network device 910, and forward them to the terminal device through the network device 910. For example, the results of the operations related to the AI ​​model may include at least one of the following: an AI model that has completed training, an evaluation result or a test result of the model, etc. Exemplarily, a part of the trained AI model may be deployed on the network device 910, and another part may be deployed on the terminal device. Alternatively, the trained AI model may be deployed on the network device 910. Alternatively, the trained AI model may be deployed on the terminal device.

[0134] It should be understood that Figure 9 illustrates only the example of a direct connection between AI network element 940 and network device 910. In other scenarios, AI network element 940 may also be connected to a terminal device. Alternatively, AI network element 940 may be connected to both network device 910 and a terminal device simultaneously. Alternatively, AI network element 940 may be connected to network device 910 via a third-party network element. This embodiment of the present application does not limit the connection relationship between the AI ​​network element and other network elements.

[0135] The AI ​​network element 940 may also be provided as a module in a network device and / or a terminal device, for example, in the network device 910 or the terminal device shown in FIG. 9 .

[0136] It should be noted that Figure 9 is a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding. For example, the communication system may also include other devices, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 9. In actual applications, the communication system may include multiple network devices and multiple terminal devices. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the communication system.

[0137] It should be understood that, in this application, indication includes direct indication (also known as explicit indication) and implicit indication. Direct indication of information A refers to including information A; implicit indication of information A refers to indicating information A through the correspondence between information A and information B and the direct indication of information B. The correspondence between information A and information B can be predefined, pre-stored, pre-burned, or pre-configured.

[0138] It should be understood that, in this application, information C is used to determine information D, which includes both information D being determined solely based on information C and information D being determined based on information C and other information. Furthermore, information C can also be used to determine information D indirectly, for example, where information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0139] In addition, in each embodiment of the present application, "network element A sends information A to network element B" can be understood as the destination end of the information A or the intermediate network element in the transmission path between the destination end and the network element B, which may include directly or indirectly sending information to network element B. "Network element B receives information A from network element A" can be understood as the source end of the information A or the intermediate network element in the transmission path between the source end and the network element A, which may include directly or indirectly receiving information from network element A. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be elaborated here.

[0140] The term "and / or" in this article is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone.

[0141] In the description and claims of the embodiments of this application, the terms "first" and "second" are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order of objects. For example, the terms "first target object" and "second target object" are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order of objects.

[0142] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be interpreted as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0143] In the description of the embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more. For example, "multiple processing units" means two or more processing units; "multiple systems" means two or more systems.

[0144] The beam pair determination method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 10 to FIG. 14 .

[0145] For example, FIG10 is a flowchart of a beam pair determination method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG10 , the beam pair determination method may include:

[0146] S1001: The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device.

[0147] Among them, the network device and the terminal device are in the same communication area (such as a cell). For example, the network device in the cell shown in Figure 7 may be a base station, and the terminal device may be UE5. The configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to configure a coordinate grid, and the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-like vertical surface and / or a grid-like horizontal surface of the communication area. For example, Figure 11 is an example diagram of a coordinate grid provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 11, the coordinate grid is obtained by dividing at least one of the vertical and horizontal surfaces of the communication area in which the network device is located into a grid form. For ease of understanding and convenience of description, Figure 11 uses a single plane as an example coordinate grid.

[0148] In an optional embodiment, the network device is located on the central axis of the coordinate grid. That is, the coordinate grid may be created by dividing the horizontal and vertical planes of the communication area into a grid format using the location of the network device in the communication area as the central axis.

[0149] With a network device such as a base station as the central axis, the grid of the coordinate grid can cover the terminal devices as evenly as possible. For example, FIG12 is an example diagram of the terminal device rotation scene and orientation information provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG12, different grids of the coordinate grid cover terminal devices such as mobile phone UE2, mobile phone UE1, and mobile phone UE3, respectively.

[0150] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device is used as the central axis of the coordinate grid network. In this way, the grid division of the coordinate grid network is as uniform as possible, ensuring that the grid of the coordinate grid network more reasonably covers the terminal devices accessing the communication area, and improving the convenience and accuracy of the subsequent orientation information determined based on the orientation baseline indicating the orientation in the grid, thereby further improving the accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0151] S1002: The terminal device obtains a coordinate grid based on the configuration information.

[0152] The configuration information may be a definition of a coordinate grid or the coordinate grid itself. In the case where the configuration information is a coordinate grid, the network device may create a coordinate grid based on a predefined definition before sending the coordinate grid, or may read a pre-set coordinate grid. Accordingly, the terminal device may create a coordinate grid based on the definition indicated by the configuration information, or may read the coordinate grid indicated by the configuration information.

[0153] In an optional implementation, the above S1001 may specifically include: when the terminal device accesses the target communication network, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device; wherein the target communication network is a communication network covering the communication area where the network device is located.

[0154] For example, FIG13 is a flowchart of a beam pair determination method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG13 , the beam pair determination method may include:

[0155] S1301, the network device sends configuration information when the terminal device initially accesses the cell.

[0156] When a UE enters a cell, it first completes the initial access process. Upon initial access, the cell's base station synchronizes the network's coordinate grid to the UE in the form of configuration information. From this configuration information, the UE can then obtain the specific rules for reporting beam pair measurements during subsequent beam pair scans, as well as the specific rules for quantifying the corresponding UE-side behavior, such as determining UE-side state changes based on the coordinate grid.

[0157] In an embodiment of the present application, when a terminal device accesses a communication network in a communication area, the network device sends a coordinate grid, thereby ensuring that the terminal device can determine and report orientation information in a timely manner, further improving the accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0158] S1302: The terminal device obtains a coordinate grid based on the configuration information.

[0159] The above S1302 is the same as S1002 and will not be repeated here. For details, please refer to the description of S1002 in the embodiment of Figure 10.

[0160] S1003: The network device configures a reference signal corresponding to each round of beam pair scanning in multiple rounds of beam pair scanning for the terminal device.

[0161] When the network device synchronizes the coordinate grid configuration information with the terminal device, it can perform multiple rounds of beam pair scanning. The network device configures the terminal device with a reference signal corresponding to each round of beam pair scanning. For ease of understanding, this process is described in detail below with reference to Figure 13.

[0162] S1303: The network device configures a reference signal for the terminal device to support the first round of beam pair scanning.

[0163] Exemplarily, the base station can perform sparse beam scanning: according to the sparse beam pattern (such as the codebook shown in Figure 4a, the scanning wave shown in Figure 4b), indicate which beams in the full beam need to be beam scanned for obtaining beam pair quality information. Similar to the embodiment of Figure 4b, in the AI-based beam pair determination, these beam quality information are the input of the beam pair determination model. In this way, sparse beam scanning can approach the performance of full beam scanning, and can reduce the overhead required for beam scanning, thereby achieving the effect of full codebook scanning. The reference signal can be, for example, a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a CSI reference signal (CSI-RS). Based on this, in multiple rounds of beam pair scanning, the network device configures the terminal device with a reference signal for supporting the first round of beam pair scanning, so as to achieve the effect of the first round of beam pair scanning on the network side. At this time, the transmitting beam can be, for example, beam 1.

[0164] It can be understood that the execution order of the above S1002 and S1003 is only an example, and S1002 can be executed after S1001 and before the subsequent S1004. This embodiment does not limit this.

[0165] S1004: The terminal device obtains beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning.

[0166] Similar to the embodiment of FIG4b, a terminal device such as a UE can receive a transmit beam by scanning a receive beam and obtain measurement results of the scanned beam pair, such as RSRP, RSRQ and other beam pair quality information. For example, still referring to FIG13:

[0167] S1304: The terminal device scans the receiving beam Rx beam 1 corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning, and obtains beam quality information RSPR1 corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning.

[0168] For example, the UE scans Rx beam 1, corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning, and obtains the measurement result (e.g., RSRP1) for Rx beam 1. This also represents the beam pair quality information corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning (i.e., beam pair [beam1, Rx beam 1]). When the UE completes the beam scan and obtains the measurement result, a reference signal configuration period is complete.

[0169] S1005: The terminal device determines, based on the coordinate grid, state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning.

[0170] The state change of the terminal device affects the direction of the receive beam. Based on this, after the network device configures the reference signal for the terminal device to support the first round of beam pair scanning, the terminal device can determine the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning based on the coordinate grid. In other words, in one example, this embodiment does not limit the execution order of S1005 and S1004; S1005 can be executed after S1003.

[0171] The state change information is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device during at least one round of beam pair scanning; the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid.

[0172] In an optional embodiment, the state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

[0173] For example, changes in the terminal device's state affect the accuracy of beam pair quality information, which is obtained within a reference signal configuration period. Based on this, the terminal device can obtain the terminal device's state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to that round of beam pair scanning.

[0174] In an optional embodiment, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information; the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; the movement direction information is used to indicate the movement direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid. For ease of understanding and description, the subsequent Figures 13 and 14 use orientation change information as an example.

[0175] It is understandable that the orientation change may include a change in the orientation of the terminal device in the coordinate grid and / or an unchanged orientation; the movement direction may include the direction of the terminal device after moving in the coordinate grid and / or no movement direction, i.e., no movement.

[0176] In an embodiment of the present application, the state change information includes orientation change information and / or movement direction information. The orientation change information can reflect the rotation of the terminal device, and the movement direction information can reflect the movement trend of the terminal device. Therefore, the network device can ensure that the optimal beam pair is more suitable for the terminal device whose state has changed, thereby improving the accuracy of the determined beam pair when the terminal rotates and / or moves.

[0177] After the terminal device performs the receiving beam scan corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning and obtains the beam quality information corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning, the current orientation coordinates (vertical1, horizontal1) can be determined according to the coordinate grid. That is, the state information within the first reference signal configuration period is determined, and the state information specifically includes the orientation information. Before the first reference signal configuration period, there is no beam pair scanning and acquisition of beam pair quality information. Based on this, in one example, the state change within the first reference signal configuration period can be defaulted to no change, that is, the state change information within the reference signal configuration period corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning is not obtained, but the state information of the terminal device is obtained for determining the state change information within the reference signal configuration period corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning.

[0178] In an optional implementation, the orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device according to the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

[0179] Specifically, the terminal device can determine the orientation information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning based on the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline, and thus determine the orientation change information corresponding to the current round of beam pair scanning based on the orientation information corresponding to the previous round of beam pair scanning and the orientation information corresponding to the current round of beam pair scanning. Take Figure 13 as an example:

[0180] S1305: The terminal device determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical1, horizontal1) based on the coordinate grid.

[0181] It is understandable that this embodiment does not limit the execution order between S1303 and S1304. S1303 and S1304 can be executed after the first round of beam pair scanning is completed and before the state change information corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning is determined.

[0182] Exemplarily, the terminal device receives the transmit beam beam 1 through the receive beam Rx beam 1 in the first round of beam pair scanning, and determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical1, horizontal1) based on the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline. The current orientation coordinates (vertical1, horizontal1) are the current orientation information of the terminal device, and the current refers to the period from when the terminal device receives the transmit beam beam 1 to when the current orientation coordinates are determined. (vertical1, horizontal1) is used to indicate the orientation coordinates vertical1 of the terminal device in the vertical plane (vertical) and the orientation coordinates horizontal1 of the terminal device in the horizontal plane (horizontal1). The orientation coordinates, also known as orientation information, are used to indicate the direction in which the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid.

[0183] In the embodiment of the present application, the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid is determined by the orientation baseline, which does not require calculation based on the location information of the terminal device and is more convenient.

[0184] In another example, the first predefined direction includes a direction fixed relative to the grid in which the terminal device is located; the orientation change information includes a direction corresponding to the relative position of the terminal device to the orientation baseline. For example, the orientation baseline is a horizontal or vertical line in the grid in which the terminal device is located. The terminal device can determine the relative position coordinates between the terminal device and the orientation baseline based on its own position coordinates and the position coordinates of the orientation baseline. Based on the relative position coordinates, the angle between the terminal device and the orientation baseline can be calculated. The orientation corresponding to the angle is the orientation information of the terminal device.

[0185] In an optional embodiment, the first predefined direction includes a direction having a fixed relative position to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among the multiple reference orientations;

[0186] Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0187] Exemplarily, the first predefined direction may be a direction with a fixed angle to the horizontal plane of the terminal device, for example, perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the terminal device, forming an angle of 60 degrees, etc. Still referring to FIG12 , taking the first predefined direction as perpendicular to the terminal device as an example, and dividing the grid where the terminal device is located in the horizontal and vertical planes of the three-dimensional space into multiple granularities, for example, the 360 ​​degrees of the horizontal plane are divided into 8 granularities, with each 45 degrees being a granularity, and the same applies to the vertical plane. For example, the grid where the mobile phone UE2 is located includes eight reference orientations from 1 to 8. At this time, the state change information of the mobile phone UE2 does not need to be the specific angle information of the current position's own rotation, that is, relatively fine state information, but a relatively coarse-grained absolute orientation information, such as the reference orientation "2" in FIG12 that better matches the orientation baseline.

[0188] It can be understood that the above-mentioned symbol forms for indicating the reference orientation and the symbol forms for indicating the orientation information (such as positive integers) are examples, and this embodiment does not limit the symbol forms for indicating the orientation information and the reference orientation.

[0189] In this embodiment of the present application, multiple second predefined directions are used to indicate different directions, and the relative position between the orientation baseline and the terminal device is fixed. This allows the terminal device's orientation information to be selected from multiple reference orientations based on the relative positional relationship between the orientation baseline and each reference orientation. This allows orientation change information to be indicated based on changes in orientation information, eliminating the need for calculations and improving beam pair determination efficiency. Furthermore, orientation information determined using reference orientations does not involve precise angular information, which helps protect the privacy of the terminal device.

[0190] S1006: The terminal device reports beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or status change information of the terminal device to the network device.

[0191] The terminal device reports the beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or the status change information of the terminal device. There are two reporting methods:

[0192] The first reporting method: Each time the terminal device completes a beam pair scan, it reports the measurement result and / or the state change information corresponding to the beam pair scan of the terminal device to the network side. For example, still refer to Figure 13:

[0193] S1306: The terminal device reports beam quality information RSPR1 corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning.

[0194] For the first round of beam pair scanning, the terminal device does not obtain its own state change information, and only needs to report the beam quality information. For beam pair scanning after the first round of beam pair scanning, the beam quality information and the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to that round can be reported.

[0195] Second reporting method: After the terminal device completes scanning of all receive beams, it reports all measurement results obtained, i.e., beam pair quality information. Accordingly, in one example, the terminal device may report all determined state change information of the terminal device after completing scanning of all receive beams.

[0196] Still taking Figure 13 as an example:

[0197] S1307: The network device configures a reference signal for the terminal device to support a second round of beam pair scanning.

[0198] The above S1307 is similar to S1303, except that the beam pair scanning round is the second round. For the same parts, please refer to the description of the above S1303, which will not be repeated here.

[0199] S1308: The terminal device performs a receiving beam scan corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning, and obtains beam quality information corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning.

[0200] For example, the UE performs a scan of the receive beam Rx beam2 corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning, and obtains the measurement result (such as RSRP) of the receive beam Rx beam 2, which is also the beam pair quality information corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning (i.e., beam pair [beam2, Rx beam 2]).

[0201] S1309, the terminal device determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical3, horizontal8) and the current orientation change coordinates (vertical1-3, horizontal1-8) according to the coordinate grid.

[0202] After the terminal device completes scanning Rx beam 1, the network device configures a second round of reference signals for the terminal device. Accordingly, the UE switches the receive beam to Rx beam 2. During the second round of reference signal configuration period, for example, between the UE scanning the beam pair based on Rx beam 1 and obtaining measurements and scanning the beam pair based on Rx beam 2 and obtaining measurements, if the UE undergoes a state change, such as rotation, the rotation information can be used as auxiliary information for AI-based beam pair determination.

[0203] For example, still referring to Figure 12, the UE can determine that when scanning the previous Rx beam (such as Rx beam1), the UE's orientation information in the horizontal plane is 1, and the orientation information in the vertical plane is 1 through the coordinate grid and orientation baseline synchronized with it on the network side, that is, the orientation coordinates (vertical1, horizontal1) corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning. When scanning the current Rx beam (such as Rx beam2), the UE rotates in the middle, approximately 70 degrees. At this time, based on the coordinate grid, the orientation information determined by the UE is (vertical3, horizontal8). Then the second round of reference information configuration period, that is, the orientation change information corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning is the current orientation change coordinates (vertical1-3, horizontal1-8).

[0204] S1310, the terminal device reports the beam quality information RSPR2 and the orientation change coordinates (vertical1-3, horizontal1-8) corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning.

[0205] The above S1310 is similar to S1306, except that the beam pair scanning rounds are different and the corresponding reported information is different. The same parts will not be repeated here, and the details are shown in the above S1306.

[0206] When the terminal device subsequently switches to Rx beam 3 and Rx beam 4 for scanning, the method for Rx beam 2 is used. The difference is that the beam rounds are different, that is, the quantity that the UE needs to report is the measurement results obtained by scanning and the state change information of the terminal device determined based on the coordinate grid, that is, the quantitative information of the state change. For the sake of convenience, Figure 13 omits the process of the third round of beam pair scanning, which is similar to the second round of beam pair scanning. The difference is that the scanning round is the third round. For the same parts, they are not repeated here. Please refer to the description of the second round of beam pair scanning above. Taking the fourth round of beam pair scanning as an example, S1311 to S1313 in Figure 13, which are similar to S1307 to S1309, are as follows:

[0207] S1311: The network device configures a reference signal for the terminal device to support the fourth round of beam pair scanning.

[0208] S1312: The terminal device performs a receive beam scan corresponding to a fourth round of beam pair scanning, and obtains beam quality information corresponding to the fourth round of beam pair scanning;

[0209] S1313, the terminal device determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical8, horizontal8) and the current orientation change coordinates (vertical3-8, horizontal8-8) based on the coordinate grid.

[0210] S1314, the terminal device reports the beam quality information RSPR4 and the direction change coordinates (vertical3-8, horizontal8-8) corresponding to the fourth round of beam pair scanning.

[0211] The above S1314 is similar to S1306, except that the beam pair scanning rounds are different and the corresponding reported information is different. The same parts will not be repeated here, and the details are shown in the above S1306.

[0212] In an embodiment of the present application, the state change information indicates the state change of the terminal device within the corresponding reference information configuration period, ensuring that the beam quality information is more adapted to the terminal state, thereby further improving the accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0213] In an optional embodiment, the moving direction information includes a reference orientation corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among a plurality of reference orientations;

[0214] Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

[0215] For example, when the terminal device moves, it can select a reference orientation corresponding to the position information after the movement from multiple reference orientations to obtain the movement direction information. Still referring to Figure 12, mobile phone UE2 moves to the grid where mobile phone UE1 is located, and the movement direction information can be reference orientation "8".

[0216] In the embodiment of the present application, the plurality of second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions. In this way, when the terminal device moves, it is more convenient to determine the moving direction of the terminal device by referring to the orientation.

[0217] S1007: The network device determines an optimal beam pair based on beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or status change information of the terminal device.

[0218] When multiple rounds of beam pair scanning are completed, the network device may determine the optimal beam pair based on beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or terminal device state change information. The beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or terminal device state change information may include one of the following: beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning; terminal device state change information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning; and both beam quality information and terminal device state change information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning. The at least one round of beam pair scanning may include one round of beam pair scanning or multiple rounds of beam pair scanning.

[0219] In an optional implementation manner, the above S1007 may specifically include:

[0220] The network device inputs beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device into a pre-trained beam pair determination model to obtain optimal beam pair indication information;

[0221] The network device determines an optimal beam pair from among multiple candidate beam pairs according to the optimal beam pair indication information;

[0222] Among them, the beam pair determination model is an artificial intelligence model trained using sample measurement data and the optimal beam pair label corresponding to the sample measurement data. The sample measurement data includes sample beam quality information and / or sample state change information of the terminal device.

[0223] When the network side obtains the reporting information of the UE side, that is, the beam quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or the state change information of the terminal device, the reporting information can be input into the pre-trained AI network, such as the beam pair determination model. For example, as shown in Figure 13, the input of the AI ​​model may include: beam pair quality information [RSRP_rx1; RSRP_rx2; RSRP_rx3; RSRP_rx4;], and the corresponding terminal device state information [0; Rotation_rx2; Rotation_rx3; Rotation_rx4;]. Among them, rx1 to rx4 represent the first round of beam pair scanning to the fourth round of beam pair scanning. Accordingly, the task undertaken by the beam pair determination model at this time is to predict the optimal one or K beam pairs under the terminal device state indicated by the state change information of the terminal device. For example, when the orientation change information of the terminal device is (vertical1-3, horizontal1-8) and the beam pair quality information is RSPR1, the optimal one or K beam pairs.

[0224] Exemplarily, the above-mentioned method of obtaining the optimal beam pair through the beam pair determination model is similar to Figure 4b, except that the input of the beam pair determination model includes not only beam pair quality information but also state change information of the terminal device. In the model training stage, the measurement results corresponding to each position of the sparse beam pattern and / or the state change information of the terminal device can be used as sample measurement data. By comparing the sizes of each measurement result, the label of the classification training method (optimal beam pair label) can be obtained, that is, the ID of the optimal beam pair, and the measurement results corresponding to all beam pairs can also be used as labels for the AI ​​regression training method. Depending on the specific method of AI training, the output of AI is different. For example, if the training is based on the regression method, the AI ​​output is RSRP at this time. If the training is based on the classification training method, the output of AI is the probability that each beam pair is the optimal beam pair. In other words, the output of the beam pair determination model can be the ID corresponding to the optimal beam, such as the beam pair index (corresponding to the classification training method) or the RSRP corresponding to each beam pair (corresponding to the regression training method).

[0225] In an embodiment of the present application, a network device uses a pre-trained beam pair determination model to determine an optimal beam pair, which can take into account both the efficiency and accuracy of beam pair determination.

[0226] In an optional example, the above S1007 may specifically include:

[0227] The network device determines the optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or target state change information of the terminal device; wherein the target state change information includes information indicating a state change of the terminal device in the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device;

[0228] or,

[0229] The state change condition includes the condition where the state of the terminal device changes.

[0230] Exemplarily, as shown in FIG13 , the terminal device reports all the determined state change information of the terminal device to the network device, so that the network device can filter the target state change information therefrom for determining the optimal beam pair. Alternatively, the state change situation includes the situation where the state of the terminal device changes, then the terminal device reports the state change information when the state indicated by the state change information is changed. For example, if the state change information is the orientation change coordinates (vertical3-3, horizontal8-8), which means that the orientation of the terminal device in the horizontal and vertical planes has not changed, then the terminal device does not report the state change information (vertical3-3, horizontal8-8).

[0231] In this embodiment of the present application, when a terminal device reports its status information by default, the network can filter information indicating a status change from the received terminal device status information, thereby reducing the amount of model computation. Furthermore, the terminal device does not need to set up different reporting processes, making it more convenient. The terminal device reports the terminal device status information indicating a status change, thereby saving air interface resources required for reporting and reducing the computational effort required by the network device to determine beam pairs.

[0232] Still referring to Figure 13:

[0233] S1315: The network device determines an optimal beam pair based on the received beam quality information and / or the state change information of the terminal device.

[0234] The above S1315 is similar to S1007, except that in S1315, the terminal device reports the beam pair quality information and the corresponding terminal device status information to the network device after obtaining the information. The same parts will not be repeated here, and the details are described in the above S1007.

[0235] For example, FIG14 is a flowchart of a beam pair determination method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG14 , the beam pair determination method may include:

[0236] S1401, the network device sends configuration information when the terminal device initially accesses the cell;

[0237] S1402, the terminal device obtains a coordinate grid based on the configuration information;

[0238] S1403: The network device configures a reference signal for the terminal device to support a first round of beam pair scanning.

[0239] S1404: The terminal device scans the receive beam Rx beam 1 corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning, and obtains beam quality information RSPR1 corresponding to the first round of beam pair scanning;

[0240] S1405, the terminal device determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical1, horizontal1) according to the coordinate grid;

[0241] S1406: The network device configures a reference signal for the terminal device to support a second round of beam pair scanning.

[0242] S1407: The terminal device performs a receive beam scan corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning, and obtains beam quality information corresponding to the second round of beam pair scanning;

[0243] S1408, the terminal device determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical3, horizontal8) and the current orientation change coordinates (vertical1-3, horizontal1-8) according to the coordinate grid;

[0244] S1409: The network device configures a reference signal for the terminal device to support the fourth round of beam pair scanning.

[0245] S1410: The terminal device performs a receive beam scan corresponding to a fourth round of beam pair scanning, and obtains beam quality information corresponding to the fourth round of beam pair scanning;

[0246] S1411, the terminal device determines the current orientation coordinates (vertical8, horizontal8) and the current orientation change coordinates (vertical3-8, horizontal8-8) according to the coordinate grid;

[0247] S1412: The terminal device reports beam quality information corresponding to the first to fourth rounds of beam pair scanning, and orientation change coordinates corresponding to the second to fourth rounds of beam pair scanning;

[0248] S1413: The network device determines an optimal beam pair based on the received beam quality information and / or the state change information of the terminal device.

[0249] The embodiment of FIG. 14 is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 13 , except that the terminal device in FIG. 14 does not report beam pair quality information and terminal device status change information to the network device each time it obtains it. Instead, after multiple rounds of beam pair scanning are completed, all acquired beam pair quality information and terminal device status change information are reported to the network device. The same parts will not be repeated here; please refer to the description of the embodiment of FIG. 13 for details.

[0250] It is understood that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the form of the signals (such as configuration information, beam quality information, terminal device status information, etc.) transmitted between the network device and the terminal device. For example, the configuration information can be encapsulated as a separate data packet, or can be encapsulated in the same data packet as other signals sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0251] In an embodiment of the present application, a network device sends configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the network device is located, so that the terminal device can configure a coordinate grid according to the configuration information. The coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-like vertical plane and / or a grid-like horizontal plane in the communication area where the network device is located. Based on this, when the network device configures a terminal device with multiple reference information for supporting multiple rounds of beam pair scanning, the terminal device can determine the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning based on the coordinate grid, and report it to the network device. In this way, the beam pair determined by the network device based on the beam quality information reported by the terminal device and the corresponding state change information of the terminal device is more suitable for the terminal device after the state change, thereby improving the accuracy of beam pair determination. In addition, the state change information of the terminal device corresponds to the coordinate grid, which can ensure that the state change information is information at the grid granularity of the coordinate grid, which is relatively coarse-grained and can reduce the precision of the state change information, which is conducive to protecting the privacy of the terminal device.

[0252] In addition, the application framework and communication system shown in Figures 8 and 9 of the present application respectively include hardware and / or software modules that perform the corresponding functions in order to implement the functions of the beam pair determination method in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application. In combination with the algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, 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 computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application in combination with the embodiments, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present application.

[0253] This embodiment further provides a computer storage medium, which stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on an electronic device, the electronic device executes the above-mentioned related method steps to implement the beam pair determination method in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0254] This embodiment further provides a computer program product. When the computer program product is run on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the above-mentioned related steps to implement the beam pair determination method in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0255] Among them, the electronic device, computer storage medium, computer program product or chip provided in this embodiment is used to execute the corresponding method provided above. Therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0256] Any content of each embodiment of this application, as well as any content of the same embodiment, can be freely combined. Any combination of the above content is within the scope of this application.

[0257] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the above examples, the functions described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, these functions can be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein communication media include any media that facilitates the transmission of computer programs from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0258] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of this application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the purpose of this application and the scope of protection of the claims, all of which are within the protection of this application.

Claims

1. A beam pair determination method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The network device sends configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the network device is located; wherein the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to configure a coordinate grid, and the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-like vertical surface and / or a grid-like horizontal surface of the communication area; The network device determines the optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device; Among them, one round of beam pair scanning in the at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to a reference signal among multiple reference signals configured by the network device for the terminal device; the state change information is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device during the at least one round of beam pair scanning; the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The state change information includes orientation change information and / or moving direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; and the moving direction information is used to indicate the moving direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device according to the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among a plurality of reference orientations; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that The moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among a plurality of reference directions; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The network device sends configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the network device is located, including: When the terminal device accesses the communication network covering the communication area, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The network device determines the optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device, including: The network device inputs beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device into a pre-trained beam pair determination model to obtain optimal beam pair indication information; The network device determines an optimal beam pair among multiple candidate beam pairs according to the optimal beam pair indication information; Among them, the beam pair determination model is an artificial intelligence model trained using sample measurement data and the optimal beam pair label corresponding to the sample measurement data, and the sample measurement data includes sample beam quality information and / or sample state change information of the terminal device.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The network device determines the optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device, including: The network device determines the optimal beam pair based on the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the target state change information of the terminal device; wherein the target state change information includes information indicating the state change of the terminal device in the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device; or, The state change condition includes the state change condition of the terminal device.

10. A beam pair determination method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The terminal device receives configuration information sent by a network device in the communication area where the terminal device is located; The terminal device configures a coordinate grid according to the configuration information; wherein the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-shaped vertical surface and / or a grid-shaped horizontal surface of the communication area; The terminal device obtains beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or state change information of the terminal device, and reports it to the network device; Among them, one round of beam pair scanning in the at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to a reference signal among multiple reference signals configured by the network device for the terminal device; the state change information is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device during the at least one round of beam pair scanning; the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid; the beam quality information and / or the state change information of the terminal device is used to instruct the network device to determine the optimal beam pair.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The state change information includes orientation change information and / or moving direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; and the moving direction information is used to indicate the moving direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device according to the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among a plurality of reference orientations; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that The moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among a plurality of reference directions; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

15. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that The state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that The terminal device receives configuration information sent by a network device in a communication area where the terminal device is located, including: When the terminal device accesses the communication network covering the communication area, the terminal device receives the configuration information sent by the network device.

17. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 16, characterized in that The state change condition includes the state change condition of the terminal device.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises: An information sending module, used for sending configuration information to a terminal device in a communication area where the communication device is located; wherein the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to configure a coordinate grid, and the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-like vertical surface and / or a grid-like horizontal surface of the communication area; A beam pair determination module, configured to determine an optimal beam pair based on beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device; Among them, one round of beam pair scanning in the at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to a reference signal among multiple reference signals configured by the communication device for the terminal device; the state change information is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device during the at least one round of beam pair scanning; and the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid.

19. The device according to claim 18, characterized in that The state change information includes orientation change information and / or moving direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the terminal device in the coordinate grid; and the moving direction information is used to indicate the moving direction of the terminal device in the coordinate grid.

20. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that The orientation change information is information determined by the terminal device according to the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the terminal device.

21. The device according to claim 20, characterized in that The first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position to the terminal device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among a plurality of reference orientations; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

22. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 21, characterized in that The moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the terminal device among a plurality of reference directions; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the terminal device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

23. The device according to any one of claims 18 to 22, characterized in that The state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the terminal device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

24. The device according to any one of claims 18 to 23, characterized in that The information sending module is specifically used for: When the terminal device accesses the communication network covering the communication area, configuration information is sent to the terminal device.

25. The device according to any one of claims 18 to 24, characterized in that The beam pair determination module is specifically used to: Inputting beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or state change information of the terminal device into a pre-trained beam pair determination model to obtain optimal beam pair indication information; Determining an optimal beam pair among multiple candidate beam pairs according to the optimal beam pair indication information; Among them, the beam pair determination model is an artificial intelligence model trained using sample measurement data and the optimal beam pair label corresponding to the sample measurement data, and the sample measurement data includes sample beam quality information and / or sample state change information of the terminal device.

26. The device according to any one of claims 18 to 25, characterized in that The beam pair determination module is specifically used to: Determine the optimal beam pair based on the beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device and / or the target state change information of the terminal device; wherein the target state change information includes information indicating the state change of the terminal device in the state change information of the terminal device corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning reported by the terminal device; or, The state change condition includes the state change condition of the terminal device.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises: A receiving module, used to receive configuration information sent by a network device in a communication area where the communication device is located; A configuration module, configured to configure a coordinate grid according to the configuration information; wherein the coordinate grid is used to indicate a grid-shaped vertical surface and / or a grid-shaped horizontal surface of the communication area; A reporting module, used to obtain beam pair quality information corresponding to at least one round of beam pair scanning and / or state change information of the communication device, and report it to the network device; Among them, one round of beam pair scanning in the at least one round of beam pair scanning corresponds to a reference signal among multiple reference signals configured by the network device for the communication device; the state change information is used to indicate the state change of the communication device during the at least one round of beam pair scanning; the state change information corresponds to the coordinate grid; the beam quality information and / or the state change information of the communication device is used to instruct the network device to determine the optimal beam pair.

28. The device according to claim 27, characterized in that The state change information includes orientation change information and / or moving direction information; wherein the orientation change information is used to indicate the orientation change of the communication device in the coordinate grid; and the moving direction information is used to indicate the moving direction of the communication device in the coordinate grid.

29. The device according to claim 28, characterized in that The orientation change information is information determined by the communication device according to the coordinate grid and the orientation baseline; the orientation baseline is used to indicate a first predefined direction corresponding to the communication device.

30. The device according to claim 29, characterized in that The first predefined direction includes a direction with a fixed relative position to the communication device; the orientation change information includes a change in a reference orientation corresponding to the orientation baseline among a plurality of reference orientations; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the communication device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

31. The device according to any one of claims 28 to 30, characterized in that The moving direction information includes a reference direction corresponding to the position change of the communication device among a plurality of reference directions; Among them, one reference orientation among the multiple reference orientations is used to indicate a second predefined direction in the target grid; the target grid is used to indicate the grid where the communication device is located in the coordinate grid network; and the multiple second predefined directions are respectively used to indicate different directions.

32. The device according to any one of claims 27 to 31, characterized in that The state change information corresponding to a round of beam pair scanning is used to indicate the state change of the communication device within the configuration period of the reference signal corresponding to the beam pair scanning.

33. The device according to any one of claims 27 to 32, characterized in that The receiving module is specifically used for: When the communication device accesses a communication network covering the communication area, configuration information sent by the network device is received.

34. The device according to any one of claims 27 to 33, characterized in that The state change condition includes a condition in which the state of the communication device changes.

35. A communication device, characterized in that: include: Processors and storage media; The processor is connected to the storage medium; The storage medium is used to store one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

36. A communication device comprising a processor, the processor being configured to process data and / or information so that the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented.

37. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The method comprises instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented.

38. A chip, characterized in that: The method comprises one or more processors; when the processors execute programs or instructions, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented.

39. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises computer program codes or instructions, and when the computer program codes or instructions are executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented.

Images