Beam determination method, and communication apparatus

Abstract

A beam determination method and a communication apparatus, which relate to the technical field of communications. In the method, a first communication apparatus can receive from a second communication apparatus first information which is used for indicating angles of K beams, the first communication apparatus can measure (or select) the K beams on the basis of the beams, the angle of a first beam and signal intensities of the beams, determine N beams, and report the N beams to the second communication apparatus, such that the second communication apparatus can determine (or switch a service beam) on the basis of the N beams. In this way, the communication effect of the determined service beam is ensured, and the second communication apparatus can switch the (service) beam more smoothly, so as to ensure the reliability of communication between the second communication apparatus and the first communication apparatus.

Description

A method for determining a beam and a communication device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on December 18, 2023, with application number 202311756358.2 and application name "A method for determining a beam and a communication device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

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

[0004] New Radio (NR) introduces beamforming to improve coverage. Based on beamforming technology, devices can send signals using multiple beams. For example, a network device can send signals to a terminal device using multiple beams. However, this requires that the beams between the network device and the terminal device be aligned.

[0005] During beam alignment, the terminal device reports candidate serving beams to the network device, which then selects the serving beam for the terminal device. However, the beam reported by the terminal device may not be suitable, resulting in a suboptimal serving beam selected by the network device and poor communication quality. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a method for determining a beam and a communication device, which are used to provide a beam reporting mechanism to maximize communication quality and reduce sudden changes in communication performance.

[0007] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a beam. The method can be executed by a first communication device, which can be, for example, a terminal device, or a software or hardware module (such as a chip) in the terminal device, etc., and the present application does not limit this. In the method, the first communication device receives first information from the second communication device and sends second information to the second communication device. The first information indicates information about the angles of K beams, where K is an integer greater than 1. The second information indicates N beams among the K beams, where N is a positive integer less than or equal to K. The N beams can be determined by the first communication device from the K beams based on the angles of some or all of the beams in the K beams and the signal strengths of some or all of the beams in the K beams. Among them, the N beams are the first N beams sorted by the angle difference between the P beams and the first beam, and the P beams are the P beams among the K beams whose signal strength is greater than the first threshold. Alternatively, the N beams are the first N beams of the P beams sorted in descending order of signal strength, and the P beams are the P beams whose angle difference between the K beams and the first beam is less than or equal to the second threshold.

[0008] The K beams can be considered as candidate beams for the second communication device to send information to the first communication device. In an embodiment of the present application, the first communication device determines the N beams to be reported based on the signal strength of the beam and the angle difference between the beam and the first beam. The signal strength of the N beams is large, and the angle difference between the beam and the first beam is small. In this way, using the N beams as candidate beams for the serving beam can ensure high communication quality. In addition, since the angle difference between any beam in the N beams and the first beam is small, selecting the serving beam from the N beams can reduce sudden changes in communication performance.

[0009] In one possible implementation, when the N beams are the first N beams sorted by the angular differences between the P beams and the first beam, the N beams are the first N beams sorted in ascending order by the angular differences between the P beams and the first beam. In this approach, the beam with the smallest angular difference from the first beam is selected as the candidate beam, minimizing sudden changes in communication performance.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the angular difference between the K beams and the first beam includes one of the following: the difference between the horizontal angles of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam; the difference between the zenith angles of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; the difference between the horizontal angles of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam; and the difference between the zenith angles of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; or the distance between the angular centers of the K beams and the angular center of the first beam. This implementation provides multiple implementations of the angular difference between beams, providing greater flexibility.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the first beam includes a first serving beam, where the first serving beam is used for the second communication device to transmit information to the first communication device. This eliminates the need for additional signaling instructions, thereby reducing signaling overhead and interaction between the first and second communication devices.

[0012] In a possible implementation manner, the first beam is a beam indicated by the second communication device, which is more flexible.

[0013] In one possible implementation, the interference between the first beam and the second serving beam is less than or equal to a third threshold, and the second serving beam is used for the second communication device to transmit information to the third communication device. Using a beam with less interference with the second serving beam as the first beam can reduce interference between the first and third communication devices, thereby minimizing the impact of communication between the second and first communication devices on the third communication device.

[0014] In one possible embodiment, after the first communication device sends the second information to the second communication device, the method further includes: the first communication device receives third information, the third information indicates a third service beam, the third service beam is used for the second communication device to send information to the first communication device, and the third service beam belongs to N beams.

[0015] The serving beam between the first communication device and the second communication device may change. In this embodiment, selecting a suitable beam from the N beams as the third serving beam can improve the reliability of communication between the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the first communication device receives fourth information based on a fourth service beam, where the fourth service beam is a receiving beam corresponding to the third service beam; if the receiving power of the fourth information is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, it is determined that there is a reflector in the first direction, and the first direction corresponds to the angle of the third service beam and / or the angle of the fourth service beam.

[0017] In the above embodiment, the first communication device directionally senses the presence of the reflector based on the receiving power of the information received by the fourth service beam, and can achieve directional perception without the need for an interaction process with the reflector, thereby reducing the number of information interactions of the first communication device.

[0018] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a beam. The method can be executed by a second communication device, which can be, for example, a network device, a software or hardware module (such as a chip) in a network device, a terminal device, or a software or hardware module (such as a chip) in a terminal device, and the present application does not limit this. The method includes: the second communication device sends first information to the first communication device, the first information indicating information about the angles of K beams, where K is an integer greater than 1; receiving second information from the first communication device, the second information indicating N beams among the K beams, where N is a positive integer less than or equal to K; wherein the N beams are the first N beams after sorting the angle difference between the P beams and the first beam, and the P beams are the P beams among the K beams whose signal strength is greater than a first threshold, and P is a positive integer; or, the N beams are the first N beams among the P beams sorted from large to small according to signal strength, and the P beams are the P beams whose angle difference between the K beams and the first beam is less than or equal to a second threshold, and P is a positive integer.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the N beams are the first N beams sorted in ascending order of angle differences between the P beams and the first beam.

[0020] In one possible embodiment, the angle difference between the K beams and the first beam includes one of the following: the difference between the horizontal angle of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam; the difference between the zenith angle of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; the difference between the horizontal angle of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam, and the difference between the zenith angle of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; or the distance between the angular center of the K beams and the angular center of the first beam.

[0021] In a possible implementation, the first beam includes: a first service beam, where the first service beam is used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device; or a beam indicated by the second communication device.

[0022] In a possible implementation, interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to a third threshold, and the second service beam is used for the second communication device to send information to the third communication device.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the second communication device sends third information, the third information indicates a third service beam, the third service beam is used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device, and the third service beam belongs to a beam among the N beams.

[0024] In one possible embodiment, the method also includes: the second communication device sends fourth information based on the fourth service beam, where the fourth service beam is a receiving beam corresponding to the third service beam; receives fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate a receiving power for receiving the fourth information; if the receiving power for receiving the fourth information is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, it is determined that there is a reflector in the first direction, and the first direction corresponds to the angle of the third service beam and / or the angle of the fourth service beam.

[0025] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be the first communication device in the first aspect above, or an electronic device (e.g., a chip system) configured in the first communication device, or a larger device including the first communication device. The first communication device includes corresponding means (means) or modules for performing the first aspect or any possible implementation method above. For example, the communication device includes a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit), and a transceiver module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver unit).

[0026] For example, the transceiver module is used to receive first information from the second communication device under the control of the processing module, the first information indicating information about the angles of K beams, K being an integer greater than 1, and to send second information to the second communication device, the second information indicating N beams among the K beams, N being a positive integer less than or equal to K, wherein the N beams are the first N beams sorted by the angle difference between the P beams and the first beam, and the P beams are the P beams among the K beams whose signal strength is greater than a first threshold, and P is a positive integer; or, the N beams are the first N beams among the P beams sorted from large to small according to signal strength, and the P beams are the P beams whose angle difference between the K beams and the first beam is less than or equal to a second threshold, and P is a positive integer.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the communication device may also execute a method as in any possible implementation of the first aspect described above, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0028] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be the second communication device in the second aspect above, or an electronic device (e.g., a chip system) configured in the second communication device, or a larger device including the first communication device. The second communication device includes corresponding means (means) or modules for performing the second aspect or any possible implementation method above. For example, the communication device includes a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit), and a transceiver module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver unit).

[0029] For example, the transceiver module is used to send first information to the first communication device under the control of the processing module, where the first information indicates information about the angles of K beams, where K is an integer greater than 1, and receive second information from the first communication device, where the second information indicates N beams among the K beams, where N is a positive integer less than or equal to K; wherein the N beams are the first N beams sorted by the angle difference between the P beams and the first beam, and the P beams are the P beams among the K beams whose signal strength is greater than a first threshold, and P is a positive integer; or, the N beams are the first N beams among the P beams sorted from large to small according to signal strength, and the P beams are the P beams whose angle difference between the K beams and the first beam is less than or equal to a second threshold, and P is a positive integer.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the communication device may also execute a method as in any possible implementation of the second aspect described above, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0031] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from a communication device other than the communication device and transmit the signals to the processor, or to transmit signals from the processor to the communication device other than the communication device, and the processor is configured to implement any of the methods described in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof or the second aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof through a logic circuit or by executing code instructions.

[0032] In the specific implementation process, the communication device can be a chip, and the processor can be a transistor, a gate circuit, a trigger, and various logic circuits, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation method of the processor.

[0033] In one implementation, the communication device may be a wireless communication device, that is, a computer device that supports wireless communication functions. Specifically, the wireless communication device may be a terminal such as a smartphone, or a wireless access network device such as a base station.

[0034] In another implementation, the communication device may be a component of a wireless communication device, such as an integrated circuit product such as a system chip or a communication chip. The system chip may also be referred to as a system on chip (SoC), or simply an SoC chip. The communication chip may include a baseband processing chip and a radio frequency processing chip. The baseband processing chip is sometimes also referred to as a modem or baseband chip. The radio frequency processing chip is sometimes also referred to as a radio frequency transceiver or radio frequency chip. In a physical implementation, some or all of the chips in the communication chip may be integrated within the SoC chip. For example, the baseband processing chip is integrated into the SoC chip, while the radio frequency processing chip is not integrated with the SoC chip. The interface circuit may be the radio frequency processing chip in the wireless communication device, and the processor may be the baseband processing chip in the wireless communication device. The interface circuit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip or chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0035] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device includes: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store one or more computer programs, and the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions. When the communication device is running, the processor executes the one or more computer programs stored in the memory, so that the communication device performs any of the methods described in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof, or the second aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof.

[0036] Optionally, the communication device further includes other components, such as an antenna, an input / output module, an interface, etc. These components may be hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0037] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system. The communication system includes a communication device as described in the third aspect and a communication device as described in the fourth aspect. The functions of the communication device in the third aspect may refer to the contents of the third aspect, and the contents of the communication device in the fourth aspect may refer to the contents of the fourth aspect, which are not listed here. Optionally, the communication device in the third aspect may execute the method executed by the first communication device in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and the communication device in the fourth aspect may execute the method executed by the second communication device in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, which are not listed here one by one.

[0038] In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip system. The chip system includes a processor and an interface. The processor is configured to call and execute instructions from the interface. When the processor executes the instructions, the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof, is implemented.

[0039] In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program or instruction that, when executed, implements any of the methods described in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0040] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, implements any of the methods described in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof or the second aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof.

[0041] Regarding the beneficial effects of any technical solution in the above-mentioned second to tenth aspects, reference can be made to the discussion on the beneficial effects of the corresponding technical solution in the first aspect or any possible implementation method of the first aspect, and the repeated parts will not be listed here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a beam alignment process provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a method for determining a beam according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG4 is a first schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG5 is a first schematic diagram of determining N beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG6 is a second schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG7 is a second schematic diagram of determining N beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG8 is a third schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG9 is a third schematic diagram of determining N beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIG10 is a fourth schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG11 is a fourth schematic diagram of determining N beams according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of a multi-user pairing transmission provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of directional sensing provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG14 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG15 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] Below, some terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0060] 1. Beam, which can be understood as a spatial filter or spatial parameters. The beam used to transmit signals can be called a transmit beam, a transmission beam (Tx beam), a spatial domain transmit filter, or spatial transmit parameters (spatial Tx parameters). The transmit beam can also refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna. From this perspective, the transmit beam can also be a spatial transmission angle (such as azimuth (also called horizontal angle), zenith angle (also called elevation angle)) or a spatial transmission angle range (such as azimuth center angle and offset, azimuth uncertainty, azimuth protection range, zenith center angle and offset, zenith angle uncertainty, zenith angle protection range), etc. Accordingly, the beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), a spatial domain receive filter, or spatial receive parameters (spatial Rx parameters). A receive beam can also refer to the signal strength distribution of wireless signals received from an antenna in different directions in space. From this perspective, a receive beam can also be a spatial receiving angle (such as the azimuth angle and the zenith angle) or a spatial receiving angle range (such as the azimuth center angle and offset, azimuth uncertainty, azimuth protection range, zenith center angle and offset, zenith angle uncertainty, zenith angle protection range), etc.

[0061] In the fifth-generation New Radio (NR) protocol, a beam can be a spatial filter. It should be understood that as standards continue to evolve, the possibility of defining other terms with the same or similar meanings as beam in future protocols is not excluded.

[0062] 2. Beamforming is a beam-forming technology that can be specifically described as digital beamforming, analog beamforming, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming. Based on beamforming technology, a device may transmit signals using multiple beams. Accordingly, the transmitter and receiver must use specifically paired beams for transmission to achieve a greater beamforming gain between the transmitted and received beams. The beam pair link (BPL) between the transmitter and receiver, or the pairing relationship between the transmit beam and the receive beam, can also be referred to as the pairing relationship between the spatial transmit filter and the spatial receive filter.

[0063] 3. Reference signal (RS), also known as pilot signal, is a type of signal that can be used for channel measurement, channel estimation, or beam quality monitoring. Reference signals include uplink reference signals and downlink reference signals.

[0064] The uplink reference signal includes at least one of a sounding reference signal (SRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase noise tracking reference signal (PTRS), a synchronization signal, or an uplink positioning RS. DMRS includes a physical uplink control channel de-modulation reference signal (PUCCH-DMRS / PUCCH DMRS) and / or a physical uplink shared channel de-modulation reference signal (PUSCH-DMRS / PUSCH DMRS). The synchronization signal may include one or more of the following: a synchronization signal (SS), a synchronization signal block (SSB), or a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block / SSB). The SSB involved in the embodiments of the present application may be replaced by a synchronization signal.

[0065] The downlink reference signal includes at least one of the primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the physical downlink control channel de-modulation reference signal (PDCCH-DMRS / PDCCH DMRS), the physical downlink shared channel de-modulation reference signal (PDSCH-DMRS / PDSCH DMRS), the phase noise tracking signal PTRS, the channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), the cell signal (CRS) or the time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS) or the LTE / NR positioning signal (positioning RS).

[0066] 4. Reference signal resources (RS resources): Reference signal resources can be used to configure the transmission properties of reference signals, such as at least one of the time-frequency resource location, port mapping relationship, power factor, or scrambling code. The transmitter can send reference signals based on the reference signal resources, and the receiver can receive reference signals based on the reference signal resources. Reference signal resources may include, for example, CSI-RS resources, SSB resources, and SRS resources. Because the receiver measures the beam based on the reference signal resources during beam measurement, the reference signal resources can also be called measurement resources.

[0067] To distinguish different reference signal resources, each reference signal resource may correspond to a reference signal resource identifier, index, or number, such as a CSI-RS resource indicator or identifier (CRI), an SSB resource indicator or identifier (SSBRI), or an SRS resource index or indicator (SRI).

[0068] It should be noted that the above-mentioned SSB resources can also be understood as synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block) resources. In the embodiments of the present application, for the convenience of distinction and explanation, unless otherwise specified, SSB resources and SS / PBCH block resources can have the same meaning, and SSB resources and SS / PBCH block resources can have the same meaning. In addition, in some cases, SSB can also refer to SSB resources. Therefore, the SSB resource identifier can sometimes also be referred to as the SSB identifier (SSB index).

[0069] In the configuration signaling of the reference signal resource, different time domain behaviors can be indicated by different time domain behavior parameters. As an example and not a limitation, the time domain behaviors may include periodic, semi-persistent (SP), and aperiodic (AP).

[0070] For example, based on different time domain behaviors, CSI-RS may include periodic CSI-RS, aperiodic CSI-RS, and semi-persistent CSI-RS. Based on different time domain behaviors, SRS may also include periodic SRS, aperiodic SRS, and semi-persistent SRS.

[0071] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0072] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to communication systems related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system and the 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system, and can also be applied to other next-generation mobile communication systems (such as the 6th Generation (6G) communication system), communication systems in the future evolution process, or other similar communication systems. Other similar communication systems may include wireless fidelity (WIFI), Bluetooth, vehicle to everything (V2X), Internet of Things (IoT) system, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) system, etc.

[0073] Please refer to Figure 1, which illustrates a communication system applicable to embodiments of the present application. The communication system includes at least one terminal device and at least one network device. Figure 1 illustrates four terminal devices and one network device, but the number of terminal devices and network devices is not limited in practice.

[0074] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device includes an access network device (or, referred to as an access network element), such as a radio access network (RAN) device, and / or a core network device (or, referred to as a core network element). The RAN can be a 3GPP-related cellular system, such as a 5G / new radio (NR) mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system (such as a 6G mobile communication system). The RAN can also be an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN). The RAN can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems. The RAN device can also be referred to as a RAN node, a RAN entity, or an access node.

[0075] In one possible scenario, a RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB), a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. A RAN node can be a macro base station, a micro base station, an indoor station, a relay node, a donor node / host node, or a wireless controller. A RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle, or an onboard device. For example, a RAN node in V2X technology can be a roadside unit (RSU).

[0076] In another possible scenario, the RAN node may be a module or unit that performs part of the functions of the base station; or multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively perform part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The functions of the CU may be implemented by one entity, or by different entities. For example, the functions of the CU may be further divided, that is, the control plane and the user plane may be separated and implemented by different entities, namely the control plane CU entity (i.e., CU-control plane (CP) entity) and the user plane CU entity (i.e., CU-user plane (UP) entity). The CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity may be coupled with the DU to jointly perform the functions of the RAN node. The CU and DU may be set separately, or may be included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU).

[0077] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0078] The CU and DU can be configured according to the protocol layer functions of the wireless network they implement: for example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and above protocol layers (such as the radio resource control (RRC) layer and / or the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, etc.); the DU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the radio link control (RLC), the media / medium access control (MAC) layer, and / or the physical (PHY) layer, etc.). For another example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers above the PDCP layer (such as the RRC layer and / or the SDAP layer), and the DU is configured to implement the functions of the PDCP layer and below protocol layers (such as the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and / or the PHY layer, etc.). For a detailed description of each of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of 3GPP or the technical specifications of other applicable communication protocols. The above division of the processing functions of the CU and DU according to the protocol layer is only an example, and can also be divided in other ways, which is not limited by this application. For example, in one design, the CU or DU can also be divided into parts with partial processing functions of the protocol layer. In one design, part of the RLC layer functions and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are set in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set in the DU.

[0079] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be the network device itself, or a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components that can implement the functions of the network device, and the device can be installed in the network device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the network device.

[0080] The core network equipment is used to implement at least one of the following functions: mobility management, data processing, session management, policy and billing. The names of the devices that implement the core network functions in systems with different access technologies may be different, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. Taking the 5G system as an example, the core network equipment includes: access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), policy control function (PCF) or user plane function (UPF), etc.

[0081] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities and can be a fixed device, mobile device, handheld device, wearable device, vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device built into the above devices (e.g., a communication module or chip system, etc.). The terminal device is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as but not limited to the following scenarios: cellular communication, device-to-device communication (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), machine-to-machine / machine-type communication (M2M / MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, and other scenarios. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as user equipment (UE), terminal, access station, UE station, remote station, wireless communication device, or user device, etc. The various terminal devices introduced above, if located on a vehicle (e.g., placed / installed in a vehicle), can all be considered as vehicle-mounted terminal devices. The vehicle-mounted terminal device may be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip, or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle may implement the method of the present application through the built-in on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip, or on-board unit. The on-board terminal device may be a complete vehicle device, an on-board module, a vehicle, an on-board unit (OBU), a roadside unit (RSU), a vehicle-mounted system (or a vehicle-mounted sending unit) (telematics box, T-box), a chip or a system on chip (SOC), etc. The above-mentioned chip or SOC may be installed in a vehicle, OBU, RSU, or T-box.

[0082] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing the functions, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components capable of implementing the functions of the terminal device, which can be installed in the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the terminal device.

[0083] The communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiment of the present application and does not constitute a limitation on the communication system to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable. For example, the communication system may also include other devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, with the evolution of network architecture, the technical solutions provided in the embodiment of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems. When applying the technical solutions of the embodiment of the present application to other communication systems, the devices, components, modules, etc. in the embodiment may be replaced with corresponding devices, components, modules in other communication systems without limitation.

[0084] The beam alignment process, also known as the beam tracking process, is described below in conjunction with Figure 2. The network device involved in Figure 2 is, for example, the network device involved in Figure 1, and the terminal device involved in Figure 2 is, for example, any terminal device involved in Figure 1.

[0085] The network device can configure a measurement beam set for the terminal device, and the measurement beam set includes at least one measurement resource, one measurement resource corresponds to one beam, or one measurement resource is one beam. As shown in Figure 2, the measurement beam set includes beams 1 to beam 7. The terminal device measures all measurement resources in the measurement beam set and obtains at least one measurement result, and one measurement result corresponds to one measurement resource. The terminal device's measurement of the measurement resource is actually a measurement of the reference signal received on the measurement resource, and the obtained measurement result can be the signal strength of the signal, such as the reference signal receiving power (RSRP). The terminal device can report the obtained measurement result to the network device, and the network device determines the paired beam between the network device and the terminal device based on the measurement result reported by the terminal device. The paired beam between the network device and the terminal device is also called a service beam.

[0086] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can report to the network device a subset of measurement results corresponding to higher signal strengths to ensure communication quality. For example, the terminal device can sort the measurement results from highest to lowest RSRP and report the first Q measurement results from these sorts to the network device, where Q is a positive integer. The network device determines the serving beam based on these Q measurement results. For example, the network device selects the beams corresponding to the Q measurement results that exceed the RSRP threshold as candidate beams (such as beams 2 and 5 in Figure 2) to achieve higher communication quality.

[0087] However, the candidate beams reported by the terminal device based on RSRP may not meet certain communication requirements, resulting in the network device selecting a suboptimal serving beam. For example, different candidate beams reported by the terminal device may cause sudden changes in communication performance, resulting in lower communication reliability. A sudden change in communication performance refers to a significant change in one or more communication parameters within a short period of time, resulting in a sudden change in communication performance. Communication parameters include but are not limited to transmit power, timing advance, or frequency offset.

[0088] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a scheme for determining a beam. In this scheme, a first communication device (such as a terminal device) reports a measurement result based on the signal strength of the beam and the angle difference between the beam and a reference beam. For example, the first communication device may report N beams with a large signal strength and a small angle difference with the reference beam. Since the signal strength of the N beams is large, using the N beams as candidate beams for the service beam can ensure a higher communication quality. In addition, since the angle difference between any beam among the N beams and the reference beam is small, selecting the service beam among the N beams can reduce the situation of sudden changes in communication performance.

[0089] The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application, all steps represented by dotted lines are optional steps. The first communication device described in the various embodiments of the present application may be, for example, any terminal device involved in Figure 1, a software or hardware module (such as a chip) in the terminal device involved in Figure 1, a terminal device involved in Figure 2, a software or hardware module in the terminal device involved in Figure 2, and the second communication device may be, for example, the network device involved in Figure 1, a software or hardware module in the network device involved in Figure 1, a network device involved in Figure 2, or a software or hardware module in the network device involved in Figure 2, etc. The third communication device is, for example, a terminal device other than the first communication device involved in Figure 1, a software or hardware module in the terminal device, etc. It should be understood that if the technical solutions provided in the various embodiments of the present application are applied to other communication systems, the name and / or function of the device or equipment may change, and there is no limitation on this.

[0090] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of a method for determining a beam provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 illustrates S301 to S305, which are described below.

[0091] S301: A second communication device sends first information to a first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first information from the second communication device.

[0092] The first information may indicate K beam angles, where K is a positive integer. The beam angle may be a horizontal angle (also called an azimuth angle) of the beam, an elevation angle (also called a zenith angle) of the beam, a combination of the horizontal and elevation angles of the beam, or an angular center of the beam, etc., without specific limitation.

[0093] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the first information indicating the angles of the K beams. For example, the first information may include information about the angles of the K beams. For example, if the beam angle is the horizontal angle of the beam, when the value of K is 181, the first information includes {0, 1, 2…180} to indicate the Azimuth of the K beams.

[0094] Information about the angles of the K beams can also include the half-power beam width (HPBW). Half-power coverage, also known as half-power coverage angle or half-power angle, refers to the antenna angle within the range where the power within the antenna coverage drops by half. For example, the radiation intensity on both sides of the maximum radiation direction of the main lobe beam of a beam group gradually decreases. When the radiation intensity decreases by 3 decibels (dB), the power is reduced by half. At this time, the angle formed by the directions on both sides of the main lobe beam where the power is reduced by half is the half-power coverage of the beam group.

[0095] In a possible implementation manner, the first information further indicates the following content: a measurement resource set and / or a reporting quantity.

[0096] A measurement resource set is a set of reference signal resources to be measured. Taking the example of a measurement resource set including K measurement resources, the first information indicating the measurement resource set also indicates K measurement resources. Reference signal resources include SSB resources or CSI-RS resources, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the example of a measurement resource set including K measurement resources is taken. One measurement resource is one beam, or one measurement resource corresponds to one beam. Of course, the measurement resource set can also be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device.

[0097] As a way for the first information to indicate a measurement resource set, the first information may include identification information of K measurement resources. The representation information may be an identifier (ID), an index, a number, or a sequence number. For example, the measurement resource is a CSI-RS resource, the indexes of the K measurement resources are: CSI-RS#0 to 127, and the measurement resource set is a set consisting of CSI-RS resources indexed from 0 to 127. Since the K measurement resources correspond one-to-one to the K beams, the first information indicating the identifiers of the K measurement resources is equivalent to indicating the K beams. Alternatively, the identifiers of the K measurement resources can be understood as the identifiers of the K beams.

[0098] As another way for the first information to indicate a measurement resource set, the first information may include an ID of the measurement resource set. For example, if multiple measurement resource sets are preconfigured or predefined, the first information indicates a first measurement resource set among the multiple measurement resource sets, and the first information may include the ID of the first measurement resource set.

[0099] The reporting quantity refers to the number of measurement results that the terminal device needs to report to the network device. For ease of description, the embodiment of the present application uses the reporting quantity N as an example. The first information may include the value of N. Of course, N can also be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device.

[0100] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the signaling that carries the first information. For example, the first information is carried in one or more of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling, or downlink control information (DCI). RRC and MAC CE are semi-static signaling.

[0101] S302: The second communication device sends S reference signals to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the S reference signals from the second communication device. Reference signals in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as measurement signals, measurement pilots, or pilots, etc., without limitation.

[0102] Exemplarily, the S reference signals may be reference signals corresponding to K measurement resources, where S is a positive integer. For example, each measurement resource in the K measurement resources may correspond to at least one reference signal in the S reference signals.

[0103] For example, when K measurement resources correspond one-to-one to S reference signals, the indexes of the K measurement resources are: CSI-RS#0 to 127, then the second communication device can send a CSI-RS on CSI-RS#0, a CSI-RS on CSI-RS#1, and so on.

[0104] Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the reference signal corresponding to each measurement resource based on each of the K measurement resources, and measures each measurement resource to obtain a measurement result. Measuring the measurement resource can be understood as measuring the reference signal corresponding to the measurement resource. The measurement result can be the signal strength of the reference signal, such as RSRP. Similarly, the first communication device can determine K measurement results, which is equivalent to obtaining the signal strength corresponding to each of the K beams, that is, the signal strength of the K beams.

[0105] Optionally, if the second communication device corresponds to multiple reference signals for a certain measurement resource among the K measurement resources, then the measurement result corresponding to the measurement resource can be the maximum value, minimum value or average value of the signal strength corresponding to these multiple reference signals, etc., and there is no specific limitation on this.

[0106] In one possible implementation, the first communications device may determine P measurement results corresponding to P measurement resources out of the K measurement resources (i.e., signal strengths corresponding to the P beams). In other words, the first communications device may measure reference signals corresponding to the P measurement resources out of the S reference signals, rather than necessarily measuring all of the S reference signals. P is a positive integer less than or equal to K. In other words, the first communications device may not need to measure all K measurement resources, but rather a portion of the K measurement resources. This can relatively reduce the measurement range of the first communications device.

[0107] It should be understood that S302 is an implementation method for the first communication device to determine K measurement results. Of course, the first communication device may also pre-store K measurement results or P measurement results (for example, the first communication device has previously obtained K measurement results or P measurement results, etc.). In this case, there is no need to execute step S302, that is, S302 is an optional step, which is indicated by a dotted line in Figure 3.

[0108] The following description is made by taking K measurement results as K signal strengths or P measurement results as P signal strengths as an example.

[0109] S303: The first communication device sends second information to the second communication device. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the second information from the first communication device.

[0110] The second information may indicate or be used to determine N beams, where the N beams are part or all of the K beams, and N is a positive integer less than or equal to K. The N beams may be described as beams reported by the first communication device, or may be described as beams selected by the first communication device based on beam measurement, or may be described as candidate beams used by the second communication device to select a serving beam.

[0111] Exemplarily, the second information may include identifiers of N beams, or identifiers of measurement resources corresponding to the N beams, where the identifiers of the N beams or the identifiers of measurement resources corresponding to the N beams are used to determine or indicate the N beams. The identifiers of the N beams may be identifiers of measurement resources corresponding to the N beams.

[0112] The first communication device may determine N beams from the K beams based on information about the angles of some or all of the K beams and the signal strengths of some of the K beams. The following describes how the first communication device determines the N beams, including the method shown in B1 or B2 below.

[0113] B1. The first communication device determines the first N beams of the P beams sorted in descending order of signal strength as the N beams. P is a positive integer less than or equal to K.

[0114] Exemplarily, the first communication device may determine the angle differences between K beams and the first beam, and obtain a total of K angle differences. The first communication device determines the beams corresponding to the angle differences that are less than or equal to the second threshold among the K angle differences as P beams. After obtaining the P beams, the first communication device may sort the signal strengths of the P beams from large to small, and use the N beams with the highest signal strength as the N beams. The second threshold (or second threshold value, or second threshold), the second threshold may be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device. Alternatively, the second threshold may be indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device, for example, the second communication device sends the sixth information to the first communication device, and the sixth information indicates the second threshold. The second threshold may be, for example, 20 degrees. The second threshold may be preconfigured or predefined in the second communication device, or it may be determined by the second communication device based on actual conditions. There is no specific limitation on this.

[0115] In one possible design, the number of beams reported by the first communication device (i.e., the value of N) may also be carried in the sixth information. In one possible design, the sixth information may be carried in DCI or RRC signaling, which is not specifically limited. Optionally, the sixth information and the first information may be carried in the same signaling. In this case, the second communication device sends the signaling to the first communication device, which is equivalent to sending the first information and the sixth information to the first communication device. Alternatively, the sixth information and the first information may be carried in different signaling.

[0116] Among them, the content of the angle of the first beam, the content of the difference between the angles of the K beams and the first beam, and the meaning (or understanding) of the second threshold can respectively correspond to the content of the angles of the K beams. Examples are given below in combination with the contents shown in C1 to C4.

[0117] C1. The angles of the K beams include the horizontal angles of the K beams.

[0118] In C1, the angle of the first beam includes the horizontal angle of the first beam, and the angle differences between the K beams and the first beam also include the horizontal angle differences between the K beams and the first beam. The second threshold may include (or be understood as) a threshold corresponding to the horizontal angle differences between the beams. In this case, the second threshold may also be referred to as a horizontal angle threshold.

[0119] C2, the angles of the K beams include the elevation angles of the K beams.

[0120] In C2, the angle of the first beam is also the elevation angle of the first beam. The angle differences between the K beams and the first beam also include the elevation angle differences between the K beams and the first beam. The second threshold may include (or be understood as) a threshold corresponding to the elevation angle differences between the beams. In this case, the second threshold may also be referred to as an elevation angle threshold.

[0121] C3. The angles of the K beams include the horizontal angles and elevation angles of the K beams.

[0122] Under C3, the angle of the first beam includes the horizontal angle and the elevation angle of the first beam.

[0123] In one possible implementation of the angle differences between the K beams and the first beam, the angle differences between the K beams and the first beam include horizontal angle differences between the K beams and the first beam, and elevation angle differences between the K beams and the first beam. The second threshold may include (or be understood as) a threshold corresponding to the horizontal angle difference between the beams and a threshold corresponding to the elevation angle difference between the beams. In other words, the second threshold includes a horizontal angle threshold or an elevation angle threshold.

[0124] In another possible implementation of the angle differences between the K beams and the first beam, the horizontal angle differences between the K beams and the first beam and the elevation angle differences between the K beams and the first beam are summed, or the absolute value of the summed value. Furthermore, the second threshold may include (or be understood as) a threshold corresponding to the sum of the horizontal angle differences between the beams and the elevation angle differences between the beams.

[0125] In another possible implementation of the angle differences between the K beams and the first beam, the difference between the horizontal angle differences between the K beams and the first beam and the elevation angle differences between the K beams and the first beam, or the absolute value of the difference, is calculated. The second threshold may include (or be understood as) a threshold corresponding to the difference between the horizontal angle difference between the beams and the elevation angle difference between the beams.

[0126] C4, the angles of the K beams include the angular centers of the K beams.

[0127] In C4, the angle of the first beam includes the angular center of the first beam. The angle differences between the K beams and the first beam also include the distances between the K beams and the angular centers of the first beam. The second threshold may include (or be understood as) the threshold corresponding to the distances between the angular centers of the beams. In this case, the second threshold may be referred to as an angular distance threshold.

[0128] There may be multiple types of the first beam, which will be described below with examples using D1 or D2.

[0129] D1. The first beam is the first service beam. The first service beam can be the transmit beam of the second communication device, or can be the second communication device's current service beam, or can be considered the beam currently used by the second communication device to transmit information to the first communication device. Of course, the first service beam can also be used by the second communication device to receive information from the first communication device, that is, the first service beam can also serve as the first communication device's receive beam. In this case, the angle of the first service beam can be pre-stored in the first communication device, or can be obtained by the first communication device from the second communication device, without specific limitation.

[0130] When the first beam is the beam shown by D1, the signal strength of the N beams determined is relatively large, ensuring the communication quality of the beams, and the angle difference between the N beams and the current service beam of the second communication device is relatively small, so that the angle difference between the service beam before the second communication device switches and the service beam after the switch is also small, so that the second communication device can switch beams relatively smoothly, thus avoiding the change process (or mutation) of the communication performance between the second communication device and the first communication device. If the angle difference between the service beams before and after the switch is less than a certain threshold, then the device switches beams smoothly. If the angle difference between the service beams before and after the switch is less than a certain threshold, then it can be considered that the device can switch beams smoothly.

[0131] D2. The first beam can be any reference beam. The first beam can be any of the K beams, or any beam other than the K beams of the second communication device, without specific limitation. In this case, the angle of the first beam can be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device, for example, preconfigured in the first communication device via a protocol, or can be received by the first communication device from the second communication device, without specific limitation.

[0132] Whether the first beam is the beam shown by D1 or the beam shown by D2, optionally, the interference between the first beam and the second service beam can be less than or equal to a third threshold. The second service beam can be a service beam used by the second communication device to send information to the third communication device. Unlike the first service beam, the second service beam is a beam used by the second communication device to send information to the third communication device, while the first service beam is a beam used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device. In this way, multi-user (MU) pairing with less interference and better communication quality can be achieved, reducing communication anomalies, thereby improving the communication reliability of the communication network.

[0133] The way of expressing interference is different, so the specific way for the second communication device to determine that the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to the third threshold is also different, which is described below with examples in conjunction with E1 or E2.

[0134] E1. Interference is expressed as the distance from the center of the angle.

[0135] Under D1, interference is inversely correlated with the distance from the angular center. For example, if the second communication device determines that the distance between a beam among the K beams and the angular center of the second serving beam is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold, the interference between the beam and the second serving beam is considered to be less than or equal to a third threshold. The fifth threshold can be preconfigured in the second communication device or determined by the second communication device itself.

[0136] Optionally, the second communication device may use the beam with the largest angle distance from the second service beam among the K beams as the first beam.

[0137] E2. Interference is characterized by the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) or signal to interference ratio (SIR).

[0138] Under D2, interference is inversely correlated with SINR or SIR. For example, if the second communications device determines that the SINR or SIR between a beam among the K beams and the second serving beam is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold, the interference between the beam and the second serving beam may be considered less than or equal to a third threshold. The fifth threshold may be preconfigured in the second communications device or determined independently by the second communications device.

[0139] Optionally, the second communication device may use the beam with the largest SINR or SIR compared with the second service beam among the K beams as the first beam.

[0140] There are many ways to express interference, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this. Of course, the embodiments of the present application also do not limit the specific method by which the second communication device determines that the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to the third threshold.

[0141] In another possible implementation, the first communication device may also independently determine that the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to a third threshold. The determination method of the first communication device may refer to the content of the second communication device determining that the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to the third threshold in the previous text, and the repeated parts will not be listed again.

[0142] After determining the P beams based on the angle differences, the first communication device further needs to determine the signal strengths of the P beams.

[0143] In one possible design, the first communication device may measure the signal strength of K beams in advance (such as determining the signal strength of K beams in the manner shown in S302 above), and determine the signal strength of the P beams from the signal strength of the K beams.

[0144] In another possible design, the first communication device may also directly measure the signal strength of the reference signals corresponding to the P measurement resources discussed above after determining the P beams to obtain the signal strength of these P beams. In this way, the measurement range of the first communication device can be reduced. In this case, the first communication device may execute step S302 only after determining the P beams.

[0145] With this design, the first communications device can ignore the measurement resources corresponding to beams other than P of the K beams, meaning it does not measure the measurement resources corresponding to these beams. This reduces the processing load on the first communications device. Alternatively, the first communications device can indicate P beams to the second communications device. In this case, the first communications device can directly measure the reference signals corresponding to the measurement resources corresponding to these P beams to obtain the signal strengths of the P beams. This reduces the processing load on both the second and first communications devices.

[0146] The following describes an example of a process in which the first communication device determines P beams or N beams, taking the case where the first beam is the service beam shown as D1 and the second threshold includes a horizontal angle threshold and a pitch angle threshold, and the case where the first communication device determines N beams using the above-mentioned B1 method.

[0147] Please refer to Figure 4, which is a schematic diagram of selecting P beams according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 takes the example of a first communication device being UE#0, K beams including beams 0 through 127, the first beam being beam 70 shown in Figure 4, and both the horizontal angle threshold and the elevation angle threshold being 2.

[0148] As shown in Figure 4, UE#0 determines that the beams whose horizontal angle difference with beam 70 is within the horizontal angle threshold and whose pitch angle difference with beam 70 is within the pitch angle threshold include beam 10, beam 85, beam 86, beam 87, beam 68, beam 69, beam 70, beam 71, beam 72, beam 53, beam 54, beam 55 and beam 38 as examples, that is, P beams include beam 10, beam 85, beam 86, beam 87, beam 68, beam 69, beam 70, beam 71, beam 72, beam 53, beam 54, beam 55 and beam 38.

[0149] Please refer to Figure 5, which is a schematic diagram of determining N beams provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 uses the example of K beams including beams 0 to 127, P beams including beams 68, 69, 70, 71, and 72, and N being 3. As shown in Figure 5, the first communication device only needs to measure the RSRP of the P beams (such as beams 68, 69, 70, 71, and 72). The first communication device does not need to measure the RSRP of beams other than these P beams (such as beam 77) among the K beams. The "×" in Figure 5 indicates that beam 77 is not measured. In this way, the processing load of the first communication device can be reduced. Ultimately, the first communication device determines the N beams with the highest RSRP from the P beams, namely beams 69, 70, and 71, that is, the N beams include beams 69, 70, and 71.

[0150] The following is an example of a process in which the first communication device determines P beams or N beams when the first beam is the beam shown as D2, the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to the third threshold, the second threshold includes a horizontal angle threshold and a pitch angle threshold, and the N beams are determined using the above-mentioned B1 method.

[0151] Please refer to Figure 6, which is a schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 takes the example of a first communication device being UE#0, a third communication device being UE#1, K beams including beams 0 through 127, the first beam being beam 70 shown in Figure 6, the second serving beam being beam 77, and both the horizontal angle threshold and the elevation angle threshold being 2.

[0152] As shown in Figure 6, the second communication device determines that the interference between beam 70 and second serving beam 77 is less than or equal to a second threshold. Therefore, beam 70 may be used as the first beam and indicated to UE#0. UE#0 determines that the beams whose horizontal angle difference with beam 70 is within the horizontal angle threshold and whose elevation angle difference with beam 70 is within the elevation angle threshold include beam 10, beam 85, beam 86, beam 87, beam 68, beam 69, beam 70, beam 71, beam 72, beam 53, beam 54, beam 55, and beam 38 as examples. That is, the P beams include beam 10, beam 85, beam 86, beam 87, beam 68, beam 69, beam 70, beam 71, beam 72, beam 53, beam 54, beam 55, and beam 38.

[0153] Please refer to Figure 7, which is a schematic diagram of determining N beams provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 uses the example of K beams including beams such as beams 0 to beam 127, P beams including beams 68, beam 69, beam 70, beam 71, and beam 72, and the value of N being 3. As shown in Figure 7, the first communication device only needs to measure the RSRP of P beams (such as beams 68, beam 69, beam 70, beam 71, and beam 72). The first communication device does not need to measure the RSRP of beams other than these P beams (such as beam 78) among the K beams. The "×" in Figure 7 indicates that beam 78 is not measured. In this way, the processing load of the first communication device can be reduced. Ultimately, the first communication device determines that the N beams with the highest RSRP from the P beams are beams 69, beam 70, and beam 71, that is, the N beams include beams 69, beam 70, and beam 71.

[0154] In the approach shown in B1, the angle difference between the determined N beams and the first beam is less than or equal to the second threshold, and the signal strength is relatively high. This ensures high communication quality for the ultimately determined serving beam and enables smoother switching of the serving beam by the second communication device. Furthermore, the second communication device can flexibly indicate the second threshold. Furthermore, because some of the K beams are eliminated based on the angle difference between the beams, the first communication device can measure the signal strength of some of the K beams, reducing the processing load of the first communication device.

[0155] B2. The first communication device determines the N beams using the first N beams among the P beams among the N beams.

[0156] For example, as discussed above, the first communication device may determine the signal strengths of K beams. The content of determining the signal strengths of the K beams may refer to the content discussed above and will not be repeated here. The first communication device may use the beams among the K beams whose signal strengths (such as RSRP) are greater than the first threshold as P beams. The first communication device may determine the angle differences between the P beams and the first beam, and a total of P angle differences may be obtained. The beams corresponding to the first N angle differences among the sorted P angle differences may be determined as the N beams. For example, the first communication device may sort the P angle differences in order from small to large to obtain the sorted P angle differences. The content of the angle differences between the P beams and the first beam may refer to the content of the angle differences between the K beams and the first beam in the above text, and the repeated parts will not be listed here.

[0157] The first threshold (also referred to as the first threshold value or the first threshold) may be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device. Alternatively, the first threshold may be indicated to the first communication device by the second communication device. For example, the second communication device may send seventh information to the first communication device, where the seventh information indicates the first threshold. The first threshold may be, for example, -80 decibel milliwatts (dBm). The first threshold may be preconfigured or predefined in the second communication device, or may be determined by the second communication device based on actual circumstances. This is not specifically limited.

[0158] In one possible design, the number of beams reported by the first communication device (i.e., the value of N) may also be carried in the seventh information. In one possible design, the seventh information may be carried in DCI or RRC signaling, which is not specifically limited. Optionally, the seventh information and the first information may be carried in the same signaling. In this case, the second communication device sends the signaling to the first communication device, which is equivalent to sending the first information and the seventh information to the first communication device. Alternatively, the seventh information and the first information may be carried in different signaling.

[0159] The first beam involved in B2 can be the first beam described in D1 or D2 above. Optionally, the interference between the first beam and the second serving beam is less than or equal to a third threshold. The first beam, the second serving beam, and the third threshold are all discussed above, and repetitive details are not repeated here.

[0160] The following is an example of the process of the first communication device determining P beams or N beams when the first beam is the service beam shown as D1, the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to the third threshold, and the N beams are determined using the above-mentioned method B2.

[0161] Please refer to Figure 8, which is a schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8 illustrates an example in which the first communication device is UE#0, the third communication device is UE#1, the K beams include beams 0 through 127, the first beam is beam 70 shown in Figure 8, and the second serving beam is beam 77.

[0162] As shown in Figure 8 , the second communications device determines that the interference between beam 70 and second serving beam 77 is less than or equal to a third threshold. Therefore, beam 70 may be selected as the first beam and indicated to UE #0. UE #0 determines that among the K beams, the beams whose angle difference with the first beam is less than or equal to the second threshold include beam 68, beam 69, beam 71, beam 72, beam 73, and beam 74. That is, the P beams include beam 68, beam 69, beam 71, beam 72, beam 73, and beam 74.

[0163] Please refer to Figure 9, which is a schematic diagram of determining N beams according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 9 uses the example of K beams including beams 0 to 127, P beams including beams 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, and 74, and N being 3. As shown in Figure 9, the first communication device determines that the three beams with the highest RSRP among the P beams (e.g., beams 68, 69, 70, 71, and 72) are beams 68, 69, and 71, i.e., the N beams are beams 68, 69, and 71.

[0164] The following is an example of a process in which the first communication device determines P beams or N beams when the first beam is the beam shown as D2 and the first communication device determines N beams using the above-mentioned method B2.

[0165] Please refer to Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of determining P beams according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 10 takes the example of a first communication device being UE#0, K beams including beams 0 to 127, and beam 70 as the first beam shown in Figure 10.

[0166] As shown in Figure 10, the second communication device determines beam 70 as the first beam and indicates this to UE #0. UE #0 determines that among the K beams, the beams whose angle difference with the first beam is less than or equal to the second threshold include beam 68, beam 69, beam 71, beam 72, beam 73, and beam 74. That is, the total number of beams is P, including beam 68, beam 69, beam 71, beam 72, beam 73, and beam 74.

[0167] Please refer to Figure 11, which is a schematic diagram of determining N beams according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 11 illustrates an example in which K beams include beams 0 through 127, P beams include beams 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, and 74, and N is 3. As shown in Figure 11, the first communication device determines that the three beams with the highest RSRP among the P beams are beams 69, 70, and 71, meaning that the N beams are beams 69, 70, and 71.

[0168] In the approach shown in B2, the signal strengths of the determined N beams and the first beam are greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the angle difference from the first beam is relatively small. This ensures high communication quality for the ultimately determined serving beam and allows the second communication device to switch the serving beam more smoothly. Furthermore, the second communication device can flexibly indicate the first threshold. Furthermore, because some of the K beams are eliminated based on signal strength, the first communication device can determine the angle difference between some of the K beams and the first beam, which also helps reduce the processing load of the first communication device.

[0169] S304: The second communication device sends third information to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the third information from the second communication device.

[0170] The third information may indicate a third service beam, which is used by the second communication device to transmit information to the first communication device. The first service beam can be understood as the service beam currently used by the second communication device to transmit information to the first communication device, while the third service beam can be understood as the service beam used by the second communication device to subsequently transmit information to the first communication device. In other words, the beam used by the second communication device to transmit information to the first communication device switches from the first service beam to the third service beam. Optionally, the second communication device may also use the third service beam to receive information from the first communication device, although this is not limited to this.

[0171] Illustratively, after determining N beams, the second communication device may determine a third service beam from the N beams. The third service beam may be one or more of the N beams, without specific limitation. Furthermore, the second communication device indicates the third service beam to the first communication device. For example, the third information may include an identifier of the third service beam or an identifier of a measurement resource corresponding to the third service beam. The first communication device may determine the third service beam based on the identifier of the third service beam or the identifier of the measurement resource corresponding to the third service beam. The identifier of the third service beam may also be the beam of the measurement resource corresponding to the third service beam.

[0172] Optionally, the third information may further indicate the angle differences between the N beams and / or the signal strengths of the N beams. For example, the second communication device determines the third serving beam based on the angle differences and / or signal strengths of the N beams. Alternatively, the second communication device may independently determine the angle differences between the N beams.

[0173] Exemplarily, the second communication device may determine the beam with the smallest angle difference with the first beam among the N beams as the third service beam, or may determine the beam with the smallest signal strength among the N beams as the third service beam. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the manner in which the second communication device determines the third service beam.

[0174] When the value of N is greater than 1, in one possible design, the first communication device may use a differential method to report the angle difference and / or signal strength of the N beams to the second communication device.

[0175] For example, the first communication device may report the angle difference corresponding to the second beam among the N beams, and report the difference between the angles of beams other than the second beam and the second beam among the N beams to the second communication device to reduce reporting overhead. The second beam may, for example, be the beam with the largest or smallest angle difference among the N beams (e.g., the second beam).

[0176] Similarly, the first communication device may also use a differential method to report the signal strengths of N beams to the second communication device.

[0177] Exemplarily, the first communication device may report the signal strength corresponding to the second beam, and report the difference between the signal strength of beams other than the second beam in the N beams and the second beam to the second communication device to reduce reporting overhead.

[0178] In one possible design, the first communication device may determine a fourth service beam corresponding to the third service beam based on the third service beam. For example, a service beam with higher communication quality than the third service beam may be selected as the fourth service beam. The fourth service beam is used by the first communication device to receive information from the second communication device. Optionally, the first communication device may also use the fourth service beam to send information to the second communication device, although this is not limited. The third and fourth service beams can be considered the service beam group corresponding to the first communication device, and it can be understood that the service beam group of the first communication device is used to serve the first communication device.

[0179] As discussed above, when the interference between the first beam and the second service beam is less than or equal to the third threshold, it can be said that the angle difference between the first beam and the second service beam is large, while the angle difference between the N beams and the first beam is relatively small. Therefore, the angle difference between the third service beam determined based on the N beams and the second service beam is also large, that is, the interference between the third service beam and the second service beam is small. This enables the second communication device to determine a more matching MU and reduces the interference between the first communication device and the third communication device.

[0180] For example, referring to Figure 12, which is a schematic diagram of MU pairing transmission provided in an embodiment of the present application, Figure 12 is an example in which the first communication device is UE#0, the second communication device is a base station, and the third communication device is UE#1.

[0181] As shown in Figure 12, the second serving beam is beam 70, the third serving beam is beam 77, the serving beam corresponding to UE#0 (i.e., the fourth serving beam) is beam 81, and the serving beam corresponding to UE#1 is beam 80. In other words, the serving beam group for UE#0 is beam 81 and beam 77, and the serving beam group for UE#1 is beam 80 and beam 70. Because the interference between beam 70 and beam 77 is relatively low, this allows the base station to communicate more stably with UE#0 and UE#1, respectively.

[0182] After the first communication device determines the third serving beam, the second communication device and the first communication device can communicate based on the third serving beam and the fourth serving beam. In one possible design, during the communication process, the second communication device and / or the first communication device can also perform directional sensing based on the third serving beam and / or the fourth serving beam. Directional sensing is applicable when the first beam is the first beam shown in D2 above, and when the first communication device determines N beams using the method described in B2 above.

[0183] For example, the second communication device may use the third service beam to send fourth information to the first communication device. Accordingly, the first communication device may receive the fourth information based on the fourth service beam. The fourth information refers to any information sent by the second communication device to the first communication device. This embodiment of the application does not limit the specific content of the fourth information.

[0184] If the first communication device determines that the received power of the fourth information is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, then it can be determined that there is a reflector in the first direction, or the angle of the reflector can be determined. Optionally, after the first communication device senses the direction of the reflector, the direction of the reflector can be indicated to the second communication device. The first direction corresponds to (or is associated with) the angle of the third service beam and / or the angle of the fourth service beam, for example, the first direction is the direction corresponding to the third service beam, or the angle of the reflector corresponds to the angle of the third service beam. Or, the first direction is the direction corresponding to the fourth service beam, or the angle of the reflector corresponds to the angle of the fourth service beam. Or, the first direction is determined based on the angle corresponding to the third service beam (such as the horizontal angle and / or the zenith angle), and the angle corresponding to the fourth service beam (such as the horizontal angle and / or the zenith angle), or the angle of the reflector corresponds to the angle of the third service beam and the angle of the fourth service beam. Wherein, the fourth threshold can be preconfigured or predefined in the first communication device.

[0185] Alternatively, after determining the received power of the fourth information, the first communication device may transmit fifth information to the second communication device, where the fifth information indicates the received power of the fourth information. This allows the second communication device to perceive the direction of the reflective object. This achieves directional perception. The second communication device's perception of the reflective object based on the received power of the fourth information can be described in detail in the previous section regarding the first communication device's perception of the reflective object based on the received power of the fourth information. Any repetition is omitted here.

[0186] For example, refer to Figure 13, which illustrates a schematic diagram of directional sensing provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 13 illustrates an example in which the first communication device is UE#1, the second communication device is a base station, the third serving beams are Beam 1, Beam 2, and Beam 3, and the fourth serving beam is Beam 9. As shown in Figure 13, UE#1 determines that the received power of the fourth information is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and therefore determines that a reflective object exists in the first direction. Figure 13 illustrates that UE#1's serving beam group is Beam 9, Beam 1, Beam 2, and Beam 3.

[0187] It is understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and the terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in conjunction with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this 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 scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0188] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. Please refer to FIG14 , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a possible communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0189] As shown in Figure 14, communication device 1400 includes a processing module 1410 and a transceiver module 1420. Communication device 1400 can implement the functions of any terminal device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2, or any software module or hardware module in the terminal device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2. Alternatively, communication device 1400 can implement the functions of any network device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2, or any software module or hardware module in the network device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2.

[0190] In one embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be used to implement the functions of any of the first communication devices described above, such as the functions of the first communication device described above in FIG. 3 , and may also implement the method discussed above in FIG. 3 .

[0191] Illustratively, the transceiver module 1420 may be configured to receive the first information and send the second information under the control of the processing module 1410. Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 may also be configured to receive a reference signal, sixth information, and third information, etc., under the control of the processing module 1410. The contents of the first information, sixth information, reference signal, second information, or third information may refer to the contents of the first information, sixth information, reference signal, second information, or third information discussed above in FIG. Any repetitions are omitted.

[0192] In another embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be used to implement the functions of any of the second communication devices described above, such as the functions of the second communication device described above in FIG. 3 .

[0193] Illustratively, the transceiver module 1420 may be configured to transmit the first information and receive the content of the second information under the control of the processing module 1410. Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 may also be configured to transmit a reference signal, sixth information, and third information, etc., under the control of the processing module 1410. The content of the first information, sixth information, reference signal, second information, or third information may refer to the content of the first information, sixth information, reference signal, second information, or third information discussed above in FIG. Any repetitions are omitted.

[0194] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. Please refer to Figure 15, which is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 15, the communication device 1500 includes a processor 1510 and an interface circuit 1520. The processor 1510 and the interface circuit 1520 are coupled to each other. It will be understood that the interface circuit 1520 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1500 may also include a memory 1530 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1510 or storing input data required by the processor 1510 to run instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1510 runs instructions. The communication device 1500 can implement the functions of any terminal device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2, or any software module or hardware module in the terminal device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2. Alternatively, the communication device 1500 can implement the functions of any network device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2, or any software module or hardware module in the network device involved in Figure 1 or Figure 2.

[0195] In one embodiment, the communication device 1500 may be used to implement the method performed by the first communication device in FIG. 3 above.

[0196] In another embodiment, the communication device 1500 may be used to implement the method performed by the second communication device in FIG. 3 above.

[0197] When the communication device 1500 is used to implement the method executed by the first communication device or the second communication device in FIG. 3 , the processor 1510 is used to implement the functions of the processing module 1410 , and the interface circuit 1520 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver module 1420 .

[0198] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The terminal device chip receives information from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or the terminal device chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0199] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a network device, the network device module implements the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The network device module receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device module sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device. The network device module here can be a baseband chip of the network device, or it can be a DU or other module. The DU here can be a DU under the O-RAN architecture.

[0200] An embodiment of the present application provides another example of a communication device, which includes at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one processor and the at least one memory being coupled, the at least one memory being used to store instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the communication device executes the method in the above embodiment. Taking the communication device including a processor and a memory as an example, as shown in Figure 16, the communication device 1600 includes a processor 1610 and a memory 1620. The processor 1610 and the memory 1620 are coupled, and the memory 1620 stores instructions. When the instructions stored in the memory 1620 are executed by the processor 1610, the communication device 1600 executes the method executed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiment.

[0201] It is understood that the processor involved in the various embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. In addition, the memory involved in the various embodiments of the present application may include volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM). The memory may also include non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD).

[0202] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication system that can implement the method discussed in Figure 3 above. The communication system includes a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device can implement the functions of the first communication device mentioned in Figure 3 above, and the second communication device can implement the functions of the second communication device mentioned in Figure 3 above.

[0203] An embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is configured to call and execute instructions from the interface, and when the processor executes the instructions, the method discussed in FIG. 3 is implemented.

[0204] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store computer programs or instructions. When the computer-readable storage medium is executed, the method discussed in FIG. 3 above is implemented.

[0205] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, implements the method discussed in FIG. 3 .

[0206] The method steps in each embodiment of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0207] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0208] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0209] It should be understood that the various numbers used in the various embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A method for determining a beam, characterized in that: Applied to a first communication device, the method comprises: Receiving first information from a second communication device, where the first information indicates information about angles of K beams, where K is an integer greater than 1; Sending second information to the second communication device, where the second information indicates N beams among the K beams, where N is a positive integer less than or equal to K; The N beams are first N beams sorted by angle differences between the P beams and the first beam, and the P beams are P beams with signal strength greater than a first threshold among the K beams, and P is a positive integer; or, The N beams are the first N beams of the P beams sorted from large to small according to signal strength, and the P beams are the P beams whose angle difference between the K beams and the first beam is less than or equal to a second threshold, and P is a positive integer.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The N beams are first N beams after the angle differences between each of the P beams and the first beam are sorted from small to large.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The difference between the angles of the K beams and the first beam includes one of the following: The difference between the horizontal angles of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam; The difference between the zenith angles of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; the difference between the horizontal angles of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam, and the difference between the zenith angles of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; or, The distances between the angular centers of the K beams and the angular center of the first beam.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The first beam includes: a first service beam, where the first service beam is used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device; or, The second communication device indicates a beam.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The interference between the first beam and a second service beam is less than or equal to a third threshold, and the second service beam is used for the second communication device to send information to a third communication device.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: After sending the second information to the second communication device, the method further includes: Third information is received, where the third information indicates a third service beam, where the third service beam is used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device, and where the third service beam belongs to a beam among the N beams.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving fourth information based on a fourth service beam, where the fourth service beam is a receiving beam corresponding to the third service beam; If the receiving power of the fourth information is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, it is determined that there is a reflector in a first direction, and the first direction corresponds to the angle of the third service beam and / or the angle of the fourth service beam.

8. A method for determining a beam, characterized in that: Applied to a second communication device, the method comprises: Sending first information to a first communication device, where the first information indicates information about angles of K beams, where K is an integer greater than 1; receiving second information from the first communication device, where the second information indicates N beams among the K beams, where N is a positive integer less than or equal to K; The N beams are first N beams sorted by angle differences between the P beams and the first beam, and the P beams are P beams with signal strength greater than a first threshold among the K beams, and P is a positive integer; or, The N beams are the first N beams of the P beams sorted from large to small according to signal strength, and the P beams are the P beams whose angle difference between the K beams and the first beam is less than or equal to a second threshold, and P is a positive integer.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The N beams are first N beams after the angle differences between the P beams and the first beam are sorted from small to large.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The difference between the angles of the K beams and the first beam includes one of the following: The difference between the horizontal angles of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam; The difference between the zenith angles of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; the difference between the horizontal angles of the K beams and the horizontal angle of the first beam, and the difference between the zenith angles of the K beams and the zenith angle of the first beam; or, The distances between the angular centers of the K beams and the angular center of the first beam.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that: The first beam includes: a first service beam, where the first service beam is used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device; or, The second communication device indicates a beam.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The interference between the first beam and a second service beam is less than or equal to a third threshold, and the second service beam is used for the second communication device to send information to a third communication device.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send third information, where the third information indicates a third service beam, where the third service beam is used by the second communication device to send information to the first communication device, and where the third service beam belongs to a beam among the N beams.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending fourth information based on a fourth service beam, where the fourth service beam is a receiving beam corresponding to the third service beam; receiving fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate a receiving power for receiving the fourth information; If the receiving power of receiving the fourth information is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, it is determined that there is a reflector in a first direction, and the first direction corresponds to the angle of the third service beam and / or the angle of the fourth service beam.

15. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7; or, A module for executing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 14 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

17. A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that When the instruction is executed by the communication device, the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 14 is implemented.

Images