Radio frequency processing device, method for operating radio frequency processing device, and communication device

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a radio frequency processing device, a method for operating the radio frequency processing device, and a communication device. The radio frequency processing device comprises a multi-stage delay and branching structure. The multi-stage delay and branching structure comprises a first end, a plurality of branching structures, a plurality of delay units and a plurality of second ends. The first end is connected to a plurality of delay units of a first stage by means of a branching structure of a first stage. Each delay unit of the last stage is connected to an antenna array by means of a corresponding second end. Delay units of the same stage have the same amount of delay. Among the delay units in adjacent stages, each delay unit in the previous stage is connected to a plurality of delay units of the following stage by means of a branching structure of a following stage, and the amount of delay of the delay units of the previous stage is greater than that of the delay units of the following stage. The radio frequency processing device is used for controlling the amount of delay of the plurality of second ends by controlling the on / off states of different delay units. According to the embodiments of the present application, the area occupied by the delay units can be reduced, thereby reducing the size of the radio frequency processing device.

Description

Radio frequency processing device, operation method of radio frequency processing device and communication device

[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410464758.4 filed on April 16, 2024, and entitled "A radio frequency processing device, an operation method of the radio frequency processing device and a communication device", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application belongs to the field of communication technology, and particularly relates to a radio frequency processing device, an operation method of the radio frequency processing device and a communication device. BACKGROUND

[0003] The Upper 6 Gigahertz (U6G) base station system is in a hybrid beam forming (HBF) architecture in the vertical direction. In the hybrid beam forming architecture in the dense urban enhanced mobile broad band (eMBB) scenario, the multi-beam time-sharing scanning prolongs the channel estimation period, which easily leads to channel aging, and the spatial information is incomplete in the single-beam, which restricts the communication capacity in the dense urban area.

[0004] The dispersion architecture realizes the dispersion frequency division multi-beam by using a true time delay (TTD) to construct a time delay difference. Thus, the target space can be continuously covered, and the beam time-sharing scanning process in the hybrid beam forming architecture is avoided, so as to improve the channel estimation capability and the user access opportunity and duration, thereby improving the overall system communication capacity. Since the true time delay needs to realize a larger delay amount by a longer winding method, a larger area needs to be occupied, and thus the size of the radio frequency processing device is large. SUMMARY

[0005] Embodiments of the present application provide a radio frequency processing device, an operation method of the radio frequency processing device and a communication device, which are used to reduce the size of the radio frequency processing device.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, a radio frequency processing device is provided. The radio frequency processing device includes a multi-stage delay branching structure, the multi-stage delay branching structure including a first end, a plurality of branching structures, a plurality of delay units, and a plurality of second ends. The first end is connected to the plurality of first-stage delay units through the first-stage branching structures respectively. In adjacent two-stage delay units, each delay unit of an upper stage is connected to the plurality of delay units of a lower stage through a corresponding branching structure of the lower stage respectively. Each delay unit of a last stage is connected to a sub-antenna of an antenna array through a corresponding second end. The delay units of the same stage have the same delay amount, and the delay amount of a delay unit of an upper stage is greater than that of a delay unit of a lower stage in adjacent two-stage delay units. The radio frequency processing device is configured to control the delay amounts of the plurality of second ends by controlling the switching states of the different delay units.

[0008] In the embodiments, in any adjacent two-stage delay units of the multi-stage delay branching structure, the delay amount of a delay unit of an upper stage and the delay amount of a delay unit of a lower stage connected thereto can be sequentially superimposed. The radio frequency processing device controls the delay units to be turned on or turned off, so as to adjust the final delay amount superimposed at the second end. Since a large number of delay lines do not need to be arranged in each delay unit, the area occupied by the delay units can be greatly reduced, and thus the size of the radio frequency processing device is reduced.

[0009] In some possible embodiments, each branching structure has two branching ends, and the two branching ends are connected to two delay units respectively. That is, the branching structure adopted in the embodiments is a two-branching structure. In the two delay units coupled to the two branching ends of the same branching structure one by one, the embodiments can turn on one of the delay units and turn off the other delay unit, so as to construct delay differences at the plurality of second ends of the multi-stage delay branching structure.

[0010] In some possible embodiments, in the two delay units coupled to the two branching ends of the same branching structure one by one, the radio frequency processing device is configured to turn on one of the delay units, so that the delay unit outputs the received signal after a delay amount, thereby superimposing the delay amount; and turn off the other delay unit, so that the delay unit outputs the received signal after a minimum delay amount, which can be zero in some examples, thereby not superimposing the delay amount. Thus, delay differences are constructed at the plurality of second ends of the multi-stage delay branching structure.

[0011] In some possible embodiments, in adjacent two-stage delay units, the delay amount of a delay unit of an upper stage is twice the delay amount of a delay unit of a lower stage. When the radio frequency processing device turns on one of the delay units and turns off the other delay unit in the two delay units coupled to the two branching ends of the same branching structure one by one, the same delay difference can be obtained between any adjacent two second ends.

[0012] In some possible implementation manners, in two adjacent delay units, a delay unit in an upper stage is connected in series with two delay units in a lower stage.

[0013] In some possible implementation manners, the delay unit comprises a delay element, a minimum delay element and a gate. The radio frequency processing device is configured to control the delay unit to be turned on by controlling the gate to select the delay element. Alternatively, the delay unit is controlled to be turned off by controlling the gate to select the minimum delay element.

[0014] In some possible implementation manners, the delay amount of the delay element or the minimum delay element is linearly related to the frequency of the signal. In this embodiment, the frequency-delay response of the delay element is a straight line, so that the phase difference between high-frequency signals and low-frequency signals can be quickly pulled apart, thereby reducing the requirement of the maximum delay amount of the dispersion architecture.

[0015] In some possible implementation manners, the plurality of delay elements are parallel-coupled line delay elements. In this embodiment, the frequency-delay response of the delay element is a straight line, and the slope of the straight line is adjusted by adjusting the coupling degree of the two delay lines in the parallel-coupled line delay element.

[0016] In some possible implementation manners, there are a plurality of delay elements, and the delay amounts of the plurality of delay elements are different. The radio frequency processing device is configured to adjust the delay amount of the delay unit by controlling the gate to select one delay element from the plurality of delay elements. In this embodiment, the delay amount is switched by switching the delay element with different delay amounts, so that the expansion angle and the expansion direction of the dispersion beam are adjusted.

[0017] In a second aspect, an operation method of a radio frequency processing device is provided. The radio frequency processing device comprises a multi-stage delay branching structure, and the multi-stage delay branching structure comprises a first end, a plurality of branching structures, a plurality of delay units and a plurality of second ends. The first end is connected to the plurality of delay units in the first stage through the branching structure in the first stage. In two adjacent delay units, each delay unit in an upper stage is connected to the plurality of delay units in a lower stage through a corresponding branching structure in the lower stage. Each delay unit in the last stage is connected to a sub-antenna of an antenna array through a corresponding second end. The delay amounts of the delay units in the same stage are the same. In two adjacent delay units, the delay amount of the delay unit in the upper stage is greater than the delay amount of the delay unit in the lower stage. The operation method comprises: controlling the delay amounts of the plurality of second ends by controlling the switching states of different delay units.

[0018] In some possible implementation manners, each shunt structure has two shunt ends, and the two shunt ends are connected with two delay units respectively. The method specifically includes: in the two delay units coupled with the two shunt ends of the same shunt structure one by one, starting one delay unit, and the delay unit outputs a received signal through a delay amount; and stopping the other delay unit, and the delay unit outputs a received signal through a minimum delay amount.

[0019] In some possible implementation manners, in the adjacent two levels of delay units, the delay amount of the delay unit of the upper level is twice the delay amount of the delay unit of the lower level.

[0020] In some possible implementation manners, the delay unit includes a delay cell, a minimum delay cell and a gate. The switching state of the different delay units is controlled by: controlling the gate to select the delay cell to control the delay unit to start; or controlling the gate to select the minimum delay cell to control the delay unit to stop.

[0021] In some possible implementation manners, the delay amount of the signal output by the delay cell or the minimum delay cell is linearly related to the frequency of the signal.

[0022] In some possible implementation manners, the delay unit has a plurality of delay cells, and the delay amounts of the plurality of delay cells are different. The method further includes: controlling the gate to select one delay cell from the plurality of delay cells to adjust the delay amount of the delay unit.

[0023] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a baseband processing device and the radio frequency processing device in the first aspect, and the baseband processing device is connected with the radio frequency processing device.

[0024] In a fourth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided. The computer readable storage medium stores computer executable instructions; and the computer executable instructions, when executed, can implement the method in the second aspect.

[0025] The technical effects of the second aspect to the fourth aspect refer to the technical effects of the first aspect and any of the implementation manners of the first aspect, which are not repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of beam time-sharing scanning of a radio frequency processing device according to an embodiment of the present application using an HBF architecture;

[0029] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of frequency division multi-beam scanning of a radio frequency processing device according to an embodiment of the present application using a dispersion architecture.

[0030] Figure 5 is a structure diagram of a radio frequency processing device adopting a dispersion architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 6 is a structure diagram of a first type of delay unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 7 is a structure diagram of a second type of delay unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 8 is a structure diagram of a radio frequency processing device adopting a dispersion architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 9 is a structure diagram of a multi-stage delay branching structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 10 is a structure diagram of a three-stage delay branching structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 11 is a structure diagram of a third type of delay unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 12 is a structure diagram of a fourth type of delay unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 13 is a diagram of a first type of delay amount control result of a multi-stage delay branching structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 14 is a diagram of a second type of delay amount control result of a multi-stage delay branching structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 15 is a diagram of a third type of delay amount control result of a multi-stage delay branching structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 16 is a structure diagram of a delay unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 17 is a diagram of a frequency-delay response of a delay unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 18 is a diagram of an operation flow of a communication device operation method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] Figures 110, core network device; 120, communication device; 130, user terminal; 200, baseband processing device; 300, radio frequency processing device; 310, multi-stage delay branching structure; 311, delay unit; 312, branching structure; 320, phase shifter; 330, amplifier; 400, antenna array; 410, sub-antenna; 510, first switch; 520, second switch; 530, capacitor; 540, delay line; 550, zero delay line; 560, gate; 570, minimum delay unit; 580, delay unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] In order to make the purposes, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to Figs. 1-18 and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application and should not be used to limit the present application.

[0046] The terms "first", "second", etc. used in the embodiments of the present application are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the same type of features, and should not be understood as indicating relative importance, quantity, order, etc.

[0047] The terms "exemplary" or "for example" used in the embodiments of the present application are used to represent an example, an illustration or an exposition. Any embodiment or design solution described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or having more advantages than other embodiments or design solutions. In fact, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used in the sense of presenting related concepts in a specific manner.

[0048] The terms "coupling", "connection" used in the embodiments of the present application should be interpreted in a broad sense. For example, it can refer to a direct physical connection, or an indirect connection through an electronic device, such as a connection through a resistor, inductor, capacitor or other electronic device.

[0049] The present embodiment provides a communication device. As shown in Fig. 1, the communication device 120 can be connected with the core network device 110 in a wireless or wired manner, and the user terminal 130 (for example, a mobile phone) can be connected with the communication device 120 in a wireless manner. The core network device 110 and the communication device 120 can be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network device 110 and the logical functions of the communication device 120 can be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device can integrate part of the functions of the core network device 110 and part of the functions of the communication device 120.

[0050] In some embodiments, the communication device 120 can be a base station Node B, an evolved base station eNode B, a base station in a NR mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access node in a Wi-Fi system, etc., and embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific device form adopted by the communication device 120. As shown in FIG. 2, the communication device 120 can include a baseband processing device (BBU) 200, a radio frequency processing device (RRU) 300, and an antenna array 400. In some embodiments, the radio frequency processing device 300 can be integrated with the antenna array 400, and the radio frequency processing device 300 and the antenna array 400 can be collectively referred to as an active antenna unit (AAU), and the baseband processing device 200 is connected to the active antenna unit. In other embodiments, the radio frequency processing device 300 and the antenna array 400 are two independent devices, the baseband processing device 200 is connected to the radio frequency processing device 300, and the radio frequency processing device 300 is connected to the antenna array 400 through a feeder.

[0051] The communication device 120 provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD), a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a future 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system or a new radio access technology (NR), and three application scenarios of the 5G mobile communication system, i.e., an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), an ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (uRLLC), and a massive machine type communication (mMTC), a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a satellite communication system, an internet of things (IoT), a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) system, a global system for mobile communications (GSM), an enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE), a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), a code division multiple access (CDMA), a time division-synchronization code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA). In some examples, the communication device 120 can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons and satellites in the air, and the application scenarios of the communication device 120 are not limited by the present application.

[0052] In the dense urban enhanced mobile broadband scenario, in order to improve the communication capacity of the communication system, the communication device 120 can use the dispersion architecture to implement frequency division multi-beam. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, compared with the hybrid beamforming scanning (FIG. 3), the dispersion architecture to implement frequency division multi-beam (FIG. 4) can continuously cover the target space, and the middle beam time scanning process is avoided, thereby improving the channel estimation capability and the user terminal 130 access opportunity and duration.

[0053] As shown in FIG. 5, the radio frequency processing device 300 using the dispersion architecture can include a plurality of delay lines 311, a plurality of phase shifters 320, and a plurality of amplifiers 330. In some examples, the first end of each of the plurality of delay lines 311 is connected with the first end of the radio frequency processing device 300, the second end of each of the delay lines 311 is connected with the first end of the corresponding phase shifter 320, the second end of each of the phase shifters 320 is connected with the first end of the corresponding amplifier 330, and the second end of each of the plurality of amplifiers 330 is connected with the corresponding second end of the radio frequency processing device 300. The radio frequency processing device 300 uses each delay line 311 (which can also be referred to as a true time delay line) to construct a delay difference, thereby implementing frequency division multi-beam of the dispersion architecture.

[0054] As shown in FIG. 6, in some embodiments, the delay line 311 can include a first switch 510, a second switch 520, and a capacitor 530. The first end of the first switch 510 serves as the first end of the delay line 311. The second end of the first switch 510 is connected with the first end of the second switch 520 and the first end of the capacitor 530, respectively. The second end of the second switch 520 serves as the second end of the delay line 311, and the second end of the capacitor 530 is grounded. The signal can be sampled through the first switch 510 and saved in the capacitor 530, and then output by the second switch 520 after a time τ Δ . For the delay line 311 shown in FIG. 6, the typical maximum delay amount is 1500-2000 ps, and the typical value of the working frequency is 0.1-3 GHz, which cannot adapt to the target frequency band of the ultra-6GHz base station.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 7, in other embodiments, the delay line 311 can include a plurality of zero delay lines 550, a plurality of strobes 560, and a plurality of delay lines 540 with binary step delay amounts. That is, in the plurality of delay lines 540 shown in FIG. 7, the delay amount of the first delay line 540 from left to right is τ Δ , the delay amount of the second delay line 540 is 2τ Δ , the delay amount of the third delay line 540 is 4τ Δ , and the delay amount of the i-th delay line 540 is 2 i-1 τΔ The time delay of the time delay units 311 is adjusted by switching the time delay units 560 connected to the time delay lines 540 or the zero time delay units 311 corresponding to the time delay units 311 one by one, so that the time delay difference is built between the time delay units 311. For the time delay units 311 shown in FIG. 7, since a large amount of time delay lines 540 are needed for each time delay unit 311 to meet the requirement of the time delay amount of the dispersion architecture, the area occupied by the time delay units 311 is large, and thus the size of the radio frequency processing device 300 is large.

[0056] The embodiments of the present application provide a radio frequency processing device. As shown in FIG. 8, the radio frequency processing device 300 includes a multi-stage time delay branching structure 310. As shown in FIG. 9, the multi-stage time delay branching structure 310 includes a first end, a plurality of time delay units 311, a plurality of branching structures 312, and a plurality of second ends. In some embodiments, each branching structure 312 has two branching ends, that is, the branching structure 312 is a two-branching structure, and the two branching ends are connected to two time delay units 311 respectively. The embodiments of the present application are exemplarily described by taking the multi-stage time delay branching structure 310 as a two-stage time delay branching structure.

[0057] As shown in FIG. 8, the first end of the radio frequency processing device 300 is connected to two first-stage time delay units 311 through the first-stage branching structure 312. In the adjacent two-stage time delay units 311 (i.e., the first-stage time delay units 311 and the second-stage time delay units 311), each time delay unit 311 of the upper stage (i.e., the first stage) is connected to two time delay units 311 of the lower stage (i.e., the second stage) through a corresponding branching structure 312 of the lower stage (i.e., the second stage) respectively. Each time delay unit 311 of the last stage (i.e., the second stage) is connected to one end of a phase shifter 320 through a corresponding second end, and the other end of the phase shifter 320 is connected to one sub-antenna 410 of an antenna array 400 through an amplifier 330. As described above, in some embodiments, the radio frequency processing device 300 can be integrated with the antenna array 400 as an active antenna unit.

[0058] In the adjacent two-stage time delay units 311, the time delay amount of the time delay unit 311 of the upper stage is greater than that of the time delay unit 311 of the lower stage. In some embodiments, in the adjacent two-stage time delay units 311, the time delay amount of the time delay unit 311 of the upper stage is twice that of the time delay unit 311 of the lower stage. And the time delay amounts of the time delay units 311 of the same stage are the same. In the example provided in FIG. 9, the time delay amounts of the four time delay units 311 of the second stage are τ Δ , and the time delay amounts of the two time delay units 311 of the first stage are 2τ Δ .

[0059] It should be understood that the multi-stage delay branching structure 310 can also be a three-stage delay branching structure as shown in FIG. 10, and the present application does not limit the number of stages of the multi-stage delay branching structure 310.

[0060] In order to make the delay amount of the upper-stage delay device 311 twice that of the lower-stage delay device 311 in adjacent two-stage delay devices 311. In some embodiments, the upper-stage delay device 311 is in series with two lower-stage delay devices 311.

[0061] The radio frequency processing device 300 is configured to control the switching state of different delay devices 311. As shown in FIG. 11, in some embodiments, the delay device 311 includes a delay unit 580, a minimum delay unit 570, and a gate 560. The radio frequency processing device 300 controls the delay device 311 to be turned on by controlling the gate 560 to select the delay unit 580, or controls the delay device 311 to be turned off by controlling the gate 560 to select the minimum delay unit 570. In some examples, when the delay device 311 is in the on state, the delay device 311 outputs the received signal after a delay amount; when the delay device 311 is in the off state, the delay device 311 outputs the received signal after a minimum delay amount; in some examples, the minimum delay amount can be zero. The delay amount of the first-stage delay device 311 and the delay amount of the second-stage delay device 311 in the multi-stage delay structure 310 are superimposed, thereby controlling the delay amount of the plurality of second ends.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 12, in some embodiments, the delay unit 580 has a plurality of delay units 580 with different delay amounts. The radio frequency processing device 300 is configured to control the delay amount of the delay device 311 by controlling the gate 560 to select one of the plurality of delay units 580.

[0063] As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, in some embodiments, in two delay devices 311 coupled one-to-one with two branching ends of the same branching structure 312, the radio frequency processing device 300 controls one of the delay devices 311 to be turned on and controls the other delay device 311 to be turned off, thereby controlling the delay amount between the plurality of second ends to have a delay difference. The second ends of the multi-stage delay branching structure 310 are respectively connected to the antenna array 400, as shown in FIG. 13, in some examples, the four second ends output the received signal after 0, τ Δ , 2τ Δ , and 3τ Δ from top to bottom, respectively, thereby making the dispersive beam spread in the first direction. As shown in FIG. 14, in other examples, the four second ends output the received signal after 3τ Δ , 2τ Δ , τ Δand output the received signal after 0, so that the dispersive beam spreads in a second direction opposite to the first direction. That is, the present application can also control the dispersive beam to spread in a desired direction by controlling the delay amount of the plurality of second ends.

[0064] As shown in FIG. 15, in some other embodiments, the radio frequency processing device 300 controls the two delay lines 311 coupled with the two branch ends of the same branch structure 312 to be turned on (or turned off) at the same time, so that the delay amount between the plurality of second ends is the same (for example, the delay amount is zero), to achieve a non-dispersive beam.

[0065] In the present application, the delay amount of the upper delay line 311 and the delay amount of the lower delay line 311 connected thereto in any two adjacent delay lines 311 of the multi-stage delay branch structure 310 can be superimposed in sequence. The radio frequency processing device 300 controls each delay line 311 to turn on the delay or turn off the delay, so as to adjust the final delay amount superimposed at the second end. Since the present application does not need to set a large number of delay lines 540 in each delay line 311, the area occupied by the delay line 311 can be greatly reduced, thereby reducing the size of the radio frequency processing device 300.

[0066] In some embodiments, the delay unit 580 or the minimum delay unit 570 has a delay amount of the signal linearly related to the frequency of the signal. The frequency-delay response of the delay unit 580 is a slope, so as to quickly pull apart the phase difference between the high frequency signal and the low frequency signal, and reduce the demand for the maximum delay amount of the dispersive architecture. As shown in FIG. 16, in some examples, the plurality of delay units 580 are parallel coupled line delay units 580, two delay lines 540 in the parallel coupled line delay unit 580 are arranged in parallel, and the slope of the frequency-delay response is adjusted by adjusting the coupling degree (for example, the spacing between the two delay lines 540). In some other embodiments, the delay unit 580 can also achieve a slope frequency-delay response through other all-pass network structures.

[0067] In some examples, when the dispersive beam needs to have an opening angle of 27 degrees and the low frequency signal spreads to the left, the present application can construct a delay unit 580 with a delay amount of 152-125 ps (from low frequency to high frequency), and the frequency-delay response of the delay unit 580 is a curve as shown in FIG. 17. The odd mode impedance Ze of the delay unit 580 is 100 ohms, the even mode impedance Zo is 20 ohms, and the physical line length is 89 unit line lengths. For the same dispersive opening angle requirement, the delay line 311 with a constant frequency-delay response needs to provide a delay difference of 600 ps, and the physical line length is 6 times that of the present application. That is, the present application can greatly reduce the area occupied by the delay line 311.

[0068] The operation method of the radio frequency processing device is applied to the radio frequency processing device 300 as shown in FIG. 9. The radio frequency processing device 300 includes a multi-stage delay branching structure 310, which includes a first end, a plurality of branching structures 312, a plurality of delay units 311, and a plurality of second ends. Each branching structure 312 is a two-branch structure and has two branching ends. The first end is connected to two first-stage delay units 311 through a first-stage branching structure 312. In adjacent two-stage delay units 311, each delay unit 311 of an upper stage is connected to two delay units 311 of a lower stage through a corresponding branching structure 312 of the lower stage. Each delay unit 311 of a last stage is connected to a sub-antenna 410 of an antenna array 400 through a corresponding second end. The delay units 311 of the same stage have the same delay amount, and the delay amount of a delay unit 311 of an upper stage is twice the delay amount of a delay unit 311 of a lower stage.

[0069] The radio frequency processing device 300 controls the delay amounts of the plurality of second ends by controlling the switching states of the different delay units 311. As shown in FIG. 18, the operation method includes steps S110-S120, as follows.

[0070] S110, in the two delay units coupled one-to-one with the two branching ends of the same branching structure, turn on one of the delay units.

[0071] In some embodiments, the delay unit 311 includes a delay unit 580, a minimum delay unit 570, and a gate 560. The operation method provided by the embodiments of the present application controls the gate 560 to select the delay unit 580, controls the delay unit 311 to be turned on, and makes the delay unit 311 output the received signal through the delay amount.

[0072] S120, in the two delay units coupled one-to-one with the two branching ends of the same branching structure, turn off the other delay unit.

[0073] In some embodiments, the gate 560 is controlled to select the minimum delay unit 570, the delay unit 311 is controlled to be turned off, and the delay unit 311 outputs the received signal through the minimum delay amount.

[0074] In some embodiments, the delay unit 580 has a plurality of delay units 580, and the plurality of delay units 580 have different delay amounts. The operation method provided by the embodiments of the present application can further control the gate 560 to select one delay unit 580 from the plurality of delay units 580, thereby adjusting the delay amount of the delay unit 311.

[0075] The embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium stores computer executable instructions; the computer executable instructions can realize the method in FIG. 18 after being executed.

[0076] The embodiment of the present application provides a radio frequency processing device, an operation method of the radio frequency processing device and a communication device. In the multi-stage delay branching structure of the radio frequency processing device, for any two adjacent delay units, the delay amount of the upper-stage delay unit and the delay amount of the lower-stage delay unit connected with the upper-stage delay unit can be sequentially superposed. The radio frequency processing device controls each delay unit to start delay or stop delay, so as to adjust the final delay amount superposed at the second end. Since the embodiment of the present application does not need to set a large number of delay lines in each delay unit, the area occupied by the delay unit can be greatly reduced, and thus the size of the radio frequency processing device is reduced.

[0077] It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined according to its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0078] Those skilled in the art can realize that the modules and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are realized in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods for each specific application to realize the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0079] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed radio frequency processing device, operation method and communication device can be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are only schematic, for example, the division of the modules is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of modules or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the displayed or discussed each other can be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or modules, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0080] The modules described as separate components can or can not be physically separated, and the components shown as modules can or can not be physical modules, that is, they can be located in one device or distributed to multiple devices. According to actual needs, part or all of the modules can be selected to realize the purpose of the embodiment of the present application.

[0081] In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one device, or each module can be physically present alone, or two or more modules can be integrated in one device.

[0082] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. integrated with the medium. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.

[0083] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A radio frequency processing device, characterized by, The multi-stage delay branching structure comprises a first end, a plurality of branching structures, a plurality of delay units and a plurality of second ends; wherein: The first end is connected with a plurality of first-stage delay units through the first-stage branching structure respectively; In adjacent two stages of delay units, each delay unit of the upper stage is connected with a plurality of delay units of the lower stage through a corresponding branching structure of the lower stage respectively; Each delay unit of the last stage is connected with a sub antenna of an antenna array through a corresponding second end; The delay amount of the delay units of the same stage is the same; in adjacent two stages of delay units, the delay amount of the delay units of the upper stage is greater than that of the delay units of the lower stage; The radio frequency processing device is used for controlling the delay amount of the plurality of second ends by controlling the switching state of different delay units.

2. The radio frequency processing device of claim 1, wherein, Each branching structure has two branching ends, and the two branching ends are connected with two delay units respectively.

3. The radio frequency processing device of claim 2, wherein, In the two delay units coupled with the two branching ends of the same branching structure one by one, the radio frequency processing device is used for: opening one of the delay units, the delay unit outputs the received signal through the delay amount, and closing the other delay unit, the delay unit outputs the received signal through the minimum delay amount.

4. The radio frequency processing device of any of claims 1-3, wherein, In adjacent two stages of delay units, the delay amount of the delay units of the upper stage is twice that of the delay units of the lower stage.

5. The radio frequency processing device of claim 4, wherein, In adjacent two stages of delay units, the delay unit of the upper stage is connected in series with two delay units of the lower stage.

6. The radio frequency processing device of any of claims 1-5, wherein, The delay unit comprises a delay unit, a minimum delay unit and a gate; the radio frequency processing device is used for controlling the delay unit to be opened by controlling the gate to select the delay unit, or controlling the gate to select the minimum delay unit to close the delay unit.

7. The radio frequency processing device of claim 6, wherein, The delay amount of the delay unit or the minimum delay unit to the signal is linearly related to the frequency of the signal.

8. The radio frequency processing device of claim 7, wherein, The plurality of delay units are parallel coupled line delay units.

9. The radio frequency processing device of any of claims 6-8, wherein, The delay unit has a plurality of delay units, and the delay amounts of the plurality of delay units are different; the radio frequency processing device is used for adjusting the delay amount of the delay unit by controlling the gate to select one of the plurality of delay units.

10. An operating method of a radio frequency processing device, characterized by, The radio frequency processing device comprises a multi-stage delay branching structure; the multi-stage delay branching structure comprises a first end, a plurality of branching structures, a plurality of delay units and a plurality of second ends; wherein: the first end is connected with a plurality of first-stage delay units through the first-stage branching structure respectively; in adjacent two stages of delay units, each delay unit of the upper stage is connected with a plurality of delay units of the lower stage through a corresponding branching structure of the lower stage respectively; each delay unit of the last stage is connected with a sub antenna of an antenna array through a corresponding second end; the delay amount of the delay units of the same stage is the same; in adjacent two stages of delay units, the delay amount of the delay units of the upper stage is greater than that of the delay units of the lower stage; the operation method comprises: The time delay amount of the second end is controlled by controlling the switch state of the different time delay units.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, Each of the shunt structures has two shunt ends, and the two shunt ends are connected with two time delay units respectively; and the operation method specifically comprises: In the two time delay units coupled with the two shunt ends of the same shunt structure one by one, one of the time delay units is turned on, and the time delay unit outputs the received signal after time delay; and the other time delay unit is turned off, and the time delay unit outputs the received signal after minimum time delay.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, In the adjacent two time delay units, the time delay amount of the time delay unit of the upper stage is twice the time delay amount of the time delay unit of the lower stage.

13. The method of operating according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The time delay unit comprises a time delay unit, a minimum time delay unit and a gate; and the switch state of the time delay unit is controlled by controlling the gate. The time delay unit is controlled to be turned on by controlling the gate to select the time delay unit; or The time delay unit is controlled to be turned off by controlling the gate to select the minimum time delay unit.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein, The time delay amount of the signal output by the time delay unit or the minimum time delay unit is linearly related to the frequency of the signal.

15. The method of operation according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that, The time delay unit has a plurality of time delay units, and the time delay amounts of the plurality of time delay units are different; and the operation method further comprises: The time delay amount of the time delay unit is adjusted by controlling the gate to select one of the plurality of time delay units.

16. A communication device, characterized by The radio frequency processing device comprises a baseband processing device and the radio frequency processing device according to any one of claims 1-9, and the baseband processing device is connected with the radio frequency processing device.

17. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores computer executable instructions; and the computer executable instructions are executed to implement the method according to any one of claims 10-15.

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