Communication device and communication method

Abstract

Disclosed in embodiments of the present application are a communication device and a communication method. The communication device is a first node, and comprises a first transceiver and a first processor coupled to the first transceiver. The first processor is configured to: measure the communication quality on a first beam, wherein the first beam is a communication beam between the first node and a second node; and when the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy a quality condition, perform communication on a second beam, wherein the second beam is a communication beam between the first node and an RIS device, and the second beam is configured on the basis of device information of the RIS device.

Description

Communication device and communication method

[0001] This application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410667895.8 filed on May 27, 2024 and entitled "Communication device and communication method", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication, and in particular to a communication device and a communication method. BACKGROUND

[0003] In order to improve the transmission distance, for high frequency communication systems, multi-antenna technology based on beamforming is used to align the beams at both the transmitting end and the receiving end, so as to improve the receiving gain. However, if a sudden blockage occurs between the paired beams, the communication performance will decrease sharply, and even lead to communication interruption. SUMMARY

[0004] Therefore, the embodiments of the present application provide at least a communication device and a communication method.

[0005] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are implemented as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which is a first node, comprising a first transceiver and a first processor coupled to the first transceiver, the first processor being configured to:

[0007] detect a communication quality on a first beam; the first beam being a communication beam between the first node and a second node; and in a case where the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy a quality condition, perform communication on a second beam, the second beam being a communication beam between the first node and a Re-configurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) device, the second beam being configured according to device information of the RIS device.

[0008] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0009] in a case where the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy the quality condition, send a first switching notification to the second node; the first switching notification being used to instruct the second node to perform communication on a third beam, the third beam being a communication beam between the second node and the RIS device.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first node and the second node are respectively a management node and an access node in a wireless communication network; and the first processor is further configured to:

[0011] receiving a first position measurement signal sent by the access node; determining first position information of the access node according to the first position measurement signal; determining a target reflection parameter based on the first position information and a target mapping relationship; the target mapping relationship including a correspondence between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter; and sending a configuration parameter to the RIS device according to the target reflection parameter.

[0012] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0013] receiving device information of the RIS device; the device information including a position, a panel orientation, and a plurality of candidate reflection parameters; configuring the second beam according to the position and the panel orientation of the RIS device; and determining the target mapping relationship according to the plurality of candidate reflection parameters and the second beam.

[0014] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0015] sending a device capability query request to the RIS device; and receiving the plurality of candidate reflection parameters sent by the RIS device.

[0016] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0017] sending a second position measurement signal to the RIS device; receiving a position measurement result sent by the RIS device; and determining the position and the panel orientation of the RIS device according to the position measurement result.

[0018] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0019] sending the position and the panel orientation of the RIS device to the access node, the position and the panel orientation of the RIS device further used for determining a third beam, the third beam being a communication beam between the access node and the RIS device.

[0020] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0021] obtaining the position and the panel orientation of the RIS device; and determining the second beam according to the position and the panel orientation of the RIS device.

[0022] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to:

[0023] detect a quality of communication on the second beam; in a case that the quality of communication on the second beam does not satisfy a quality condition, communicate on the first beam, and send a second switching notification to the second node; the second switching notification is used to instruct the second node to communicate on the first beam.

[0024] In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which is a RIS device, comprising a second transceiver, and a second processor coupled to the second transceiver, the second processor is configured to:

[0025] receive a device capability query request sent by a management node in a wireless communication network; send device information of the RIS device to the management node; the device information is used to determine a second beam, the second beam is a communication beam between the management node and the RIS device, or the second beam is a communication beam between an access node in the wireless communication network and the RIS device; receive a configuration parameter sent by the management node; the configuration parameter includes a beam configuration parameter of the second beam; and perform signal transceiving on the second beam according to the beam configuration parameter.

[0026] In some embodiments, the beam configuration parameter includes a target reflection parameter, the target reflection parameter is determined according to first location information of the access node and a target mapping relationship, the target mapping relationship includes a correspondence between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter; and the second processor is further configured to:

[0027] configure a reflection parameter of the RIS device according to the target reflection parameter; and perform signal transceiving on the second beam according to the reflection parameter of the RIS device.

[0028] In some embodiments, the device information includes a plurality of candidate reflection parameters, the second beam is a communication beam between the management node and the RIS device; and the target mapping relationship is determined according to the plurality of candidate reflection parameters and the second beam.

[0029] In some embodiments, the second processor is further configured to:

[0030] receive a second location measurement signal sent by the management node; perform location measurement according to the second location measurement signal to obtain a location measurement result; and send the location measurement result to the management node, the location measurement result is used to determine a location and a panel orientation of the RIS device, and the second beam is configured according to the location and the panel orientation of the RIS device.

[0031] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method applied to a first node, the method comprising:

[0032] detecting a communication quality on a first beam; the first beam being a communication beam between the first node and a second node; in a case where the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy a quality condition, performing communication on a second beam; the second beam being a communication beam between the first node and an RIS device, and the second beam being configured according to device information of the RIS device.

[0033] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method applied to an RIS device, the method comprising:

[0034] receiving a device capability query request sent by a management node in a wireless communication network; sending device information of the RIS device to the management node; the device information being used to determine a second beam; the second beam being a communication beam between the management node and the RIS device, or the second beam being a communication beam between an access node in the wireless communication network and the RIS device; receiving a configuration parameter sent by the management node; the configuration parameter comprising a beam configuration parameter of the second beam; and performing signal transceiving on the second beam according to the beam configuration parameter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0035] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a constituent structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a constituent structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an implementation flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of reflection communication based on an RIS device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a flow of access and registration of an RIS device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a reflection beam coverage area of an RIS device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a flow of inter-node beam switching assisted by an RIS device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In order to make the purposes, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the technical solutions of the present application are further described in detail below in combination with the drawings and embodiments, and the described embodiments should not be regarded as limitations of the present application. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative labor fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0044] In the following description, "some embodiments" are referred to, which describe a subset of all possible embodiments, but it can be understood that "some embodiments" can be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments, and can be combined with each other without conflict.

[0045] The terms "first / second / third" referred to are only to distinguish similar objects, and do not represent a specific order for the objects. It can be understood that "first / second / third" can be interchanged in a specific order or sequence as allowed, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein.

[0046] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

[0047] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, and Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in Fig. 1, the communication device is a first node 1, and the first node 1 includes a first transceiver 11 and a first processor 12. The first node includes but is not limited to a base station, a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a smart watch, etc. It should be noted that Fig. 1 is only an exemplary structural diagram, and the first node 1 can further include other functional units in addition to the functional units shown in Fig. 1, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0048] The first transceiver 11 can be a communication component, i.e., a communication chip, or can include a receiver and a transmitter.

[0049] The first processor 12 includes one or more processing cores. The first processor 12 executes various functional applications and information processing by running computer software programs and functional modules. In order to implement the data transmission method on the first node side, the first processor 12 in the embodiments of the present application is configured to perform the following steps:

[0050] Step S110, detecting the communication quality on the first beam; the first beam is a communication beam between the first node and a second node.

[0051] The communication beam is a communication channel established according to the position of the second node in using a beamforming-based multi-antenna technology. The first node and the second node include, but are not limited to, a base station, a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a smart watch, and the like.

[0052] In some embodiments, the first node and the second node are respectively a management node and an access node in a wireless communication network.

[0053] In some embodiments, the first node and the second node are respectively an access node and a management node in a wireless communication network.

[0054] In the process of detecting the communication quality on the first beam in the present application, the first beam quality measurement reference signal and the process are configured, wherein the quality measurement reference signal is a signal used for assisting measurement in a wireless communication system, such as a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) in long term evolution (LTE), a pilot sequence in WIFI, and the like. The process of configuring the first beam quality measurement includes: first, the first node sends first beam quality measurement configuration signaling to the second node, the quality measurement configuration signaling including a measurement reference signal format, beam quality measurement report content, and a feedback mode; second, the first node sends a beam measurement reference signal to the second node; then, the second node calculates the received signal strength or signal quality according to the configuration, and feeds back to the first node according to the measurement report configuration; finally, the first node receives the beam signal quality measurement report.

[0055] In step S120, if the communication quality on the first beam does not meet the quality condition, communication is performed on a second beam, the second beam being a communication beam between the first node and the RIS device, and the second beam being configured according to device information of the RIS device.

[0056] In implementation, the first node detects whether the beam signal quality measurement report sent by the second node meets the communication quality condition, and if the quality condition is not met, the first node performs communication on the second beam. The second beam is configured by the first node according to the position of the RIS device, the panel orientation, and / or a plurality of candidate reflection parameters supported by the RIS device.

[0057] In this way, when the first node detects that the first communication beam does not meet the communication quality condition, for example, a blockage occurs between the communication beams, resulting in that the communication signal quality is lower than a certain threshold, the first node performs communication on the second beam, thereby enhancing the high-quality transmission of the communication signal.

[0058] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication quality on the first beam is detected; and in a case where the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy the quality condition, communication is performed on the second beam, which is a communication beam between the first node and the RIS device. In this way, since the second beam is configured according to the device information of the RIS device, in a case where the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy the instruction condition, communication is performed by switching from the first beam to the second beam, so that the communication can be implemented with the assistance of the RIS device, thereby reducing the possibility of communication interruption and enhancing the reliability of data transmission.

[0059] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following step S111:

[0060] Step S111, in a case where the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy the quality condition, sending a first switching notification to the second node; the first switching notification is used to instruct the second node to perform communication on a third beam, which is a communication beam between the second node and the RIS device.

[0061] In this way, in a case where the first node detects that the first communication beam does not satisfy the communication quality condition, the first node performs communication on the second beam, and the first node sends a first switching notification to the second node to instruct the second node to perform communication on the third beam, so that the communication between the first node and the second node is switched from the first beam to the second beam and the third beam and is performed through the reflection of the RIS device, thereby improving the reliability of communication transmission.

[0062] In some embodiments, the first node and the second node are respectively a management node and an access node in a wireless communication network; and the first processor is further configured to perform the following steps S121 to S123:

[0063] Step S121, receiving a first position measurement signal sent by the access node.

[0064] Step S122, determining first position information of the access node according to the first position measurement signal.

[0065] Step S123, determining a target reflection parameter based on the first position information and a target mapping relationship; the target mapping relationship includes a corresponding relationship between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter; and a configuration parameter is sent to the RIS device according to the target reflection parameter.

[0066] The management node is a base station of a wireless access network or a G node in a satellite flash wireless communication system, etc.

[0067] The access node includes, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a smart watch, etc. The first position measurement signal is a positioning reference signal, the access node receives the positioning reference signal sent by the management node, the access node calculates the receiving strength of the positioning reference signal or the quality of the positioning reference signal, and sends the calculation result to the management node, the calculation result is the first position measurement signal, and the management node determines the first position information of the access node according to the first position measurement signal. The target mapping relationship is the mapping relationship between the reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and the reflection coefficient, so that the management node configures the reflection parameter of the RIS device according to the position of the access node and the target mapping relationship.

[0068] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following steps S131 to S133:

[0069] Step S131, receiving device information of the RIS device; the device information includes position, panel orientation, and a plurality of candidate reflection parameters.

[0070] Step S132, configuring the second beam according to the position and panel orientation of the RIS device.

[0071] Step S133, determining the target mapping relationship according to the plurality of candidate reflection coefficients and the second beam.

[0072] Wherein, after the position of the RIS device is obtained, the second beam is determined according to the geometric position and panel orientation of the RIS device, and the panel orientation is used to calculate the incident angle of the signal received by the RIS device and the reflection angle of the reflected signal. In the target mapping relationship, a group of reflection coefficients corresponds to an area, and according to the target mapping relationship, the management node selects and configures the corresponding reflection coefficient of the RIS device according to the area to be covered.

[0073] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following steps S141 to S142:

[0074] Step S141, sending a device capability query request to the RIS device.

[0075] Step S142, receiving the plurality of candidate reflection parameters sent by the RIS device.

[0076] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following steps S151 to S153:

[0077] Step S151, sending a second position measurement signal to the RIS device.

[0078] Step S152, receiving the position measurement result sent by the RIS device.

[0079] Step S153, determining the position and panel orientation of the RIS device according to the position measurement result.

[0080] Wherein, the position measurement result is calculated by the RIS device according to the strength or quality of the received second position measurement signal, the management node calculates the distance of the RIS according to the position measurement result, and calculates the information of the angle of arrival of the signal according to the position measurement result; the management node determines the position and panel orientation of the RIS device according to the calculated distance and angle.

[0081] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following step S161:

[0082] Step S161, sending the position and panel orientation of the RIS device to the access node, the position and panel orientation of the RIS device are also used to determine a third beam, the third beam is a communication beam between the access node and the RIS device.

[0083] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following steps S171 to S172:

[0084] Step S171, obtaining the position and panel orientation of the RIS device.

[0085] Step S172, determining the second beam according to the position and panel orientation of the RIS device.

[0086] In some embodiments, the first processor is further configured to perform the following steps S181 to S182:

[0087] Step S181, detecting the communication quality on the second beam.

[0088] Step S182, in the case that the communication quality on the second beam does not meet the quality condition, performing communication on the first beam, and sending a second switching notification to the second node; the second switching notification is used to instruct the second node to perform communication on the first beam.

[0089] In this way, in the case that the second beam does not meet the communication quality, for example, there is an obstruction between the communication beams, resulting in a decrease in signal quality, and the signal quality is lower than a certain threshold, the first node switches to the first beam to perform communication, thereby enhancing the reliability of signal transmission.

[0090] The embodiment of the present application provides a kind of communication equipment, and Fig. 2 is the component structure schematic diagram of a kind of communication equipment provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in Fig. 2, the communication equipment is RIS equipment 2, RIS equipment 2 includes: second transceiver 21 and second processor 22.Therein, it needs to be explained, Fig. 2 is only an exemplary structure diagram, except the functional units shown in Fig. 2, the RIS equipment 2 can also include other functional units, the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0091] Second transceiver 21 can be a communication component, i.e. a communication chip, or can include a receiver and a transmitter.

[0092] Second processor 22 includes one or more processing cores, and second processor 22 performs various functional applications and information processing by running computer software programs and various functional modules.For the data transmission method of RIS equipment side, the second processor 22 in the embodiment of the present application is configured to perform the following steps:

[0093] Step S210, receiving the device capability query request sent by the management node in the wireless communication network.

[0094] Among them, for the RIS equipment of access, management node needs the device information related to RIS equipment, so it needs to send device capability query request to the RIS equipment.

[0095] Step S220, the device information of the RIS equipment is sent to the management node;The device information is used to determine the second beam, and the second beam is the communication beam between the management node and the RIS equipment, or the second beam is the communication beam between the access node in the wireless communication network and the RIS equipment.

[0096] Among them, the device information of RIS equipment includes position, panel orientation and multiple candidate reflection parameters;These device information is used to determine the communication beam between RIS equipment and management node or the communication beam between RIS equipment and access node.

[0097] Step S230, receiving the configuration parameter sent by the management node;The configuration parameter includes the beam configuration parameter of the second beam.

[0098] Among them, the management node determines the target reflection parameter according to the position of access node and target mapping relationship, and the RIS equipment receives the target reflection parameter sent by the management node, i.e. the target reflection parameter is configuration parameter.

[0099] Step S240, according to the beam configuration parameter, signal transceiving is carried out on the second beam.

[0100] The RIS device determines a second beam according to the target reflection parameter, communicates with the management node on the second beam, and communicates with the access node on the second beam.

[0101] In this way, the second communication beam is established through the RIS device; in the case that the communication quality between the management node and the access node does not meet the quality condition, the communication between the management node and the access node is switched to the second beam for communication, and the communication is performed through the reflection of the RIS device, thereby improving the reliability of communication transmission.

[0102] In some embodiments, the beam configuration parameter includes a target reflection parameter, the target reflection parameter is determined according to the first position information of the access node and a target mapping relationship, the target mapping relationship includes a correspondence between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter; the second processor is further configured to perform the following steps S211 to S212:

[0103] Step S211: configuring the reflection parameter of the RIS device according to the target reflection parameter.

[0104] Step S212: performing signal transceiving on the second beam according to the reflection parameter of the RIS device.

[0105] In some embodiments, the device information includes a plurality of candidate reflection parameters, and the second beam is a communication beam between the management node and the RIS device; the target mapping relationship is determined according to the plurality of candidate reflection coefficients and the second beam.

[0106] In some embodiments, the second processor is further configured to perform the following steps S221 to S223:

[0107] Step S221: receiving a second position measurement signal sent by the management node.

[0108] Step S222: performing position measurement according to the second position measurement signal to obtain a position measurement result.

[0109] Step S223: sending the position measurement result to the management node, the position measurement result being used to determine the position and panel orientation of the RIS device, and the second beam being configured according to the position and panel orientation of the RIS device.

[0110] The second position measurement signal is used to locate the position of the RIS device, the RIS device receives the second position measurement signal, calculates the acceptance strength or signal quality of the second position measurement signal, the calculation result is taken as a position measurement result, and the position measurement result is sent to the management node.

[0111] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, applied to a first node, and Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an implementation process of a communication method in the present application. The first node can be a base station, a wireless access point, etc. As shown in Fig. 3, the method can include:

[0112] Step S301, detecting the communication quality on a first beam. The first beam is a communication beam between the first node and a second node.

[0113] The communication beam is a communication channel established according to the position of the second node in the use of a multi-antenna technology based on beamforming. The first node and the second node include but are not limited to a base station, a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a smart watch, etc.

[0114] In the process of detecting the communication quality on the first beam in the present application, the first beam quality measurement reference signal and the process are configured. The quality measurement reference signal is a signal used for assisting measurement in a wireless communication system, such as CSI-RS in LTE, pilot sequence in WIFI, etc. The process of configuring the first beam quality measurement includes: first, the first node sends first beam quality measurement configuration signaling to the second node. The quality measurement configuration signaling includes the measurement reference signal format, the beam quality measurement report content, and the feedback mode; second, the first node sends the beam measurement reference signal to the second node; then, the second node calculates the received signal strength or signal quality according to the configuration, and feeds back to the first node according to the measurement report configuration; finally, the first node receives the beam signal quality measurement report.

[0115] Step S302, in the case where the communication quality on the first beam does not meet the quality condition, performing communication on a second beam. The second beam is a communication beam between the first node and an RIS device, and the second beam is configured according to the device information of the RIS device.

[0116] In the implementation, the first node detects whether the beam signal quality measurement report sent by the second node meets the communication quality condition. If the quality condition is not met, the first node performs communication on the second beam. The second beam is configured by the first node according to the position, panel orientation, and multiple candidate reflection parameters of the RIS device.

[0117] In this way, in the case where the first communication beam does not meet the communication quality condition, for example, a blockage occurs between the communication beams, resulting in that the communication signal quality is lower than a certain threshold, the first node performs communication on the second beam, thereby enhancing the high-quality transmission of the communication signal.

[0118] The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, which is applied to an RIS device, and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation process of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application. As shown in Figure 4, the method can include the following steps.

[0119] In step S401, a device capability query request sent by a management node in a wireless communication network is received.

[0120] In the wireless communication network, the management node needs device information related to the RIS device, and therefore needs to send a device capability query request to the RIS device.

[0121] In step S402, device information of the RIS device is sent to the management node; the device information is used to determine a second beam.

[0122] The second beam is a communication beam between the management node and the RIS device, or the second beam is a communication beam between an access node in the wireless communication network and the RIS device. The device information of the RIS device includes a position, a panel orientation, and a plurality of candidate reflection parameters; the device information is used to determine a communication beam between the RIS device and the management node or a communication beam between the RIS device and the access node.

[0123] In step S403, a configuration parameter sent by the management node is received; the configuration parameter includes a beam configuration parameter of the second beam.

[0124] The management node determines a target reflection parameter according to a position of the access node and a target mapping relationship, and the RIS device receives the target reflection parameter sent by the management node, that is, the target reflection parameter is the configuration parameter.

[0125] In step S404, signal transceiving is performed on the second beam according to the beam configuration parameter.

[0126] The RIS device determines the second beam according to the target reflection parameter, and performs communication with the management node on the second beam and performs communication with the access node on the second beam.

[0127] In this way, the second communication beam is established by the RIS device; in the case that the communication quality between the management node and the access node does not meet the quality condition, the communication between the management node and the access node is switched to the second beam to perform communication, and the communication is performed through reflection of the RIS device, thereby improving the reliability of communication transmission.

[0128] The application of the communication device provided by the embodiment of the application in an actual scene is described below, which is described by taking a wireless communication scene as an example.

[0129] In the related art, in recent years, in order to provide high-speed data transmission, support of large bandwidth is required, and high-frequency communication is widely used in support of high-speed data services such as augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) services due to the advantages of low interference and large available bandwidth. High-frequency communication has a small coverage range due to high frequency and large fading in the propagation process. In order to improve the transmission distance, for high-frequency communication, a multi-antenna technology based on beamforming is used to align the beams at both ends of the transceiver to improve the reception gain. However, if there is an obstruction between the paired beams, the communication performance will decrease sharply, and even cause service interruption.

[0130] RIS devices are a research hotspot for 6G technology and have attracted widespread attention from academia and industry. A RIS device is a device equipped with a large number of passive reflectors connected to an intelligent controller, which can adjust the phase shift and / or amplitude attenuation (referred to as "reflection coefficient") of the incident signal of each reflecting element in real time. The controller reflects the wireless signal. In this way, it can modify the wireless channel between one or more pairs of transmitters and receivers, or even modify the propagation environment to make it more conducive to their communication transmission performance.

[0131] In the embodiments of the present application, the RIS device is introduced into the high-frequency wireless communication system, and the reflection communication is performed based on the RIS device. As shown in FIG. 5, in the case of a decrease in communication quality between the first node 51 and the second node 52 due to a sudden obstruction, by flexibly configuring the reflection coefficient of the RIS device 53, a backup beam can be established using the reflection capability of the RIS device 53, and the first node 51 and the second node 52 can switch to the backup beam to perform communication, thereby improving the continuity and stability of the communication between the first node 51 and the second node 52, and ensuring reliable transmission of data.

[0132] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, and the execution flow of the communication method includes two parts, the first part is the access and registration process of the RIS device, and the second part is the process of beam switching between nodes assisted by the RIS device.

[0133] As shown in FIG. 6, the access and registration process of the RIS device includes the following steps S601 to S607:

[0134] In step S601, the RIS device sends an access request to a management node.

[0135] The management node is a base station of a wireless access network or a G node in a satellite flash wireless communication system. The RIS device sends an access network request according to an access procedure of the wireless system, for example, a random access procedure defined in a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) wireless access network or a satellite flash wireless communication system, and sends an initial access sequence as an access request.

[0136] In step S602, the management node sends access success confirmation information to the RIS device.

[0137] The management node sends the RIS device access success confirmation information to the RIS device according to the access procedure of the wireless system.

[0138] In step S603, the management node sends a device capability query request to the RIS device.

[0139] For the accessed RIS device, the management node needs the device information related to the RIS device to determine the beam for communication between the management node and the RIS device, and therefore needs to send a device capability query request to the RIS device.

[0140] In step S604, the RIS device sends device information to the management node.

[0141] The device information includes a plurality of candidate reflection parameters.

[0142] In step S605, the management node sends a position measurement signal to the RIS device.

[0143] The position measurement signal is a reference signal for positioning the RIS device.

[0144] In step S606, the RIS device sends a position measurement result to the management node.

[0145] The RIS device receives the position measurement signal, calculates the received strength or signal quality of the position measurement signal, and sends the calculation result as the position measurement result to the management node. In order to better calculate the incident angle and the reflection angle, the position measurement result sent by the RIS device also includes panel orientation information.

[0146] In step S607, the management node calculates the position of the RIS device and the target mapping relationship of the RIS device according to the position measurement result.

[0147] The management node calculates the distance of the RIS device according to the position measurement result, and calculates the angle of signal arrival according to the position measurement result; and determines the position of the RIS device according to the calculated distance and angle. According to the position of the RIS device and the panel orientation, the communication beam between the management node and the RIS device is determined. According to the multiple candidate reflection parameters of the RIS device and the communication beam, the target mapping relationship is determined, which is the mapping relationship between the reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and the candidate reflection coefficient. The target mapping relationship includes the correspondence between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter. As shown in FIG. 7, the reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device 71 includes areas 1 to 12, each area corresponds to a candidate reflection coefficient, and the management node 72 can select the corresponding target reflection coefficient for the RIS device according to the area where the access node is located. For example, the access node is located in area 8, and the management node 72 can select the target reflection coefficient corresponding to the area 8 from the candidate reflection areas of the RIS device 71, and configure the reflection coefficient of the RIS device 71 as the target reflection coefficient.

[0148] As shown in FIG. 8, the flow of the RIS device assisted inter-node beam switching includes the following steps S801 to S813:

[0149] Step S801, the access node sends a device access request to the management node.

[0150] The management node is a base station of a wireless access network or a G node in a star flash wireless communication system, and the access node is a terminal such as a mobile phone or a computer. The access node sends an initial access sequence as an access request according to the access flow of the wireless system, for example, the random access process specified in the 3GPP wireless access network or the star flash wireless communication system.

[0151] Step S802, the management node sends device access success confirmation information to the access node.

[0152] The management node sends device access success confirmation information to the access node according to the access flow of the wireless system, for example, the random access process specified in the 3GPP wireless access network or the star flash wireless communication system.

[0153] Step S803, the management node sends a position measurement signal to the access node.

[0154] In order to assist the access node in calculating the main communication beam, the access node needs to obtain the position information of the management node, so the management node needs to send a position measurement signal to the access node, and the position measurement signal is used by the access node to determine the position information of the management node; the main communication beam refers to the communication beam of the access node pointing to the management node.

[0155] Step S804, the access node calculates the position of the management node through the position measurement signal, and determines the main communication beam.

[0156] The main communication beam refers to the communication beam of the access node pointing to the management node. The access node determines the main communication beam according to the position information of the management node.

[0157] Step S805, the access node sends the position measurement signal to the management node.

[0158] In order to assist the management node in calculating the main communication beam, the management node needs to obtain the position information of the access node, so the access node needs to send the position measurement signal to the management node, and the position measurement signal is used for the management node to determine the position information of the access node; the main communication beam refers to the communication beam of the management node pointing to the access node.

[0159] Step S806, the management node calculates the position of the access node, and determines the main communication beam.

[0160] The management node calculates the position of the access node through the position measurement signal; the main communication beam refers to the communication beam of the management node pointing to the access node. The management node determines the main communication beam according to the position information of the access node.

[0161] Step S807, the management node sends the position information of the RIS device to the access node.

[0162] The management node sends the position information of the RIS device registered in the coverage range to the access node.

[0163] Step S808, the access node calculates the slave communication beam.

[0164] The access node determines the slave communication beam according to the position information of the RIS device, and the slave communication beam refers to the communication beam of the access node pointing to the RIS device.

[0165] Step S809, the management node configures the reflection coefficient of the RIS according to the position of the access node.

[0166] The management node configures the reflection coefficient of the RIS device according to the position of the access node and the target mapping relationship, determines the slave communication beam between the RIS device and the access node, and the slave communication beam refers to the communication beam of the RIS device pointing to the access node. The target mapping relationship refers to the mapping relationship between the reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and the candidate reflection coefficient, and the target mapping relationship includes the corresponding relationship between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter. If there are multiple access nodes, consider adopting the time division multiplexing mode to schedule resources and configure the corresponding coefficient.

[0167] Step S810, the management node and the access node communicate through the master communication beam and measure the signal quality of the master communication beam or the signal quality of the slave communication beam.

[0168] In the process of detecting the signal quality of the master communication beam or the signal quality of the slave communication beam, the management node or the access node configures the quality measurement reference signal and the procedure, wherein the quality measurement reference signal is a signal used for assisting measurement in a wireless communication system, such as CSI-RS in LTE, pilot sequence in WIFI, etc., and the same type of reference signal is used in the process of detecting the signal quality of the master communication beam or the signal quality of the slave communication beam, but the time-frequency resources used are separated, such as being transmitted through different time instants or frequency points; the procedure of configuring quality measurement includes: first, the management node sends beam quality measurement configuration signaling to the access node, the quality measurement configuration signaling includes measurement reference signal format, beam quality measurement report content and feedback mode; second, the management node sends beam measurement reference signal to the access node; then, the access node calculates the received signal strength or signal quality according to the configuration and feeds back to the management node according to the measurement report configuration; finally, the management node receives the beam signal quality measurement report.

[0169] Step S811, when the management node or the access node detects that the performance of the master communication beam becomes poor or the performance of the slave communication beam becomes better, the beam switching procedure is started.

[0170] In the case that the management node or the access node detects that the performance of the master communication beam becomes poor, such as being lower than a certain threshold, or the performance of the slave communication beam becomes better, the beam switching procedure is started, and the communication between the management node and the access node is switched from the master communication beam to the slave communication beam.

[0171] Step S812, the detection node sends a beam switching notification to the opposite node.

[0172] In the case that the management node is the detection node, the access node is the opposite node; in the case that the access node is the detection node, the management node is the opposite node. If the management node detects that the performance of the master communication beam becomes poor, or the management node detects that the performance of the slave communication beam becomes better, the management node sends a beam switching notification to the access node, the beam switching notification is used to instruct the access node to switch to the slave communication beam for communication; if the access node detects that the performance of the master communication beam becomes poor, or the access node detects that the performance of the slave communication beam becomes better, the access node sends a beam switching notification to the management node, the beam switching notification is used to instruct the management node to switch to the slave communication beam for communication.

[0173] Step S813, the management node and the access node communicate through the slave communication beam.

[0174] Wherein, after receiving the beam switching notification, the management node or the access node communicates through the from-communication beam; the management node and the access node mark the RIS-assisted from-communication beam as a main communication beam, and continue to detect the communication beam quality.

[0175] It should be noted that in this document, the terms "comprise", "comprising", or any other variant thereof are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that processes, methods, articles, or apparatuses that comprise a list of elements are not limited to those elements, but can also include other elements not expressly listed, or inherent to such processes, methods, articles, or apparatuses. Without more limitations, the element defined by the statement "comprising a" does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes the element.

[0176] The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present application, and does not limit the patent scope of the present application, and any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation using the content of the specification and drawings of the present application, or direct or indirect application in other related technical fields, are also included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication device, the communication device being a first node, comprising: A first transceiver, and a first processor coupled to the first transceiver, the first processor configured to: detect a communication quality on a first beam; the first beam being a communication beam between the first node and a second node; in a case that the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy a quality condition, communicate on a second beam; the second beam being a communication beam between the first node and a reconfigurable intelligent surface, RIS, device; the second beam being configured according to device information of the RIS device.

2. The communication device of claim 1, the first processor further configured to: in a case that the communication quality on the first beam does not satisfy a quality condition, send a first switching notification to the second node; the first switching notification being used to instruct the second node to communicate on a third beam; the third beam being a communication beam between the second node and the RIS device.

3. The communication device of claim 1, the first node and the second node being a management node and an access node in a wireless communication network respectively; the first processor further configured to: receive a first location measurement signal sent by the access node; determine first location information of the access node according to the first location measurement signal; determine a target reflection parameter based on the first location information and a target mapping relationship; the target mapping relationship including a correspondence between at least one reflection beam coverage area of the RIS device and at least one candidate reflection parameter; send a configuration parameter to the RIS device according to the target reflection parameter.

4. The communication device of claim 3, the first processor further configured to: receive device information of the RIS device; the device information including a location, a panel orientation, and a plurality of candidate reflection parameters; configure the second beam according to the location and the panel orientation of the RIS device; determine the target mapping relationship according to the plurality of candidate reflection coefficients and the second beam.

5. The communication device of claim 4, the first processor further configured to: send a device capability query request to the RIS device; receive the plurality of candidate reflection parameters sent by the RIS device.

6. The communication device of claim 4, the first processor further configured to: send a second location measurement signal to the RIS device; receive a location measurement result sent by the RIS device; determine the location and the panel orientation of the RIS device according to the location measurement result.

7. The communication device of claim 4, the first processor further configured to: send the location and the panel orientation of the RIS device to the access node; the location and the panel orientation of the RIS device being further used to determine a third beam; the third beam being a communication beam between the access node and the RIS device.

8. The communication device of any one of claims 1 to 7, the first processor further configured to: obtain the location and the panel orientation of the RIS device; ​ determine the second beam according to a position and a panel orientation of the RIS device.

9. The communication device of any of claims 1 to 8, the first processor is further configured to: detect a communication quality on the second beam; in a case that the communication quality on the second beam does not satisfy a quality condition, communicate on the first beam, and send a second switching notification to the second node; the second switching notification is used to instruct the second node to communicate on the first beam.

10. A communications device, the communications device being a reconfigurable intelligent surface, RIS, device, comprising: a second transceiver, and a second processor coupled to the second transceiver, the second processor is configured to: receive a device capability query request sent by a management node in a wireless communication network; send device information of the RIS device to the management node; the device information is used to determine a second beam, the second beam is a communication beam between the management node and the RIS device, or the second beam is a communication beam between an access node in the wireless communication network and the RIS device; receive configuration parameters sent by the management node; the configuration parameters include beam configuration parameters of the second beam; perform signal transceiving on the second beam according to the beam configuration parameters.

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