Communication method and related device

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are a communication method and a related device, so as to improve the coverage of a wireless device. The method comprises: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates at least one multi-directional beam, each multi-directional beam comprising at least two lobes which point to different directions and are used for communication, and each lobe corresponding to a channel; and on the basis of the first indication information, generating at least one corresponding multi-directional beam.

Description

Communication method and related device

[0001] This application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202411398255.8 filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on September 30, 2024 and entitled "Communication method and related device", the whole content of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0003] In a time division duplexing (TDD) system, the frequency of a high-to-medium frequency band is high and the wavelength is short, so the signal transmission attenuates quickly and the coverage range is limited. Generally, to improve the coverage range, the energy needs to be converged and the beam width needs to be narrowed. The analog beam is narrow and the full-band analog beam is the same, so the beam is easily limited and cannot fully play the advantage of large bandwidth. The beam is narrow and points to individual users, so other users are limited by the beam and cannot be scheduled at the same time, and the overall beam constraint is serious.

[0004] By expanding the antenna transceiving channel of the wireless device on the hardware, improving the number of transceiving channels (such as improving the number of transceiving channels from 4T4R to NTNR (N is an integer greater than 4)), the number of beam combinations can be improved, thereby improving the coverage range of the wireless device.

[0005] However, increasing the number of antennas has the problems of high cost and high power consumption, and increases the size of the wireless device, affecting the stability of the wireless device. When the number of antennas is small, the communication efficiency is also reduced. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and related device to improve the coverage range of the device and improve the communication efficiency without increasing the hardware cost of the device.

[0007] The first aspect provides a communication method. The method is applied to a first device. The method comprises: receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one multi-directional beam, each multi-directional beam comprising at least two lobes pointing in different directions for communication, each lobe corresponding to a channel; and generating a corresponding at least one multi-directional beam according to the first indication information. The multi-directional beam can indicate multiple directions at the same time, can cover more users without increasing the number of antennas, improves the spectrum utilization efficiency, reduces the cost and power consumption of the device, and the device can be miniaturized. When communication with a terminal device is needed, the second device can instruct the first device to generate a corresponding multi-directional beam through the first indication information, thereby improving the coverage range of the first device and improving the spectrum utilization and communication efficiency.

[0008] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving second indication information, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, the target beamforming indication capability being one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability. The target beamforming indication capability is determined through negotiation between the first device and the second device, so that the first device can accurately acquire the multiple-direction beam indicated by the first indication information, and the communication efficiency is improved.

[0009] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information corresponding to at least one multiple-direction beam. Since the data amount of the index is less than that of the beam synthesis parameter, the communication overhead between the first device and the second device is reduced, and the communication efficiency between the first device and the second device is improved.

[0010] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information of at least one multiple-direction beam or a beam synthesis parameter, the beam synthesis parameter including at least one of a number of lobes used for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, and a number of intra-symbol switching times. In this way, the communication overhead between the first device and the second device is reduced, and the flexibility of multiple-direction beamforming is improved.

[0011] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information includes a beam synthesis parameter, the beam synthesis parameter including at least one of a number of lobes used for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, and a number of intra-symbol switching times. In this way, the flexibility of multiple-direction beamforming is improved.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending, to the second device, capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of a multiple-direction beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multiple-direction beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multiple-direction beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability including at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability. The first device sends the capability information of the first device to the second device, and the second device can learn, according to the capability information of the first device, whether the first device supports multiple-direction beamforming and / or the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device, so that the first device and the second device can perform capability negotiation to determine the target beamforming indication capability.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending, to the second device, multi-directional beam information, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information being indexes corresponding to multi-directional beams that support static indication of beamforming; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information. In this way, the second device can indicate, to the first device, the corresponding multi-directional beam through the indexes, and the first device can accurately acquire the multi-directional beam indicated by the first indication information, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0014] The second aspect provides a communication method. The method is applied to a second device. The method includes: sending, to a first device, first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one multi-directional beam that needs to be generated by the first device, each multi-directional beam including at least two lobes pointing to different directions, and each lobe corresponding to a channel. The multi-directional beam can indicate multiple directions at the same time, can cover more users without increasing the number of antennas, improves spectrum utilization efficiency, reduces the cost and power consumption of the device, and the device can be miniaturized. When communication with a terminal device is needed, the second device can indicate the first device to generate the corresponding multi-directional beam through the first indication information, thereby improving the coverage range of the first device, improving spectrum utilization, and improving communication efficiency.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending, to the first device, second indication information, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, and the target beamforming indication capability being one of a static beamforming indication capability, a semi-static beamforming indication capability, and a dynamic beamforming indication capability.

[0016] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the static beamforming indication capability, the first indication information includes index information corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam.

[0017] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the semi-static beamforming indication capability, the first indication information includes index information of at least one multi-directional beam or beam synthesis parameters, and the beam synthesis parameters including at least one of a phase, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, a number of intra-symbol switching times, and an amplitude.

[0018] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the dynamic beamforming indication capability, the first indication information includes beam synthesis parameters, and the beam synthesis parameters including at least one of a phase, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, a number of intra-symbol switching times, and an amplitude.

[0019] In a possible implementation, before the second indication information is sent to the first device, the method further includes: obtaining capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability including at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0020] In a possible implementation, before the first indication information is sent to the first device, the method further includes: receiving multi-directional beam information from the first device, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information corresponding to multi-directional beams that support beamforming static indication of the first device; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0021] The third aspect provides a communication method, which is applied to a network management system (NMS). The method includes: sending, to a second device, multi-directional beam information corresponding to a first device, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information corresponding to multi-directional beams that support beamforming static indication of the first device, the multi-directional beam including at least two lobes pointing to different directions and used for communication, and each lobe corresponding to a channel; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending, to the second device, capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability including at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0023] The fourth aspect provides a communication apparatus, which is applied to a first device. The communication apparatus includes an indication information transceiving module and a beam generating module. The indication information transceiving module is configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one multi-directional beam, and each multi-directional beam including at least two lobes pointing to different directions and used for communication, and each lobe corresponding to a channel. The beam generating module is configured to generate at least one corresponding multi-directional beam according to the first indication information.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module is configured to receive second indication information, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, the target beamforming indication capability being one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0025] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam.

[0026] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information of at least one multi-directional beam or beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters including at least one of a number of lobes used for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, and a number of intra-symbol switching times.

[0027] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information includes beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters including at least one of a number of lobes used for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, and a number of intra-symbol switching times.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module is configured to send, to the second device, capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability including at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module is configured to send, to the second device, multi-directional beam information, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information being indexes corresponding to multi-directional beams that support beamforming static indication by the first device; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0030] A fifth aspect provides a communication apparatus. The method is applied to a second device. The apparatus includes an indication information receiving module configured to send, to a first device, first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one multi-directional beam to be generated by the first device, each multi-directional beam including at least two lobes pointing to different directions, and each lobe corresponding to a channel.

[0031] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module is configured to receive second indication information from the first device, where the second indication information indicates a target beamforming indication capability, and the target beamforming indication capability is one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0032] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam.

[0033] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information of at least one multi-directional beam or beam synthesis parameters, and the beam synthesis parameters include at least one of a phase, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, a number of intra-symbol switching times, and an amplitude.

[0034] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information includes beam synthesis parameters, and the beam synthesis parameters include at least one of a phase, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, a number of intra-symbol switching times, and an amplitude.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus further includes a processing module. The processing module is configured to obtain capability information of the first device, where the capability information includes at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicates whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability includes at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module is configured to receive multi-directional beam information from the first device, where the multi-directional beam information includes index set information, and the index set information includes indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam; or the multi-directional beam information includes index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0037] The sixth aspect provides a communication device applied to network management. The device comprises a transceiver module. The transceiver module is configured to send multi-directional beam information corresponding to a first device to a second device, wherein the multi-directional beam information comprises index set information, and the index set information comprises indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information correspond to indexes of multi-directional beams supporting static indication of beamforming, and the multi-directional beam comprises at least two lobes pointing to different directions for communication, and each lobe corresponds to a channel; or the multi-directional beam information comprises index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module is configured to send capability information of the first device to the second device, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of multi-directional beamforming capability and beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicates whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability comprises at least one of static indication capability of beamforming, semi-static indication capability of beamforming and dynamic indication capability of beamforming.

[0039] The seventh aspect provides a communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit the signals to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is configured to implement the method in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect and any possible implementation of any aspect by means of logic circuit or code instruction.

[0040] The eighth aspect provides a computer readable storage medium, and the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program or instruction, when the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect and any possible implementation of any aspect is implemented.

[0041] The ninth aspect provides a computer program product storing instructions, when the instructions are executed by a processor, the method in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect and any possible implementation of any aspect is implemented.

[0042] The tenth aspect provides a chip system, and the chip system comprises a processor and can further comprise a memory, and is configured to implement the method in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect and any possible implementation of any aspect. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can comprise a chip and other discrete devices.

[0043] In an eleventh aspect, a communication system is provided, the system comprising the apparatus for implementing the method provided in the first aspect, the apparatus for implementing the method provided in the second aspect, and the apparatus for implementing the method provided in the third aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0044] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-directional beam provided by the present application;

[0045] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0046] Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0048] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication apparatus provided by the present application;

[0049] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another communication apparatus provided by the present application;

[0050] Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another communication apparatus provided by the present application;

[0051] Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0053] In this specification, the phrase "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" etc. means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in other embodiments", "in additional embodiments", etc. in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but can refer to one or more but not all embodiments, unless otherwise specifically stated. The terms "including", "containing", "having" and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically stated. The words "example" or "for example" etc. are used to illustrate, exemplify, or clarify a point. Any embodiment or design presented as an "example" or "for example" in the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of "example" or "for example" is intended to present relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0054] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0055] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as global system of mobile communication (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, 5th generation (5G) system or new radio (NR), and future communication systems, etc., without limitation. Among them, the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to various mobile communication scenarios based on the above various communication systems, such as point-to-point transmission between base stations and UEs, point-to-point transmission between UEs, multi-hop / relay transmission of base stations and UEs, DC (Dual Connectivity) or multi-connection of multiple base stations and UEs, etc.

[0056] The definitions of the technical terms that may appear in the embodiments of the present application are given below.

[0057] Beam: A beam is a kind of communication resource. A beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or a beam of other types. The technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technology. The beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology. Different beams can be considered as different resources. The same information or different information can be transmitted through different beams. Alternatively, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as one beam. One beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and sounding signals, etc. For example, a transmit beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after a signal is transmitted by an antenna, and a receive beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of a wireless signal received by an antenna. It can be understood that one or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be regarded as an antenna port set. The beam can be embodied in a protocol as a spatial filter.

[0058] Multi-directional beam: A multi-directional beam includes at least two lobes for communication in different directions, and each lobe for communication corresponds to a channel. As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-directional beam provided by the present application. It should be noted that the widths of the at least two lobes for communication of the multi-directional beam can be the same or different. In FIG. 1, a multi-directional beam including three lobes for communication is shown. According to actual needs, the multi-directional beam can include two, four, five, or more lobes for communication. In addition, the directions and angles of the lobes can also be determined according to the directions of the terminal devices to be scheduled, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. A multi-directional beam can simultaneously cover multiple directions of terminal devices and simultaneously communicate with terminal devices in different directions, thereby improving coverage and communication efficiency.

[0059] The terminal device can be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user apparatus. The terminal device can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, etc., a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), etc. The present embodiments are not limited thereto. The wearable device can also be referred to as a wearable smart device or a smart wearable device, etc., which is a general term for devices that are designed and developed by applying wearable technology to daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes, etc. The wearable device is a portable device that is directly worn on the body or integrated into a user's clothes or accessories.

[0060] The terminal device can also be a terminal device in an Internet of things (IoT) system. IoT is an important part of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect objects through communication technology and network, so as to realize the intelligent network of man-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection. IoT technology can achieve massive connection, deep coverage and terminal power saving through, for example, narrow band (NB) technology.

[0061] In addition, the terminal device can also include a smart printer, a train detector, a gas station sensor, and the main functions include collecting data (part of the terminal device), receiving control information and downlink data of the network device, and transmitting electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to the network device.

[0062] And the various terminals as introduced above, if located on a vehicle, for example, placed in or installed in a vehicle, can be considered as a vehicle-mounted terminal, which is also referred to as an on-board unit (OBU).

[0063] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal can be a terminal, or can be a circuit capable of supporting the terminal to implement the function, for example, a circuit that can be applied to a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal is taken as an example, and the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described.

[0064] Exemplarily, the terminal device can include a radio resource control (RRC) signaling interaction module, a media access control (MAC) signaling interaction module, and a physical (PHY) signaling interaction module. The RRC signaling interaction module can be a module for transmitting and receiving RRC signaling between the network device and the terminal device. The MAC signaling interaction module can be a module for transmitting and receiving media access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling between the network device and the terminal device. The PHY signaling and data can be a module for transmitting and receiving uplink control signaling or downlink control signaling, uplink data or downlink data between the network device and the terminal device.

[0065] The network device can also be a device in a wireless network, for example, the network device can be a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network, which can also be referred to as a base station. At present, some examples of the RAN device are: a new generation Node B (gNodeB) in a 5G communication system, a transmission reception point (TRP), an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (for example, a home evolved Node B, or a home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP), etc. Alternatively, the network device can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and an access network device (such as a gNB) in a future 5G network or an access network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

[0066] Exemplarily, the network device can also include an RRC signaling interaction module, a MAC signaling interaction module, and a PHY signaling interaction module.

[0067] In some deployments, a network device can include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The network device can also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements part of the functionality of the network device, and the DU implements part of the functionality of the network device. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, implements the radio resource control (RRC), and the functionality of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for processing the physical layer protocol and real-time services, implements the functionality of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer. The AAU implements part of the physical layer processing functionality, the radio frequency processing, and the related functionality of the active antenna. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes the information of the PHY layer, or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, under this architecture, high layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered as being sent by the DU, or by the DU+AAU. It can be understood that the network device can be a device including one or more of the CU node, the DU node, and the AAU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into a network device in a radio access network (RAN), or can be divided into a network device in a core network (CN), which is not limited in the present application.

[0068] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, first, a communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application is described in detail taking the communication system shown in FIG. 2 as an example. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system provided by the present application. The architecture of the communication system includes a network device and at least one terminal device. The network device can establish a communication link with the at least one terminal device (for example, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 shown in the figure) through beams in different directions. The network device can provide wireless access related services for the at least one terminal device, and implement one or more of the following functions: wireless physical layer function, resource scheduling and radio resource management, quality of service (QoS) management, wireless access control, and mobility management function. The at least one terminal device can also form a beam to perform data transmission with the network device. In the present embodiment, the network device and the at least one terminal device can communicate through beams.

[0069] It should be noted that the architecture of the communication system shown in FIG. 2 is not limited to only the devices shown in the figure, but can also include other devices not shown in the figure, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0070] As shown in FIG. 3, the embodiment of the present application provides a network architecture 100, which comprises:

[0071] A base-band unit (BU) 101 and a radio unit (RU) 102, the base-band unit 101 and the radio unit 102 communicate.

[0072] In some embodiments, the base-band unit 101 has functions such as base-band processing and interaction with a core network. The radio unit 102 has functions such as signal modulation and radio frequency transmission. In this way, the base-band unit 101 and the radio unit 102 can be used for transmitting services. For example, the base-band unit 101 can receive service data sent from the core network, perform base-band processing on the received service data to convert the service data into a base-band signal, and send the base-band signal to the radio unit 102. The radio unit 102 receives the base-band signal, converts the base-band signal into a radio frequency signal, and sends the radio frequency signal to a terminal. Alternatively, the radio unit 102 receives a radio frequency signal sent by a terminal, converts the radio frequency signal into a base-band signal, and sends the base-band signal to the base-band unit 101. The base-band unit 101 receives the base-band signal, performs base-band processing on the base-band signal to obtain service data, and sends the service data to the core network.

[0073] In some embodiments, the number of radio units 102 is one or more, that is, the network architecture 100 includes one or more radio units 102, and the base-band unit 101 can communicate with each radio unit 102 included in the network architecture 100.

[0074] In some embodiments, the base-band unit 101 and the radio unit 102 can be devices of the same manufacturer, or can not be devices of the same manufacturer.

[0075] In some embodiments, the base-band unit 101 is a distributed unit (DU) or a central unit (CU), and the radio unit 102 is a radio unit (RU), a remote radio unit (RRU), or an active antenna unit (AAU).

[0076] In this embodiment, the baseband unit 101 is configured to determine the multi-directional beam to be generated and send the first indication information for multi-directional beam control to the radio unit 102. The radio unit 102 is configured to implement the multi-directional control information, i.e., generate the corresponding multi-directional beam according to the first indication information.

[0077] Optionally, the baseband unit 101 is further configured to acquire the beamforming indication capability supported by the radio unit 102, determine the target beamforming indication capability from the beamforming indication capability supported by the radio unit 102, and send the second indication information to the radio unit 102. The second indication information is used to indicate the target beamforming indication capability. For example, the second indication information includes the identifier corresponding to the target beamforming indication capability. The beamforming indication capability supported by the radio unit 102 includes at least one of the beamforming static indication capability, the beamforming semi-static indication capability, and the beamforming dynamic indication capability. The radio unit 102 is configured to switch to the corresponding communication interface according to the second indication information.

[0078] The baseband unit 101 can acquire the beamforming indication capability supported by the radio unit 102 in multiple ways. In one possible implementation, the baseband unit 101 stores the beamforming indication capability of the radio unit 102 by itself, and the baseband unit 101 reads the beamforming indication capability of the radio unit 102. In another possible implementation, the baseband unit 101 can acquire the beamforming indication capability supported by the radio unit 102 from the radio unit 102, for example, the radio unit 102 sends the beamforming indication capability information supported by the radio unit 102 to the baseband unit 101. Optionally, the baseband unit 101 can send the capability query information to the radio unit 102, and the radio unit 102 sends the beamforming indication capability information supported by the radio unit 102 to the baseband unit 101 in response to the capability query information. In yet another possible implementation, the network architecture 100 can further include a network management 103, which stores the beamforming indication capability of the radio unit 102. The network management 103 can send the beamforming indication capability of the radio unit 102 to the baseband unit 101 after the baseband unit 101 is online, or the baseband unit 101 can request the network management to acquire the beamforming indication capability of the radio unit 102, and then the network management sends the beamforming indication capability of the radio unit 102 to the baseband unit 101.

[0079] There are various ways for the baseband unit 101 to determine the target beamforming indication capability from the beamforming indication capabilities supported by the wireless unit 102. In one possible implementation, each beamforming indication capability has a corresponding priority, and the baseband unit 101 can determine the beamforming indication capability with the highest priority as the target beamforming indication capability according to the priorities of the beamforming indication capabilities. In another possible implementation, the baseband unit 101 can randomly determine one beamforming indication capability from the beamforming indication capabilities supported by the wireless unit 102 as the target beamforming indication capability. When the wireless unit 102 only supports one beamforming indication capability, the baseband unit 101 determines the beamforming indication capability supported by the wireless unit 102 as the target beamforming indication capability. Optionally, when the wireless unit 102 only supports one beamforming indication capability, the baseband unit 101 can not send the second indication information to the wireless unit 102.

[0080] When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the baseband unit 101 and the wireless unit 102 both store at least one index and beam synthesis parameter corresponding to a multi-directional beam. The beam synthesis parameter can be used to generate a multi-directional beam with a corresponding shape. The beam synthesis parameter corresponding to one multi-directional beam is associated with one index, so that the beam synthesis parameter of the corresponding multi-directional beam can be obtained according to the index. The baseband unit 101 determines at least one multi-directional beam from the stored multi-directional beams. Therefore, the first indication information can include index information corresponding to the at least one multi-directional beam. Thus, the communication overhead can be reduced.

[0081] The index and beam synthesis parameter corresponding to the at least one multi-directional beam stored by the baseband unit 101 can be pre-stored by the baseband unit 101 itself, can be sent to the baseband unit 101 by the wireless unit 102, or can be sent to the baseband unit 101 by a network management device, which is not limited here.

[0082] When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the baseband unit 101 and the wireless unit 102 both store the index and the beam synthesis parameter corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam. In this case, the baseband unit 101 can indicate the corresponding multi-directional beam to the wireless unit 102 through the index or the beam synthesis parameter, and the wireless unit 102 has the capability of synthesizing the corresponding multi-directional beam in real time according to the beam synthesis parameter. Specifically, when the beam synthesis parameter corresponding to the multi-directional beam is stored in the baseband unit 101 and the wireless unit 102, the baseband unit 101 can indicate the corresponding multi-directional beam to the antenna unit through the index. For the multi-directional beam not stored in the antenna unit, the baseband unit 101 indicates the corresponding multi-directional beam through the beam synthesis parameter. For example, when the number of beam synthesis parameters of the multi-directional beam that the wireless unit 102 can store is limited, the wireless unit 102 can store the corresponding index and the beam synthesis parameter of part of the multi-directional beam. Thus, the communication overhead can be reduced, and the flexibility of beamforming can be improved. Therefore, in this case, the first indication information can include at least one of the index and the beam synthesis parameter.

[0083] The index and the beam synthesis parameter corresponding to the multi-directional beam stored in the baseband unit 101 can be pre-stored by the baseband unit 101 itself. Alternatively, the index and the beam synthesis parameter corresponding to the multi-directional beam stored in the baseband unit 101 are transmitted to the baseband unit 101 by the wireless unit 102. Alternatively, the index and the beam synthesis parameter corresponding to the multi-directional beam stored in the baseband unit 101 are transmitted to the baseband unit 101 by the network management.

[0084] When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the baseband unit 101 indicates the corresponding multi-directional beam to the wireless unit 102 through the beam synthesis parameter, and the wireless unit 102 has the capability of synthesizing the corresponding multi-directional beam in real time according to the beam synthesis parameter, and the beamforming is more flexible. Therefore, in this case, the first indication information can include the beam synthesis parameter corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, so that the wireless unit 102 can generate the corresponding multi-directional beam according to the beam synthesis parameter in the first indication information.

[0085] The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. It is known to those skilled in the art that, with the evolution of network architecture and the appearance of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0086] By increasing the number of antennas of the antenna unit (i.e., the number of channels), the number of beams simultaneously transmitted by the antenna unit can be increased, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the coverage range of the antenna unit and increasing the system capacity. However, the more the number of antennas of the antenna unit, the higher the cost of the antenna unit, the greater the power consumption, and the larger the volume. Moreover, due to the limitations of hardware cost, volume, and design complexity, the number of antennas of the antenna unit cannot be increased indefinitely. Therefore, how to improve the coverage range of the antenna unit without increasing the number of antennas of the antenna unit is a problem to be solved in the field.

[0087] In the embodiment of the present application, the coverage range of the antenna unit is improved by using multi-directional beams. As explained above for the multi-directional beams, one multi-directional beam can include multiple lobes for communication. Compared with the conventional beam that transmits data through only one main lobe, the multi-directional beam can cover more users in more directions at the same time. Therefore, with the same number of antennas, the multi-directional beam can cover a larger range. Or, with the same coverage range, the multi-directional beam needs fewer antennas.

[0088] In the evolution process of the antenna unit, the antenna unit supporting the multi-directional beam and the antenna unit not supporting the multi-directional beam will coexist. How to discover and control the antenna unit supporting the multi-directional beam to transmit the multi-directional beam becomes a problem to be solved urgently.

[0089] As shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by the present application. The embodiment is applied to the architecture shown in FIG. 3. In the embodiment, the first device can correspond to the wireless unit in FIG. 3, and the second device can correspond to the baseband unit in FIG. 3. The embodiment includes the following steps:

[0090] S401: The second device sends capability query information.

[0091] Correspondingly, the first device receives the capability query information.

[0092] In a possible implementation, the capability query information is used to query the multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device, i.e., whether the first device supports the multi-directional beamforming.

[0093] In another possible implementation, the capability query information is used to query a beamforming indication capability supported by the first device. The beamforming indication capability is used to indicate that the first device is capable of accepting which form of multi-directional beam indication manner. The beamforming indication capability can include at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability, and a beamforming dynamic indication capability. If the first device has the capability of storing beam synthesis parameters corresponding to a full amount of multi-directional beams, the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device can include the beamforming static indication capability. If the first device has the capability of storing beam synthesis parameters corresponding to a partial amount of multi-directional beams, and the first device has the capability of generating multi-directional beams in real time, the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device can include the beamforming semi-static indication capability. If the first device has the capability of generating multi-directional beams in real time, the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device can include the beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0094] In this embodiment, the beam synthesis parameters can include at least one of a number of lobes used for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, an inter-time slot interval length, an inter-symbol switching number, and an intra-symbol switching number, according to which the first device is capable of generating a corresponding multi-directional beam.

[0095] In another possible implementation, the capability query information is used to query a multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device, and a beamforming indication capability supported by the first device.

[0096] It should be noted that if the network architecture includes a network management, the second device can also send the capability query information to the network management, and the capability query information can include a device identifier of the first device, to request the capability information of the first device from the network management. S401 is an optional step, that is, the second device does not send the capability query information, but the first device / network management actively sends the capability information of the first device to the second device.

[0097] S402: The first device sends the capability information.

[0098] Correspondingly, the second device receives the capability information of the first device.

[0099] The capability information sent by the first device includes at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability. When the capability query information is used to query the multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device, the capability information of the first device includes the multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device, to indicate whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming. When the capability query information is used to query the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device, the capability information of the first device includes the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device. When the capability query information is used to query both the multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device and the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device, the capability information includes the multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device and the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device. The multi-directional beamforming capability and the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device can be sent through one message or through different messages, which is not limited here.

[0100] If the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, the second device can subsequently instruct the first device to use multi-directional beams to communicate with the terminal device. If the first device does not support multi-directional beamforming, the second device instructs the first device to generate corresponding beams according to traditional beamforming. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the first device and the second device further perform S403-S405.

[0101] The multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device can be indicated by one bit. For example, when the value of the bit used to indicate the beamforming capability of the first device is 1, it indicates that the first device supports multi-directional beamforming; when the value of the bit used to indicate the beamforming capability of the first device is 0, it indicates that the first device does not support multi-directional beamforming. Alternatively, when the value of the bit used to indicate the beamforming capability of the first device is 1, it indicates that the first device does not support multi-directional beamforming; when the value of the bit used to indicate the beamforming capability of the first device is 0, it indicates that the first device supports multi-directional beamforming. Of course, the multi-directional beamforming capability of the first device can also be indicated by more bits, and the value used to indicate that the first device supports multi-directional beamforming is different from the value used to indicate that the first device does not support multi-directional beamforming.

[0102] When the capability information includes the beamforming indication capability, the capability information can include an index (identifier) corresponding to the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device.

[0103] Optionally, the capability information can also include the number of antennas of the first device, supported coverage gain improvement capability, array splitting capability, etc., so that the first device can perform more accurate beam selection according to the capability information. The supported coverage gain improvement capability is, for example, 4-antenna 3dB, 8-antenna 6dB, etc. Of course, the number of antennas and the gain value here are only examples and should not be construed as limiting the present application.

[0104] It should be noted that S402 is an optional step. For example, when a network management is included in the network architecture, the network management can send the capability information of the first device to the second device. Alternatively, when the second device has pre-stored the capability information of the first device, S402 can not be performed.

[0105] S403: The first device sends the multi-directional beam information.

[0106] Correspondingly, the second device receives the multi-directional beam information.

[0107] In a possible implementation, the multi-directional beam information includes index set information, the index set information includes indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information correspond to multi-directional beams that support static indication of beamforming. The support of the static indication of beamforming means that the corresponding multi-directional beam is indicated by an index. When the first device and the second device have stored the indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam and the beam synthesis parameters, the first device sends the index set information to the second device, so as to indicate the multi-directional beams corresponding to the beam synthesis parameters stored by the first device to the second device. Thus, when the second device determines the multi-directional beam in the subsequent communication between the first device and the terminal device, and the determined multi-directional beam is indicated in the index set information, the second device can send the index corresponding to the determined multi-directional beam, so as to instruct the first device to generate the multi-directional beam corresponding to the index. Alternatively, when the first device stores the beam synthesis parameters corresponding to all multi-directional beams, that is, the multi-directional beams that support the static indication of beamforming are all the multi-directional beams, the index set information can be carried by one bit or multiple bits, without the need to carry the indexes of specific multi-directional beams. At this time, the index set information is used to indicate that the first device supports the static indication of beamforming for all multi-directional beams, so as to reduce the communication overhead between the first device and the second device. For example, when the value of the bit used to indicate whether the first device supports the static indication of beamforming for all multi-directional beams is 1 (index set information), it can be indicated that the index set information includes indexes corresponding to all multi-directional beams, without the need to carry the indexes corresponding to each multi-directional beam. Alternatively, when the value of the bit used to indicate whether the first device supports the static indication of beamforming for all multi-directional beams is 0 (index set information), it can be indicated that the index set information includes indexes corresponding to all multi-directional beams. Of course, the index set information can also be carried by more bits, which is not limited here.

[0108] In another possible implementation, the multi-directional beam information includes index set information, and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information. For example, when the second device does not store the beam synthesis parameters corresponding to the multi-directional beams, the first device can send the index set information and the beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information to the second device.

[0109] The multi-directional beam information and the capability information can be sent through the same message or different messages, which is not limited here.

[0110] It should be noted that S403 is an optional step. For example, when a network management is included in the network architecture, the network management can send the capability information of the first device to the second device. Alternatively, when the first device and the second device both store the beam synthesis parameters corresponding to all the multi-directional beams, the first device can also not send the multi-directional beam information, and the second device can consider that all the multi-directional beams can be indicated to the first device through the index without receiving the multi-directional beam information.

[0111] S404: The second device sends second indication information, and the second indication information indicates the target beamforming indication capability.

[0112] Correspondingly, the first device receives the second indication information.

[0113] The second indication information indicates the target beamforming indication capability. The target beamforming indication capability is one of the beamforming indication capabilities supported by the first device.

[0114] In a possible implementation, each beamforming indication capability has a corresponding priority, and the second device can determine the beamforming indication capability with the highest priority as the target beamforming indication capability according to the priorities of the beamforming indication capabilities. In another possible implementation, the second device can randomly determine one beamforming indication capability from the beamforming indication capabilities supported by the first device as the target beamforming indication capability. When the first device only supports one beamforming indication capability, the second device determines the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device as the target beamforming indication capability.

[0115] After receiving the second indication information, the first device can switch the communication interface to the interface corresponding to the target beamforming indication capability, so as to accurately obtain the multi-directional beam selected by the second device when receiving the first indication information subsequently.

[0116] It should be noted that S404 is an optional step. For example, when the first device only supports one beamforming indication capability, the second device can not send the second indication information to the radio unit, and the first device and the second device both use the beamforming indication capability supported by the first device as the target beamforming indication capability.

[0117] S405: The second device sends the first indication information, and the first indication information indicates at least one multi-directional beam.

[0118] Correspondingly, the first device receives the first indication information.

[0119] The first indication information indicates at least one multi-directional beam, so that the first device generates a corresponding multi-directional beam according to the first indication information. The at least one multi-directional beam indicated by the first indication information is a multi-directional beam selected by the second device, which is used for communication between the first device and the terminal device. When scheduling the terminal device, the second device can determine at least one multi-directional beam that needs to be generated by the first device according to the direction and time-frequency resource of the scheduled terminal device. The second device generates a corresponding multi-directional beam according to the first indication information.

[0120] When the target beamforming indication capability is beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information can include index information corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam. When the target beamforming indication capability is beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information can include at least one of an index and beam synthesis parameters. When the target beamforming indication capability is beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information can include beam synthesis parameters corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam.

[0121] In the embodiments of the present application, the multi-directional beam can indicate multiple directions at the same time, can cover more users without increasing the number of antennas, can improve the spectrum utilization efficiency, can reduce the cost and power consumption of the device, and the device can be miniaturized. Through negotiation between the second device and the first device or the network management, the second device can discover the first device supporting the multi-directional beamforming capability, and negotiate the beamforming indication capability with the first device. Therefore, when communication with the terminal device is needed, the second device can instruct the first device to generate a corresponding multi-directional beam through the first indication information, so as to improve the coverage range of the first device and improve the spectrum utilization rate.

[0122] As shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided in the present application. The communication apparatus 500 is applied to a first device. The communication apparatus 500 can be a software module or a chip system. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip or can contain a chip and other discrete devices. The communication apparatus 500 comprises an indication information transceiving module 501 and a beam generating module 502. The indication information transceiving module 501 is configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one multi-directional beam, each multi-directional beam comprising at least two lobes pointing in different directions for communication, and each lobe corresponding to a channel. The beam generating module 502 is configured to generate the corresponding at least one multi-directional beam according to the first indication information.

[0123] In a possible implementation, the indication information transceiving module 501 is configured to receive second indication information, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, the target beamforming indication capability being one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0124] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information comprises index information corresponding to the at least one multi-directional beam.

[0125] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information comprises index information of the at least one multi-directional beam or beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters comprising at least one of a number of lobes for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times and a number of intra-symbol switching times.

[0126] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information comprises beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters comprising at least one of a number of lobes for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times and a number of intra-symbol switching times.

[0127] In a possible implementation, the indication information transceiving module 501 is configured to send, to a second device, capability information of the first device, the capability information comprising at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability comprising at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

[0128] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module 501 is configured to send multi-directional beam information to the second device, the multi-directional beam information comprising index set information, the index set information comprising indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information corresponding to the multi-directional beams that support the static indication of beamforming; or the multi-directional beam information comprising index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0129] As shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by the present application. The communication apparatus 600 is applied to a second device. The communication apparatus 600 can be a software module or a chip system. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip or can include a chip and other discrete devices. The communication apparatus 600 comprises an indication information receiving module 601. The indication information receiving module 601 is configured to send first indication information to a first device, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one multi-directional beam required to be generated by the first device, each multi-directional beam comprising at least two lobes pointing in different directions, and each lobe corresponding to a channel.

[0130] In a possible implementation, the indication information receiving module 601 is configured to send second indication information to the first device, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, the target beamforming indication capability being one of a static beamforming indication capability, a semi-static beamforming indication capability and a dynamic beamforming indication capability.

[0131] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the static beamforming indication capability, the first indication information comprises index information of at least one multi-directional beam.

[0132] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the semi-static beamforming indication capability, the first indication information comprises index information of at least one multi-directional beam or beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters comprising at least one of a phase, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, a number of intra-symbol switching times and an amplitude.

[0133] In a possible implementation, when the target beamforming indication capability is the dynamic beamforming indication capability, the first indication information comprises beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters comprising at least one of a phase, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times, a number of intra-symbol switching times and an amplitude.

[0134] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus further includes a processing module 602. The processing module 602 is configured to acquire capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beam indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beam indication capability including at least one of a beam indication static capability, a beam indication semi-static capability, and a beam indication dynamic capability.

[0135] In a possible implementation, the indication information transceiving module 601 is configured to receive multi-directional beam information from the first device, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, and the indexes in the index set information being indexes corresponding to multi-directional beams for which the first device supports beam indication static indication; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0136] As shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by the present application. The communication apparatus 700 is applied to network management. The communication apparatus 700 can be a software module or a chip system. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip or can include a chip and other discrete devices. The communication apparatus 700 includes a transceiving module 701 and a storage module 702.

[0137] The storage module 702 is configured to store multi-directional beam information corresponding to the first device. The transceiving module 701 is configured to send, to a second device, the multi-directional beam information corresponding to the first device, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, the indexes in the index set information being indexes corresponding to multi-directional beams for which the first device supports beam indication static indication, the multi-directional beam including at least two lobes pointing to different directions and used for communication, each lobe corresponding to a channel; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

[0138] In a possible implementation, the storage module 702 is configured to store capability information of the first device. The transceiving module 701 is configured to send, to a second device, the capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beam indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beam indication capability including at least one of a beam indication static capability, a beam indication semi-static capability, and a beam indication dynamic capability.

[0139] As shown in FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, the communication apparatus 800 can be the first device in FIG. 4, for example, RU, RRU or AAU, etc. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 800 can be the second device in FIG. 4, for example, DU, CU, BBU, etc. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 800 can be a network management device.

[0140] The communication apparatus 800 includes a bus 801, a processor 802, a communication interface 803 and a memory 804. The processor 802, the memory 804 and the communication interface 803 communicate with each other through the bus 801.

[0141] The bus 801 can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 8, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0142] The processor 802 can be any one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a micro processor (MP), or a digital signal processor (DSP), etc.

[0143] The memory 804 can include a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random access memory (RAM). The memory 804 can also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD).

[0144] The memory 804 can be used to store software code related to the routing processing method, and the processor 802 can execute the steps of the routing processing method, or can schedule other units to realize the corresponding functions.

[0145] It should be understood that the communication apparatus 800 can be a centralized or distributed device, and the processor 802 in the communication apparatus 800 can be a hardware circuit (such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a general processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor or a microcontroller, etc.), or a combination of these hardware circuits, for example, the processor can be a hardware system with an instruction execution function, such as a CPU, a DSP, etc., or a hardware system without an instruction execution function, such as an ASIC, an FPGA, etc., or a combination of the hardware system without an instruction execution function and the hardware system with an instruction execution function.

[0146] The application further provides a computer readable storage medium, which has stored a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a computer to implement the communication method process of the method embodiment.

[0147] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the system, the device and the unit described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0148] The application further provides a computer readable storage medium, which has stored a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a computer to implement the communication method process of the method embodiment.

[0149] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the system, the device and the unit described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0150] In several embodiments provided in the application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented by other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there can be another division manner in actual implementation, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical or other forms.

[0151] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0152] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0153] The integrated unit, if realized in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, all or part of the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, includes a plurality of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM, read-only memory), a random access memory (RAM, random access memory), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various program code storage media.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one multi-directional beam, each multi-directional beam comprising at least two lobes for communication pointing in different directions, each lobe corresponding to a channel; generating at least one corresponding multi-directional beam according to the first indication information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving second indication information, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, the target beamforming indication capability being one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information comprises index information corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein, When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information comprises index information of at least one multi-directional beam or beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters comprising at least one of a number of lobes for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times and a number of intra-symbol switching times.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein, When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information comprises beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters comprising at least one of a number of lobes for communication, a phase, an amplitude, an azimuth angle, a time slot interval length, a number of inter-symbol switching times and a number of intra-symbol switching times.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The method further comprises: sending, to a second device, capability information of the first device, the capability information comprising at least one of a multi-directional beamforming capability and a beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability comprising at least one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The method further comprises: sending, to the second device, multi-directional beam information, the multi-directional beam information comprising index set information, the index set information comprising indexes corresponding to at least one multi-directional beam, indexes in the index set information corresponding to multi-directional beams for which the first device supports beamforming static indication; or the multi-directional beam information comprising index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one multi-directional beam corresponding to the index set information.

8. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to a second device, and the method comprises: sending, to a first device, first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one multi-directional beam required to be generated by the first device, each multi-directional beam comprising at least two lobes pointing in different directions, each lobe corresponding to a channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further comprises: sending, to the first device, second indication information, the second indication information indicating a target beamforming indication capability, the target beamforming indication capability being one of a beamforming static indication capability, a beamforming semi-static indication capability and a beamforming dynamic indication capability.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information corresponding to at least one of the multi-directional beams.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming semi-static indication capability, the first indication information includes index information of at least one of the multi-directional beams or beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters including at least one of phase, azimuth angle, time slot interval length, inter-symbol switching number, intra-symbol switching number, and amplitude.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein, When the target beamforming indication capability is the beamforming dynamic indication capability, the first indication information includes beam synthesis parameters, the beam synthesis parameters including at least one of phase, azimuth angle, time slot interval length, inter-symbol switching number, intra-symbol switching number, and amplitude.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that, Before the step of sending the second indication information to the first device, the method further includes: obtaining capability information of the first device, the capability information including at least one of multi-directional beamforming capability and beamforming indication capability, the multi-directional beamforming capability indicating whether the first device supports multi-directional beamforming, and the beamforming indication capability including at least one of the beamforming static indication capability, the beamforming semi-static indication capability, and the beamforming dynamic indication capability.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that, Before the step of sending the first indication information to the first device, the method further includes: receiving multi-directional beam information from the first device, the multi-directional beam information including index set information, the index set information including indexes corresponding to at least one of the multi-directional beams, and the indexes in the index set information being indexes corresponding to multi-directional beams that support beamforming static indication by the first device; or the multi-directional beam information including index set information and beam synthesis parameters of at least one of the multi-directional beams corresponding to the index set information.

15. A communications device, characterized by The communication device includes modules for performing the communication method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. A communications device, characterized by including a processor and a memory: the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 is performed.

17. A chip, characterized by including a processor coupled to a memory, and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 is performed.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, instructions stored in the memory, when the instructions run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

19. A computer program product, characterised in that, computer-readable instructions stored in the memory, when the communication device reads and executes the computer-readable instructions, cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

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