Wireless communication method and related apparatus for beam alignment

Abstract

Provided are a wireless communication method and related apparatus. The method includes: obtaining a first matrix and a second matrix, receiving a signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps, and generating a beam sweeping result using the signal based on the first matrix and the second matrix. Thus beam sweeping overhead may be reduced.

Description

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR BEAM ALIGNMENTTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a wireless communication method and related apparatus.BACKGROUND

[0002] With the development of communication technology, many communication systems use beam alignment. Beam alignment involves finding two optimal beams, one of which is a beam of a transmitter and the other is a beam of a receiver, for transmitting signals, which may allow accurate transmission of the signals of the transmitter towards the receiver, thus improving the quality of communication.

[0003] The current beam alignment methods determine a pair of beams for further communication by testing possible downstream and upstream beams one-by-one. These methods may be suitable for small antenna arrays. However, the current trend in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is an increase in the number of antenna ports. For example, a base station typically has an antenna array of 8 x 4 = 32, and future base stations are assumed to have about 512-1024 antenna ports in array. If the current beam alignment methods are used for such arrays, the overhead may be extremely large.SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide wireless communication methods and apparatuses, which may simplify the beam alignment process, reduce the signaling overhead of beam alignment.

[0005] The wireless communication method may be applied to a first device, and the first device may be a terminal device or a network device, a communications module in a terminal device or a network device, or a circuit or a chip (for example, a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) including a modem core) that is responsible for a communication function and that is in a terminal device or a network device; SoC chip or system in package (SIP) chip.

[0006] In a first aspect, a wireless communication method is described, which includes: obtaining a first matrix and a second matrix, where the first matrix is generated based on a number of antenna ports of a terminal device or a number of reflecting elements of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device, a number of beam sweeps and a first sequence, and the second matrix is generated based on a number of antenna ports of a network device, the number of beam sweeps and a second sequence; receiving a signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps; and generating a beam sweeping result using the signal based on the first matrix and the second matrix, where the beam sweeping result indicates one or more first beams or one or more second beams, the one ormore first beams are beams of the terminal device or the RIS device, and the one or more second beams are beams of the network device.

[0007] In this case, based on the first matrix generated by the first device and the second matrix from a second device, the first device may construct a compressed sensing equation, determine an optimal beam pair by solving the compressed sensing equation, and feed back the optimal beam pair to the second device; and the second device may determine the beam based on the feedback. In other words, the optimal beam pair may be determined only by solving the one equation and once feedback, thereby reducing beam sweeping overhead.

[0008] In a possible implementation, a number of rows of the first matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, and a number of columns of the first matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

[0009] In a possible implementation, a number of rows of the second matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the network device, and a number of columns of the second matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

[0010] In this way, in a case where the total number of antenna ports or reflecting elements varies, the first matrix or the second matrix may vary accordingly to achieve lower mutual coherence.

[0011] In a possible implementation, at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence.

[0012] In a possible implementation, each column in the first matrix is obtained based on T cyclical shifts of the first sequence, a first cyclic shift set corresponding to the T cyclic shifts of the first matrix is obtained based on an interleaver, a difference set (DS), an almost difference set (ADS) or a near difference set (NDS). T is equal to the number of beam sweeps, and T is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0013] In a possible implementation, each column in the second matrix is obtained based on T cyclical shifts of the second sequence, a second cyclic shift set corresponding to the T cyclic shifts of the second matrix is obtained based on an interleaver, a difference set (D S), an almost difference set (ADS) or a near difference set (NDS). T is equal to the number of beam sweeps, and T is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0014] In this case, using DS may have a better mutual coherence. In a case where the number of the antenna ports exactly match a first parameter of the DS, the DS is the solution that may obtain a more precise result.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on the interleaver, and parameters of the interleaver include the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, a first parameter and a second parameter. Values of the first parameter and the second parameter are based on the number of antenna ports of theterminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0016] In this case, in a case where DS, ADS or NDS cyclic shift values are explicitly stored in a table, using an interleaver may reduce memory requirements, because only polynomial coefficients need to be stored for cyclic shift calculation.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the value of the first parameter is a product of prime numbers obtained by factoring the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0018] Based on this, in a case where the total number of antenna ports varies, parameter(s) associated with the interleaving may vary accordingly. In a case of choosing the parameter(s) associated with the interleaving, the total number of the antenna ports needs to be taken into account, thereby obtaining the first matrix with low mutual coherence.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the second parameter is undividable by any of the prime numbers.

[0020] In a possible implementation, the interleaver includes at least one of a quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) interleaver, a cubic permutation polynomial (CPP) interleaver, a Takeshita-Costello interleaver, an interleaver based on a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence or an interleaver based on a random integer sequence.

[0021] The interleaving may be performed by means of a CPP interleaver, a QPP interleaver, a Takeshita-Costello interleaver, an interleaver based on a PN sequence or an interleaver based on a random integer sequence, which may provide flexibility for the interleaving, and thus the interleaving strategy may be designed according to actual requirements.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set, and the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set is obtained based on the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0023] In this case, if the number of antenna ports matches the first parameter of DS exactly, DS is the solution that may obtain a more precise result.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set includes a first parameter and a second parameter, and the first parameter and the second parameter are integers greater than 0. The first parameter is related to the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device. The first cyclic shift set is obtained by adding or removing M elements to an array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set, where M is an absolute value of a difference between the number of beam sweeps and the second parameter, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0025] In a case where the number of antenna ports does not match the first parameter of the DS or ADS or NDS, these sequences may be slightly modified to match the number of antenna ports. These modified sequences may reach or get close to the Welch bound.

[0026] In a possible implementation, generating a beam sweeping result using the signal based on the first matrix and the second matrix, includes: constructing a compressed sensing equation using the signal based on the first matrix, the second matrix, and the DFT matrix; solving the compressed sensing equation to obtain an estimate value of the signal; and determining the beam sweeping result based on the estimate value of the signal.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending an indication indicating the beam sweeping result.

[0028] In this way, the optimal beam pair for communication between the first device and the second device may be determined, and may be sent to the second device and applied to further communication.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the first device is the terminal device, and obtaining the second matrix includes: receiving the second matrix from the network device, and receiving the signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps, includes: receiving the signal from the network device.

[0030] In this case, the network device may send the second matrix to the terminal device. The terminal device may solve the equation, and feed back the optimal beam pair to the network device.

[0031] In a possible implementation, obtaining the first matrix includes: receiving the first matrix from the RIS device.

[0032] In a case where the RIS device is present, the RIS device may send the first matrix to the terminal device, and the network device may send the second matrix to the terminal device, so that the terminal device may have lower power consumption.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the second matrix is carried in a synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0034] In this way, the terminal device may obtain the second matrix more quickly and accurately via the SSB.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the first device is the network device, and obtaining the second matrix includes: receiving the second matrix from the terminal device, and receiving the signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps, includes: receiving the signal from the terminal device.

[0036] In this case, the terminal device may send the second matrix to the network device. The network device may solve the equation, and feed back the optimal beam pair to the terminal device.

[0037] According to a second aspect, a communication apparatus is described. Thecommunication apparatus has a function of implementing the first aspect. For example, the communication apparatus includes a corresponding module, unit, or means for performing operations in the first aspect. The module, unit, or means may be implemented by using software, may be implemented by using hardware, or may be implemented by using software in combination with hardware.

[0038] According to a third aspect, another communication apparatus is described. The communication apparatus includes a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is configured to receive a signal and transmit the signal to the processor in the first aspect. The processor is configured to implement the method of the first aspect through a logic circuit or by executing instructions, and the communication apparatus is enabled to implement the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect.

[0039] The communication apparatus may be a terminal, a module in a terminal, or a chip responsible for a communication function in a terminal, for example, a modem chip (also referred to as a baseband chip) or a SoC chip or an SIP chip that includes a modem module.

[0040] According to a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is described. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when a computer reads and executes the computer-readable instructions, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

[0041] According to a fifth aspect, a computer program product is described. When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

[0042] This disclosure encompasses various embodiments, including not only method embodiments, but also other embodiments such as apparatus embodiments and embodiments related to non-transitory computer readable storage media. Embodiments may incorporate, individually or in combinations, the features disclosed herein.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] For a better understanding of the various described embodiments, reference should be made to the Detailed Description below, in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.

[0044] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a communication system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0045] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of another communication system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0046] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a structure of a communication system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0047] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example device in a communication system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0048] FIG. 5 illustrates an example apparatus according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0049] FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of absolute values of an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) of a sampling pattern according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0050] FIG. 7 illustrates a synchronization signal block (SSB) according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0051] FIG. 8 illustrates a process of a communication method according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0052] FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0053] FIG. 10 illustrates joint uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) beam sweeping in a MIMO communication system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0054] FIG. 11 illustrates joint UL and DL beam sweeping in a MIMO communication system including reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) devices according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] FIG. 12 illustrates a signal in a case of a preset number of antenna ports according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0056] FIG. 13 illustrates matrix W₁ and matrix V₁ according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0057] FIG. 14 is a structural schematic diagram of an apparatus for wireless communication according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0058] FIG. 15 is a structural schematic diagram of another apparatus for wireless communication according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying figures, which form part of the present disclosure, and which show, by way of illustration, specific aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure or specific aspects in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be used. It is understood that embodiments of the present disclosure may be used in other aspects and include structural or logical changes not depicted in the figures. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

[0060] To assist in understanding the present disclosure, examples of wireless communication systems and devices are described below.

[0061] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an example communication system according to an implementation of the present disclosure. There is shown a communication system 100 that includes a radio access network (RAN) 120, one or more communication electronic devices (EDs) 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, 110h, 110i, 110j (collectively referred to as 110), a core network 130, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160.

[0062] The RAN 120 may include, but is not limited to, a future RAN, or a legacy RAN such as, but not limited to, 5th generation (5G), 4th generation (4G), 3rd generation (3G) or 2nd generation (2G) radio access network. The RAN 120 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a Next Gen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. Examples of RAN 120 based on the evolution of telecommunications standards include, but are not limited to, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) for 2G, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) based on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and CDMA2000 for 3G, LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) for 4G, and NR (New Radio) for 5G. In some implementations, the RAN 120 may use any radio access technology (RAT) in the wireless interface between the one or more EDs 110 and the RAN 120. In some implementations, the term “radio access” may refer to the future air interface standards which may include both terrestrial networks (TNs) and non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). These networks will be described in greater detail below in conjunction with various implementations.

[0063] The one or more communication EDs 110 (also referred to as “user equipment”) are configured to connect (e.g., communicatively couple) with each other or to one or more network nodes 170a, 170b (collectively referred to as 170) in the RAN 120.

[0064] The core network (CN) 130 is a part of the communication system 100 and consists of network nodes (e.g., 170a, 170b) which provide support for the network features and telecommunication services. In some implementations, the CN 130 may be dependent on the RAT used in the communication system 100. In other implementations, the CN 130 may be accessagnostic, i.e., the CN 130 may be independent of the RAT used in the communication system 100. There are different types of CN 130, for different 3GPP systems. For example, the CN 130 is the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) in 4G, also known as the Evolved Packet System (EPS). In another example, the CN 130 is the 5G Core (5GC) which was developed as part of the 5G System (5GS). The CN 130 also enables integration of different 3GPP and non-3GPP access types. In some implementations and referring to FIG. 1, the CN 130 also provides the interface towards external networks that may include the PSTN 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160 in thecommunication system 100.

[0065] In general, the communication system 100 facilitates interaction between multiple wireless or wired elements. The communication system 100 may transmit different types of content, such as voice, data, video, and / or text, through different transmission methods such as, but not limited to, broadcast, multicast, groupcast, and unicast. Additionally, the communication system 100 operates by allocating and / or sharing resources, such as carrier spectrum bandwidth, among its constituent elements.

[0066] The communication system 100 may provide a wide range of communication services and applications including, but not limited to, Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services, UltraReliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) services, Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) services, Integrated Sensing And Communication (ISAC), immersive communication, Ultra-massive Machine-Type Communication (uMTC), hyper reliable and low-latency communication, ubiquitous connectivity, integrated Al and communication, and other services that can be provided by a future communication system. The communication system 100 may provide other services and applications such as, but not limited to, earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility and the like.

[0067] The communication system 100 may include a terrestrial communication system (or network) and / or a non-terrestrial communication system (or network). The communication system 100 may provide a high degree of availability and robustness through a joint operation of the terrestrial communication system and the non-terrestrial communication system. For example, integrating a non-terrestrial communication system (or components thereof) into a terrestrial communication system can result in a heterogeneous network including multiple layers. The heterogeneous network may achieve better overall performance through efficient multi-link joint operation, more flexible functionality sharing, and faster physical layer link switching between terrestrial networks and non-terrestrial networks. The terrestrial communication system and the non-terrestrial communication system could be considered as sub-systems of the communication system 100.

[0068] FIG. 2 illustrates another example communication system 100 according to an implementation of the present disclosure. There is shown the communication system 100 that includes EDs 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d (collectively referred to as EDs 110), RANs 120a, 120b, one or more CNs 130, a PSTN 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. Additionally, the communication system 100 may also include a non-terrestrial network (NTN) 120c. The RANs 120a and 120b may include network nodes 170a and 170b, respectively. Examples of network nodes 170a, 170b include base stations, which can be generally referred to as terrestrial network(TN) devices or terrestrial transmit and receive points (T-TRPs) 170a and 170b (collectively referred to as 170). In this context, the terms “TRP” and “base station” are used interchangeably unless otherwise specified. For simplicity, this disclosure primarily refers to network nodes as base stations; however, unless explicitly stated otherwise, references to TRP are considered nonlimiting and interchangeable. The T-TRPs 170a, 170b may be base stations mounted on a building or tower. In one implementation, the NTN 120c includes a RAN node such as a base station 172, which may be generally referred to as an NTN device, a non-terrestrial node, a non-terrestrial network device, a non-terrestrial base station, or a non-terrestrial transmit and receive point (NT-TRP) 172.

[0069] In some implementations, the NT-TRP 172 is not attached to the ground, for example, as in the case of an airborne base station. An airborne base station may be implemented using communication equipment supported or carried by a flying device. For example, a flying device may include, but is not limited to, an airborne platform (such as a blimp or an airship), balloon, drone (such as quadcopter), and other types of aerial vehicles. In some implementations, an airborne base station may be supported or carried by an unmanned aerial system (UAS) or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), such as a drone. An airborne base station may be a moveable or mobile base station that can be flexibly deployed in different locations to meet network demand. A satellite base station is another example of a non-terrestrial base station. A satellite base station may be implemented using communication equipment supported or carried by a satellite. A satellite base station may also be referred to as an orbiting base station. High altitude platforms are yet another example of non-terrestrial base stations, including international mobile telecommunication base stations.

[0070] As referred to herein, and unless specified otherwise, a “TRP” may also refer to a T-TRP or an NT-TRP, a “T-TRP” may also refer to a “TN TRP”, and an “NT-TRP” may also refer to an “NTN TRP”. The NTN 120c may be considered a RAN, sharing operational aspects with RANs 120a, 120b. The NTN 120c may include at least one NTN device and at least one corresponding terrestrial network device. The at least one NTN device may function as a transport layer device and the at least one corresponding terrestrial network device may function as a RAN node, communicating with the ED 110 via the NTN device. Additionally, there may be an NTN gateway on the ground (referred to as a terrestrial network device) that also functions as a transport layer device facilitating communication with both the NTN device and the RAN node. The RAN node may communicate with the ED 110 via the NTN device and the NTN gateway. In some implementations, the NTN gateway and the RAN node may be located within the same device.

[0071] A base station 170 (also referred to as a TRP as stated above) is a network element within a radio access network responsible for radio transmission and reception in one or more cells to orfrom the ED (such as a user equipment). In different implementations, the base station 170 may also be known as a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a network node, a network device, a device on the network side, a transmit / receive node, a Node B, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a Home eNodeB, a next Generation NodeB (gNB), a transmission point (TP), a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, a relay station, a terrestrial node, a terrestrial network device, a terrestrial base station, a non-terrestrial node, a non-terrestrial network device, a non-terrestrial base station, or a positioning node, among other possibilities. The base station 170 may be a macro base station (BS), a pico BS, a relay node, a donor node, or combinations thereof. When the base station 170 performs (or is configured to perform) a method described herein, it may be interpreted as the base station itself, one or more modules (or units) in the base station, a circuit or chip, or a combination thereof, performing the method. For example, the circuit or chip may include a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip, a system on chip (SoC) including a modem core, system in package (SIP)), and the like, and may be responsible for one or more communication functions within the base station.

[0072] The EDs 110a-110d and TRPs 170a-170b, 172 are examples of communication equipment configured to implement some or all of the operations and / or implementations described herein. The T-TRP 170a forms part of the RAN 120a, which may include other TRPs, and / or other devices. Also, the TRP 170b forms part of the RAN 120b, which may include other TRPs, and / or devices. Each TRP 170a, 170b may transmit and / or receive wireless signals within a particular geographic region or area, sometimes referred to as a “cell” or a “coverage area”. The TRPs 170a-170b may be responsible for allocating and / or configuring resources and transmission and / or reception in a set of cell(s). A cell is a radio network object that can be uniquely identified by a cell identification that is broadcasted over a geographical region or area from base stations associated with the cell. A cell can work in either FDD or TDD mode. A cell may be further divided into cell sectors, and a base station 170a-170b may, for example, employ one or more transceivers to provide services to one or more sectors. Some implementations, may include pico or femto cells if supported by the radio access technology. In some implementations, one or more transceivers could be used for each cell, such as with Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology. The number of RANs 120a- 120b shown is merely an example. Any number of RANs may be contemplated when designing the communication system 100.

[0073] A base station may be a single element, as shown in the figures, or multiple elements distributed throughout the corresponding RAN, or otherwise configured. In some implementations, a plurality of RAN nodes coordinate to assist the ED 110 in implementing radio access, and different RAN nodes separately implement and handle different functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node may be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane(CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU) etc. The CU and the DU may be separately deployed, or included within the same element (i.e., a baseband unit (BBU)). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit (i.e., a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH)). In different systems, the CU (or the CU-CP and the CU-UP), the DU, or the RU may be known by different names, but their functions are understood by person skilled in the art. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, a CU may be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), a DU may be referred to as an open DU (O-DU), and a CU-CP may be referred to as an open CU-CP (O-CU-CP). The CU-UP may also be referred to as an open CU-UP (O-CU-UP), and the RU may also be referred to as an open RU (O-RU). Any one of the CU (or the CU-CP, the CU-UP), the DU, and the RU may be implemented using a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0074] Furthermore, communication between different devices / apparatuses in various implementations of this disclosure may refer to direct communication (that is, without the need of forwarding by another device / apparatus), or may refer to communication(s) between different devices / apparatuses via another device / apparatus (that is, requiring forwarding by another device / apparatus). Alternatively, such communication(s) may involve one functional unit inside a device / apparatus using another functional unit within the device / apparatus to communicate with another device / apparatus. In other words, phrases such as “sending (or transmitting) information to... (an ED or a base station)” in this disclosure may be understood as a destination endpoint of the information being an ED or a base station, including, sending / transmitting information directly or indirectly to an ED or a base station. Similarly, phrases like “receiving information from... (an ED or a base station)” may be understood as a source endpoint of the information being an ED or a base station, including directly or indirectly receiving information from an ED or a base station. Between the source endpoint that sends the information and the destination endpoint, necessary processing such as, but not limited to, format conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, amplification, and filtering may be performed on the information. However, the destination endpoint may understand valid information from the source endpoint. A similar understanding applies to other descriptions in this disclosure without reiterating details already described. In the present disclosure, the terms “send” and “transmit” may be used interchangeably in different implementations of this disclosure.

[0075] The ED 110 is used to connect people, objects, machines, and other entities. The ED 110 may be widely used in various scenarios including, but not limited to, cellular communications, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), peer-to-peer (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), MTC, internet of things (loT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality(MR), metaverse, digital twin, industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, and autonomous delivery and mobility.

[0076] Each ED 110 represents any suitable end user device for wireless operation and may include such devices (or may be referred to as, but not limited to) a user equipment (UE) or a user device or a terminal device, a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a cellular telephone, a station (STA), an MTC device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a computer, a tablet, a wireless sensor, a consumer electronics device, a smart book, a vehicle, a car, a truck, a bus, a train, or an loT device, wearable devices (such as a watch, a pair of glasses, head mounted equipment, etc.), an industrial device, or an apparatus (such as a module, modem, or chip) in the forgoing devices, among other possibilities. Future generation EDs 110 may be referred to by other terms. When an ED 110 performs (or is configured to perform) a method described herein, it may be interpreted as the ED itself, one or more modules (or units) in the ED, a circuit or chip, or a combination thereof, performing the method. For example, the circuit or chip may include a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip, a system on chip (SoC) including a modem core, or system in package (SIP)), and the like, and may be responsible for one or more communication functions in the ED.

[0077] Each ED 110 connected to TRPs 170a- 170b, and / or TRPs 172 can be dynamically or semi- statically tumed-on (i.e., established, activated, or enabled), turned-off (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled) and / or configured in response to one of more of: connection availability and connection necessity.

[0078] Any ED 110 may be alternatively or additionally configured to interface, access, or communicate with any of the TRPs 170a, 170b and 172, the Internet 150, the CN 130, the PSTN 140, the other networks 160, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the ED 110a may communicate an uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL) transmission over a terrestrial air interface 190a with station-TRP 170a. In some examples, the EDs 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d may also communicate directly with one another via one or more sidelink (SL) air interfaces 190b. In some examples, the EDs 110a, 110d may communicate using an UL and / or DL transmission over a nonterrestrial air interface 190c with NT-TRP 172.

[0079] An air interface (such as, for example, 190a, 190b, 190c) generally includes a number of components and associated parameters that collectively specify how a transmission is to be sent and / or received over a wireless communications link between two or more communicating devices such as EDs and base station(s). For example, an air interface may include one or more components defining the waveform(s), frame structure(s), multiple access scheme(s), protocol(s), codingscheme(s) and / or modulation scheme(s) for conveying information (such as, data) over a wireless communications link. The air interfaces 190a and 190b may use similar communication technology, that may include any suitable radio access technology.

[0080] The non-terrestrial air interface 190c can enable communication between the EDs 110a, 110d and one or more NT-TRPs 172 via a wireless link or simply a link. For some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection between a group of EDs 110 and one or more NT-TRPs 172 for multicast transmission.

[0081] The TRPs 170a- 170b, 172 may communicate with one another over one or more air interfaces 190e, 190f using wireless communication links (such as radio frequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR), etc.) or wired communication links. The air interfaces 190e, 190f may utilize any suitable radio access technology, and may be substantially similar to the air interfaces 190a, 190c over which the EDs 110a-110d communicate with one or more of the TRP 170a-170b, 172 or they may be substantially different. For example, the communication system 100 may implement one or more channel access methods, such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Low Density Signature Multicarrier Code Division Multiple Access (LDS-MC-CDMA), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), Pattern Division Multiple Access (PDMA), Lattice Partition Multiple Access (LPMA), Resource Spread Multiple Access (RSMA), and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA).

[0082] The RANs 120a and 120b are in communication with the CN 130 to provide the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c with various services such as voice, data, multimedia, and other services. The RANs 120a and 120b and / or the CN 130 may be in direct or indirect communication with one or more other RANs (not shown), which may or may not be directly served by the CN 130, and may employ different radio access technologies from RAN 120a and / or RAN 120b. The CN 130 may also serve as a gateway access between (i) the RANs 120a and 120b and / or the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c, and (ii) other networks (such as the PSTN 140, the Internet 150, and the other networks 160). In addition, some or all of the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c may include functionality for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links using different wireless technologies and / or protocols. For example, the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c communicate using different cellular communications protocols, such as, but not limited to, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3 GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like. Instead of wirelesscommunication (or in addition thereto), the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c may communicate using wired communication channels to a service provider or switch (not shown), and / or to the Internet 150. The PSTN 140 may include circuit switched telephone networks for providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 150 may include a network of computers and subnets (intranets) or both, and incorporate protocols, such as internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP). EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be multimode devices capable of operation according to multiple radio access technologies, and may incorporate one or multiple transceivers necessary to support such.

[0083] In addition, the communication system 100 may include a sensing agent (not shown) to manage the sensed data from ED 110 and / or any one of TRPs 170a, 170b, 172. In one implementation, the sensing agent may be part of any one of TRPs 170a, 170b, 172. In another implementation, the sensing agent is a separate node that can communicate with the CN 130 and / or the RAN 120 (such as any one of TRPs 170a, 170b, 172).

[0084] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration showing an apparatus 310 wirelessly communicating with another apparatus 320 within a communication system (e.g., the communication system 100) according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The apparatus 310 may be an electronic device (such as ED 110). The apparatus 320 may be a network node (e.g., the network node 170) such as T-TRP 170 or an NT-TRP 172. Although only one apparatus 310, and one apparatus 320 are shown in the figure, the number of apparatuses 310 and / or number of apparatuses 320 can vary, potentially including one or more of each. For example, a single ED 110 may be served by a single T-TRP 170 (or a single NT-TRP 172), or by multiple T-TRPs 170 (or multiple NT-TRPs 172). Similarly, a single ED 110 may be served by one or more T-TRPs 170 and one or more NT-TRPs 172. Similarly, a single T-TRP 170 (or a single NT-TRP 172) may serve one or more EDs 110.

[0085] The apparatus 310 may include one or more processors 210. For clarity and to avoid overcrowding the illustration, only a single processor 210 is illustrated. The apparatus 310 may further include a transmitter 201 and a receiver 203 coupled to one or more antennas 204. For clarity, only a single antenna 204 is illustrated. One, some, or all of the antennas 204 may alternatively be panels. In some implementations, the transmitter 201 and the receiver 203 are separate from each other. In other implementations, the transmitter 201 and the receiver 203 may be integrated into a single unit, for example, as a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to modulate data or other content for transmission by the one or more antennas 204 or a network interface controller (NIC). The transceiver may also be configured to demodulate data or other content received by the one or more antennas 204. A transceiver may include any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission and / or for processing signals received through wireless or wired communication. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure fortransmitting and / or receiving wireless or wired signals. The apparatus 310 may include a memory 208. In some implementations, the apparatus 310 may include multiple memories 208. Only a single transmitter 201, receiver 203, processor 210, memory 208, and antenna 204 is illustrated for simplicity, but the apparatus 310 may include one or more other components. In some implementations of the present disclosure, the transceiver (or transmitter 201 and / or receiver 203) may be viewed as an interface circuit.

[0086] The memory 208 is configured to store instructions used to perform operations described herein. The memory 208 may also be configured to store data that is used, generated, or collected by the apparatus 310. For example, the memory 208 can store software instructions or modules configured to implement some or all of the functionalities and / or operations described herein and that which are executed by the one or more processors 210.

[0087] The apparatus 310 may further include one or more input / output devices (not shown) or interfaces. The input / output devices or interfaces facilitate interaction with a user or other devices in the network. Each input / output device or interface includes suitable components for facilitating transmission of information to a user and reception of information from a user, and for various network interface communications. Such components may include, but are not limited to, a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display, touch screen, and the like.

[0088] The processor 210 may be configured to perform (or control the apparatus 310 to perform) operations (or methods) described herein as being performed by the apparatus 310. For example, the processor 210 performs or controls the apparatus 310 to perform the operations of: a) receiving one or more transport blocks (TBs), b) using a resource for decoding at least one of the received TBs, c) releasing the resource for decoding another of the received TBs, and / or d) receiving configuration information configuring a resource. Specifically, the operations may include tasks related to: preparing a transmission for UL transmission to the apparatus 320, processing DL transmissions received from the apparatus 320, and handling SL transmission to and from another apparatus 310. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for UL transmission may include operations such as, but not limited to, encoding, modulating, transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing DL transmissions may include operations such as, but not limited to, receive beamforming, demodulating and decoding received symbols. Processing operations related to processing SL transmissions may include operations such as, but not limited to, transmit / receive beamforming, modulating / demodulating and encoding / decoding symbols. Depending upon the implementation, a DL transmission may be received by the receiver 203, possibly using receive beamforming, and the processor 210 may extract signaling from the DL transmission (such as by detecting and / or decoding the signaling). An example of signaling may be a reference signal transmitted by theapparatus 320. In some implementations, the processor 210 implements the transmit beamforming and / or the receive beamforming based on the indication of beam direction, such as beam angle information (BAI), received from the apparatus 320. In some implementations, the processor 210 may be configured to perform operations relating to network access (such as initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, which includes operations for detecting a synchronization sequence, decoding and obtaining the system information, and the like. In some implementations, the processor 210 may perform channel estimation, such as using a reference signal received from the apparatus 320.

[0089] Although not illustrated, in some implementations, the processor 210 may either be a part of the transmitter 201 or a part of the receiver 203 or a part of both the transmitter 201 and the receiver 203. Although not illustrated, in some implementations, the memory 208 may be a part of the processor 210.

[0090] The processor 210, along with the processing components of the transmitter 201 and the receiver 203 may each be implemented by one or more processors that may the same or different. These processors are configured to execute instructions stored in a memory (such as in the memory 208).

[0091] The apparatus 320 includes one or more processors 260 (only one processor 260 is illustrated). The apparatus 320 may further include one or more transmitters 252 and one or more receivers 254 coupled to one or more antennas 256. Only a single antenna 256 is illustrated to avoid clutter in the illustration. One, some, or all of the antennas 256 may alternatively be panels. In some implementations, the transmitter 252 and the receiver 254 are separate from each other. In other implementations, the transmitter 252 and the receiver 254 may be integrated into a single unit such as, for example, as a transceiver. The apparatus 320 may further include a memory 258. In some implementations, the apparatus 320 may include multiple memories 258. The apparatus 320 may further include a scheduler 253. Only a single transmitter 252, receiver 254, processor 260, memory 258, antenna 256 and scheduler 253 are illustrated for simplicity, however the apparatus 320 may include one or more other components. In the present disclosure, in some implementations, the transceiver (or transmitter 252 and / or receiver 254) may be viewed as an interface circuit.

[0092] In some implementations, various components of the apparatus 320 may be distributed. For example, some of the modules of the apparatus 320 may be located remotely from the equipment housing the antennas 256 for the apparatus 320 (and therefore also can be viewed as one or more nodes). These modules, which can be considered as one or more nodes, may be coupled to the equipment that houses the antennas 256 over a communication link (not shown), sometimes referred to as front haul, such as the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI). Therefore,in some implementations, the term apparatus 320 may also refer to network-side nodes that perform processing operations such as, but not limited to, determining the location of the apparatus 310, resource allocation (scheduling), message generation, and encoding / decoding, and that which are not necessarily part of the equipment that houses the antennas 256 of the apparatus 320. The nodes may also be coupled to other apparatuses 320. In some implementations, the apparatus 320 may actually be a plurality of nodes that are operating together to serve the apparatus 310, such as through the use of coordinated multipoint transmissions, or through the use of ORAN system as described above in the disclosure.

[0093] The processor 260 is configured to perform operations including those related to: preparing a transmission for DL transmission to the apparatus 310, processing an UL transmission received from the apparatus 310, preparing a transmission for backhaul transmission to another apparatus 320, and processing a transmission received over backhaul from another apparatus 320. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for DL or backhaul transmission may include operations such as, but not limited to, encoding, modulating, precoding (such as MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing received transmissions in the UL or over backhaul may include operations such as, but not limited to, receive beamforming, demodulating received symbols, and decoding received symbols. The processor 260 may also be configured to perform operations relating to network access (such as initial access) and / or DL synchronization, such as generating the content of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), generating the system information, and the like. In some implementations, the processor 260 is further configured to generate an indication of beam direction, such as BAI, which may be scheduled for transmission by the scheduler 253 which will be described below. In some implementations, the processor 260 implements the transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction information (such as BAI) received from another apparatus 320. The processor 260 is configured to perform other network side processing operations described herein, such as, but not limited to, determining the location of the apparatus 310, determining where to deploy another apparatus 320, and the like. In some implementations, the processor 260 may generate signaling data, to configure one or more parameters of the apparatus 310 and / or one or more parameters of another apparatus 320. Any signaling data generated by the processor 260 is sent by the transmitter 252. In some implementations, the apparatus 320 implements physical layer processing. In some implementations, the apparatus 320 may perform higher layer functions such as those at the Medium Access Control (MAC) or Radio Link Control (RLC) layers in addition to physical layer processing. In the apparatus 320, the scheduler 253 may be coupled to the processor 260 or integrated within the processor 260. In some implementations, the scheduler 253 may be integratedwithin the apparatus 320 or may be operated separately from the apparatus 320. The scheduler 253 may schedule UL, DL, SL, and / or backhaul transmissions, including issuing scheduling grants and / or configuring scheduling-free (such as “configured grant”) resources.

[0094] The apparatus 320 may further include a memory 258 that is configured to store instructions for performing the operations described herein. The memory 258 may also store data that is used, generated, or collected by the apparatus 320. For example, the memory 258 can store software instructions or modules configured to implement some or all of the functionalities and / or implementations described herein and that which are executed by the processor 260.

[0095] Although not illustrated, the processor 260 may be implemented as part of the transmitter 252 and / or a part of the receiver 254. Although not illustrated, in some implementations, the processor 260 may implement the scheduler 253 and the memory 258 may be implemented as part of the processor 260.

[0096] The processor 260, the scheduler 253, the processing components of the transmitter 252, and the processing components of the receiver 254 may each be implemented by the same or different processors that are configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, such as in the memory 258.

[0097] The apparatus 320 and / or the apparatus 310 may include other components, not shown or described herein for the sake of clarity.

[0098] Note that the term “signaling”, as used herein, may alternatively be referred to as control signaling, control message, control information, or message for simplicity. Signaling between a base station (such as the TRP 170a, 170b, 172) and a UE or sensing device (such as ED 110), or signaling between a different UE or sensing device (such as between ED 110a and ED 110b) may be carried in physical layer signaling (also called as dynamic signaling), which is transmitted in a physical layer control channel. For DL, the physical layer signaling may be known as downlink control information (DCI) which is transmitted in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). For UL, the physical layer signaling may be known as uplink control information (UCI) which is transmitted in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). For SL, signaling between different UEs or sensing devices (such as between ED 110a and ED 110b) may be known as SL control information (SCI) which is transmitted in a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). Signaling may be carried in a higher layer (such as higher than physical layer) signaling, which is transmitted in a physical layer data channel, such as in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for downlink signaling, in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for uplink signaling, and in a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) for SL signaling. Higher layer signaling may also be called static signaling, or semi-static signaling. The higher layer signaling may include radio resource control (RRC) protocol signaling or media access control - control element (MAC-CE)signaling. Signaling may be included in a combination of physical layer signaling and higher layer signaling.

[0099] It should be noted that in the present disclosure, “information”, when different from “message”, may be carried in a single message, or may be carried in multiple separate messages.

[0100] FIG. 4 illustrates an example apparatus 410 according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The apparatus 410 may be a communication device or an apparatus implemented in a communication device such as the ED 110 or the TRPs 170a, 170b, 172. For example, the apparatus 410 implemented in an ED may be an integrated circuit, which in some instances may be referred to as a chip, a modem, a modem chip, a baseband chip, or a baseband processor. In some implementations, one or more integrated circuits can be packaged into a system-on-chip, a system-in-package, or a multi-chip module. The apparatus 410 can include one or more integrated circuits and other discrete components. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be a module within the ED 110, or within the apparatus 310. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be a module within one of the TRPs 170a, 170b, 172, or the apparatus 320.

[0101] In an example, the apparatus 410 may include one or more processors 411, and an interface circuit 412. The apparatus 410 may further include a memory 413. The one or more processors 411 are configured to process signals and execute one or more communication protocols. The memory 413 is configured to store at least a part of corresponding computer program instructions and / or data. In an example, the one or more processors 411 execute the computer program instructions stored in the memory 413 to implement related operations (for example, inputting, outputting, receiving, and transmitting) in the method embodiments disclosed herein. In some implementations, the memory 413 being configured to store the corresponding computer program instructions and / or data may mean that the memory 413 is configured to store all of the corresponding computer program instructions and / or data for execution by the one or more processors 411. In some implementations, the memory 413 being configured to store the corresponding computer program instructions and / or data may mean that the memory 413 is configured to store a part of the corresponding computer program instructions and / or data. For example, the part of the corresponding computer program instructions and / or data may include computer program instructions and / or data that need to be currently executed by the one or more processors 411. Thus, the memory 413 may store different parts of computer program instructions and / or data for a plurality of times for the one or more processors 411 to perform related operations in the method embodiments disclosed herein. As a communication interface, the interface circuit 412 is configured to implement communication with another component. For example, the interface circuit 412 may communicate a signal with another apparatus or system, such as a radio frequency processing apparatus or another processor. The signal may include or carry informationPC17RU2025 / 000017intended as a payload, such as user data, control information, etc. The signal may also include or carry information useful to a receiver, but not necessarily as a payload, such as a pilot signal or reference signal. Communicating the signal may include transmitting the signal to another component or device. Communicating the signal may additionally or alternatively include receiving the signal from another component or device. Transmitting the signal may include outputting the signal to a component or device that is directly or indirectly coupled to the interface circuit 412. Receiving the signal may include inputting or obtaining the signal from a component or device that is directly or indirectly coupled to the interface circuit 412. For example, to reduce a load of the one or more processors, a baseband signal processing circuit 414 may be also disposed to implement processing of at least a part of baseband signals, including signal demodulation, modulation, encoding, decoding, or the like.

[0102] The apparatus 410 may be the processor 210 (or 260) within the apparatus 310 (or 320), in some scenarios, or may be included within the processor 210 (or 260) within the apparatus 310 (or 320) in some scenarios. The apparatus 410 may be a baseband chip or may include a baseband chip. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be independently packaged into a chip. In some implementations, the apparatus 310 (or 320) includes different types of chips. The apparatus 410 may be packaged into a processor chip (for example, a SoC chip or an SIP chip) with the different types of chips. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be packaged into a chip with some or all of circuits of a radio frequency processing system that may further be included in the apparatus 310 (or 320).

[0103] FIG. 5 illustrates an example apparatus 510 according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The apparatus 510 may include modules or units configured to implement methods and / or implementations described herein. In some implementations, the apparatus 510 includes a processing unit 512 and a communication unit 513. The apparatus 510 may further include a storage unit 511 configured to store program code (or instructions) and / or data.

[0104] The apparatus 510 may be an ED side apparatus, for example, an ED or a module in an ED, or a circuit or a chip responsible for a communication function in an ED. In some implementations, the apparatus 510 may be the apparatus 310. The processing unit 512 may be the processor 210. The communication unit 513 may include a receiving unit and / or a transmitting unit. The receiving unit and / or the transmitting unit may be the transmitter 201 and / or the receiver 203 respectively. The storage unit 511 may be the memory 208.

[0105] The apparatus 510 may be a base station side apparatus, for example, a base station or a module in a base station, or a circuit or a chip responsible for a communication function in a base station. In some implementations, the apparatus 510 may be the apparatus 320. The processing unit 512 may be the processor 260 (the scheduler 253 may also be included). The communicationunit 513 may include a receiving unit and / or a transmitting unit. The receiving unit and / or the transmitting unit may be the transmitter 252 and / or the receiver 254 respectively. The storage unit 511 may be the memory 258.

[0106] In some implementations, when the apparatus 510 is an ED 110 or a module in an ED 110, a function of the apparatus 510 may be implemented by one or more processors. For example, the processor may include a modem chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or an SIP chip that includes a modem core. A function of the communication unit 513 may be implemented by a transceiver circuit.

[0107] In some implementations, when the apparatus 510 is a circuit or a chip that is responsible for a communication function in an ED 110, such as a modem chip, a system on chip (SoC) chip or an SIP chip that includes a modem core - a function of the processing unit 512 may be implemented by a circuit system within the chip which includes one or more processors. A function of the communication unit 513 may be implemented by an interface circuit or a data transceiver circuit on the chip.

[0108] A processor may be referred to as a processor system, an application processor, a baseband processor, a processor circuit, or a processor core. The processor may include one or a combination of one or more central processing units (CPUs), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more microprocessors (microprocessor units, MPUs), one or more microcontrollers (microcontroller units, MCUs), one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), one or more artificial intelligence (AI) processors, or one or more neural network processing units (NPUs).

[0109] In an example, the storage unit 511 may include a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable memory, and / or a register.

[0110] Memory or a storage unit may include one or more of the following storage media: a random access memory (RAM), a static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), a phase-change memory (PCM), a resistive random access memory (resistive RAM, ReRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (magnetoresistive RAM, MRAM), a ferroelectric random access memory (ferroelectric RAM, FRAM), a cache, a register, a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), an erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable programmable ROM, EPROM), a hard disk, and the like. In an example, computer program instructions used to execute embodiments may be stored in a non-volatile memory, for example, at least a part of a memory or storage unit (for example, one or more of a ROM, a flash memory, an EPROM, or a hard disk). When a terminal runs, a part or all of corresponding computer program instructions may be loaded to a memory thathas a higher transmission speed with the processor, for example, at least a part of a memory or a storage unit (for example, one or more of a RAM, an SRAM, a DRAM, a PCM, a RERAM, an MRAM, a FRAM, a cache, or a register), so that the processor executes the computer program instructions to perform the steps in the method embodiments disclosed herein.

[0111] It may be understood that the units in the apparatus 510 may be logical or functional. Each function may correspond to one functional unit, or two or more functions may be integrated into a single functional unit. In actual implementation, all or some of the units may be integrated into a single physical entity, or may be distributed across different physical entities. In addition, the functional units may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Whether a function is implemented in the form of hardware or software depends on particular applications and design constraint conditions of the technical solutions. A person skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for specific applications, but it should not be considered that the implementation goes beyond the scope of this disclosure.

[0112] In an example, a functional unit in any one of the apparatuses may be configured as one or more integrated circuits for implementing the methods disclosed herein, for example, as one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more central processing units (CPUs), one or more microprocessors or microprocessor units (MPUs), one or more microcontrollers or microcontroller units (MCUs), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of these.

[0113] The above describes possible scenarios or generalized description of the examples of the present disclosure, and the motivation and technical concepts of the present disclosure are illustrated below.

[0114] Compressed Sensing (CS) Algorithm

[0115] A CS algorithm is a sampling theory that reconstructs sparse or compressible signals with fewer samples by utilizing sparse and low mutual coherence characteristics of the signals. The CS algorithm will be introduced below in combination with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) pilot allocation.

[0116] Single-input single-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (SISO OFDM) channel in frequency domain hf ∈ CN×1is related to channel impulse response (CIR) hτ ∈ CN×1(i.e., a S-sparse vector, unknown signal) via oversampled discrete Fourier transform (DFT) with matrix F ∈ CN×Ng or, in general, some dictionary matrix Ψ ∈ CN×Ng. The SISO OFDM channel in frequency domain may then be written as:hf = Ψhτ ,where CN×Ng denotes the set of N × Ng matrices in the complex field, so that hf and hτ are N × 1 vectors, and F and Ψ are N × Ng matrices; N is the total number of subcarriers (elementary frequency resources); Ngis the number of atoms (columns) in the dictionary matrix V. Ngmay not be smaller than the total number of subcarriers N. Usually it is picked as multiple of N, for example Ng= 2N or Ng= N.

[0117] Next, some of the subcarriers are used for data transmission, and some of the subcarriers are reserved for channel estimation (pilot subcarriers). Positions of the pilot subcarriers may be described by row-selection matrix Φ ∈ CT×N, which contains rows of identity matrix and therefore consists of zeros and ones. Channel estimation equation may then be written as:hf^p = ΦΨhτ,where hpis a channel estimation, in which p denotes “pilots”, indicating that only pilot subcarriers from signal; the matrix 0 is in general called a measurement matrix; T is the number of measurements (number of pilot subcarriers used). This is the general equation of CS algorithm. If the unknown signal hTis sparse (contains a lot of zero or close to zero elements, which is true for practical channel impulse responses), a CS algorithm, e.g., orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP), may successfully recover hTusing extremely small number of measurements T « Ng.

[0118] Accuracy of the CS algorithm depends on a matrix S = ΦΨ, it is called sensing matrix. Consider S as a set of columns: [s1, s2, ..., si,...,sNg]. The mutual coherence / z(S) can be written as:μ(S) = maxwhere || ||₂ is the Euclidean norm, | | denotes an absolute value, s_i^H denotes Hermitian transpose, s_i denotes i-th column of sensing matrix S.

[0119] Lower / z(S) corresponds to better recovery. Welch inequality describes lower bound for S E CTxNa, T < N aacan be written as:

[0120] The dictionary matrix Ψ is a fixed parameter, so accuracy of CS depends on Φ. Mutual coherence can be used to compare different Φ.

[0121] If T > Ng, in this case, there is no need for Compressed Sensing, as the equation can be solved with classical methods. For example, using matrix inverse. If T > Ng, the number of subcarriers T may be too high. Thus, Compressed Sensing is used to reduce frequency and / or time resources required for channel estimation.

[0122] For particular case of SISO OFDM channel estimation, matrix 0 is defined by samplingpattern Ω ∈ CN×1, containing ones in the positions of pilots and zeros elsewhere. Matrix may be obtained by selecting rows of identity matrix that correspond to positions of ones in Ω. For example, if first element of Ω is zero and second is one, second row of identity matrix will be the first row of Φ and so on. The IDFT of sampling pattern Ω may be taken and its absolute value can be studied.

[0123] The absolute value of IDFT Ω_τ of sampling pattern Ω will have one distinct peak and multiple noise-like minor peaks. Note that IDFT of vector Ω is also a vector Ω_τ with N elements in it. FIG. 6 illustrates a relationship between absolute value of Ω_τ and the index of Ω_τ element, where the horizontal axis represents the index of Ω_τ element, the vertical axis represents absolute value of Ω_τ. It may be shown that a maximum value of these minor peaks at nonzero indices equals the mutual coherence parameter μ.

[0124] Difference Set (DS), Almost Difference Set (ADS), and Near Difference Set (NDS)

[0125] DS allows to reach the Welch bound. ADS and NDS allow to get close to the Welch bound. A set of integer numbers u = {u₁, ..., u_D1} is called an (N₁, D₁, λ₁) difference set if all— 1) differences(u_n − u_i) mod N₁, n ≠ ltake all possible nonzero values 1, 2, 3, ... N₁-1 each exactly λ₁ times, where mod indicates modulo operation.

[0126] A set of integer numbers u =..., uDz} is called an(N₂, D₂, λ₂, t) almost difference set if all D₂(D₂ − 1) differences(u_n − u_l) mod N₂, n ≠ lod N2, n Itake t possible non-zero values exactly λ₂ times, and the remaining (N₂ − 1 − t) possible nonzero elements exactly (λ₂ + 1) times.

[0127] For an even integer N₃ ≥ 4, for position integers D₃, λ₃, a set of integer numbers u = {u₁, ..., u_D3} is called a (N3, D3, A3) near difference set if all D3(D3— 1) differences(u_n − u_i) mod N₃, n ≠ l3, n Itake all possible nonzero values 1, 2, 3, ... (N₃-1) except (N₃ / 2)mod(N₃) exactly λ₃ times and do not take the value (N₃ / 2)mod(N₃).In a possible implementation, the position information may be represented as a table.

[0128] Interleaver

[0129] Regarding the existing interleaver design, an interleaver is defined in forward error correction (FEC) part of an existing structure as Turbo code internal interleaver. The main task of the bit interleaver for Turbo code is to spread bits as far as possible from each other. This operation improves the performance of FEC algorithms. Interleaver may include quadratic permutationpolynomial (QPP) interleaver, cubic permutation polynomial (CPP) interleaver, PN-sequence based interleavers, interleavers based on random integer generators, Takeshita-Costello interleavers, etc.

[0130] The bit interleaver used may be a QPP interleaver. For a sequence of N bits, it is defined by the following simple formula:π(i) = (f₁i + f₂i²)mod(N).Where N is the length of the sequence. π( ) is the standard notation for permutation.

[0131] Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence

[0132] To achieve lower mutual coherence of matrix S in CS algorithm, a cyclically shifted ZC sequence may be used in CS algorithm.

[0133] If an antenna array of a BS consists of N elements, the entire half-space in front of the antenna array may be easily scanned using N beams. For example, N x N DFT matrix F may be taken and array elements coefficients may be set up according to columns of matrix F at each beam sweep. It means that in beam sweeping, CS task selects Φ = F^H and the CS equation becomes:y = FHFx — lx

[0134] The resulting sensing matrix is identity matrix with zero mutual coherence. When the number of beam sweeps T is lower than the number of antenna ports N, i.e. when T < N, mutual coherence can not be zero. Moreover, some special beams need to be designed to guarantee low mutual coherence and good recovery.

[0135] One of the solutions to this problem is to generate beams using cyclically shifted ZC sequences. ZC sequence is a complex-valued mathematical sequence, which is defined by two parameters: length M and root u. For even length M, the sequence is defined as:x_u[n] = exp(−jπu(n² / M)),And for odd M, the sequence is defined as:r i / . ^(n + 1)\xu[n] = exp I -JTIU — — — 1,Where j is an imaginary unit, also referred to as unit imaginary number, j = √−1.

[0136] There is a method of generating a set of beams for space scanning via ZC sequence: choosing the root u coprime to M, taking M equal to number of elements in array, then generating ZC sequence xu[n]; generating T random integers {c_sh,1, c_sh,2, ... c_sh,T}, taking ZC sequence x_u[n] and making cyclic shift with the shift values {c_sh,1, c_sh,2,using cyclically shifted versions of x_u[n] as an array coefficient sets – columns of matrix V.

[0137] In this way, matrix V can be used as measurement matrix Φ = V^H for CS channel estimation:y = VHFX,Sensing matrix S = VHF will have low mutual coherence.

[0138] y is the vector consisting of T elements, t-th element of y is the signal received during t-th beam sweep (also referred to beam scan), x is the sparse unknown vector. Its size is the same as the number of columns of matrix F. V is the matrix of complex numbers, and it has T columns and N rows (the number of columns is the same as the number of beam sweeps / scans, the number of rows is the same as the number of antenna ports). F is a DFT matrix. Element of the matrix in the rc-th row and &-th column can be calculated according to formula:F_nk = e^(2πj·nk / N).

[0139] Cell Searching and Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)

[0140] In a case a UE enters a cell and wants to connect to a BS serving this cell, the UE may need to perform an initial cell search. For this purpose, the BS sends special signals grouped into SSBs. These signals are sent periodically to establish initial connection and to support idle / inactive mobility. FIG. 7 shows a typical structure of one SSB. As shown in FIG. 7, a SSB uses 20 resource block (RB) bandwidth, and the SSB includes three signals: primary synchronization signal (PSS) 701 and secondary synchronization signal (SSS) 702 preamble signals used for synchronization and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) 703 signals carrying some system information. The UE may perform detection of PSS and SSS, and then the UE decodes data from PBCH.

[0141] With the development of communication technology, many communication systems use beam alignment. Beam alignment involves finding two optimal beams, one of which is a beam of a transmitter and the other is a beam of a receiver, for transmitting signals, which may allow accurate transmission of the signals of the transmitters towards the receiver, so as to improve the quality of communication. For example, the transmitter may be a BS, and the receiver may be a UE. Alternatively, the transmitter may be a UE, and the receiver may be a BS.

[0142] There are many beam alignment methods, which are described below.

[0143] The first method is to determine an optimal beam pair by testing DL and UL beams one by one. At the beginning of communication, the UE may need to find the BS and establish connection with the BS, including the following steps.

[0144] 1. The BS periodically broadcasts special signals combined into SSBs in frequency domain. Several SSBs in time domain are grouped into a SSB burst. Each SSB inside a SSB burst has a SSB index. It is supposed that for each SSB index, physical antenna or port configuration at the BS will change. In other words, each SSB index corresponds to unique DL beam and each SSBinside the SSB burst is transmitted using a different DL beam. Thus, DL beam sweeping is performed. Specific mapping of SSB to physical antennas or ports is vendor-specific.

[0145] 2. During DL beam sweeping, the UE tries to detect PSS and SSS inside each SSB. If detection is successful, the UE measures the received power of each SSB. After detection, the UE may decode system information from PBCH and get the SSB index. Thus, the UE may understand which received power level relates to which SSB index (DL beam).

[0146] 3. After all possible SSB indices are used (after DL beam sweeping is completed), the UE chooses a DL beam index that corresponds to a beam with highest power. The UE sends a physical random access channel (PRACH) signal to the BS. Time and frequency resources for SSB mapping and DL transmission are synchronized with UL time and frequency resources for UL PRACH transmission. Due to this one-to-one correspondence, the UE may inform the BS about the chosen DL beam (SSB index) simply by transmitting PRACH in the corresponding time slot and using corresponding frequency resources.

[0147] 4. After the BS receives the PRACH from the UE, the BS determines an optimal DL beam for the UE. The BS fixes this beam for downlink transmission. During the fixed DL beam time, the UE performs sweeping of its beams and determines the optimal UL beam.

[0148] This method is suitable for small antenna arrays. However, the current trend in MIMO system is an increase in the number of antennas. For example, a BS typically has an antenna array of 8 x 4 = 32, and future BSs are assumed to have about 512-1024 antenna units in array. If the first beam alignment method is used for such arrays, the overhead may be extremely large.

[0149] The second method is hierarchical / special codebook search. The process of beam alignment is divided into two stages: coarse alignment and fine alignment. In the coarse alignment stage, a large range of angles is quickly searched and a general direction is found. In the fine alignment stage, fine adjustment is made in a smaller range to find an optimal beam. This process may involve feedback of measurement information to optimize beam selection.

[0150] The hierarchical / special codebook search method is described in detail in combination with FIG. 8 below. FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a beam alignment method. First of all, the BS and the UE perform a coarse sweep in Layerl. Codebooks of the BS and the UE each consist of two wide beams. The UE tests these beams one by one. In this case, the test requires four beam sweeps. After the sweep in Layerl, the UE may determine an index of the selected beam pair in Layerl, and feed back the index to the BS. After that, the BS and the UE further refine the codebooks in Layer2, which means that the selected beam pair in Layerl is divided into two parts in Layer2. The UE then feeds back an index of the selected beam pair to the BS again after another four beam sweeps. The BS and the UE may further refine the codebooks in Layer3, determine a beam pair with a highest receiving power among the existing several beam pairs, and feed back itsindex back to the BS. It should be understood that FIG. 8 is only an example and that the process described in this method may be repeated several times and is not limited to the 3 times shown in FIG. 8.

[0151] The main disadvantage of hierarchical / special codebook search and similar approaches may be the requirement of frequent feedback from the UE to the BS. Although the number of beam sweeps in this method is small, frequent feedback requirement may sufficiently extend the duration of beam sweep. Moreover, there may be problems with backward-compatibility, because currently standard may not support such frequent feedback at initial access stage.

[0152] In addition, there is an option to configure the BS and the UE for simultaneous sweep with random beams. This solution, however, may be highly unstable: for some random realizations and UE positions, the performance may be extremely good, but for some random realizations and UE positions, the performance may be very bad.

[0153] In view of the above, some embodiments of the present disclosure provide wireless communication methods and wireless communication devices, which introduce the idea of joint UL and DL beam sweeping, and obtain a beam sweeping result through a received signal, UE beam sweep matrix and BS beam sweep matrix. This beam sweep result indicates an optimal beam for a UE and an optimal beam for a BS. In this way, there may be no need for the UE to give feedback during beam alignment, and the signaling overhead of beam alignment may be reduced.

[0154] The wireless communication methods and wireless communication devices will be described below in detail in combination with the attached drawings.

[0155] The technical solutions of the present disclosure may be applied to a wireless communication system, for example, the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 or the wireless communication system 100 shown in FIG. 2. Two communication devices in the wireless communication system may wirelessly communicate with each other. One of the two communication devices may correspond to an ED, or a chip configured in an ED, and the other of the two communication devices may correspond to a BS (e.g., TRP device) or a chip configured in a BS.

[0156] An example interaction process between a first device and a second device is taken as an example and a wireless communication method according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is described in detail in combination with FIGS. 9 to 11. The first device may be a receiver device of signals, and the second device may be a transmitter device of the signals. For example, the first device is a terminal device (e.g., ED), and the second device is a network device (e.g., BS). Alternatively, the first device is a network device (e.g., BS), and the second device is an ED terminal device (e.g., ED).

[0157] FIG. 9 shows a process diagram of a wireless communication method according to one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless communication method 900 includes steps 901 to 903.

[0158] In step 901, the first device obtains a first matrix and a second matrix. The first matrix is generated based on the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, the number of beam sweeps and a first sequence. The second matrix is generated based on the number of antenna ports of the BS, the number of beam sweeps and a second sequence.

[0159] The first matrix and the second matrix may also be called beam sweep matrix, in which the first matrix is a beam sweep matrix of the ED (or RIS device) or the BS, and the second matrix is a beam sweep matrix of the BS. It should be understood that the RIS device is an intelligent reflective surface used to reflect the signals of the BS or the ED in a case where an obstacle is between the BS and the ED that affects signal transmission.

[0160] In a possible implementation, the RIS device does not exist, and both the BS and the ED are multi-antenna devices. FIG. 10 shows a scenario diagram of a beam sweeping between a BS and a UE. As shown in FIG. 10, the number of beam sweeps is 4, and different beam sweeps use different beams. In this scenario, the first matrix is the beam sweep matrix of the UE, which is generated based on the number of antenna ports of the UE, the number of beam sweeps, and the first sequence.

[0161] In another possible implementation, there are a RIS device with multiple reflecting elements, a BS with multiple antenna ports, and an ED with a single antenna port. FIG. 11 shows a scenario diagram of a beam sweeping between the BS, the RIS device and the UE. As shown in FIG. 11, the number of beam sweeps is 4, and different beam sweeps use different beams. In this scenario, the first matrix is the beam sweep matrix of the RIS device, which is generated based on the number of the reflecting elements of the RIS device, the number of beam sweeps, and the first sequence.

[0162] In one possible implementation, the number of beam sweeps may be pre-defined or pre¬ configured. For example, it may be predefined or pre-configured in a table based on other system parameters (e.g., carrier frequency). In another possible implementation, the number of beam sweeps may be determined at the BS. If the ED is the first device, the BS may send the number of beam sweeps to the ED. For example, the BS may determine the number of beam sweeps by a scheduler (for example scheduler 253 in FIG. 3). The scheduler is a software instance that distributes time, frequency and power resources for transmission / channel estimation to different UEs. As an example, the scheduler may determine the number of beam sweeps for each ED based on some CSI parameters, e.g. RSSI (received signal strength indicator). Scheduler may assign more beam sweeps for EDs that have low RSSI (weak signal) and less beam sweeps for EDs that have high RSSI (strong signal).

[0163] In some embodiments, each row of the first matrix is generated by the same first sequence. Each row of the second matrix is generated by the same second sequence. The first sequence and the second sequence may be the same sequence or different sequences, which are not limited in the present disclosure.

[0164] It is noted that, the first and / or second sequences may be ZC sequences. If both the first and second sequences are ZC sequences, the first and second sequences may be generated based on the same root, or they may be generated based on two different roots. It is understood that the first and / or second sequences may also be other sequences, such as gold sequences, M sequences, or Golay complementary sequences.

[0165] In addition, in one possible implementation, the first matrix may be generated by the ED or the RIS device, and the second matrix may be generated by the BS. If the first device is the ED, the BS may send the second matrix to the ED. For example, the BS may send the second matrix by periodically broadcasting SSB, and the ED may obtain the second matrix by receiving and parsing the SSB. Further, in the scenario shown in FIG. 11, the ED also needs to obtain the first matrix. For example, the BS may obtain the first matrix from the RIS device and then send the first matrix to the ED. If the first device is the BS, then in the scenario shown in FIG. 10, the ED may send the first matrix to the BS; and in the scenario shown in FIG. 11, the RIS device may send the first matrix to the BS.

[0166] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, there may be an additional control channel between the BS and the RIS device (wire or infrared).

[0167] It should be noted that in the scenario shown in FIG. 10, the first matrix of the ED may be pre-defined or pre-configured, generated by the BS, or generated by the ED itself. For example, it is generated at ED, so that the BS doesn’t have to spend time sending ED beam sweep matrix to ED. In the scenario shown in FIG. 11, the first matrix of the RIS device may be preset, generated by the BS, or generated by the RIS device itself and sent to the BS.

[0168] In step 902, the second device sends a signal to the first device based on the number of beam sweeps. Correspondingly, the first device receives the signal.

[0169] The number of beam sweeps refer to the number of transmissions of the signal. Assuming that the number of beam sweeps are T, the second device uses its own beams to send T signals to the first device, and the first device may use T beams in different directions to receive the signals.

[0170] For example, the number of beam sweeps is 4. FIG. 12 shows signal strength corresponding to four beam sweeps. As shown in FIG. 12, assume that the number of antenna ports for the UE is 4, and the number of antenna ports for the BS is 8. In the first beam sweep, the BS uses all 8 beams to send signals, and the UE uses a first beam to receive signals. In the second beam sweep, the BS uses all 8 beams to send signals, and the UE uses a second beam to receive signals. In the thirdbeam sweep, the BS uses all 8 beams to send signals, and the UE uses a third beam to receive signals. In the fourth beam sweep, the BS uses all 8 beams to send signals, and the UE uses a fourth beam to receive signals. As shown in FIG. 12, a height of each bar indicates intensity of a signal received by the UE for each beam sweep, and it can be seen that in the case where the BS uses a sixth beam to send signals, and the UE uses the third beam to receive signals, the received signal has stronger signal strength.

[0171] In one possible implementation, the signal sent by the second device may include multiple SSBs in a SSB burst. In this case, the beam alignment method may be understood to be performed during a cell search or UE initial access.

[0172] In another possible implementation, the signal sent by the second device may include reference signals, such as CSI RS, SRS, DMRS, etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0173] In step 903, the first device generates, based on the first matrix and the second matrix, a beam sweeping result by using the signal. The beam sweeping result is used to indicate one or more first beams or one or more second beams.

[0174] One or more first beams may be understood as optimal beams of the ED or the RIS device, and one or more second beams may be understood as optimal beams of the BS. The optimal beams of the ED or the RIS device and the optimal beams of the BS together may be called optimal beam pair. The first device may determine the optimal beam pair based on the first matrix and the second matrix by using the received signal to complete the beam alignment process. Further, the first device and the second device may subsequently communicate with each other using the optimal beam pair determined by the step 903.

[0175] It is understood that although it is illustrated that the steps 901 and 902 are performed before the step 903, the step 901 may be performed before the step 902, after the step 902, or in parallel with the step 902.

[0176] In the wireless communication method of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first device obtains the beam sweep matrix of the ED or the RIS device and the beam sweep matrix of the BS, and adopts the signals received by beams in different directions. The first device may obtain the beam sweeping result by using the received signal, the beam sweep matrix of the ED or RIS device, and the beam sweep matrix of the BS. This beam sweeping result indicates the optimal beam for the ED or RIS device and the optimal beam for the BS. In this method, the idea of joint UL and DL beam sweeping is introduced, and the optimal beam pair may be determined at one time to achieve beam alignment. In the process of beam alignment, there may be no need for the first device to feed back information to the second device, and thus the signaling overhead in the process of beam alignment may be reduced.

[0177] In addition, the wireless communication method of the embodiments of the present disclosure performs the beam alignment process by using fewer number of beam sweeps, which may simplify the process of beam alignment, and help improve the efficiency of beam alignment.

[0178] In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by the first device, an indication indicating the beam sweeping result.

[0179] In one possible implementation, in a case where the first device is the ED and the second device is the BS, and both the BS and the ED are multi-antenna devices and there is no RIS device, the ED may send the optimal beam of the BS (i.e., one or more second beams) to the BS. In a case where the RIS device and BS are multi-antenna devices and the ED is a single-antenna device, the ED not only needs to send the optimal beam of the BS (i.e., one or more second beams) to the BS, but also needs to send the optimal beam of the RIS device to BS (i.e., one or more first beams), so that the BS may send the optimal beam of the RIS device to the RIS device.

[0180] For example, the ED may send the indication to the BS via PRACH.

[0181] In another possible implementation, in a case where the first device is the BS and the second device is the ED, and both the BS and ED are multi-antenna devices and there is no RIS device, the BS may send optimal beams of the ED (i.e., one or more first beams) to the ED. In a case where the RIS device and BS are multi-antenna devices and the ED is a single-antenna device, the BS may send the optimal beams of the RIS device (i.e., one or more first beams) to the RIS device.

[0182] How the first and second matrices are generated is described in detail below.

[0183] In some embodiments, the number of rows of the first matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, and the number of columns of the first matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

[0184] In some embodiments, the number of rows of the second matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the BS, and the number of columns of the second matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

[0185] In some embodiments, at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence.

[0186] In addition, each column in the first matrix is obtained based on T cyclical shifts of the first sequence, T is equal to the number of beam sweeps and T is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0187] In some embodiments, each column in the second matrix is obtained based on T cyclical shifts of the second sequence.

[0188] In one possible implementation, there is a first cyclic shift set used to perform T cyclic shifts over the first sequence to obtain each column of the first matrix separately, thus generating the first matrix. Similarly, there is a second cyclic shift set that is used to perform T cyclic shiftsover the second sequence to obtain each column in the second matrix separately, thus generating the second matrix.

[0189] Assuming that the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device is L, and the number of antenna ports of the BS is M, the size of the first matrix is L-T, the size of the second matrix is M-T, and both M and L are integers greater than 1.

[0190] The first cyclic shift set and / or the second cyclic shift set may be obtained in a number of different ways, based on an interleaver, a difference set, an almost difference set, or a near difference set.

[0191] Using interleaver may reduce memory requirements, since only the polynomial coefficients need to be stored for cyclic shifts calculation. In case of DS / ADS / NDS cyclic shift values are explicitly stored in a table. Using DS may have a better mutual coherence. If the number of antenna ports exactly matches the first parameter of DS, DS is the solution that may obtain a more precise result.

[0192] In the following, the first cyclic shift set is taken as an example to introduce the manners of determining the cyclic shift set.

[0193] In manner one, the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on an interleaver.

[0194] For example, the parameters of the interleaver include the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, a first parameter and a second parameter. Values of the first parameter and the second parameter are related to the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0195] For example, the interleaver includes at least one of a quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) interleaver, a cubic permutation polynomial (CPP) interleaver, a Takeshita-Costello interleaver, an interleaver based on a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence, or an interleaver based on a random integer sequence.

[0196] For example, the value of the first parameter is a product of prime numbers obtained by factoring the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0197] For example, the second parameter is undividable by any of the prime numbers.

[0198] Next, the QPP interleaver is taken as an example, and it is assumed that the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device is N, the first parameter is f2, the second parameter isand the number of beam sweeps is T. How to determine the parameters in the interleaver and use the interleaver to determine the first cyclic shift set are described in detail below.

[0199] An z-th cyclic shift parameter in the first cyclic shift set may be obtained by the following formula:Cci= (f1· i + f2· i2)mod(N), i = 1, 2,..., T

[0200] N is factorized to obtain N = p”1• p”2• • pksuch that pltp2... PK are prime numbers and n1(n2,...nKare natural numbers, according to the above requirement, / i is not divisible by any of the numbers among pltp2...pK, and2= Pi • P2 ' — PK-

[0201] After the parameters in the above formula are determined, T cyclic shift parameters may be obtained by taking different values of i and performing T calculations, so as to obtain the first cyclic shift set.

[0202] Assuming that N = 8, T = 4, i = 3, and j = 2. Through the above formula, a first cyclic shift parameter may be obtained as c1= (f1· 1 + f2· 12)mod(8) = (3 + 2)mod(8) = 5, a second cyclic shift parameter may be obtained as c2= (f1· 2 + f2· 22)mod(8) = (3 × 2 + 2 × 22)mod(8) = 14, a third cyclic shift parameter may be obtained as c3=(f1· 3 + f2· 32)mod(8) = (3 × 3 + 2 × 32)mod(8) = 27, a fourth cyclic shift parameter may be obtained as c4= (f1· 4 + f2· 42)mod(8) = (3 × 4 + 2 × 42)mod(8) = 44. Thus, the first cyclic shift set is (5, 14, 27, 44).

[0203] It is understood that the first and second parameters are determined based on the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, and therefore, there is a correspondence between the first parameter, the second parameter, and the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflected elements of the RIS device.

[0204] In one possible implementation, the correspondence between the number of antenna ports, the first parameter and the second parameter may be pre-defined or pre-configured at the ED or BS side as a table. In this way, in a case where the first cyclic shift set is to be generated, the ED or BS may select the corresponding parameters from the table based on its own number of antenna ports, and there may be no need to calculate the parameters temporarily, which may help improve the processing efficiency of the ED or BS.

[0205] For example, the correspondence between the number of antenna ports of the ED, and f2is listed in Table 1.Table 1Number of antenna ports f1f28 = 233, 5, 7,... 216 = 243, 5, 7,... 230 = 2 · 3 · 5 7, 11, 3013,...40 = 23• 5 3, 7, 11,... 1064 = 283, 5, 7,... 2

[0206] As shown in Table 1, in a case where the number of antenna ports of the ED is 8, may be equal to 3, 5 or 7, etc., and f2may be equal to 2. In a case where the number of antenna ports of the ED is 16, may be equal to 3, 5 or 7, etc., and / 2may be equal to 2. In a case where the number of antenna ports of the ED is 30, may be equal to 7, 11 or 13, etc., and f2may be equal to 30. In a case where the number of antenna ports of the ED is 40, may be equal to 3, 7 or 11, etc., and f2may be equal to 10. In a case where the number of antenna ports of the ED is 64, may be equal to 3, 5 or 7, etc., and f2may be equal to 2.

[0207] It is noted that, Table 1 is only illustrative but not restrictive, more or less entries may be included in such table.

[0208] It is understood that Table 1 illustrates only the number of antenna ports as an example, and the number of reflecting elements for the RIS device is similar, and the corresponding parameters of the interleaver used to generate the first cyclic shift set may also be selected based on Table 1.

[0209] It is understood that the above only describes the process of generating the first cyclic shift set using the QPP interleaver as an example. In other possible implementations, other types of interleavers may also be used to generate the first cyclic shift set, and the principle is similar to that of the QPP interleaver and will not be described here.

[0210] In manner two, the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on a DS, an ADS or an NDS.

[0211] In some embodiments, the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set is obtained based on the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0212] Further, the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set includes a first parameter and a second parameter, the first parameter and the second parameter are integers greater than 0, the first parameter is related to the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, the first cyclic shift set is obtained by adding or removing M elements to an array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set, M is an absolute value of a difference between the number of beam sweeps and the second parameter, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0213] For example, the second parameter is greater than the number of beam sweeps, and M elements need to be removed from the array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set, or the near difference set to obtain the first cyclic shift set. For another example, thesecond parameter is less than the number of beam sweeps, and M elements need to be added to the array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set, or the near difference set to obtain the first cyclic shift set.

[0214] The positions of the M elements added or removed may be at the beginning or the end of the array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set, or the near difference set, or any other position, without qualification. In a case where an element needs to be removed, the element may be any element in the different set without qualification. In a case where one or more elements need to be added, these elements may be elements that are not in the difference set.

[0215] The difference set is taken as an example, and it is assumed that there is no RIS device and the ED is a multi-antenna device. The difference set used to generate the first cyclic shift set is selected from multiple difference sets based on the number of antenna ports of the ED. For example, the difference set with the first parameter closest to the number of antenna ports of the ED may be chosen as the difference set used to generate the first cyclic shift set.

[0216] In a possible implementation, multiple difference sets may be represented in a table. The multiple difference sets may be pre-defined or pre-configured, for example, in Table 2 below.Table 2N D 1 difference set u = {Uj,...,uN}11 5 2 1, 3, 4, 5, 913 4 1 0, 1, 5, 1115 7 3 0, 1, 2, 7, 9, 12, 1321 5 1 0, 1, 4, 14, 1623 11 5 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 1731 15 7 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 3035 17 8 0, 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 21, 27, 28, 29, 3347 23 11 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27,31, 33, 35, 36, 4159 29 14 0, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27,28, 34, 35, 40, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 52, 5663 31 15 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30,32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, 54, 56, 57, 6071 35 17 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 26, 28,29, 31, 35, 36, 37, 39, 42, 44, 47, 48, 49, 53, 56, 57, 59, 6373 9 1 0, 1, 17, 39, 41, 44, 48, 54, 6283 41 20 0, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 43, 47, 48, 50, 58, 60, 62, 63, 64,67, 68, 69, 74, 76, 77, 80143 71 35 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25,26, 27, 28, 32, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54,56, 57, 63, 64, 65, 69, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85,91, 92, 96, 98, 100, 103, 104, 106, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114,117, 123, 126, 128, 130, 133, 138

[0217] As shown in Table 2, each difference set has its corresponding first parameter N, second parameter D and third parameter X. An example of determining a difference set may be as follows. First, the total number of antenna ports of the ED is determined. For example, the total number of antenna ports of the ED is L = 64. Next, Table 2 is searched for a difference set with a value N closest to 64. From Table 2, the closet value is N = 63, and a difference set with parameters (63, 31, 15) is chosen.

[0218] After the difference set (63, 31, 15) is determined, the difference set (63, 31, 15) may be used to determine the first cyclic shift set based on the number of beam sweeps T.

[0219] Assuming T = 31, that is, D is equal to T, and the first cyclic shift set may be determined as the difference set (63, 31, 15), including (0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, 54, 56, 57, 60).

[0220] Assuming T = 32, that is, D is less than T, and the first cyclic shift set may be obtained after appending an element 63 at the end of the difference set (63, 31, 15), including (0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, 54, 56, 57, 60, 63).

[0221] Assuming T = 30, that is, D is greater than T, and the first cyclic shift set may be obtained after removing an element 0 at the beginning of the difference set (63, 31, 15), including (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, 54, 56, 57, 60).

[0222] Therefore, in a case where the number of antenna ports (the number of antenna ports of the ED or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device L, or the number of antenna ports of the BS M) and the number of beam sweeps T are determined, the corresponding difference set may be determined and the cyclic shift set may be obtained. In other words, there is a correspondence between the number of antenna ports (L or M), the number of beam sweeps T, the differentdifference sets and different cyclic shift sets.

[0223] In one possible implementation, the correspondence between the number of antenna ports, the number of beam sweeps T, the difference set, and the cyclic shift set may be pre-defined or pre-configured at the ED and / or BS side in a table form, so that the ED and / or BS may generate the first cyclic shift set based on their number of antenna ports. The cyclic shift set is selected from this table without the need for temporary calculation, which may be conducive to improving the processing efficiency of the ED and / or BS.An example correspondence between the number of antenna ports, the number of beam sweeps T, the difference set, and the cyclic shift set is shown in Table 3 below.Table3Number Number DS or its Cyclic shiftsof of modificationantenna sweepsports L T14 or 16 7 (15, 7, 3) 0, 1, 2, 7, 9, 12, 1320 or 22 5 (21, 5, 1) 0, 1, 4, 14, 1630 or 32 15 (31, 15, 7) 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26,27, 29, 3040 13 (40, 13, 4) 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 13, 14, 17, 19, 24, 26, 34 64 30 (63, 31, 15) with 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20,first element 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, removed 54, 56, 57, 6064 31 (63, 31, 15) 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,20, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49,51, 54, 56, 57, 6064 32 (63, 31, 15) with 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,63 added as last 20, 27, 28, 30,element 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, 54, 56, 57,60, 63

[0224] As shown in Table 3, in a case where L = 14 or 16 and T = 7, the first cyclic shift set is the difference set (15, 7, 3). In a case where L = 20 or 22 and T = 5, the first cyclic shift set is thedifference set (21, 5, 1). In a case where L = 30 or 32 and T = 15, the first cyclic shift set is the difference set (31, 15, 7). In a case where L = 40 and T = 13, the first cyclic shift set is the difference set (40, 13, 4). In a case where L = 64 and T = 30, the corresponding difference set is (63, 31, 15), and the first cyclic shift set is obtained by removing the first element in the difference set (63, 31, 15). In a case where L = 64 and T = 31, the first cyclic shift set is the difference set (63, 31, 15). In a case where L = 64 and T = 32, the corresponding difference set is (63, 31, 15), and the first cyclic shift set is obtained by adding one last element to the difference set (63, 31, 15).

[0225] The process of obtaining the first cyclic shift set by using the difference set is described in detail above. The following describes how to use ADS and NDS to get the first cyclic shift set.

[0226] In a possible implementation, a DS table may provide too little options for different values of N, D and X. In addition to the DS table, or alternatively, an ADS table may be provided, for example, as shown in Table 4 below. Table 4 simply shows the first parameter N, second parameter D, the third parameter X and the fourth parameter t of ADS, without showing specific elements of each ADS.Table 4N D A t4 2 0 15 2 0 26 3 1 48 4 1 210 4 1 610 5 2 712 6 2 313 3 0 616 8 3 418 9 4 1322 11 5 1626 12 5 1826 13 6 1928 14 6 729 14 6 1429 7 1 1430 15 7 2236 18 8 937 10 2 1840 20 9 1042 21 10 3146 23 11 3452 26 12 1353 14 3 2658 28 13 4258 29 14 4360 30 14 1561 15 3 3066 33 16 4970 35 17 5272 36 17 5474 34 17 5474 37 18 5578 39 19 58

[0227] The ADS table may provide much more options for different values of N, D and X. The determination of the first cyclic shift set from the ADS table is similar to that of DS table.

[0228] Since the ADS table provides much more options, there may be more than one position set selected from Table 2 or 5 based on the first parameter N. In such a case, the second parameter D may be further considered.

[0229] Assuming L=58 and T=27, two ADSs may be found according to L, that is ADS (58, 28, 13, 42) and ADS (58, 29, 14, 43). Further, ADS (58, 28, 13, 42) may be selected according to T, and the ADS with an element removed may be used to generate the first matrix.

[0230] In a possible implementation, in addition to the DS table and ADS table, or alternatively, an NDS table may be provided, for example, as shown in Table 5 below. Table 5 shows the first parameter N, the second parameter D, the third parameter X and specific elements of each NDS.Table 5N D A Near difference set8 3 1 0, 1, 312 5 2 0, 1, 2, 5, 1016 7 3 0, 1, 2, 7, 11, 13, 1420 9 4 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 14, 1824 11 5 0, 1, 2, 8, 11, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 2228 13 6 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, 13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 2636 17 8 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 21, 24, 26,32, 33, 34

[0231] Assuming L=24 and T=12, one NDS may be found according to L, that is NDS (24, 12, 5). The ADS with an element added may be used to generate the first matrix.

[0232] The DS, ADS and NDS are available for a very limited number of lengths (length corresponds to the number of antenna ports / reflecting elements). These lengths usually do not match with the practical number of antenna ports.

[0233] The rule is that one can choose the DS, ADS or NDS with the length closest to the number of antenna ports needed. If the lengths of DS, ADS or NDS are equally close to the number of antenna ports, the DS may be preferred, since the DS is the solution that may obtain a more precise result. For example, if the number of antenna ports matches the first parameter of DS, DS is a better solution that reaches Welch bound. When the number of antenna ports does not match the first parameter of DS / ADS / NDS, these sequences may be slightly modified to match the number of antenna elements.

[0234] It is understood that the determination of the second cyclic shift set is similar to that of the first cyclic shift set and will not be described here.

[0235] How the beam sweeping result in the embodiments of this disclosure is determined is described below in detail.

[0236] In some embodiments, the first device may construct a compressed sensing equation based on the first matrix, the second matrix, the DFT matrix, and the signal, solve the compressed sensing equation to obtain an estimate of the signal, and determine the beam sweeping result based on the estimate of the signal.

[0237] Assuming that the first matrix is W, the second matrix is V, and the DFT matrix includes FRXand FTX, the compressed sensing equation may be expressed as:y= Sx = = (WTo VH)(FRX0 FTX)x,where 0 denotes Kronecker product; o denotes the Khatri-Rao product; WTdenotes the transpose of the matrix W.

[0238] In one possible implementation, the first device may construct the compression sensing equation by following the steps.

[0239] First, a fixed dictionary matrix is determined. 'F may be constructed from the DFT matrix FRXand FTX:(FRX® FTX)

[0240] Then the measurement matrix 0 is determined. 0 may be constructed by WTand VH0 = WTo VH~)

[0241] By receiving the signal y from the second device, the first device brings the known parameters Y and into the compressed sensing equation, that is, the estimated value x of the signal can be solved.

[0242] In some embodiments, the first device receives matrix V. The first device calculates (or chooses it based on some kind of indication), calculates 0 (based on V and W). The first device solves the Compressed Sensing equation and obtains x.

[0243] In some embodiments, the compressed sensing equation may be solved by the second device and sent parts of x to the first device. Assuming that the first device is the ED, in order to reduce the processing burden of the ED, the compression sensing equation may be solved by the BS and then sent parts of x to the ED.

[0244] In conclusion, three possible embodiments of the present disclosure may exist.

[0245] In a possible implementation, the first device may receive or obtain the second matrix V from the second device, and solve the compressed sensing equation y = (IVro VH') FRX0 FTX)x based on the second matrix V, its own matrix IV, and the received signal y to obtain x. After that, the first device may send parts of x to the second device (the parts of x may indicate the optimal beam pair of the second device).

[0246] In another possible implementation, the first device may send the received signal y, its own matrix W to the second device. The second device may solve the compressed sensing equation y = (WTo VH)>FRX0 FTX)x based on the first matrix W, the second matrix V, and the received signal y to obtain x. After that, the second device may send parts of x to the first device (the parts of x may indicate the optimal beam pair of the first device).

[0247] In another possible implementation, the first device may receive or obtain the second matrix V from the second device, determine 0 based on the first matrix W, and the second matrix V, and send 0 and the received signal y to the second device. The second device may solve the compressed sensing equation y = 00 = (WTo VH)(FRX0 FTX)x based on the received signal y, and 0 to obtain x. After that, the second device may send parts of x to the first device (the parts of x may indicate the optimal beam pair of the first device).

[0248] It is noted that the precision of the compressed sensing algorithm depends on the mutual coherence parameter (S), which is related to the matrix S.

[0249] The matrix S may be expressed as the following mathematical formula:S = (WTo VH)' FRX0) FTX) = [WT(FRX® 11XM)] o [VH(11XN0 FTX] = w. o Vltwhere O denotes the Hadamard product.

[0250] It can be seen that the mutual coherence parameter i(S) is related to 0 Vi), and it can be further deduced that the mutual coherence of matrix S may be reduced by reducing the mutual coherence of matrixand (V1)respectively.^(S) < Q vj < riw. MVi)

[0251] FIG. 13 illustrate a structure of matrices IV1and V As shown in FIG. 13, the matrix IVtconsists of multiple blocks, each of which includes multiple repeated columns. The matrix is similar to the matrix IV15but the difference is that the repeated columns of the matrix Vi are interleaved. A new matrix M with different columns may be obtained. By optimizing the new matrix WTFRXand VHFTX, the mutual coherence betweenand V may be reduced.{mk,mq) = m"mq, k * q,T—l{mk, mq}~ expt=o

[0252] mk= mkis the -th column of matrix M, < mk, mq> denotes dot product between column k and column q, M(,k means selecting all rows and A th column of matrix M, and M denotes “new matrix”. M = WTFRX and VHFTX, k, q,p are the indices used for matrix M columns (integer nonnegative), and t is the index of cyclic shift greater than or equal to 0.

[0253] The wireless communication method in the embodiments of the present disclosure is described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13. Apparatuses for wireless communication in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.14 and 15.

[0254] As shown in FIG. 14, the apparatus 1400 includes a processing unit 1410 and a transceiver unit 1420.

[0255] In the case where the apparatus 1400 is used to perform the steps / processes in the method 900, the transceiver unit 1420 is configured to obtain a first matrix and a second matrix. The first matrix is generated based on a number of antenna ports of a terminal device or a number of reflecting elements of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device, a number of beam sweeps and a first sequence, and the second matrix is generated based on a number of antenna ports of a network device, the number of beam sweeps and a second sequence. The processing unit 1410 is configured to receive a signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps, and generate a beam sweeping result using the signal based on the first matrix and the second matrix. The beam sweeping result indicates one or more first beams or one or more second beams, the one or more first beams are beams of the terminal device or the RIS device, and the one or more second beams are beams of the network device.

[0256] In some embodiments, a number of rows of the first matrix is equal to the number ofantenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, and a number of columns of the first matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

[0257] In some embodiments, a number of rows of the second matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the network device, and a number of columns of the second matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

[0258] In some embodiments, at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence.

[0259] In some embodiments, each column in the first matrix is obtained based on T cyclical shifts of the first sequence, a first cyclic shift set corresponding to the T cyclic shifts of the first matrix is obtained based on an interleaver, a difference set, an almost difference set or a near difference set. T is equal to the number of beam sweeps, and T is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0260] In some embodiments, the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on the interleaver. Parameters of the interleaver include the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, a first parameter and a second parameter. Values of the first parameter and the second parameter are based on the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0261] In some embodiments, the value of the first parameter is a product of prime numbers obtained by factoring the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0262] In some embodiments, the second parameter is undividable by any of the prime numbers.

[0263] In some embodiments, the interleaver includes at least one of a quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) interleaver, a cubic permutation polynomial (CPP) interleaver, a Takeshita-Costello interleaver, an interleaver based on a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence or an interleaver based on a random integer sequence.

[0264] In some embodiments, the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set, and the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set is obtained based on the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

[0265] In some embodiments, the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set includes a first parameter and a second parameter, and the first parameter and the second parameter are integers greater than 0. The first parameter is related to the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device. The first cyclic shift set is obtained by adding or removing M elements to an array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set, where M is an absolute value of a difference between the number of beam sweeps and the second parameter, and M is an integer greater thanor equal to 0.

[0266] In some embodiments, the processing unit 1410 is configured to: construct a compressed sensing equation using the signal based on the first matrix, the second matrix, and the DFT matrix; solve the compressed sensing equation to obtain an estimate value of the signal; determine the beam sweeping result based on the estimate value of the signal.

[0267] In some embodiments, the transceiver unit 1420 is further configured to send an indication indicating the beam sweeping result.

[0268] In some embodiments, the method is performed at a terminal device, and the transceiver unit 1420 is configured to receive the second matrix from the network device, and receive the signal from the network device.

[0269] In some embodiments, the transceiver unit 1420 is configured to receive the first matrix from the RIS device.

[0270] In some embodiments, the second matrix is carried in a synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0271] In some embodiments, the apparatus 1400 is the network device, and the transceiver unit 1420 is configured to receive the first matrix from the terminal device or the RIS device, and receive the signal from the terminal device.

[0272] As for a detailed description of the transceiver unit 1420 and the processing unit 1410, reference may be made to the relevant description in the method embodiments as shown in FIG.9.

[0273] As shown in FIG. 15, the apparatus 1500 for signal transmission includes a processor 1510 and an interface circuit 1520. The processor 1510 and the interface circuit 1520 are coupled to each other. The interface circuit 1520 is configured to receive a signal and transmit the signal to the processor 1510, or transmit a signal from the processor 1510. It will be understood that the interface circuit 1520 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. For example, the apparatus 1500 may further include a memory 1530 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1510 or storing input data required by the processor 1510 to execute the instructions or storing data generated by the processor 1510 after executing the instructions. In some examples, the interface circuit 1520 may be a part of the processor 1510; in this case, the apparatus 1500 includes the processor 1510.

[0274] It is understood that the “receive a signal” may include receiving the first matrix, the second matrix, and the signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps.

[0275] In the case where the apparatus 1500 is used to implement the method as shown in FIG. 9, the processor 1510 is used for realizing the functions of the processing unit 1510, and the interface circuit 1520 is used for realizing the functions of the transceiver unit 1520.

[0276] In the case where the apparatus is a chip applied to the second device, the chip realizes thefunctions of the second device in the method embodiments. The chip receives information from the first device, which can be understood as that the information is received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the second device and then transmitted by these modules to the chip. The chip transmits information to the first device, which can be understood as that the information is transmitted to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the second device and then is transmitted by these modules to the first device.

[0277] In the case where the apparatus is a chip applied to the first device, the chip realizes the functions of the first device in the method embodiments. The chip receives information from the second device, which can be understood as that the information is received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the first device and then transmitted by these modules to the chip. The chip transmits information to the second device, which can be understood as that the information is transmitted to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the first device and then is transmitted by these modules to the second device.

[0278] It will be understood that, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor may be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an applicationspecific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0279] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored a computer program thereon. The computer program is used for implementing the method corresponding to the first device or the second device as mentioned above.

[0280] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program product that includes a computer program (which may also be referred to as a code, or instructions). When the computer program is run on a computer, the computer can perform the method corresponding to the first device or the second device as mentioned above.

[0281] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the method steps may be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by the processor. The software instructions may be composed of corresponding software modules. The software modules may be stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM, erasable programmable ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM, register, hard disk, mobile hard disk drive, compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium may also be part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an application specific integrated circuit. In addition, theapplication specific integrated circuit may be located in the first device or the second device. The processor and the storage medium may also be present in the first device or the second device as discrete components.

[0282] The embodiments described above may be implemented, in whole or in part, by software, hardware (e.g., circuitry), firmware, or any other combination thereof. When implemented using software, the above embodiments may be implemented, in whole or in part, in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When loading or executing the computer instructions or computer programs on a computer produces, in whole or in part, a process or function in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or another programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, e.g., the computer instructions may be transmitted by wired or wireless means from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any usable medium to which a computer is capable of accessing or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains a collection of one or more usable media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, and tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium, where the semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile storage media.

[0283] In the present disclosure, the terms “a”, “an” and “one” are defined to mean “at least one”, that is, these terms do not exclude a plural number of items, unless stated otherwise.

[0284] In the present disclosure, terms such as “substantially”, “generally” and “about”, which modify a value, condition or characteristic of a feature of an exemplary embodiment, should be understood to mean that the value, condition or characteristic is defined within tolerances that are acceptable for the proper operation of this exemplary embodiment for its intended application.

[0285] In the present disclosure, unless stated otherwise, the terms “connected” and “coupled”, and derivatives and variants thereof, refer herein to any structural or functional connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements. For example, the connection or coupling between the elements can be acoustical, mechanical, optical, electrical, thermal, logical, or any combinations thereof.

[0286] In the present disclosure, expressions such as “match”, “matching” and “matched”, including variants and derivatives thereof, are intended to refer herein to a condition in which twoPCI7RU2025 / 000017or more elements are either the same or within some predetermined tolerance of each other. That is, these terms are meant to encompass not only “exactly” or “identically” matching the two elements but also “substantially”, “approximately” or “subjectively” matching the two or more elements, as well as providing a higher or best match among a plurality of matching possibilities.

[0287] In the present disclosure, the expression “based on” is intended to mean “based at least partly on”, that is, this expression can mean “based solely on” or “based partially on”, and so should not be interpreted in a limited manner. More particularly, the expression “based on” could also be understood as meaning “depending on”, “representative of’, “indicative of’, “associated with” or similar expressions.

[0288] In the present disclosure, the terms “system” and “network” may be used interchangeably in embodiments of this application. “At least one” means one or more, and “a plurality of’ means two or more. The term “and / or” describes an association relationship of associated objects, and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may indicate the following three cases: Only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists, where A and B may be singular or plural. The character “ / ” usually indicates an “or” relationship between associated objects. “At least one of the following items (pieces)” or a similar expression thereof indicates any combination of these items, including a single item (piece) or any combination of a plurality of items (pieces). For example, “at least one of A, B, or C” includes A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A, B, and C, and “at least one of A, B, and C” may also be understood as including A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A, B, and C. In addition, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” in embodiments of this application are used to distinguish between a plurality of objects, and are not used to limit a sequence A time sequence, priorities, or importance of the plurality of objects.

[0289] A person skilled in the art should understand that embodiments of this application may be provided as a method, an apparatus (or system), computer-readable storage medium, or a computer program product. Therefore, this application may use a form of a hardware-only embodiment, a software-only embodiment, or an embodiment with a combination of software and hardware. Moreover, this application may use a form of a computer program product that is implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to a disk memory, an optical memory, and the like) that include computer-usable program code.

[0290] This application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the method, the device (system), and the computer program product according to this application. It should be understood that computer program instructions may be used to implement each process and / or each block in the flowcharts and / or the block diagrams and a combination of a process and / or a block in the flowcharts and / or the block diagrams. The computer program instructionsmay be provided for a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, an embedded processor, or a processor of another programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the computer or the processor of the another programmable data processing device generate an apparatus for implementing a specific function in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and / or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0291] The computer program instructions may alternatively be stored in a computer-readable memory that can indicate a computer or another programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory generate an artifact that includes an instruction apparatus. The instruction apparatus implements a specific function in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and / or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0292] The computer program instructions may alternatively be loaded onto a computer or another programmable data processing device, so that a series of operations and steps are performed on the computer or the another programmable device, so that computer-implemented processing is generated. Therefore, the instructions executed on the computer or another programmable device provide steps for implementing a specific function in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and / or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0293] It is clearly that a person skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this application without departing from the scope of this application. This application is intended to cover these modifications and variations of this application provided that they fall within the scope of protection defined by the following claims and their equivalent technologies.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A wireless communication method, comprising:obtaining a first matrix and a second matrix, wherein the first matrix is generated based on a number of antenna ports of a terminal device or a number of reflecting elements of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device, a number of beam sweeps and a first sequence, and the second matrix is generated based on a number of antenna ports of a network device, the number of beam sweeps and a second sequence;receiving a signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps; andgenerating a beam sweeping result using the signal based on the first matrix and the second matrix, wherein the beam sweeping result indicates one or more first beams or one or more second beams, the one or more first beams are beams of the terminal device or the RIS device, and the one or more second beams are beams of the network device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a number of rows of the first matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, and a number of columns of the first matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a number of rows of the second matrix is equal to the number of antenna ports of the network device, and a number of columns of the second matrix is equal to the number of beam sweeps.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein each column in the first matrix is obtained based on T cyclical shifts of the first sequence, a first cyclic shift set corresponding to the T cyclic shifts of the first matrix is obtained based on an interleaver, a difference set, an almost difference set or a near difference set, T is equal to the number of beam sweeps, and T is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on the interleaver, parameters of the interleaver comprise the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, a first parameter and a second parameter, and values of the first parameter and the second parameter are based on the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the value of the first parameter is a product of prime numbers obtained by factoring the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second parameter is undividable by any of the prime numbers.

9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the interleaver comprises at least one of a quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) interleaver, a cubic permutation polynomial (CPP) interleaver, a Takeshita-Costello interleaver, an interleaver based on a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence or an interleaver based on a random integer sequence.

10. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first cyclic shift set is obtained based on the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set is obtained based on the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set comprises a first parameter and a second parameter, the first parameter and the second parameter are integers greater than 0, the first parameter is related to the number of antenna ports of the terminal device or the number of reflecting elements of the RIS device, the first cyclic shift set is obtained by adding or removing M elements to an array corresponding to the difference set, the almost difference set or the near difference set, M is an absolute value of a difference between the number of beam sweeps and the second parameter, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein generating a beam sweeping result using the signal based on the first matrix and the second matrix, comprises:constructing a compressed sensing equation using the signal based on the first matrix, the second matrix, and the DFT matrix;solving the compressed sensing equation to obtain an estimate value of the signal; and determining the beam sweeping result based on the estimate value of the signal.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising:sending an indication indicating the beam sweeping result.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the method is performed at a terminal device, andobtaining the second matrix comprises:receiving the second matrix from the network device, andreceiving the signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps, comprises:receiving the signal from the network device.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein obtaining the first matrix comprises: receiving the first matrix from the RIS device.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the second matrix is carried in a synchronization signal block (SSB).

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the method is performed at a network device, andobtaining the first matrix comprises:receiving the first matrix from the terminal device or the RIS device; andreceiving the signal transmitted based on the number of beam sweeps comprises:receiving the signal from the terminal device.

18. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive a signal and transmit the signal to the processor, or transmit a signal from the processor; and the processor is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 17, through a logic circuit or by executing instructions.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instructions stored thereon which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

20. A computer program product, comprising a computer program or instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

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