CN114363915A

CN114363915A - Beam training method, device, equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114363915A
Application number: CN202011097335.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张胜峰
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-14
Filing date: 2020-10-14
Publication date: 2022-04-15
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-14
Also published as: CN114363915B

Abstract

The application discloses a beam training method, a device, equipment and a storage medium, and belongs to the technical field of wireless communication. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring a historical access record of the target AP, wherein the historical access record comprises historical beam directions corresponding to each STA which is historically accessed into the target AP when accessing the target AP every time, and the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process; determining the density of beacon frames sent to different beam directions by the target AP in the current beam training process according to the historical access record; and in the current beam training process, sending beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density. The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can improve the flexibility of sending the beacon frame by the AP.

Description

Beam training method, device, equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, a device, and a storage medium for beam training.

Background

With the rapid increase of the number of wireless devices and mobile traffic, the existing spectrum resources are approaching to saturation, and therefore, currently, both 3GPP and IEEE are focusing on using the millimeter wave frequency band to obtain richer available spectrum resources. However, the millimeter wave frequency band has a problem of large path loss, so that a beam forming technology is introduced in the millimeter wave frequency band, in the beam forming technology, a transmitting end can transmit signals in a beam form, so that transmitted energy is converged in a transmitting beam direction relatively intensively, and a receiving end can also receive signals in a receiving beam direction, so that directional communication can be realized through the beam forming technology, and path loss can be well offset. In practical application, a beam forming technology is adopted, beam training is required, and both an Access Point (AP) and a Station (STA) can obtain an optimal beam receiving and transmitting direction through the beam training.

In the related art, in the beam training process, the AP may periodically transmit a beacon (english: beacon) frame to each beam direction in an omni-directional manner, so that the STA to be accessed can perform beam training according to the beacon frame.

However, in the related art, the flexibility of the manner in which the AP transmits the beacon frame is low.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on this, embodiments of the present application provide a beam training method, apparatus, device, and storage medium, which may improve flexibility of an AP to transmit a beacon frame.

In a first aspect, a beam training method is provided, where the method is used in a target AP, and the method includes:

acquiring a historical access record of the target AP, wherein the historical access record comprises historical beam directions corresponding to each STA which is historically accessed into the target AP when accessing the target AP every time, and the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process; determining the density of beacon frames sent to different beam directions by the target AP in the current beam training process according to the historical access record; and in the current beam training process, sending beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density.

In a second aspect, a beam training apparatus is provided, for use in a target AP, the apparatus including:

an obtaining module, configured to obtain a historical access record of the target AP, where the historical access record includes historical beam directions corresponding to STAs historically accessed to the target AP each time the STAs are accessed to the target AP, and the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process;

a determining module, configured to determine, according to the historical access record, densities of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in a current beam training process;

and the sending module is used for sending the beacon frame to different beam directions according to the determined density in the current beam training process.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, implements the beam training method as described in the first aspect above.

In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, having stored thereon a computer program which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the beam training method according to the first aspect as described above.

The beneficial effects brought by the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application at least comprise:

by acquiring a historical access record of a target AP, wherein the historical access record comprises historical beam directions of all STAs which are accessed into the target AP in a historical mode each time, the historical beam directions of all the STAs are obtained through a historical beam training process, then the density of beacon frames sent to different beam directions by the target AP in the current beam training process is determined according to the historical access record, in addition, in the current beam training process, the target AP sends the beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density, as the historical access record of the target AP comprises the historical beam directions corresponding to the STAs which are accessed into the target AP in the historical mode each time, the relative positions of the target AP and the STAs which are in the same BSS as the target AP can be reflected to a certain extent, and the target AP adjusts the density of the beacon frames sent to different beam directions by the target AP in the current beam training process according to the historical access record, the transmission density of beacon frames in different beam directions can be adapted to the relative position, and therefore, compared with the conventional method in which beacon frames are transmitted omnidirectionally in the respective beam directions at the same density, the flexibility is higher.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an implementation environment provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a beam training method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of relative positions of an AP and an STA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of an exemplary technique for determining the density of beacon frames transmitted to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary technique for determining the density of beacon frames transmitted to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of a beam training apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a block diagram of another beam training apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Currently, in order to obtain richer available spectrum resources, the millimeter wave frequency band gets a wide attention of technical personnel. Generally, a network architecture related to a millimeter wave frequency band generally takes a Basic Service Set (BSS) as a unit, where one BSS generally includes an Access Point (AP) and a plurality of Stations (STA), and in practical applications, an STA may Access an AP to communicate with the AP.

Due to the problem of large path loss in the millimeter wave frequency band, a beam forming technology is introduced in the millimeter wave frequency band, and by adopting the beam forming technology, beam training is required, and generally, the beam training is usually performed in the process of accessing the STA to the AP.

In order to make the technical method provided by the embodiments of the present application easier to understand, the embodiments of the present application will briefly introduce the basic process of beam training.

In the 802.11ay communication standard, the Beam training process may include a Sector Level Sweep (SLS) phase and a Beam Refining (BRP) phase. The SLS stage mainly trains the transmitting beam directions of the AP and the STA, and the BRP stage mainly trains the receiving beam directions of the AP and the STA.

Generally, the SLS phase may include four sub-phases of Initiator-Transmit Sector Sweep (I-TXSS), Responder-Transmit Sector Sweep (R-TXSS), Sector Sweep Feedback (SSW-Feedback), and Sector Sweep acknowledgement (SSW-ACK).

1. I-TXSS sub-phase: the AP omnidirectionally sends a beacon frame in each beam direction, the STA receives the beacon frame in a pseudo-omnidirection mode, and sequences each beam direction of the received beacon frame according to the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the received beacon frame to obtain a first sequencing result.

2. R-TXSS sub-stage: the STA omnidirectionally sends an SSW frame in each beam direction, the SSW frame carries the first sequencing result, the AP receives the SSW frame pseudo-omnidirectionally, and sequences each beam direction of the received SSW frame according to the SINR of the received SSW frame to obtain a second sequencing result.

3. SSW-Feedback sub-phase: and the AP sends an SSW-Feedback frame in the beam direction with the optimal SINR in the first sequencing result, and the SSW-Feedback frame carries the second sequencing result, and the STA receives the SSW-Feedback frame in a pseudo-omni-directional manner.

4. SSW-ACK sub-phase: and the STA sends the SSW-ACK frame in the beam direction with the optimal SINR in the second sequencing result.

The BRP stage mainly comprises three sub-stages of training establishment (Setup), multi-Sector identification (MID) and Beam Combining (BC). Since the BRP stage is less related to the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application is not further described here.

As can be seen from the above description, in the SLS phase, the AP needs to transmit the beacon frame in all directions in each beam direction, and in the related art, the AP transmits the beacon frame in the same transmission density with no distinction for all beam directions. However, in practical applications, the STAs in the network architecture related to the millimeter wave band are generally low-mobility devices such as a home router, a desktop computer, a television, an intelligent sound device, and an intelligent desk lamp, and the relative positions of the STAs and the AP are generally fixed.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a beam training method, in which a target AP may obtain a historical access record of the target AP, where the historical access record includes historical beam directions corresponding to STAs historically accessing the target AP each time the target AP accesses the target AP, the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process, and then, a density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in a current beam training process is determined according to the historical access record, and in the current beam training process, the target AP sends the beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density, and since the historical access record of the target AP includes the historical beam directions corresponding to the STAs historically accessing the target AP each time, the relative positions of the target AP and the STAs in the same BSS as the target AP may be reflected to a certain extent, the target AP adjusts the density of sending the beacon frames to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access records, so that the sending density of the beacon frames in different beam directions can be adapted to the relative position, and the flexibility is higher compared with the existing mode of sending the beacon frames to all beam directions in an omnidirectional mode according to the same density.

In the following, a brief description will be given of an implementation environment related to the beam training method provided in the embodiments of the present application.

Referring to fig. 1, the implementation environment may include a target AP101 and at least one STA 102, where the target AP101 and the STA 102 belong to the same BSS, and the STA 102 may access the target AP101 to communicate with the target AP101, and during the accessing, the target AP101 and the STA 102 may perform beam training to determine optimal transceiving beam directions of the target AP101 and the STA 102, respectively.

Referring to fig. 2, a flow chart of a beam training method provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown, which can be applied to the target AP101 in the implementation environment described above. As shown in fig. 2, the beam training method may include the steps of:

step 201, the target AP acquires its own historical access record.

As described above, each time the STA accesses the target AP, the STA needs to perform beam training, and the optimal transmit-receive beam direction of the STA and the optimal transmit-receive beam direction of the target AP can be obtained through the beam training. In the embodiment of the present application, after each beam training, the target AP may store the result of the beam training in the historical access record of the target AP.

The historical access record comprises historical beam directions corresponding to all STAs which are accessed into the target AP in a historical mode each time the STAs are accessed into the target AP, and all the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process.

Optionally, the historical beam direction corresponding to the STA accessing the target AP in the historical access record may be: at least one of an optimal historical transmission beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, an optimal historical reception beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, an optimal historical transmission beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP, and an optimal historical reception beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP.

For example, the STA 01 performs beam training during accessing the target AP, and obtains, through the beam training, that the optimal transmit beam direction of the target AP is the direction a, the optimal receive beam direction of the target AP is the direction b, the optimal transmit beam direction of the STA 01 is the direction c, the optimal receive beam direction of the STA 01 is the direction d, the identification and the direction a of the STA 01 may be correspondingly stored in the history access record, the identification and the direction b of the STA 01 may be correspondingly stored in the history access record, the identification and the direction c of the STA 01 may be correspondingly stored in the history access record, the identification and the direction d of the STA 01 may be correspondingly stored in the history access record, and the identification and at least two of the direction a, the direction b, the direction c, and the direction d of the STA 01 may be correspondingly stored in the history access record.

Before each beam training, the target AP may acquire its historical access record to perform a subsequent beam training process based on the historical access record.

Step 202, the target AP determines, according to the historical access record, the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process.

Due to the fact that mobility of the STAs in the network architecture related to the millimeter wave frequency band is low, relative positions of the STAs belonging to the same BSS as the target AP and to be accessed to the target AP are generally fixed. This results in a high probability that the following will occur: there are no or few STAs to be accessed in one beam direction of the target AP, and there are more STAs to be accessed in another beam direction of the target AP. Referring to fig. 3, STA1, STA2, and STA3 exist in the beam direction a of the target AP 02, and STA does not exist in the beam direction b of the target AP 02.

If the target AP transmits the beacon frame to each beam direction omnidirectionally without distinction in the manner of transmitting the beacon frame in the related art, the beacon frame transmitted in some beam directions (there is no or few STAs to be accessed) is wasted, and the beacon frame transmitted in some beam directions (there are many STAs to be accessed) cannot ensure the access efficiency of the STAs, which results in poor flexibility of the target AP in transmitting the beacon frame.

In view of this, in the embodiment of the present application, the target AP may determine, based on its own historical access record, a beam direction in which an STA to be accessed may exist and a beam direction in which an STA to be accessed may not exist, and adjust, according to a determination result, a density at which the target AP transmits a beacon frame to a different beam direction in a current beam training process.

Optionally, the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to a certain beam direction in the current beam training process is positively correlated with the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the beam direction, that is, if the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in a certain beam direction is higher, the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the beam direction is higher, and conversely, if the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in a certain beam direction is lower, the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the beam direction is lower.

Therefore, on one hand, the waste of beacon frames can be avoided, communication resources are saved, the power consumption of the target AP is reduced, on the other hand, the access efficiency of the STA can be ensured, and therefore the flexibility is high.

It should be noted that the beam direction mentioned in the embodiment of the present application is actually a sector, and the density of transmitting beacon frames to a certain beam direction may refer to: the angular size between which beacon frames are transmitted twice consecutively in the beam direction. For example, the density of beacon frames transmitted to a certain beam direction may be: beacon frames are transmitted every 1 ° in the beam direction.

Step 203, in the current beam training process, the target AP sends beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, after the current beam training process is finished, a beam direction corresponding to an STA accessing the target AP based on the current beam training process may also be stored in the history access record.

Similarly to the above, the beam direction corresponding to the STA accessing the target AP based on the current beam training procedure may be: at least one of an optimal transmit beam direction of the STA, an optimal receive beam direction of the STA, an optimal transmit beam direction of the target AP, and an optimal receive beam direction of the target AP.

Referring to fig. 4, in one possible implementation, the target AP may determine the density of beacon frames transmitted to different beam directions in the current beam training process based on the technical process shown in fig. 4, as shown in fig. 4, the technical process includes the following steps:

step 401, the target AP determines a first beam direction according to the historical access record.

Wherein the probability that there is an STA to be accessed in the first beam direction is greater than a first probability threshold.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, the technical process of determining the first beam direction by the target AP may include the following steps:

step A1, the target AP determines whether the target STA exists according to the historical access record.

The historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history are the same beam direction, and n is a positive integer greater than 1.

Please refer to table 1, which is an exemplary historical access record.

TABLE 1

STA identification	Historical beam direction
		01	a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a
02	a,b,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a
		03	a,b,c,a,a,a,a,a,a,a
04	b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b
		……	……

As can be seen from table 1, historical beam directions corresponding to STA 01 accessing the target AP10 times in succession are all beam directions a, and historical beam directions corresponding to STA 04 accessing the target AP10 times in succession are all beam directions b. STA 01 and STA 04 may be determined as target STAs.

Note that, in the above example, n is merely described as 10, and in fact, the value of n may not be 10, for example, n may be 20 or another value set by a skilled person, and the specific size of n is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Since the historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when accessing the target AP for n consecutive times in the history are all the same beam direction, it can be determined that the relative position of the target STA and the target AP is relatively fixed.

And step B1, if the target STA exists, the target AP sets the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA accessing the target AP n times in the history as the first beam direction.

With continued reference to table 1, the target AP may take as the first beam direction, a historical beam direction a corresponding to the STA 01 accessing the target AP n times in the history and a historical beam direction b corresponding to the STA 04 accessing the target AP n times in the history.

As described above, the relative position between the target STA and the target AP is relatively fixed, and if the target STA is not considered to move suddenly or be removed suddenly, the probability that the target STA exists in the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA accessing the target AP n times in the history is very high, and therefore, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA accessing the target AP n times in the history can be used as the first beam direction.

Step 402, the target AP uses the first density as a density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process.

As described above, the probability that there is an STA to be accessed on the first beam is greater than the first probability threshold, and therefore, the target AP may perform a strategy of intensive transmission in the first beam direction to improve the access efficiency of the STA that may exist in the first direction, and therefore, the target AP may use a first density as the density of the beacon frame transmitted by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, where the first density is greater than the first density threshold, and the first density threshold may be set by a technician, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the first density may be 5 times of the density of the normal beacon frame, for example, if the density of the normal beacon frame is that the beacon frame is transmitted every 5 °, the first density may be that the beacon frame is transmitted every 1 °.

Referring to fig. 5, in another possible implementation, the target AP may determine the density of beacon frames transmitted to different beam directions in the current beam training process based on the technical process shown in fig. 5, as shown in fig. 5, the technical process includes the following steps:

step 501, the target AP determines a second beam direction according to the historical access record.

Wherein the probability that the STA to be accessed exists in the second beam direction is less than a second probability threshold.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, the technical process of determining the second beam direction by the target AP may include the following steps:

step a2, the target AP determines whether there is a candidate beam direction according to the historical access record.

And the candidate beam directions have no STA access in the continuous m-time access process, and m is a positive integer greater than 1.

With reference to table 1, the beam direction of the beacon frame transmitted by the target AP may include a beam direction a, a beam direction b, a beam direction c, and a beam direction d, and as can be seen from the content in table 1, in no STA accesses in the beam direction d during 10 consecutive accesses, the beam direction d may be regarded as a candidate beam direction.

In the above example, only m is taken as 10, and in fact, the value of m may not be 10, for example, m may be 50 or other values set by a skilled person, and the specific size of m is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Step B2, if there is a candidate beam direction, the target AP determines a second beam direction based on the candidate beam direction.

Since no STA accesses in the access process of m consecutive times in the candidate beam direction, it may be considered that there is a low possibility of an STA to be accessed in the candidate beam direction, and therefore, in a possible implementation manner of the present application, the target AP may directly use the candidate beam direction as the second beam direction.

However, in the embodiment of the present application, the target AP needs to perform a strategy of performing sparse transmission in the second beam direction in subsequent steps, and the strategy may avoid beacon frame waste, save communication resources, and reduce power consumption of the target AP, but may also greatly affect access efficiency of the STA in case of possible existence in the second beam direction.

Therefore, it is careful that, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the target AP does not directly use the candidate beam direction as the second beam direction, but obtains a historical communication record of the target AP after obtaining the candidate beam direction, where the historical communication record includes a historical beam direction corresponding to each time the target AP historically performs communication, and similarly to the above, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target AP performing communication may be: at least one of a historical transmission beam direction when the target AP performs communication, a historical reception beam direction of an STA which performs communication with the target AP, and a historical transmission beam direction of an STA which performs communication with the target AP may determine, by the target AP, a second beam direction among the candidate beam directions according to a historical communication record of the target AP, after the historical communication record is acquired, where the target AP does not perform communication for p consecutive times in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

The target AP does not communicate in a certain beam direction for p consecutive times, which indicates that there is no STA that may move past in the beam direction, and therefore, the target AP may use the beam direction as the second beam direction and perform a strategy of sparse transmission in the second beam direction in a subsequent step.

It should be noted that the value of p may be set by a skilled person, for example, the value of p may be 500, and in an alternative embodiment of the present application, the value of p may be greater than the value of m.

And step 502, the target AP takes the second density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process.

As described above, the probability that the STA to be accessed exists on the second beam is less than the second probability threshold, and therefore, the target AP may perform a sparsely transmitting policy in the second beam direction to avoid beacon frame waste, save communication resources, and reduce power consumption of the target AP, so that the target AP may use a second density as the density of the target AP transmitting the beacon frame to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, where the second density is less than the second density threshold, and the second density threshold may be set by a technician, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application, and optionally, the second density threshold may be less than or equal to the first density threshold described above.

Alternatively, in this embodiment of the present application, the second density may be 1/5 of the density of normally transmitted beacon frames, for example, the density of normally transmitted beacon frames is that beacon frames are transmitted every 2 °, and the first density may be that beacon frames are transmitted every 10 °.

Referring to fig. 6, a block diagram of a beam training apparatus 600 according to an embodiment of the present application is shown, where the beam training apparatus 600 may be configured in a target AP. As shown in fig. 6, the beam training apparatus 600 may include: an acquisition module 601, a determination module 602, and a sending module 603.

The obtaining module 601 is configured to obtain a historical access record of the target AP, where the historical access record includes historical beam directions corresponding to STAs historically accessing the target AP each time the STAs historically accessing the target AP, and the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process.

The determining module 602 is configured to determine, according to the historical access record, a density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process.

The sending module 603 is configured to send a beacon frame to different beam directions according to the determined density in the current beam training process.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, the determining module 602 includes:

a first determining submodule, configured to determine a first beam direction according to the historical access record, where a probability that an STA to be accessed exists in the first beam direction is greater than a first probability threshold.

And the second determining submodule is used for taking the first density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is greater than a first density threshold value.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, the first determining sub-module is specifically configured to: determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the corresponding historical beam directions of the target STA are the same when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; if the target STA exists, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history is taken as the first beam direction.

and the third determining submodule is used for determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, and the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the second beam direction is less than a second possibility threshold.

And the fourth determining submodule is used for taking the second density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than the second density threshold.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, the third determining sub-module is specifically configured to: determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction has no STA access in m continuous access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1; if the candidate beam direction exists, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, the third determining sub-module is specifically configured to: acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each time of historical communication of the target AP; and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP does not perform communication for p times continuously in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

Referring to fig. 7, an embodiment of the present application further provides another beam training apparatus 700, where the beam training apparatus 700 includes, in addition to various modules included in the beam training apparatus 600, optionally, the beam training apparatus 700 further includes a storage module 604.

The storage module 604 is configured to: and after the current beam training process is finished, storing the beam direction corresponding to the STA accessed to the target AP based on the current beam training process into the historical access record.

The beam training device provided by the embodiment of the application can realize the method embodiment, the realization principle and the technical effect are similar, and the details are not repeated herein.

For the specific definition of the beam training apparatus, reference may be made to the above definition of the beam training method, which is not described herein again. The modules in the beam training apparatus may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, and a combination thereof. The modules can be embedded in a hardware form or independent from a processor in the computer device, and can also be stored in a memory in the computer device in a software form, so that the processor can call and execute operations corresponding to the modules.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of a communication device in an embodiment, where the communication device may be an AP. As shown in fig. 8, the communication device includes a processor, a memory, and a communication component connected by a system bus. Wherein the processor is configured to provide computational and control capabilities to support the operation of the overall communication device. The memory may include a non-volatile storage medium and an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium stores an operating system and a computer program. The computer program can be executed by a processor for implementing a beam training method provided in the above embodiments. The internal memory provides a cached execution environment for the operating system and computer programs in the non-volatile storage medium. The communication device may communicate with other communication devices (e.g., STAs) through the communication component.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the configuration shown in fig. 8 is a block diagram of only a portion of the configuration associated with the present application and does not constitute a limitation on the communication device to which the present application applies, and that a particular communication device may include more or less components than those shown, or combine certain components, or have a different arrangement of components.

In one embodiment of the present application, there is provided a communication device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored therein a computer program, the processor implementing the following steps when executing the computer program:

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the first beam direction is greater than a first possibility threshold; and taking the first density as the density of the target AP for sending the beacon frame to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is greater than a first density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the corresponding historical beam directions of the target STA are the same when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; if the target STA exists, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history is taken as the first beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold; and taking the second density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than a second density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction has no STA access in m continuous access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1; if the candidate beam direction exists, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each time of historical communication of the target AP; and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP does not perform communication for p times continuously in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: and after the current beam training process is finished, storing the beam direction of the STA corresponding to the target AP accessed based on the current beam training process into the historical access record.

The communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application has similar implementation principles and technical effects to those of the method embodiments described above, and is not described herein again.

In an embodiment of the application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of:

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further performs the steps of: determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the first beam direction is greater than a first possibility threshold; and taking the first density as the density of the target AP for sending the beacon frame to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is greater than a first density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further performs the steps of: determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the corresponding historical beam directions of the target STA are the same when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; if the target STA exists, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history is taken as the first beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further performs the steps of: determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold; and taking the second density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than a second density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further performs the steps of: determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction has no STA access in m continuous access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1; if the candidate beam direction exists, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further performs the steps of: acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each time of historical communication of the target AP; and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP does not perform communication for p times continuously in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further performs the steps of: and after the current beam training process is finished, storing the beam direction corresponding to the STA accessed to the target AP based on the current beam training process into the historical access record.

The implementation principle and technical effect of the computer-readable storage medium provided by this embodiment are similar to those of the above-described method embodiment, and are not described herein again.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by hardware instructions of a computer program, which can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. Any reference to memory, storage, database, or other medium used in the embodiments provided herein may include non-volatile and/or volatile memory, among others. Non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in M forms, such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link (SyMchliMk) DRAM (SLDRAM), RaMbus (RaMbus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM).

The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present application, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the claims. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, which falls within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for beam training, for use in a target AP, the method comprising:

acquiring a historical access record of the target AP, wherein the historical access record comprises historical beam directions corresponding to each STA which is historically accessed into the target AP every time the STA is accessed into the target AP, and the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process;

determining the density of beacon frames sent to different beam directions by the target AP in the current beam training process according to the historical access records;

and in the current beam training process, sending beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access records comprises:

determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility that an STA to be accessed exists in the first beam direction is greater than a first possibility threshold;

and taking a first density as the density of the target AP for sending the beacon frame to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is greater than a first density threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the first beam direction from the historical access record comprises:

determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the corresponding historical beam directions of the target STA are the same when the target STA is accessed into the target AP for n times in history, and n is a positive integer greater than 1;

and if the target STA exists, taking the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP for n times in history as the first beam direction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access records comprises:

determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold;

and taking a second density as the density of the target AP for sending the beacon frame to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than a second density threshold value.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the second beam direction from the historical access record comprises:

determining whether candidate beam directions exist according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam directions have no STA access in m continuous access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1;

determining the second beam direction based on the candidate beam direction if the candidate beam direction exists.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining the second beam direction based on the candidate beam direction comprises:

acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each time of communication performed by the target AP in history;

and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP does not perform communication for p times continuously in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein after transmitting beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density, the method further comprises:

and after the current beam training process is finished, storing the beam direction corresponding to the STA accessed to the target AP based on the current beam training process into the historical access record.

8. A beam training apparatus, for use in a target AP, the apparatus comprising:

9. A communication device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, implements the beam training method of any of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the beam training method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.