CN116171617B

CN116171617B - Large-scale terminal grouping for channel state information overhead reduction

Info

Publication number: CN116171617B
Application number: CN202080104000.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王文剑
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2020-08-10
Filing date: 2020-08-10
Publication date: 2024-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-10
Also published as: CN116171617A; WO2022032451A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus, method, and computer-readable storage medium for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction. The method includes receiving, from a second device, packet information for a first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device; transmitting, to the second device, an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and in accordance with a determination that transmission path information between the first device and the second device associated with the receive beam is received, determining CSI based on the channel state information CSI feedback indication associated with the group index. In this way, the overhead of CSI may be greatly reduced.

Description

Large-scale terminal grouping for channel state information overhead reduction

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, relate to an apparatus, method, device, and computer-readable storage medium for large-scale terminal grouping with reduced Channel State Information (CSI) overhead.

Background

Currently, more and more research involves the connection of a large number of User Equipments (UEs) to network nodes. As wireless communication technology evolves, the configuration of network devices has been standardized by directional searching for terminals accessed via beamforming or other functional use. Meanwhile, today's business terminals may be equipped with the same facilities to support multiple functional use or enhance power gain during transmission and reception.

During transmission, the UE first communicates with the network device through a series of sounding periods (epochs), where the network device then acquires CSI of the data link from the UE at a given period.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for large-scale terminal grouping with reduced Channel State Information (CSI) overhead.

In a first aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least receive, from the second device, packet information for the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device; transmitting, to the second device, an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and determining that CSI is received from transmission path information between the first device and the second device associated with the receive beam based on the CSI feedback indication associated with the group index.

In a second aspect, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least transmit packet information for the first device to the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device; in accordance with a determination that an indication of a receive beam from the second device is received, determining transmission path information between the first device and the second device based on the receive beam, the receive beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information; and transmitting the transmission path information to the first device.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, from a second device, packet information for a first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device; transmitting, to the second device, an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and in accordance with a determination that transmission path information between the first device and the second device associated with the receive beam is received, determining CSI based on the CSI feedback indication associated with the group index.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes transmitting, by the second device, packet information of the first device to the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device; in accordance with a determination that an indication of a receive beam from the second device is received, determining transmission path information between the first device and the second device based on the receive beam, the receive beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information; and transmitting the transmission path information to the first device.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for receiving, from a second device, grouping information for a first device, the grouping information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device; means for transmitting, to the second device, an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and determining CSI based on the CSI feedback indication associated with the group index in accordance with determining that transmission path information between the first device and the second device associated with the receive beam is received.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for transmitting, by a second device, packet information of a first device to the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device; means for determining transmission path information between the first device and the second device based on the received beam, the received beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information, in accordance with determining that an indication of the received beam from the second device was received; and means for transmitting the transmission path information to the first device.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to perform the method according to the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to perform the method according to the fourth aspect.

Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following description of the particular embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the embodiments of the disclosure.

Drawings

The embodiments of the present disclosure are set forth in an illustrative sense, and the advantages thereof will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings, in which

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

Fig. 2 illustrates a signaling diagram showing a process for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example application scenario in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates another example application scenario in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described merely for the purpose of illustrating and helping those skilled in the art understand and practice the present disclosure and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various other ways besides those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first" and "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish between functions of the various elements. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "including," "includes" and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) A pure hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(B) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(Ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s), including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s) having software that work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions, and (c) hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but that may not exist when not required for operation.

The definition of circuitry is applicable to all uses of that term in the present application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuitry or processor (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as a fifth generation (5G) system, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and so forth. Furthermore, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there are, of course, future types of communication techniques and systems that can embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from the network. A network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), e.g., a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR next generation NodeB (gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Header (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, a low power node (such as femto, pico), etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied. The RAN split architecture includes a gNB-CU (centralized unit that hosts RRC, SDAP, and PDCP) that controls multiple gNB-DUs (distributed units that host RLC, MAC, and PHY). The relay node may correspond to the DU portion of the IAB node.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop in-vehicle devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premise devices (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in the context of industrial and/or automated processing chains), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) portion of an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node (also referred to as a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

While in various example embodiments, the functionality described herein may be performed in a fixed and/or wireless network node, in other example embodiments, the functionality may be implemented in a user equipment device (such as a cell phone or tablet or laptop or desktop or mobile IoT device or fixed IoT device). For example, the user equipment device may be suitably equipped with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or wireless network node(s). The user equipment device may be a user equipment and/or a control device, such as a chipset or a processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed in the user equipment. Examples of such functions include a bootstrapping server function and/or a home subscriber server, which may be implemented in a user equipment device by providing the user equipment device with software configured to cause the user equipment device to perform from the perspective of these functions/nodes.

As mentioned above, currently, more and more research involves the connection of a large number of User Equipments (UEs) to network nodes. As wireless communication technology evolves, the configuration of network devices has been standardized by directional searching for terminals accessed via beamforming or other functional use. Meanwhile, today's business terminals may be equipped with the same facilities to support multiple functional use or enhance power gain during transmission and reception.

During transmission, the UE first communicates with the network device over a series of sounding periods, where at a given period the network device then acquires CSI for the data link from the UE.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, example environment 100 may include terminal devices 110-1 through 110-5 (hereinafter may also be referred to as UEs 110-1 through 110-5/first devices 110-1 through 110-5, respectively, or collectively as UEs 110/first devices 110). The example environment 100 may also include a network device 120, where the network device 120 may communicate with the terminal devices 110-1 through 110-5. It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in fig. 1 is given for illustrative purposes and does not imply any limitation. The example environment 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

One of the main problems presented in the context of large-scale UEs is the incremental change of the number of UEs. Thus, the amount of transmission resources allocated to CSI acquisition will increase, as it is proportional to the number of UEs. Thus, the remaining uplink data transmission resources for the UE will be reduced. Thus, alleviating this potential bottleneck is a major problem.

Similarly, in some other applications, such as applications where the UE must know the location of other UEs for a particular task through the application layer, the cost of probing other terminals takes up more and more resources as the number of other UEs increases. Here, the technical problem is similar to the aforementioned one, and a method for reducing signaling overhead needs to be found.

Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a solution to reduce the overhead of CSI feedback from a large number of UEs. In some embodiments, the gNB may determine the location of the UE and assign the UE to a different group. The packet information may indicate a positional relationship between the UE and the gNB, which may cause the UE to determine a receive beam from the gNB by performing beam scanning based on the packet information. The UE may inform the gNB of the determined receive beams so that the gNB may determine a beam pair between the UE and the gNB. Based on the grouping procedure, the gNB may selectively indicate which UEs in the same group need to report short-term CSI. In this way, the overhead of CSI feedback for the UE may be reduced. By employing this solution, overhead may be reduced, which may increase the amount of resources allocated to data transmission while reducing delays in certain tasks.

The principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 2, which shows an exemplary process for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction. For discussion purposes, process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Process 200 may involve UE 110 and gNB 120 as shown in fig. 1. It should be appreciated that UE 110 described below in connection with process 200 may be considered any of UEs 110-1 through 110-5.

As shown in fig. 1, UE 110 may transmit 205 a probing signal. The probe signal may include a preamble specific to UE 110. After the gNB 120 receives the probing signal from the UE 110, the gNB 120 may acquire a preamble specific to the UE 110 and determine the location of the UE 110. The location may be a coarse location or a partial location, such as a relative angle of arrival at the gNB 120. The gNB 120 may determine the location itself or in cooperation with other gNBs that receive the probe signal or other probe signals from the UE 110.

Based on the location of UE 110, gNB120 may assign a group to the UE. In some example embodiments, the gNB120 may generate 210 the grouping information based on a group index of a group assigned to the UE 110 by the gNB 120. In addition, the packet information may also include location information associated with UE 110 and gNB 120. The location information may be referred to as the location of UE 110 or gNB 120. The location information may also be referred to as a location relationship between UE 110 and gNB 120. In some embodiments, UEs may be assigned to groups based on their coarse locations such that the UEs in each group are substantially decentralized, e.g., such that their coarse location information suggests that UEs that are relatively closest to all UEs in the group are assigned to different groups.

After the packet information is generated, the gNB 120 may send 215 the packet information to the UE 110. UE 110 may then perform a beam scanning procedure to determine the receive beam from gNB 120.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may perform a beam scanning procedure on beams around the null domain for several periods of time. For example, UE 110 may obtain a positional relationship between UE 110 and gNB 120, or a location of UE 110 or gNB 120. Based on the location information, UE 110 may determine a direction of beam scanning and determine a reception beam by performing a beam scanning procedure in the direction.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may perform the beam scanning procedure at the same time as other UEs in the same group at a given time period. For example, UE 110 may determine a time interval for performing a beam scanning procedure associated with a group index of UE 110 based on the grouping information. UE 110 may then determine the receive beam from gNB 120 by performing a beam scanning procedure during the time interval.

Based on the beam scanning procedure, UE 110 may determine 220 a receive beam from gNB 120. UE 110 may then send 225 an indication of the receive beam to gNB 120 to inform UE 110 of which beam to select for transmission between UE 110 and gNB 120. Based on the received beam, the gNB 120 may determine 230a transmission path between the ue 110 and the gNB 120.

In some example embodiments, the gNB120 may determine a beamforming direction of the receive beam and determine a corresponding transmit beam based on the beamforming direction. The transmission path between UE 110 and gNB120 may then be determined based on the receive beam and the corresponding transmit beam.

The gNB 120 may also send 235 transmission path information to the UE 110. After receiving the transmission path information, UE 110 may determine in which group UE 110 is located. The UE may then obtain an indication of CSI feedback.

Two types of CSI are considered for CSI feedback, namely short-term CSI and long-term CSI. For example, in current cellular standards, long-term CSI and short-term CSI may be reported by an uplink channel Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). Among these standards, detailed types of reports are further classified into periodic reports (PUCCH reports), aperiodic reports (PUSCH reports), PUCCH semi-static reports, and PUSCH semi-static reports. In general, the UE may need to report both short-term CSI and long-term CSI.

In embodiments of the present invention, the indication of CSI feedback obtained by UE 110 may indicate which UEs in the same group need to report short-term CSI. In other words, only specific UEs in the same group have to report short-term CSI, and other UEs may be allowed or required to report long-term CSI only.

Thus, if UE 110 determines CSI feedback in the UE responsible group based on the CSI feedback indication, UE 110 may determine CSI feedback information based on the long-term CSI and the short-term CSI. If UE 110 determines that the UE is not responsible for CSI feedback in the group, UE 110 may determine CSI feedback information based only on long-term CSI.

Assuming that there are P bits for feeding back long-term CSI and Q bits for feeding back short-term CSI, respectively, the overhead of the conventional hybrid feedback scheme (C _a) and the reduced overhead (C _b) provided by embodiments of the present invention are as follows:

wherein TTI _nums indicates a reporting ratio of long-term CSI to short-term CSI, which may be expressed in the current cellular standard as the number of Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs); where M is the number of gNBs and N is the number of UEs; where κ (t) may represent the group size coefficient.

It should be appreciated that long-term and short-term CSI require different feedback periods. For example, in an LTE-a or NR system, the feedback period of long-term CSI may be 200-1000 (TTI), while the period of short-term CSI is one or more (TTI). As a result, it is beneficial to group UEs such that the feedback overhead of short-term CSI is reduced.

For example, if p=6 for the long-term part W ₁ including beam basis (beam basis) and beam power information, and W ₂,Q＝12.N＝10,M＝3,TTI_num =200 for the short-term part W ₂,Q＝12.N＝10,M＝3,TTI_num =200 including phase, κ (t) =6/10. The overhead for schemes with and without packets is 43380 bits and 72180 bits, respectively, which greatly reduces the overhead. This assumption is reasonable because the low rank and high rank codebooks will share the same W ₁ portion.

After UE 110 successfully accesses the gNB 120, since UE 110 may be mobile, the gNB 120 may further perform a fine grouping procedure for UE 110.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may report a channel gain to the gNB 120 based on the transmission path determined by the gNB 120, which is transmitted to UE 110 at act 235 as shown in fig. 2.

In a scenario with multiple gnbs, the average channel gain associated with a gNB may be modeled as follows:

Where the antennas at each gNB and each UE are M _t and M _r, respectively, where M is the number of gnbs, PL ₀ is the intercept, d _i,j is the propagation distance between the ith UE and the jth gNB, and n is the path loss index over the particular propagation environment. The shadow fading factor χ _σ is a zero-mean gaussian variable with standard deviation σ, and E _j＝1,...,M is the expectation operator. Variance of (Where i=1, … …, N) can be calculated as the maximum value of the threshold λ of the acquisition UE dispersion, where N is the number of UEs. Note that the channel gain may be approximated by other channel models without departing from the scope of the invention.

Based on the channel gain, the gNB may further perform a fine grouping procedure for the UE. In the initialization phase, it is assumed that Ω= {1,..n },n＝1。

Thus, the UE priority (precedence) may be calculated as follows:

Wherein the method comprises the steps of Is the average of the long-term CSI of the ith UE at time slot t, which can be approximated as/>, for throughput-maximized scheduling by considering that capacity is a linear function of channel gainTherefore, proportional fairness between UEs is ensured.

Thus, the grouping criteria may be set as follows:

Where lambda has an impact on the feedback overhead of the group size and instantaneous CSI. If it is R is the multi-antenna transmission rank, i.e. the group size is lower than required, then n=n+1 is repeated in equation (4), then the group size coefficient can be defined as κ (t) = |ζ (t) |/N, then the scheduling complexity changes from O (F (N) to O (F (k (t) ·n) ·f is a function of the number of UEs. N=n+1 represents if/>Then the UE index is changed to n+1, i.e./>The value is/>Is less than the previous value) and then recalculates whether/>Until satisfied.

In this way, the gNB may further determine optimal packet information for the UE. If the gNB 120 transmits optimized packet information to the UE 110, the UE 110 may update its packet information.

Heretofore, the process for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction has been described by fig. 2. With reference to fig. 3 and 4, two example application scenarios may be further explained as follows.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example application scenario according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In 3GPP 5G NR, radio bands are proposed to operate around 60GHz, with some exemplary requirements for the spectrum being specified such as 57GHz to 71GHz in the United states, 57GHz to 64GHz in Canada, and 59GHz to 64GHz in China. Since the path loss in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band is very strong, the gNB and UE are likely to be configured with a large number of antennas to achieve sufficient beamforming gain for power attenuation through propagation. As shown in fig. 3, it is assumed that 10 UEs (i.e., UEs 310-0 to 310-9) simultaneously access three gnbs 320-0 to 320-2, wherein the UEs and the gnbs use 32 and 64 antennas, respectively.

Prior to cell selection, each of UEs 310-0 through 310-9 may modulate identification information on a random access preamble during a contention-based initial random access procedure and transmit the identification information to the gnbs 320-0 through 320-2. The gNB 320-0 through 320-2 may estimate the coarse position of the UEs 310-0 through 310-9, e.g., via reduced power characteristics of the preamble signal. Subsequently, gNB 320-0 through 320-2 may cooperatively mark UEs 310-0 through 310-9 as 3 groups. The principles of the above procedure have been described by acts 205, 210, and 215 as shown in fig. 2 for each of UEs 310-0 through 310-9 and gnbs 320-0 through 320-2. After the coarse grouping process is completed, an exemplary grouping result may be found as follows.

Table 1: exemplary grouping results

Group ID	User ID
		A	1、3、8
B	2、5、6
		C	0、4、7、9

The gNB 320-0 through 320-2 may then send packet IDs to the UEs 310-0 through 310-9. Then, the UE and the gNB start beam management procedures operating in the mmWave band, where the beam scanning procedures in one group are synchronized and operate in the same manner. Furthermore, it is proposed that the beam scanning process between the different groups is continuous in time, as the first group hands over the scanning weights to the next group when it is completed. After scanning, beam measurements and beam determinations are made by the gNB. Details of the above procedure have been described for each of UEs 310-0 through 310-9 and gnbs 320-0 through 320-2 by acts 215 through 230 as shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 4 illustrates another example application scenario according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are technologies that are expected to improve the way people interact with the environment. Recently, standardization of VR has attracted attention. The example application scenario illustrated in fig. 4 contemplates a technical approach to guaranteeing a secure environment for VR operators in accordance with the requirements of the environmental security partition in the IEEE 2048 standard. Because VR game content is far from the player's real visual environment, players in the same room may hurt each other during the game. Thus, free body collision mechanisms are typically deployed in VR games, where when occurring in a real environment, the risk in the game can be eliminated by feedback to the player. With proper feedback design of the VR application layer, the player can adjust his own operations to avoid potential physical injury. To ensure such security, in the system design, low latency for hazard detection has a first priority. Thus, this example application scenario primarily involves a communication signal framework to reduce latency in hazard detection.

In the scenario shown in fig. 4, it is assumed that 6 players wear wireless VR headset in the lobby while and interactively playing VR games, with VR access nodes distributed in the example application scenario shown in fig. 4. Initially, VR terminals 410-1 through 410-6 first send serial preambles to network devices 420-1 through 420-4. The network devices 420-1 through 420-4 may then estimate the locations of these VR terminals 410-1 through 410-6 and partition the VR terminals 410-2 through 410-6 into, for example, 2 groups by separating players in the same group as much as possible. The VR headset then scans for obstacles around him/her by emitting an ultrasonic signal and collecting echoes to determine if there is a hazard around him/her. In addition, players in a group use ultrasonic signals of different frequencies.

Note that synchronization in one group is not required. Thus, the player can quickly detect a change in the environment. At the same time, through detection of ultrasonic signals, network devices 420-1 through 420-4 may evaluate the player's position to avoid collision with an edge of a play area, such as a building wall or window. Meanwhile, in VR games, network devices 420-1 through 420-4 may cooperatively send high-rate data streams to VR headset through conventional communication policies. For each of the VR terminals 410-1 through 410-6 and network devices 420-1 through 420-4 in fig. 4, the principles of the above-described process may also be performed as the process 200 described with reference to fig. 2 and are not repeated here.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at a first device 110 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 500 will be described with reference to fig. 1.

At 510, the first device 110 receives packet information for the first device from the second device, the packet information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device.

At 520, the first device 110 sends an indication to the second device of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information.

At 530, if UE 110 determines that transmission path information between the first device and the second device associated with a receive beam from the second device is received, UE 110 determines CSI based on the CSI feedback indication associated with the group index.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may transmit a probe signal to the second device, the probe signal including a random access preamble assigned to the first device.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may obtain a positional relationship between the first device and the second device from the packet information; determining a direction of a beam scanning process based on the positional relationship; and determining a receive beam from the second device by performing a beam scanning procedure in that direction.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may determine a time interval for performing a beam scanning procedure based on the packet information, the time interval being associated with a group index; and determining a receive beam from the second device by performing a beam scanning procedure during the time interval.

In some example embodiments, if UE 110 determines that the CSI feedback indication indicates that the first device is to be responsible for CSI feedback in the group with the group index, UE 110 may determine CSI feedback information based on the long-term CSI and the short-term CSI.

In some example embodiments, if UE 110 determines that the CSI feedback indication indicates that the first device will not be responsible for CSI feedback in the group with the group index, UE 110 may determine CSI feedback information based on the long-term CSI.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may determine a channel gain associated with a transmission path between the first device and the second device based on the transmission path information; and transmitting the channel gain to the second device.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 for large-scale terminal grouping for CSI overhead reduction, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 may be implemented at the second device 120 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 600 will be described with reference to fig. 1.

At 610, the second device 120 transmits packet information for the first device to the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device.

At 620, if the second device 120 determines to receive an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information, the second device 110 determines transmission path information between the first device and the second device based on the receive beam.

At 630, the second device 120 sends transmission path information to the first device.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may receive a probe signal from the first device; acquiring a random access preamble specific to the first device from the detection signal; and determines the packet information based on the random access preamble.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determine a beamforming direction of the receive beam; determining a transmit beam of the second device based on the beamforming direction; and determines transmission path information based on the reception beam and the transmission beam.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may receive a channel gain associated with a transmission path between the first device and the second device and determine whether to assign additional group indices to the first device based on the channel gain. If the second device 120 determines that a further group index is to be assigned, the second device 120 may generate further grouping information based at least on the further group index and send the further grouping information to the first device.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 500 (e.g., implemented at the UE 110) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for receiving, from a second device, grouping information for a first device, the grouping information indicating at least a group index assigned for the first device; means for transmitting, to the second device, an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and determining CSI based on the CSI feedback indication associated with the group index in accordance with determining that transmission path information between the first device and the second device associated with the receive beam is received.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 600 (e.g., implemented at the gNB 120) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 600. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for transmitting, to a first device, packet information for the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device; means for determining transmission path information between the first device and the second device based on the received beam, the received beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information, in accordance with determining that an indication of the received beam from the second device was received; and means for transmitting the transmission path information to the first device.

Fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 700 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as UE 110 and gNB120 shown in fig. 1. As shown, device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 740 coupled to processors 710, and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) 740 coupled to processors 710.

TX/RX 740 is used for two-way communication. TX/RX 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements.

Processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read Only Memory (ROM) 724, electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact Disks (CD), digital Video Disks (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memory that does not persist during power outages.

The computer program 730 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by an associated processor 710. Program 730 may be stored in ROM 720. Processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 730 into RAM 720.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by the program 730 such that the device 700 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure discussed with reference to fig. 2-6. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, program 730 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 700 (such as in memory 720) or other storage device that device 700 may access. The device 700 may load the program 730 from a computer readable medium into the RAM 722 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 8 shows an example of a computer readable medium 800 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has stored thereon the program 730.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in a program module, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the methods 500 and 600 described above with reference to fig. 5-6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device for communication, comprising:

At least one processor; and

At least one memory including computer program code;

The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least:

receiving, from a second device, grouping information of the first device, the grouping information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device;

Transmitting, to the second device, an indication of a receive beam from the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and

In accordance with a determination that transmission path information associated with the receive beam is received between the first device and the second device, channel State Information (CSI) feedback indication associated with the group index is determined.

2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

a probe signal is sent to the second device, the probe signal including a random access preamble specific to the first device.

3. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

Acquiring a position relationship between the first device and the second device from the grouping information;

determining the direction of a beam scanning process based on the position relationship; and

The receive beam from the second device is determined by performing the beam scanning procedure in the direction.

4. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determining a time interval for performing a beam scanning procedure based on the grouping information, the time interval being associated with the group index; and

The receive beam from the second device is determined by performing the beam scanning procedure within the time interval.

5. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the CSI feedback information by:

In accordance with a determination that the CSI feedback indication indicates that the first device is to be responsible for CSI feedback in a group having the group index, the CSI feedback information is determined based on long-term CSI and short-term CSI.

6. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the CSI feedback information by:

in accordance with a determination that the CSI feedback indication indicates that the first device is not to be responsible for CSI feedback in a group having the group index, the CSI feedback information is determined based on long-term CSI.

7. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

Determining a channel gain associated with a transmission path between the first device and the second device based on the transmission path information; and

And transmitting the channel gain to the second device.

8. The first device of claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

In response to receiving additional packet information from the second device, the packet information is updated based on the additional packet information, the additional packet information determined by the second device based on the channel gain.

9. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

10. A second device for communication, comprising:

At least one processor; and

At least one memory including computer program code;

The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least:

transmitting packet information of a first device to the first device, wherein the packet information at least indicates a group index allocated to the first device;

In accordance with a determination that an indication of a receive beam from the second device is received, determining transmission path information between the first device and the second device based on the receive beam, the receive beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information; and

Transmitting the transmission path information to the first device;

Channel State Information (CSI) is received from the first device, wherein the CSI is determined by the first device based on CSI feedback indication associated with the group index in accordance with a determination that the transmission path information associated with the receive beam is received between the first device and the second device.

11. The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is further caused to:

Receiving a probe signal from the first device;

Acquiring a random access preamble specific to the first device from the detection signal; and

The packet information is determined based on the random access preamble.

12. The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is caused to determine the transmission path information by:

determining a beamforming direction of the receive beam;

Determining a transmit beam of the second device based on the beamforming direction; and

Transmission path information is determined based on the receive beam and the transmit beam.

13. The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is further caused to:

receiving a channel gain associated with the transmission path between the first device and the second device;

determining whether to assign a further group index to the first device based on the channel gain;

Generating further grouping information based at least on the further group index in accordance with a determination that the further group index is to be assigned; and

The further packet information is sent to the first device.

14. The second device of claim 10, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

15. A method for communication, comprising:

Receiving, at a first device, packet information for the first device from a second device, the packet information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device;

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

19. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the CSI feedback information comprises:

20. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the CSI feedback information comprises:

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

And transmitting the channel gain to the second device.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

24. A method for communication, comprising:

Transmitting, from a second device to a first device, packet information of the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device;

Transmitting the transmission path information to the first device;

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

Receiving a probe signal from the first device;

The packet information is determined based on the random access preamble.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein determining the transmission path information comprises:

determining a beamforming direction of the receive beam; and

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

The further packet information is sent to the first device.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

29. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

Means for receiving, from a second device, grouping information of a first device, the grouping information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device;

means for transmitting an indication of a receive beam from the second device to the second device, the receive beam determined at the first device based on the packet information; and

In accordance with a determination that transmission path information associated with the receive beam is received between the first device and the second device, determining Channel State Information (CSI) based on CSI feedback indications associated with the group index.

30. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

Means for transmitting, to a first device, packet information of the first device, the packet information indicating at least a group index allocated for the first device;

Means for determining transmission path information between the first device and a second device based on a reception beam from the second device, the reception beam being determined at the first device based on the packet information, in accordance with receiving an indication of the reception beam; and

Means for transmitting the transmission path information to the first device;

means for receiving Channel State Information (CSI) from the first device, wherein the CSI is determined by the first device based on CSI feedback indications associated with the group index in accordance with a determination that the transmission path information associated with the receive beam is received between the first device and the second device.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 15 to 23.

32. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 24 to 28.