CN117354954A

CN117354954A - Beam control method, device, relay equipment and network side equipment

Info

Publication number: CN117354954A
Application number: CN202210726665.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王欢; 刘进华; 杨坤
Original assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Co Ltd
Current assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-23
Filing date: 2022-06-23
Publication date: 2024-01-05
Also published as: WO2023246882A1

Abstract

The application discloses a beam control method, a device, a relay device and a network side device, which belong to the technical field of communication, and the beam control method in the embodiment of the application comprises the following steps: the relay device receives first beam indication information from network side equipment, wherein the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, and the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set; and the relay equipment carries out beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information.

Description

Beam control method, device, relay equipment and network side equipment

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a beam control method, a beam control device, relay equipment and network side equipment.

Background

A relay device such as a smart surface (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces, RIS) device or a network control relay (Network controlled repeater, NCR) may establish a connection (via a control link) with a network side device (e.g., a base station), so that the network side device may transmit control signaling to the relay device to control transmission/reception related parameters between the relay device and the network side device (i.e., a Backhaul link (BH)), or to control transmission/reception related parameters between the relay device and a terminal (UE) (i.e., an Access Link (AL)).

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a beam control method, a beam control device, relay equipment and network side equipment, which can flexibly control the beam of an access link of the relay equipment.

In a first aspect, a beam steering method is provided, the method comprising:

the relay device receives first beam indication information from network side equipment, wherein the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, and the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set;

and the relay equipment carries out beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information.

In a second aspect, there is provided a beam steering apparatus comprising:

a first receiving module, configured to receive first beam indication information from a network side device, where the first beam indication information is configured to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set;

and the adjusting module is used for carrying out beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information.

In a third aspect, a beam steering method is provided, the method comprising:

The method comprises the steps that network side equipment sends first beam indication information to relay equipment, wherein the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay equipment, and the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a beam steering apparatus comprising:

a first sending module, configured to send first beam indication information to a relay device, where the first beam indication information is configured to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a relay device comprising a processor and a memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the method as described in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a relay device is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is configured to receive first beam indication information from a network side device, where the first beam indication information is configured to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set; the processor is used for carrying out beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information

In a seventh aspect, a network side device is provided, comprising a processor and a memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the method according to the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a network side device is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is configured to send first beam indication information to a relay device, where the first beam indication information is configured to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, and the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a beam steering system comprising: a relay device and a network side device, the relay device being operable to perform the steps of the beam control method as described in the first aspect, the network side device being operable to perform the steps of the beam control method as described in the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a readable storage medium having stored thereon a program or instructions which when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method according to the first aspect, or performs the steps of the method according to the third aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the processor being coupled, the processor being for running a program or instructions, implementing the steps of the method according to the first aspect, or implementing the steps of the method according to the third aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer program/program product stored in a storage medium, the computer program/program product being executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method as described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method as described in the third aspect.

In this embodiment of the present application, the relay device receives first beam indication information from the network side device, where the first beam indication information is used to indicate at least one AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set, and performs beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information, so that flexibility of beam control of an access link of the relay device may be improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is one of block diagrams of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

FIG. 2 is a second block diagram of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

FIG. 3 is a third block diagram of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a beam control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a one-to-one correspondence between AL beam sets and BH beams provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of another beam steering method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a block diagram of a beam control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a block diagram of another beam steering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a block diagram of a relay device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a block diagram of a network side device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the present application are within the scope of the protection of the present application.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the application are capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein, and that the terms "first" and "second" are generally intended to be used in a generic sense and not to limit the number of objects, for example, the first object may be one or more. Furthermore, in the description and claims, "and/or" means at least one of the connected objects, and the character "/" generally means a relationship in which the associated object is an "or" before and after.

It is noted that the techniques described in the embodiments of the present application are not limited to long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE)/LTE evolution (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a) systems, but may be used for sameOther wireless communication systems such as code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), time division multiple access (Time Division Multiple Access, TDMA), frequency division multiple access (Frequency Division Multiple Access, FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, OFDMA), single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access, FDMA), and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the present application are often used interchangeably, and the techniques described may be used for both the above-mentioned systems and radio technologies, as well as other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes a New air interface (NR) system for purposes of example and uses NR terminology in much of the description that follows, but these techniques are also applicable to applications other than NR system applications, such as generation 6 (6) ^th Generation, 6G) communication system.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11, a relay device 12, and a network-side device 13. The terminal 11 may be a mobile phone, a tablet (Tablet Personal Computer), a Laptop (Laptop Computer) or a terminal-side Device called a notebook, a personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), a palm top, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal Computer (ultra-mobile personal Computer, UMPC), a mobile internet appliance (Mobile Internet Device, MID), an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) Device, a robot, a Wearable Device (weather Device), a vehicle-mounted Device (VUE), a pedestrian terminal (PUE), a smart home (home Device with a wireless communication function, such as a refrigerator, a television, a washing machine, or a furniture), a game machine, a personal Computer (personal Computer, PC), a teller machine, or a self-service machine, and the Wearable Device includes: intelligent wrist-watch, intelligent bracelet, intelligent earphone, intelligent glasses, intelligent ornament (intelligent bracelet, intelligent ring, intelligent necklace, intelligent anklet, intelligent foot chain etc.), intelligent wrist strap, intelligent clothing etc.. Note that, the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Relay device 12 may include, but is not limited to, a RIS device or NCR or other device that can implement relay functionality.

The network-side device 13 may comprise an access network device or a core network device, wherein the access network device may also be referred to as a radio access network device, a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN), a radio access network function or a radio access network element. The access network device may include a base station, a WLAN access point, a WiFi node, or the like, where the base station may be referred to as a node B, an evolved node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a basic service set (Basic Service Set, BSS), an extended service set (Extended Service Set, ESS), a home node B, a home evolved node B, a transmission receiving point (Transmitting Receiving Point, TRP), or some other suitable terminology in the field, and the base station is not limited to a specific technical vocabulary so long as the same technical effect is achieved, and it should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, only the base station in the NR system is described by way of example, and the specific type of the base station is not limited. The core network device may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: core network nodes, core network functions, mobility management entities (Mobility Management Entity, MME), access mobility management functions (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), session management functions (Session Management Function, SMF), user plane functions (User Plane Function, UPF), policy control functions (Policy Control Function, PCF), policy and charging rules function units (Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF), edge application service discovery functions (Edge Application Server Discovery Function, EASDF), unified data management (Unified Data Management, UDM), unified data repository (Unified Data Repository, UDR), home subscriber server (Home Subscriber Server, HSS), centralized network configuration (Centralized network configuration, CNC), network storage functions (Network Repository Function, NRF), network opening functions (Network Exposure Function, NEF), local NEF (or L-NEF), binding support functions (Binding Support Function, BSF), application functions (Application Function, AF), and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, only the core network device in the NR system is described as an example, and the specific type of the core network device is not limited.

For ease of understanding, some of the matters related to the embodiments of the present application are described below:

RIS introduction:

RIS is an emerging man-made material device. The RIS can dynamically/semi-statically adjust its own electromagnetic properties, affecting the reflection/refraction behavior of electromagnetic waves incident to the RIS. The RIS can control the reflection/refraction of electromagnetic signals, and achieve the functions of beam scanning/beam forming and the like.

The RIS may receive control from an upstream base station (donor), i.e., the base station may control transmission parameters of the RIS, such as reception/transmission beams between the RIS and the base station or between the RIS and the UE, etc., to improve the operating efficiency of the RIS. In the network architecture shown in fig. 2, comprising 3 network nodes, the intermediate network node is a RIS device comprising a terminal module (Mobile Termination, MT) and a RIS panel. Wherein the MT may establish a connection with an upstream base station (via a control link), and the base station transmits control signaling to the RIS via the MT, and may control transmission/reception related parameters between the RIS and the base station (i.e., backhaul link (BH)) or between the RIS and the UE (i.e., access Link (AL)).

Beam steering for NCR:

the NCR, as a relay node, may forward signals from a base station or UE and amplify the signals. The NCR may receive control from an upstream base station (donor), i.e. the base station may control the transmission parameters of the NCR, e.g. the NCR and the base station or the receive/transmit beam between the NCR and the UE, etc. In the network structure shown in fig. 3, which includes 3 network nodes, the intermediate network node is an NCR device that includes an MT and a Forwarding unit (Fwd). Wherein the MT can establish a connection (through control link) with an upstream base station, and the base station transmits control signaling to the NCR through the MT, so as to control transmission/reception related parameters between the NCR and the base station (backhaul link) or between the NCR and the UE (access link).

The beam control method provided by the embodiment of the application is described in detail below by some embodiments and application scenarios thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart of a beam control method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the method may be performed by a relay device, as shown in fig. 4, and includes the following steps:

step 401, a relay device receives first beam indication information from a network side device, where the first beam indication information is used to indicate at least one Access Link (AL) beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set.

In this embodiment, the relay device may include, but is not limited to, a RIS device or an NCR device that can implement a relay function. The AL beam unit of the relay device is used for an access link of the relay device. The AL beam unit may be at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set, and optionally, the AL beam may be the AL beam subset or an AL beam in the AL beam set, and the AL beam subset may be an AL beam subset divided by the AL beam set.

The first beam indication information may explicitly indicate the at least one AL beam element, for example, may include the identification information indicating one beam element; or may implicitly indicate the at least one AL beam element, e.g. the first beam indication information may implicitly indicate the at least one AL beam element by indicating a beam associated with the at least one AL beam element.

In some optional embodiments, the at least one AL beam unit indicated by the first beam indication information may belong to at least one AL beam set predetermined by the relay device for the access link or at least one AL beam set configured by the relay device in advance (for example, configured by the network side device) for the access link.

Step 402, the relay device performs beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information.

In this embodiment, the relay device may perform beam adjustment according to the beam indicated by the first beam indication information, and illustratively, may switch the access link of the relay device to the beam indicated by the first beam indication information.

According to the beam control method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the relay device receives the first beam indication information from the network side device, wherein the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one AL beam unit of the access link of the relay device, the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set, and beam adjustment is performed according to the first beam indication information, so that the flexibility of beam control of the access link of the relay device can be improved.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam unit of the relay device and at least one Backhaul link (BH) beam unit of the relay device, where the BH beam unit includes at least one of a BH beam and a BH beam set.

The BH beam unit is a beam unit for a backhaul link of the relay device. Illustratively, the at least one AL beam set of the relay device may have a correspondence with at least one BH beam of the relay device; alternatively, there may be a correspondence between at least one AL beam of the relay device and at least one BH beam of the relay device; alternatively, there may be a correspondence between the at least one AL beam set of the relay device and the at least one BH beam set of the relay device, or there may be a correspondence between the at least one AL beam of the relay device and the at least one BH beam set of the relay device.

It should be noted that, the above correspondence may be a one-to-one correspondence, that is, one AL beam unit corresponds to one BH beam unit, for example, as shown in fig. 5, BH beam #1 corresponds to AL beam set #1, and BH beam #2 corresponds to AL beam set #2; or the correspondence may be a one-to-many correspondence, that is, one AL beam element corresponds to at least two BH beam elements or one BH beam element corresponds to at least two AL beam elements; or the correspondence may be a many-to-many correspondence, that is, at least two AL beam elements and at least two BH beam elements correspond.

In the embodiment of the application, a corresponding relationship exists between at least one AL beam unit of the relay device and at least one BH beam unit of the relay device, so that the relay device is favorable for carrying out beam control by integrating the AL beam and the BH beam, and interference between signals can be reduced while signal enhancement is realized.

Optionally, the correspondence is determined by the relay device or configured by a network side device.

In an embodiment, the correspondence may be determined by a relay device, for example, in the case where the relay device is an RIS device, the RIS device may determine, according to the setting condition of the RIS panel, which BH units and AL beam units may occur simultaneously, so as to establish the correspondence between the BH units and AL beam units that may occur simultaneously.

In another embodiment, the above-mentioned correspondence may be configured by the network-side device, that is, the relay device may receive the above-mentioned correspondence from the network-side device.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and under the condition that the corresponding relation is determined by the relay equipment, the relay equipment reports the corresponding relation to network side equipment.

In this embodiment, when the correspondence is determined by the relay device, the relay device reports the correspondence to the network device, so that the consistency of understanding the correspondence by the relay device and the network device can be ensured.

Optionally, the reporting, by the relay device, the correspondence relationship to the network side device includes:

the relay device sends first indication information or second indication information to the network side device;

the first indication information is used for indicating a first AL beam, the first AL beam is a beam which prohibits AL of the relay device from using, the second indication information is used for indicating a second AL beam, the second AL beam is a beam which suggests AL of the relay device to use, and the first indication information or the second indication information is used for determining the corresponding relation.

In this embodiment, the correspondence may be indicated by a restricted beam method, or indicated by a recommended beam method. The first AL beam may also be referred to as a restrictive AL beam, where the restrictive AL beam is prohibited from being used by an access link of the relay device, or may be understood that there is no correspondence between the restrictive AL beam and the BH beam. The second AL beam may also be referred to as a recommended AL beam, which is recommended to be used by an access link of the relay device, or it may be understood that there is a correspondence between the recommended AL beam and the BH beam.

Specifically, after determining the correspondence, the relay device may send the first indication information or the second indication information to the network device, so as to indicate the correspondence to the network device.

Optionally, in the case that the relay device includes at least two AL beam sets, there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam set of the relay device and at least one BH beam of the relay device;

and/or

In the case that the relay device includes one AL beam set, there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam in the AL beam set of the relay device and at least one BH beam of the relay device;

and/or

In the case that the relay device includes one AL beam set, there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam subset of the relay device and at least one BH beam of the relay device, where the AL beam subset is divided by the AL beam set.

In this embodiment, when the relay device includes at least two AL beam sets, the AL beam sets are corresponding to the BH beams, and when the relay device includes one AL beam set, the AL beam or the AL beam subset is corresponding to the BH beams, so that the accuracy of beam control can be ensured, and the complexity of beam control can be reduced.

Optionally, the correspondence is determined according to the first indication information or the second indication information;

the first indication information is used for indicating a first AL beam, and the first AL beam is a beam which prohibits AL of the relay equipment from using;

the second indication information is used for indicating a second AL beam, and the second AL beam is a beam for suggesting AL use of the relay device.

In this embodiment, the above correspondence may be indicated by a limited beam or by a recommended beam. The first AL beam may also be referred to as a restrictive AL beam, where the restrictive AL beam is prohibited from being used by an access link of the relay device, or may be understood that there is no correspondence between the restrictive AL beam and the BH beam. The second AL beam may also be referred to as a recommended AL beam, which is recommended to be used by an access link of the relay device, or it may be understood that there is a correspondence between the recommended AL beam and the BH beam.

Specifically, the relay device may receive the first indication information or the second indication information from the network device, and determine the correspondence relationship based on the first indication information or the second indication information.

Optionally, the AL beam unit and the BH beam unit having the corresponding relationship in the relay device need to be used in pairs;

and/or

The method comprises the steps that a first AL beam unit of the relay equipment cannot be used or cannot be used in pairs with BH beam units of the relay equipment, and a corresponding relation does not exist between the first AL beam unit and the BH beam units of the relay equipment;

and/or

The first BH beam unit of the relay device may not be used or may not be used in pairs with the AL beam unit of the relay device, and there is no correspondence between the first BH beam unit and the AL beam unit of the relay device.

The AL beam unit and the BH beam unit having the correspondence relationship in the relay device need to be used in pairs, which can be understood that when an access link of the relay device uses an AL beam unit having a correspondence relationship with a BH beam unit, a backhaul link of the relay device needs to use a BH beam unit corresponding to the AL beam unit. Illustratively, the AL beam unit #1 corresponds to the BH beam unit #1, and in the case where the AL beam unit #1 is used for the access link of the relay apparatus, the BH beam unit #1 is required to be used for the backhaul link of the relay apparatus.

The first AL beam element of the relay device may not be used, and it may be understood that the first AL beam element may not be used by the access link of the relay device, regardless of whether the BH beam element is used by the backhaul link of the relay device. For example, AL beam element #1 does not correspond to any BH beam element, and AL beam element #1 may not be used by the access link of the relay device. The first AL beam unit of the relay device may not be used in pairs with the BH beam unit of the relay device, and it may be understood that the access link of the relay device may not use the first AL beam unit when the backhaul link of the relay device uses the BH beam unit having no correspondence with the first AL beam unit, and the access link of the relay device may use the first AL beam unit when the backhaul link of the relay device does not use the BH beam unit having no correspondence with the first AL beam unit.

Accordingly, the first BH beam unit of the relay device may not be used, and it may be understood that the first BH beam unit may not be used by the backhaul link of the relay device, regardless of whether the AL beam unit is used by the access link of the relay device. The first BH beam unit of the relay device may not be used in pairs with the AL beam unit of the relay device, and it may be understood that the backhaul link of the relay device may not use the first BH beam unit when the access link of the relay device uses the AL beam unit having no correspondence with the first BH beam unit, and the backhaul link of the relay device may use the first BH beam unit when the access link of the relay device does not use the AL beam unit having no correspondence with the first BH beam unit.

According to the embodiment, the AL beam units and the BH beam units which have the corresponding relation in the relay equipment are limited to be used in pairs, the AL beam units which have no corresponding relation with the BH beam units of the relay equipment cannot be used or cannot be used in pairs with the BH beam units of the relay equipment, the BH beam units which have no corresponding relation with the AL beam units of the relay equipment cannot be used or cannot be used in pairs with the AL beam units of the relay equipment, and therefore the accuracy of beam control is ensured, and meanwhile, the complexity of beam control is reduced.

Optionally, in a case where there is a beam correspondence between a reception beam and a transmission beam of an AL of the relay device, the reception beam and the transmission beam belong to the same AL beam unit of the relay device.

For example, in the case where there is a beam correspondence between the receiving beam and the transmitting beam of the AL of the relay device, the receiving beam and the transmitting beam may be the same AL beam of the relay device, or belong to the same AL beam subset of the relay device, or belong to the same AL beam set of the relay device.

In some optional embodiments, in a case where there is no beam correspondence between a receive beam and a transmit beam of an AL of the RIS device, the receive beam and the transmit beam may be determined from at least one AL beam element of the relay device, respectively. In this embodiment, the above-described determination of the reception beam and the determination of the transmission beam are independent of each other. In the case where the reception beam and the transmission beam are determined from at least one AL beam unit of the relay device, the reception beam and the transmission beam may belong to the same AL beam unit or may belong to different AL beam units.

Optionally, at least one AL beam in a first AL beam set of the relay device has a Quasi Co-Location (QCL) relationship with at least one AL beam in a second AL beam set of the relay device, the first AL beam set and the second AL beam set being two different AL beam sets of the relay device.

A QLC relationship, for example, a Type D (Type D) QLC relationship, exists between AL beams of at least a partially different AL beam set of the relay device. The first AL beam set and the second AL beam set may be any two different AL beam sets of the relay device.

In this embodiment, by limiting the QCL relationship between the AL beams of different AL beam sets of the relay device, the relay device is convenient to switch to the different AL beam sets to perform beam control.

Optionally, the QCL relationship is determined by the relay device or indicated by a network side device.

The AL beam having the QCL relationship may be determined by the relay device, or may be indicated to the relay device by the network side device, for example.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and in the case that the QCL relationship is determined by the relay equipment, the relay equipment transmits the QCL relationship to network side equipment.

For example, in the case where the AL beam having the QCL relationship is determined by the relay device, the relay device may indicate the QCL relationship or the AL beam having the QCL relationship to the network side device.

Optionally, the first beam indication information includes at least one of:

the method comprises the steps that indication information of a second BH wave beam unit exists, and a corresponding relation exists between the second BH wave beam unit and an AL wave beam unit of relay equipment;

identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

For example, the indication information of the second BH beam unit may include identification information of the second beam unit. The first beam indication information includes indication information of the second BH beam unit, so that the corresponding AL beam unit can be obtained based on the second BH beam unit, that is, the corresponding AL beam unit is indicated.

Illustratively, the identification information of the AL beam set may include an encoding of the AL beam set; the identification information of the AL beam subset may include an encoding of the AL beam subset; the identification information of the AL beam may include coding of the AL beam.

For example, in the case that the AL beams in each AL beam set of the relay device are individually numbered, the first beam indication information may include an encoding of the AL beam set and an encoding of the AL beam; in the case that the AL beams in all AL beam sets of the relay device are uniformly numbered, the first beam indication information may include an AL beam code.

For example, in the case that the AL beams in each AL beam set of the relay device are individually numbered, the first beam indication information may include first sub-beam indication information and second sub-beam indication information, where the first sub-beam indication information may include a code of a third AL beam set or indication information of a second BH beam unit, and the second BH beam unit corresponds to the third AL beam set; the second sub-beam indication information includes an encoding of the AL beams such that an AL beam of the third set of AL beams may be determined based on the first sub-beam indication information and the second sub-beam indication information. The third AL beam set may be any AL beam set of the relay device.

Optionally, the start validation time of the first beam indication information is the start validation time indicated by the first beam indication information;

Or alternatively

The effective starting time of the first beam indication information is a first time unit, the first time unit is an nth time unit after the transmission time of the first beam indication information, the interval between the transmission time of the first beam indication information and the nth time unit is greater than or equal to X time units, and X and N are positive integers;

or alternatively

The start validation time of the first beam indication information is associated with a transmission time of feedback information of the first beam indication information transmitted by the relay device.

The start-up time of the first beam indication information may be understood as a start time or a start position of the effective time of the first beam indication information. The time units may include, but are not limited to, slots (slots), sub slots (subslots), symbols (symbols), milliseconds (ms), nanoseconds (ns), or microseconds (us), etc.

In an embodiment, the first beam indication information may indicate a start-up time of the first beam indication information, for example, a time unit (i.e., start-up time) at which the first beam indication information starts to be validated in a specific field of the first beam indication information, or an offset (offset) between the start-up time of the first beam indication information and a reception time of the first beam indication information may be indicated.

In another embodiment, the start-effective time of the first beam indication information may be an nth time unit after the transmission time of the first beam indication information, where a distance between the transmission time of the first beam indication information and the nth time unit is greater than or equal to X time units.

Optionally, the X time units may be determined according to a preset processing time, where the preset processing time may be determined according to at least one of the following: the processing time of the first beam indication information, the adjusting time of the beam of the RIS equipment and the processing time of the beam switching of the RIS equipment. Or, in case that at least one AL beam element indicated by the first beam indication information is used for an Uplink (UL), the X time elements are determined according to at least one of a timing advance for the Uplink, a transition time between the Uplink and a Downlink (DL), and a timing of the Uplink; or in case that at least one AL beam element indicated by the first beam indication information is used for downlink, the X time elements are determined according to timing (timing) of the downlink. It should be noted that DL slot n and UL slot n+1 may correspond to the same absolute point in time, since UL timing is advanced relative to DL timing.

In another embodiment, the start validation time of the first beam indication information is associated with a transmission time of feedback information of the first beam indication information transmitted by the relay device. For example, the first beam indication information starts to be effective at least in a time unit where the feedback information transmission time is located, or the first beam indication information starts to be effective at least in a next time unit where the feedback information transmission time is located, or the like. In the case where the first beam indication information is transmitted by higher layer signaling, the relay device may send feedback information to the network device for the first beam indication information.

Optionally, the end effective time of the first beam indication information is the end effective time indicated by the first beam indication information;

or alternatively

The ending effective time of the first beam indication information is a second time unit, the second time unit is an Mth time unit after the sending time of the first beam indication information, the interval between the sending time of the first beam indication information and the Mth time unit is smaller than or equal to Y time units, and M and Y are positive integers;

Or alternatively

The ending effective time of the first beam indication information is a third time unit, the third time unit is a T-th time unit after the sending time of the second beam indication information, and the second beam indication information is used for indicating at least one AL beam unit of the relay device.

The end time of the first beam indicating information may be understood as an end time or an end position of the effective time of the first beam indicating information. The time units may include, but are not limited to, slots (slots), sub slots (subslots), symbols (symbols), milliseconds (ms), nanoseconds (ns), or microseconds (us), etc.

In an embodiment, the end validation time of the first beam indication information may be indicated by the first beam indication information, for example, a time unit (i.e., start validation time) at which the first beam indication information ends validation may be indicated in a specific field of the first beam indication information, or an offset (offset) between the end validation time of the first beam indication information and the reception time of the first beam indication information may be indicated.

In another embodiment, the effective ending time of the first beam indication information may be an mth time unit after the transmission time of the first beam indication information, where a distance between the transmission time of the first beam indication information and the mth time unit is less than or equal to Y time units. The Y time units may be used to ensure stability of the AL beam of the relay device, that is, the AL beam of the relay device may remain unchanged during the Y time units. The value of Y may be configured or indicated by the network side device, or determined by the relay device, or predefined by the protocol.

In another embodiment, the end effective time of the first beam indication information is a T-th time unit after the sending time of the second beam indication information, where T is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and the value of T may be configured by the network side device, predefined by a protocol, or determined by the relay device. The second beam indicating information may be next beam indicating information to the first beam indicating information. For example, the beam indication information may be periodically transmitted, and the second beam indication information may be beam indication information transmitted in a period next to the transmission period of the first beam indication information.

Optionally, in the case that the AL of the relay device is switched to a third AL beam set, if a QCL relationship exists between a third AL beam and a fourth AL beam in the third AL beam set, the AL of the relay device adopts the third AL beam after the beam is switched, where the fourth AL beam is an AL beam adopted by the AL of the relay device before the beam is switched;

and/or

If the relay device does not receive the beam indication information aiming at the third AL beam set under the condition that the AL of the relay device is switched to the third AL beam set, the AL of the relay device adopts a preset AL beam after the beam switching;

And/or

When the AL of the relay device switches to a third AL beam set, if the relay device receives beam indication information for the third AL beam set, the AL of the relay device adopts an AL beam determined according to the beam indication information for the third AL beam set after beam switching.

The AL of the relay device switches to a new AL beam set (i.e., a third AL beam set), for example, when the BH beam of the backhaul link of the relay device switches, the access link of the relay device switches to an AL beam set (i.e., the AL beam set) corresponding to the BH beam after the switching. In this case, the beam adjustment of the access link of the relay device may be performed in the following manner:

mode one: if a QCL relationship exists between an AL beam before switching (i.e., a fourth AL beam) and a certain AL beam in the set of AL beams after switching (i.e., a third AL beam), an access link of the RIS device after switching adopts an AL beam having a QCL relationship with the AL beam before switching;

mode two: after the AL wave beam set of the access link of the relay equipment is switched, if effective wave beam indication information is not received for the AL wave beams in the switched AL wave beam set, the access link of the relay equipment can adopt preset AL wave beams;

Mode three: after the AL beam set of the access link of the relay device is switched, if effective beam indication information (i.e., beam indication for the switched AL beam set) is received for the AL beams in the switched AL beam set, the relay device may perform beam adjustment according to the beam indication information. For example, after the AL beam set of the access link of the relay device is switched, if first beam indication information is received, where the first beam indication information is a beam indication for the switched AL beam set and is in an active state, beam adjustment may be performed according to the first beam indication information.

Optionally, in the case that the relay device includes at least two AL beam sets, AL beams in each of the at least two AL beam sets are individually numbered, or AL beams in the at least two AL beam sets are uniformly numbered.

The AL beam may be numbered by a logical Identification (ID), a Reference Signal (RS) ID, or a configuration ID (e.g., a transmission configuration instruction (Transmission Configuration Indication, TCI)).

For example, in the case that the AL beams in each of the at least two AL beam sets are individually numbered, the at least two AL beam sets may be numbered first, and then each AL beam of each AL beam set may be further numbered separately; in the case of the uniform numbering of AL beams in the at least two AL beam sets, the numbering may be performed on AL beams in AL beam sets different in a preset order, for example, the beam numbers #1 to #k in the AL beam set #1, the beam numbers #k+1 to #l in the AL beam set #2, and so on, so as to help the network side distinguish different beam sets by means of indicating the number.

In some alternative embodiments, the AL beam sets may also be logically numbered for AL beam set indication or beam indication.

Optionally, the first number of AL beam sets of the relay device is determined by the relay device or configured by a network side device;

wherein the first number comprises at least one of: the number of beams of the AL beam set of the relay device, the maximum number of beams of the AL beam set of the relay device, and the minimum number of beams of the AL beam set of the relay device.

The maximum number of beams in the AL beam set described above may be understood as the number of beams that the AL beam set may include at most. The minimum number of beams in the AL beam set is understood to be the number of beams that the AL beam set needs to include at least. It should be noted that, the beam numbers of different AL beam sets of the relay device may be configured uniformly by the network side device or configured independently; or may be determined uniformly by the relay device or each independently.

In some optional embodiments, in a case that the first number of AL beam sets of the relay device is determined by the relay device, the relay device may report the first data to a network side device.

Note that, when the relay device is an RIS device, the BH beam and the AL beam of the RIS device together determine the setting mode of the RIS panel, and therefore, the BH beam and the AL beam cannot be adjusted independently. By means of the beam control method provided by the embodiment of the application, the AL beam of the RIS device can be flexibly controlled, the RIS beam can be adjusted according to the position of the UE, the deployment position of the RIS, the channel state from the RIS to the UE and the channel state from the BS to the RIS, and interference caused by RIS reflected/refracted signals can be flexibly controlled while signal enhancement is achieved through beam control.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a flowchart of a beam control method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the method may be performed by a network side device, as shown in fig. 6, and includes the following steps:

in step 601, a network side device sends first beam indication information to a relay device, where the first beam indication information is used to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, and the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set.

In this embodiment, the network side device sends the first beam indication information to the relay device, so that the relay device can perform beam adjustment based on the first beam indication information, and further, the flexibility of beam control of the access link of the relay device can be improved.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam unit of the relay device and at least one backhaul link BH beam unit of the relay device, where the BH beam unit includes at least one of a BH beam and a BH beam set.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the network side equipment receives the corresponding relation from the relay equipment;

or alternatively

And the network side equipment sends the corresponding relation to the relay equipment.

Optionally, the network side device receives the correspondence from the relay device, including:

the network side equipment receives first indication information or second indication information from the relay equipment;

the network side device sending the correspondence to the relay device, including:

the network side equipment sends first indication information or second indication information to the relay equipment;

and/or

And/or

and/or

Optionally, at least one AL beam in a first AL beam set of the relay device has a quasi co-sited QCL relationship with at least one AL beam in a second AL beam set of the relay device, and the first AL beam set and the second AL beam set are any two different AL beam sets of the relay device.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the network side equipment receives the QCL relation from the relay equipment;

Or alternatively

And the network side equipment sends the QCL relation to the relay equipment.

Optionally, the first beam indication information includes at least one of:

identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

or alternatively

Optionally, the X time units are determined according to a preset processing time.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the network side equipment sends a first quantity to the relay equipment;

or alternatively

The network side device receives a first number from the relay device;

It should be noted that, this embodiment is an embodiment of the network side device side corresponding to the embodiment of the relay device side, and a specific implementation manner may be referred to the related description of the embodiment of the relay device side, which is not repeated herein

It should be noted that, in the beam control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the execution body may be a beam control device, or a control module in the beam control device for executing the beam control method. In the embodiment of the present application, a beam control device is described by taking a beam control method performed by the beam control device as an example.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a block diagram of a beam control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, where the beam control apparatus is applied to a relay device. As shown in fig. 7, the beam steering apparatus 700 includes:

A first receiving module 701, configured to receive first beam indication information from a network side device, where the first beam indication information is configured to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set;

and the adjusting module 702 is configured to perform beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

and the first sending module is used for reporting the corresponding relation to the network side equipment under the condition that the corresponding relation is determined by the relay equipment.

Optionally, the first sending module is specifically configured to:

sending first indication information or second indication information to network side equipment;

and/or

And/or

and/or

Optionally, at least one AL beam in a first AL beam set of the relay device has a quasi co-sited QCL relationship with at least one AL beam in a second AL beam set of the relay device, the first AL beam set and the second AL beam set being two different AL beam sets of the relay device.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

And the second sending module is used for sending the QCL relation to the network side equipment under the condition that the QCL relation is determined by the relay equipment.

Optionally, the first beam indication information includes at least one of:

identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

or alternatively

And/or

and/or

Optionally, the first number is determined by the relay device or configured by a network side device;

The beam steering device in the embodiments of the present application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device with an operating system, or may be a component in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a relay device or may be another device other than the relay device. By way of example, the relay devices may include, but are not limited to, the types of relay devices 12 listed above, other devices may be servers, network attached storage (Network Attached Storage, NAS), etc., and embodiments of the present application are not specifically limited.

The beam control device provided in this embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the method embodiment of fig. 4, and achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a block diagram of a beam control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, a beam control apparatus 800 includes:

a first sending module 801, configured to send first beam indication information to a relay device, where the first beam indication information is used to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a first receiving module, configured to receive the correspondence from the relay device;

or alternatively

And the second sending module is used for sending the corresponding relation to the relay equipment.

Optionally, the first receiving module is specifically configured to:

receiving first indication information or second indication information from the relay device;

the second sending module is specifically configured to:

sending first indication information or second indication information to the relay equipment;

And/or

and/or

And/or

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a second receiving module, configured to receive the QCL relationship from the relay device;

or alternatively

And a third sending module, configured to send the QCL relationship to the relay device.

Optionally, the first beam indication information includes at least one of:

Identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

or alternatively

Or alternatively

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a fourth transmitting module, configured to transmit, to the relay device, a first number of AL beam sets of the relay device;

or alternatively

A third receiving module, configured to receive, from the relay device, a first number of AL beam sets of the relay device;

The beam steering device in the embodiments of the present application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device with an operating system, or may be a component in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a network-side device, or may be other devices other than a network-side device. By way of example, the network-side devices may include, but are not limited to, the types of network-side devices 13 listed above, and the other devices may be servers, network attached storage (Network Attached Storage, NAS), etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not specifically limited.

The beam control device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the method embodiment of fig. 6, and achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and details are not repeated here.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 9, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device 900, including a processor 901 and a memory 902, where the memory 902 stores a program or an instruction that can be executed on the processor 901, for example, when the communication device 900 is a relay device, the program or the instruction is executed by the processor 901 to implement each step of the foregoing embodiment of the method for controlling a beam on the relay device side, and the same technical effects can be achieved. When the communication device 900 is a network side device, the program or the instruction, when executed by the processor 901, implements the steps of the foregoing network side device side beam control method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

The embodiment of the application also provides a relay device, which comprises a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used for receiving first beam indication information from network side equipment, the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, and the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set; and the processor is used for carrying out beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information. The relay device embodiment corresponds to the relay device side method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation manner of the method embodiment can be applied to the relay device embodiment, and the same technical effects can be achieved. Specifically, fig. 10 is a schematic hardware structure of a relay device implementing an embodiment of the present application.

The relay device 1000 includes, but is not limited to: at least some of the components of the radio frequency unit 1001, the network module 1002, the audio output unit 1003, the input unit 1004, the sensor 1005, the display unit 1006, the user input unit 1007, the interface unit 1008, the memory 1009, and the processor 1010, etc.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the relay device 1000 may further include a power source (e.g., a battery) for powering the various components, and the power source may be logically coupled to the processor 1010 via a power management system to perform functions such as managing charging, discharging, and power consumption via the power management system. The relay device structure shown in fig. 10 does not constitute a limitation of the relay device, and the relay device may include more or less components than illustrated, or may combine some components, or may be arranged in different components, which will not be described in detail herein.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the input unit 1004 may include a graphics processing unit (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU) 10041 and a microphone 10042, and the graphics processor 10041 processes image data of still pictures or videos obtained by an image capturing device (such as a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The display unit 1006 may include a display panel 10061, and the display panel 10061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 1007 includes at least one of a touch panel 10071 and other input devices 10072. The touch panel 10071 is also referred to as a touch screen. The touch panel 10071 can include two portions, a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 10072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, a joystick, and so forth, which are not described in detail herein.

In this embodiment, after receiving downlink data from the network side device, the radio frequency unit 1001 may transmit the downlink data to the processor 1010 for processing; in addition, the radio frequency unit 1001 may send uplink data to the network side device. In general, the radio frequency unit 1001 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like.

The memory 1009 may be used to store software programs or instructions and various data. The memory 1009 may mainly include a first memory area storing programs or instructions and a second memory area storing data, wherein the first memory area may store an operating system, application programs or instructions (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.) required for at least one function, and the like. Further, the memory 1009 may include volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or the memory 1009 may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (ddr SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (Enhanced SDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct RAM (DRRAM). Memory 1009 in embodiments of the present application includes, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The processor 1010 may include one or more processing units; optionally, the processor 1010 integrates an application processor that primarily processes operations involving an operating system, user interface, application programs, and the like, and a modem processor that primarily processes wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 1010.

The radio frequency unit 1001 is configured to receive first beam indication information from a network side device, where the first beam indication information is configured to indicate at least one access link AL beam unit of the relay device, where the AL beam unit includes at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset, and an AL beam set;

and a processor 1010, configured to perform beam adjustment according to the first beam indication information.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the first beam indication information is received from the network side equipment through the relay equipment, wherein the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one AL beam unit of the relay equipment, the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set, and the beam adjustment is carried out according to the first beam indication information, so that the flexibility of the beam control of an access link of the relay equipment can be improved.

Optionally, the radio frequency unit 1001 is further configured to:

and reporting the corresponding relation to network side equipment under the condition that the corresponding relation is determined by the relay equipment.

Optionally, the radio frequency unit 1001 is further configured to:

sending first indication information or second indication information to the network side equipment;

And/or

and/or

And/or

Optionally, the radio frequency unit 1001 is further configured to:

and sending the QCL relation to network side equipment under the condition that the QCL relation is determined by the relay equipment.

Optionally, the first beam indication information includes at least one of:

Identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

or alternatively

Or alternatively

and/or

The embodiment of the application also provides network side equipment, which comprises a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used for sending first beam indication information to the relay equipment, the first beam indication information is used for indicating at least one AL beam unit of the relay equipment, and the AL beam unit comprises at least one of an AL beam, an AL beam subset and an AL beam set. The network side device embodiment corresponds to the network side device method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation manner of the method embodiment can be applied to the network side device embodiment, and the same technical effects can be achieved.

Specifically, the embodiment of the application also provides network side equipment. As shown in fig. 11, the network side device 1100 includes: an antenna 1101, a radio frequency device 1102, a baseband device 1103, a processor 1104 and a memory 1105. The antenna 1101 is connected to a radio frequency device 1102. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 1102 receives information via the antenna 1101, and transmits the received information to the baseband device 1103 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1103 processes information to be transmitted, and transmits the processed information to the radio frequency device 1102, and the radio frequency device 1102 processes the received information and transmits the processed information through the antenna 1101.

The method performed by the network-side device in the above embodiment may be implemented in the baseband apparatus 1103, where the baseband apparatus 1103 includes a baseband processor.

The baseband apparatus 1103 may, for example, include at least one baseband board, where a plurality of chips are disposed, as shown in fig. 11, where one chip, for example, a baseband processor, is connected to the memory 1105 through a bus interface, so as to call a program in the memory 1105 to perform the network device operation shown in the above method embodiment.

The network-side device may also include a network interface 1106, such as a common public radio interface (common public radio interface, CPRI).

Specifically, the network side device 1100 of the embodiment of the present invention further includes: instructions or programs stored in the memory 1105 and executable on the processor 1104, the processor 1104 invokes the instructions or programs in the memory 1105 to perform the method performed by the modules shown in fig. 8 and achieve the same technical effects, so repetition is avoided and will not be described here.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a readable storage medium, where a program or an instruction is stored on the readable storage medium, and the program or the instruction when executed by a processor implements each process of the above-mentioned beam control method embodiment, or implements each process of the above-mentioned beam control method embodiment, and the same technical effects can be achieved, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is provided herein.

Wherein the processor is a processor in the terminal described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes computer readable storage medium such as computer readable memory ROM, random access memory RAM, magnetic or optical disk, etc.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to run a program or an instruction, implement each process of the above-mentioned beam control method embodiment, or implement each process of the above-mentioned beam control method embodiment, and achieve the same technical effect, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

It should be understood that the chips referred to in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as system-on-chip chips, or the like.

The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program/program product, where the computer program/program product is stored in a storage medium, and the computer program/program product is executed by at least one processor to implement each process of the beam control method embodiment or implement each process of the beam control method embodiment, and achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

The embodiment of the application also provides a beam control system, which comprises: the relay device and the network side device, where the terminal is configured to execute each process of each method embodiment shown in fig. 4 and described above, and the network side device is configured to execute each process of each method embodiment shown in fig. 6 and described above, so that the same technical effects can be achieved, and for avoiding repetition, the description is omitted here.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatus in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing the functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing the functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in an opposite order depending on the functions involved, e.g., the described methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

From the above description of the embodiments, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the above-described embodiment method may be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, but of course may also be implemented by means of hardware, but in many cases the former is a preferred embodiment. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a computer software product stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk), comprising several instructions for causing a terminal (which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method described in the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which are merely illustrative and not restrictive, and many forms may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present application and the scope of the claims, which are also within the protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of beam steering comprising:

2. The method of claim 1 wherein there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam element of the relay device and at least one backhaul link BH beam element of the relay device, the BH beam element comprising at least one of a BH beam and a BH beam set.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the correspondence is determined by the relay device or configured by a network side device.

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the method further comprises:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reporting, by the relay device, the correspondence to the network side device includes:

6. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the case where the relay device comprises at least two AL beam sets, there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam set of the relay device and at least one BH beam of the relay device;

and/or

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the correspondence is determined according to first indication information or second indication information;

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the AL beam elements and BH beam elements in the relay device that have a correspondence are used in pairs;

and/or

9. The method of claim 2, wherein in the case where there is a beam correspondence between a receive beam and a transmit beam of an AL of the relay device, the receive beam and the transmit beam belong to the same AL beam element of the relay device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one AL beam in a first set of AL beams of the relay device has a quasi co-sited QCL relationship with at least one AL beam in a second set of AL beams of the relay device, the first set of AL beams and the second set of AL beams being two different sets of AL beams of the relay device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the QCL relationships are determined by the relay device or indicated by a network side device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first beam indication information comprises at least one of:

identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

Identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the start validation time of the first beam pointing information is a start validation time indicated by the first beam pointing information;

or alternatively

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the end validation time of the first beam pointing information is the end validation time indicated by the first beam pointing information;

or alternatively

Or alternatively

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the X time units are determined according to a preset processing time.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein in the case where an AL of the relay device switches to a third AL beam set, if a QCL relationship exists between a third AL beam and a fourth AL beam in the third AL beam set, the AL of the relay device adopts the third AL beam after the beam switching, wherein the fourth AL beam is an AL beam adopted by the AL of the relay device before the beam switching;

and/or

18. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the case where the relay device includes at least two AL beam sets, the AL beams in each of the at least two AL beam sets are individually numbered or the AL beams in the at least two AL beam sets are uniformly numbered.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first number of AL beam sets for the relay device is determined by the relay device or configured by a network side device;

20. A method of beam steering comprising:

21. The method of claim 20 wherein there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam element of the relay device and at least one backhaul link BH beam element of the relay device, the BH beam element comprising at least one of a BH beam and a BH beam set.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

or alternatively

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the network-side device receiving the correspondence from the relay device comprises:

24. The method of claim 21, wherein, if the relay device comprises at least two sets of AL beams, there is a correspondence between at least one set of AL beams of the relay device and at least one BH beam of the relay device;

And/or

and/or

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the correspondence is determined according to first indication information or second indication information;

26. The method of claim 21 wherein the AL beam elements and BH beam elements in the relay device that have a correspondence are used in pairs;

and/or

And/or

27. The method of claim 21, wherein in the case where there is a beam correspondence between a receive beam and a transmit beam of an AL of the relay device, the receive beam and the transmit beam belong to a same AL beam element of the relay device.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein at least one AL beam in a first set of AL beams of the relay device has a quasi co-sited QCL relationship with at least one AL beam in a second set of AL beams of the relay device, the first set of AL beams and the second set of AL beams being any two different sets of AL beams of the relay device.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the method further comprises:

the network side equipment receives the QCL relation from the relay equipment;

or alternatively

And the network side equipment sends the QCL relation to the relay equipment.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein the first beam indication information comprises at least one of:

identification information of at least one AL beam set of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam subset of the relay device;

identification information of at least one AL beam of the relay device.

31. The method of claim 20, wherein the start validation time of the first beam pointing information is the start validation time indicated by the first beam pointing information;

or alternatively

32. The method of claim 20, wherein the end validation time of the first beam pointing information is the end validation time indicated by the first beam pointing information;

or alternatively

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the X time units are determined according to a preset processing time.

34. The method of claim 20, wherein, in the case where the relay device includes at least two AL beam sets, the AL beams in each of the at least two AL beam sets are individually numbered or the AL beams in the at least two AL beam sets are uniformly numbered.

35. The method of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises:

the network side equipment sends a first quantity to the relay equipment;

or alternatively

The network side device receives a first number from the relay device;

36. A beam steering apparatus, for use in a relay device, comprising:

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam element of the relay device and at least one backhaul link BH beam element of the relay device, the BH beam element comprising at least one of a BH beam and a BH beam set.

38. A beam steering apparatus, comprising:

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein there is a correspondence between at least one AL beam element of the relay device and at least one backhaul link BH beam element of the relay device, the BH beam element comprising at least one of a BH beam and a BH beam set.

40. A relay device comprising a processor and a memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the beam steering method of any one of claims 1 to 19.

41. A network side device comprising a processor and a memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the beam steering method of any of claims 20 to 35.

42. A readable storage medium, characterized in that the readable storage medium has stored thereon a program or instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the beam steering method according to any of claims 1 to 19 or the steps of the beam steering method according to any of claims 20 to 35.