CN109936397A - Beam alignment method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to beam alignment and devices.The beam alignment includes: to obtain at least two broad beams being differently directed；Wherein, the signal area of the direction set covering local device of each broad beam；The direction of each broad beam of traverse scanning determines the target broad beam of local device alignment opposite equip.；Determine corresponding with target broad beam at least two narrow beams being differently directed；The direction of each narrow beam of traverse scanning determines the launching beam of local device alignment opposite equip..The disclosure can reduce beam scanning number and wave beam alignment is time-consuming, promote beam forming convergence rate, it solves the problems, such as to cause the time-consuming excessive and beam forming speed of scanning excessively slow due to traverse scanning whole narrow beam in the related technology, guarantees communication quality, improve user experience.

Description

Beam alignment method and device

technical field

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication equipment, and in particular, to a beam alignment method and apparatus.

Background technique

Wireless mobile signals will attenuate during space propagation. This attenuation phenomenon called path loss will have a serious impact on wireless communication systems, especially for fifth-generation mobile communication (5G) systems based on millimeter wave technology. , the signal energy attenuation as high as tens of dB may lead to the paralysis of the communication system. In view of the above problems, beamforming can effectively reduce and eliminate path loss based on technical advantages. The traditional base station has a limited number of antennas, and the communication quality is seriously restricted by the number of antennas; while the 5G system supports Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive MIMO, Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology, and the beamforming (Beamforming) technology is used to adjust the The phase makes the signal superimpose effectively, produces a focusing effect on the wireless signal energy, forms a directional beam, generates obvious signal gain to overcome the path loss, and fundamentally guarantees the quality of 5G wireless signal transmission; the narrower the beam, the better the signal gain. bigger. However, once the beam pointing of the base station deviates from the user terminal, the user terminal cannot receive high-quality wireless signals. Therefore, how to quickly align the beam to the user has become an urgent problem for the 5G system.

In the related art, a base station using beamforming technology must use multiple beams with different directions to completely cover a cell. transmit beam.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the problems in the related art, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a beam alignment method and apparatus. The technical solution is as follows:

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam alignment method, including:

Acquiring at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device;

traversing and scanning the directions of each of the wide beams, and determining that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device;

determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam;

The directions of each of the narrow beams are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device.

In one embodiment, the determining at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam includes:

Determining, among the available narrow beams of the local device, the narrow beams that are pointing in the direction of the target wide beam as at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; or,

According to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam are determined.

In one embodiment, the method further includes:

acquiring at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is on the orientation of the transmit beam;

The directions of each candidate narrow beam are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the target narrow beam of the opposite device.

In one embodiment, the traversing and scanning of the directions of the wide beams to determine the target wide beam that the local device is aligned with the opposite device includes:

using each of the wide beams in turn to transmit wireless signals;

receiving a wide-beam measurement report sent by the opposite-end device; wherein the wide-beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the wide-beams by the opposite end device;

According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each of the wide beams, it is determined that the local device is aimed at the target wide beam of the opposite end device in each of the wide beams.

In one embodiment, the traversing scanning of the directions of the narrow beams to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device includes:

using each of the narrow beams in turn to transmit wireless signals;

receiving a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the narrow beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the narrow beams by the opposite end device;

According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the narrow beams by the opposite end device, it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite end device in each of the narrow beams.

According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam alignment apparatus, including:

a first acquisition module, configured to acquire at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each of the wide beams covers the signal area of the local device;

a wide beam alignment module, used for traversing and scanning the directions of the wide beams, and determining the target wide beam that the local device aligns with the opposite end device;

a first determining module, configured to determine at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam;

The narrow beam alignment module is configured to traverse and scan the directions of the narrow beams to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device.

In one embodiment, the first determining module: determines the narrow beams that are pointed upward by the target wide beam among the available narrow beams of the local device as at least two different ones corresponding to the target wide beam The pointed narrow beam; or, according to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, determine at least two differently pointed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

a second acquiring module, configured to acquire at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein, the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is in the orientation of the transmit beam;

The second determining module is configured to traverse and scan the directions of the candidate narrow beams, and determine that the local device is aligned with the target narrow beam of the opposite device.

In one embodiment, the wide beam alignment module includes:

a first transmitting sub-module for transmitting wireless signals using each of the wide beams in sequence;

a first receiving sub-module, configured to receive a wide-beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the wide-beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the wide beams by the opposite end device;

a first determination submodule, configured to determine, according to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each of the wide beams, the target of the local device aiming at the opposite end device in each of the wide beams wide beam.

In one embodiment, the narrow beam alignment module includes:

a second transmitting sub-module, configured to transmit wireless signals using each of the narrow beams in sequence;

a second receiving sub-module, configured to receive a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the narrow beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the narrow beams by the opposite end device;

The second determination sub-module is configured to determine, according to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each of the narrow beams, the transmission of the local device aimed at the opposite end device in each of the narrow beams beam.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam alignment apparatus, including:

processor;

memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor is configured to:

Acquiring at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device;

Traversely scan the directions of each of the wide beams, and determine that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device;

determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam;

The directions of each of the narrow beams are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium on which computer instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed by a processor, implement the steps of any one of the method embodiments described in the first aspect above.

The technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may include the following beneficial effects: the technical solution determines the target wide beam aimed at the opposite end device by scanning a small number of wide beams, and on this basis, only needs to scan the target wide beam corresponding to the target wide beam. Narrow beams are used to determine the transmit beam aligned with the peer device, which can reduce the number of beam scans and the time-consuming beam alignment, improve the beamforming convergence speed, and solve the problem of excessive scanning time due to traversing and scanning all narrow beams in the related art. And the problem of too slow beamforming speed to ensure communication quality and improve user experience.

It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure.

Description of drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of generating a directional beam using beamforming in the related art.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the principle of beam alignment in the related art.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a beam alignment method according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a beam alignment method according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5a is a schematic diagram illustrating staged beam alignment according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5b is a schematic diagram illustrating staged beam alignment according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

Detailed ways

Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Where the following description refers to the drawings, the same numerals in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the illustrative examples below are not intended to represent all implementations consistent with this disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure as recited in the appended claims.

In the related art, a base station using beamforming technology must use multiple beams with different directions to completely cover a cell. best transmit beam. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a base station using beamforming to generate directional beams in the related art; referring to Figure 1, the base station 101 uses beamforming technology to adjust the phase of each antenna to effectively superimpose the signals, focus the energy of the wireless signal, and form a directional beam. the beam is directed towards the user terminal 102. Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of beam alignment in the related art; referring to Figure 2, a 5G base station using beamforming must use multiple beams with different directions to completely cover a cell, and the base station 201 uses 8 beams, namely beam t1 to beam t8, covering the cell served by the base station 201, in the downlink process, the base station 201 performs beam sweeping, and sequentially uses beams with different directions to transmit wireless signals; for example, step 21 shown in FIG. 2: the base station 201 uses the beams in sequence The wireless signal is transmitted from t1 to beam t8. At the same time, the user terminal performs beam measurement (Beam measurement), measures the wireless signals emitted by different transmit beams of the base station, sends a beam report (Beam reporting) to the base station, and reports the relevant beam measurement results; For example, step 22 shown in FIG. 2 and step 23, wherein step 22 is for the user terminal 202 to send a beam report to the base station 201, and step 23 is for the user terminal 203 to send a beam report to the base station 201; the base station determines the best transmission aimed at the user terminal according to the beam report reported by the user terminal Beam determination; on the other hand, considering that the user terminal is also configured with an antenna array, for example, the user terminal 202 and the user terminal 203 in FIG. In the process, both the transmit beam and the receive beam should be taken into account; the 5G wireless communication network allows the user terminal to change the corresponding receive beam for the transmit beam, and the mapping relationship between the transmit beam and the receive beam of the user terminal can be changed, and the optimal receive beam can be judged and selected based on In the above, a pair of optimal mapping relationships between transmit beams and receive beams are generated. Referring to FIG. 2 , the optimal beam mapping relationship corresponding to the user terminal 202 is (t4, r3), and the optimal beam mapping relationship corresponding to the user terminal 203 is (t6, r2).

However, in order to ensure sufficient signal gain, considering that the narrower the beam, the greater the signal gain, the beam generated by the large-scale antenna array usually needs to become very narrow, which requires the base station to use a large number of narrow beams to ensure that any Users in all directions can be effectively covered; in this case, traversing and scanning all narrow beams to find the best transmission beam solution has the problems of too much scanning time and too slow beamforming speed, which seriously affects the communication quality and causes users to Experience declines.

In order to solve the above problem, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a beam alignment apparatus, which includes: acquiring at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device; traversing and scanning each wide beam Beam pointing, determine the target wide beam that the local device is aligned with the peer device; determine at least two narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the target wide beam; traverse and scan the directions of each narrow beam to determine that the local device is aligned with the peer The transmit beam of the device. The above technical solution scans a small number of wide beams to determine the target wide beam aimed at the opposite end device. On this basis, only the narrow beam corresponding to the target wide beam needs to be scanned to determine the transmit beam aimed at the opposite end device. It can reduce the number of beam scans and the time-consuming beam alignment, improve the beamforming convergence speed, solve the problems of excessive scanning time and slow beamforming speed caused by traversing and scanning all narrow beams in the related art, ensure communication quality, and improve user experience.

Based on the above analysis, the following specific embodiments are proposed.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a beam alignment method according to an exemplary embodiment; the method can be applied to communication equipment such as base stations or terminals; as shown in Fig. 3 , the method includes the following steps 301-304:

In step 301, at least two wide beams with different pointing directions are acquired; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device.

For example, the execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, such as a base station or a terminal; the terminal is, for example, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, or a wearable device (such as a bracelet, smart glasses, etc. )Wait. The peer device may be, for example, a communication device such as a base station or a terminal; for example, the local device is a base station, and the peer device is a terminal; or, the local device is a terminal, and the peer device is a base station; or, the local device and the peer device are different terminals; or, the local end device and the opposite end device are different base stations.

For example, the signal area of the base station may be a serving cell of the base station, and the signal area of the terminal may be an area where the terminal can normally send and receive signals. The local device can cover the signal area of the local device by using a few wide beams with wider beam widths; for example, the base station can use a small number of wide beams to cover the serving cell of the base station. Exemplarily, the pointing areas of the broad beams do not overlap.

In step 302, the directions of each wide beam are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device.

For example, the local device performs beam scanning and transmits wireless signals using wide beams with different directions in turn; the opposite device performs beam measurement, measures the wireless signals emitted by different transmit beams of the local device, and sends the beam to the local device. The beam report includes the measurement results of the wireless signals transmitted by the peer device on each wide beam; the local device receives the wide beam measurement report sent by the peer device; According to the measurement result, the target wide beam aimed at the opposite end device by the local device is determined from each wide beam.

In step 303, at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam are determined.

Exemplarily, each wide beam corresponds to at least two or more narrow beams. The implementation manner of determining at least two different-pointing narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam may include at least: Method 1) Determining the narrow beam in the available narrow beams of the local device that is pointing on the target wide beam as the target wide beam Corresponding at least two narrow beams with different directions; method 2) According to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, determine at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam.

In step 304, the directions of each narrow beam are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device.

For example, the local device performs beam scanning, and transmits wireless signals using narrow beams of different directions in turn; the peer device performs beam measurement, measures the wireless signals emitted by different narrow beams of the local device, and sends the beam to the local device. The beam report includes the measurement results of the wireless signals transmitted by the peer device on each narrow beam; the local device receives the narrow beam measurement report sent by the peer device; According to the measurement result, it is determined from the narrow beams that the local device is aimed at the transmit beam of the opposite device.

The technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure is to scan a small number of wide beams to determine the target wide beam aimed at the peer device, and on this basis, only need to scan the narrow beam corresponding to the target wide beam to determine the target wide beam to be aimed at the peer device The transmission beam of the device can reduce the number of beam scans and the time-consuming beam alignment, and also improve the beamforming convergence speed, solving the problem of excessive scanning time and slow beamforming speed caused by traversing and scanning all narrow beams in the related art. problems, ensure the quality of communication, so that the user experience can be improved.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a beam alignment method according to an exemplary embodiment; as shown in FIG. 4 , on the basis of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , the beam alignment method involved in the present disclosure includes the following steps 401 -406:

In step 401, at least two wide beams with different pointing directions are acquired; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device.

In step 402, the directions of each wide beam are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device.

In step 403, at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam are determined.

In step 404, the directions of each narrow beam are traversed and scanned to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device.

It should be noted that, for the description of step 401 to step 404, reference may be made to the description of step 301 to step 304 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , and details are not repeated here.

In step 405, at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam are acquired; wherein, the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is in the orientation of the transmit beam.

In step 406, the directions of each candidate narrow beam are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the target narrow beam of the opposite device.

In the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, on the basis of determining the transmit beam aligned with the peer device after two stages of beam scanning, in order to improve the beam alignment accuracy, the scan and alignment of the transmit beam on the peer device is further refined. , so as to obtain a narrow target beam with a narrower beam width than the above-mentioned transmission beam, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the beam alignment accuracy.

Figures 5a and 5b are schematic diagrams of staged beam alignment according to an exemplary embodiment; Figures 5a and 5b show a smart antenna access control method for hierarchical scanning half-find search beamforming, the steps include:

1) Coarse scanning process in the first stage: the base station uses a small number of wide beams to cover the entire cell, and scans the alignment directions of the wide beams in turn. Referring to Figure 5a, the base station 501 uses wide beams tA and tB respectively in the first stage to perform scanning. In the first stage of beam scanning, only wide beams are aimed for users. For example, wide beam tA is aimed at user 502, and wide beam tB is aimed at user 503; the alignment direction accuracy is not high, and the quality of the established communication connection is also poor.

2) The fine scanning process in the second stage: the base station uses multiple narrow beams to scan the directions covered by the wide beams in the first stage one by one; for a single user, although the scanning beam at this time is narrow, the required The scope of the scan has been reduced, and the number of scans has been reduced accordingly. Referring to Fig. 5b, on the basis of the wide beam alignment in the first stage, the base station 501 only needs to continue to scan several narrow beams related to each user in detail. Scan the beam t5-t8, the beam scanning result is: the narrow beam t4 is aimed at the user 502, and the narrow beam t6 is aimed at the user 503; this allows the base station to improve the accuracy of the beam direction aimed at each user, and the established wireless communication connection The quality is improved; therefore, in the two-stage hierarchical beam alignment process shown in Figure 5, the base station only needs to scan 6 times for each user, while using correlation requires scanning all 8 narrow beams in sequence.

On the basis of step 2), if it is still necessary to continue optimizing the beamforming, the process of step 2) is performed again, and the narrow beam t4 aimed at the user 502 and the narrow beam t6 aimed at the user 503 are further refined and optimized respectively, for a more optimized narrow beam.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure optimize the beamforming antenna alignment access time, speed up the beamforming speed of the mobile device, accelerate the signal convergence speed, improve the signal quality of the wireless communication network, and optimize the access experience of the mobile device.

The following are the apparatus embodiments of the present disclosure, which can be used to execute the method embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment; the apparatus can be implemented in various ways, for example, all components of the apparatus are implemented in the local device, or, on the local device side, the The components in the device are implemented in a coupled manner; the device can implement the method involved in the present disclosure through software, hardware or a combination of the two. As shown in FIG. 6 , the beam alignment device includes: a first acquisition module 601, a wide beam Alignment module 602, first determination module 603 and narrow beam alignment module 604, wherein:

The first acquisition module 601 is configured to acquire at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device;

The wide beam alignment module 602 is configured to traverse and scan the directions of each wide beam, and determine the target wide beam that the local device aligns with the opposite end device;

The first determining module 603 is configured to determine at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam;

The narrow beam alignment module 604 is configured to traverse and scan the directions of each narrow beam to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device.

The apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can be used to implement the technical solution of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , and the implementation manner and beneficial effects thereof are similar, which will not be repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the first determining module 603: determine the narrow beams that are pointing upwards of the target wide beam among the available narrow beams of the local device as at least two different pointing narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam ; or, according to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, determine at least two narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the target wide beam.

In a possible implementation manner, as shown in FIG. 7 , the beam alignment apparatus shown in FIG. 6 may further include: a second obtaining module 701 and a second determining module 702, wherein:

The second acquiring module 701 is configured to acquire at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein, the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is on the orientation of the transmit beam;

The second determining module 702 is configured to traversely scan the directions of each candidate narrow beam, and determine that the local device is aligned with the target narrow beam of the opposite device.

In a possible implementation manner, as shown in FIG. 8 , the beam alignment apparatus shown in FIG. 6 may further include configuring the wide beam alignment module 602 to include: a first transmitting sub-module 801 , a first receiving sub-module 802 and the first determination sub-module 803, wherein:

The first transmitting sub-module 801 is configured to transmit wireless signals using each wide beam in sequence;

The first receiving sub-module 802 is configured to receive a wide beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the wide beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each wide beam of the opposite end device;

The first determination sub-module 803 is configured to determine, according to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each wide beam, the local device is aimed at the target wide beam of the opposite end device in each wide beam.

In a possible implementation manner, as shown in FIG. 9 , the beam alignment apparatus shown in FIG. 6 may further include configuring the narrow beam alignment module 604 to include: a second transmitting sub-module 901 , a second receiving sub-module 902 and the second determination sub-module 903, wherein:

The second transmitting sub-module 901 is configured to transmit wireless signals using each narrow beam in sequence;

The second receiving sub-module 902 is configured to receive a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein, the narrow beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each narrow beam by the opposite end device;

The second determining sub-module 903 is configured to determine, according to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each narrow beam, the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite end device in each narrow beam.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. The beam alignment apparatus can be implemented in various ways, for example, all components of the apparatus are implemented in the local device, or, in the local device The components in the device are implemented in a coupled manner; referring to FIG. 10, a beam alignment device 1000 includes:

processor 1001;

memory 1002 for storing processor-executable instructions;

Wherein, the processor 1001 is configured as:

Obtain at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device;

Traverse and scan the directions of each wide beam to determine the target wide beam that the local device is aiming at the opposite device;

determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam;

Traversely scan the directions of each narrow beam to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the peer device.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned processor 1001 can also be configured to:

Determining the narrow beams in the available narrow beams of the local device that are pointing upwards to the target wide beam as at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; or,

According to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam are determined.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned processor 1001 can also be configured to:

Acquiring at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein, the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is on the orientation of the transmit beam;

Traversely scan the directions of each candidate narrow beam to determine the target narrow beam that the local device is aiming at the opposite device.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned processor 1001 can also be configured to:

Use each wide beam in turn to transmit wireless signals;

Receive a wide-beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein, the wide-beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each wide beam of the opposite end device;

According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the remote device on each wide beam, it is determined that in each wide beam, the local device is aimed at the target wide beam of the opposite device.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned processor 1001 can also be configured to:

use each narrow beam in turn to transmit wireless signals;

Receive a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein, the narrow beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each narrow beam of the opposite end device;

According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each narrow beam by the opposite end device, it is determined that in each narrow beam, the local end device is aimed at the transmit beam of the opposite end device.

Regarding the apparatus in the above-mentioned embodiment, the specific manner in which each module performs operations has been described in detail in the embodiment of the method, and will not be described in detail here.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. For example, apparatus 1100 may be a terminal such as a mobile phone, computer, digital broadcast terminal, messaging device, game console, tablet device, medical device or fitness device, and the like.

11, apparatus 1100 may include one or more of the following components: processing component 1102, memory 1104, power supply component 1106, multimedia component 1108, audio component 1110, input/output (I/O) interface 1112, sensor component 1114, and Communication component 1116.

The processing component 1102 generally controls the overall operation of the device 1100, such as operations associated with display, phone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. The processing component 1102 can include one or more processors 1120 to execute instructions to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described above. Additionally, processing component 1102 may include one or more modules that facilitate interaction between processing component 1102 and other components. For example, processing component 1102 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between multimedia component 11011 and processing component 1102.

Memory 1104 is configured to store various types of data to support operations at device 1100 . Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on the device 1100, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, and the like. Memory 1104 may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Magnetic Memory, Flash Memory, Magnetic or Optical Disk.

Power component 1106 provides power to various components of device 1100 . Power components 1106 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power to device 1100 .

The multimedia component 1108 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 1100 and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive input signals from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, swipe, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor can sense not only the boundaries of the touch or swipe action, but also the duration and pressure associated with the touch or swipe action. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 1108 includes a front-facing camera and/or a rear-facing camera. When the device 1100 is in an operation mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode, the front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data. Each of the front and rear cameras can be a fixed optical lens system or have focal length and optical zoom capability.

Audio component 1110 is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, audio component 1110 includes a microphone (MIC) that is configured to receive external audio signals when device 1100 is in operating modes, such as call mode, recording mode, and voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may be further stored in memory 1104 or transmitted via communication component 1116 . In some embodiments, audio component 1110 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

The I/O interface 1112 provides an interface between the processing component 1102 and a peripheral interface module, which may be a keyboard, a click wheel, a button, or the like. These buttons may include, but are not limited to: home button, volume buttons, start button, and lock button.

Sensor assembly 1114 includes one or more sensors for providing status assessment of various aspects of device 1100 . For example, the sensor assembly 1114 can detect the open/closed state of the device 1100, the relative positioning of components, such as the display and keypad of the device 1100, the sensor assembly 1114 can also detect a change in the position of the device 1100 or a component of the device 1100, Presence or absence of user contact with device 1100, device 1100 orientation or acceleration/deceleration and temperature changes of device 1100. Sensor assembly 1114 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of nearby objects in the absence of any physical contact. Sensor assembly 1114 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor assembly 1114 may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

Communication component 1116 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between apparatus 1100 and other devices. Device 1100 may access wireless networks based on communication standards, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, or a combination thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component 1116 receives broadcast signals or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 1116 also includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology and other technologies.

In an exemplary embodiment, apparatus 1100 may be implemented by one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable A gate array (FPGA), controller, microcontroller, microprocessor or other electronic component implementation is used to perform the above method.

In an exemplary embodiment, there is also provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions, such as a memory 1104 including instructions, which are executable by the processor 1120 of the apparatus 1100 to perform the method described above. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be ROM, random access memory (RAM), CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage device, and the like.

Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a beam alignment apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. For example, the apparatus 1200 may be provided as a server. Apparatus 1200 includes a processing component 1202, which further includes one or more processors, and a memory resource, represented by memory 1203, for storing instructions executable by the processing component 1202, such as an application program. An application program stored in memory 1203 may include one or more modules, each corresponding to a set of instructions. Furthermore, the processing component 1202 is configured to execute instructions to perform the above-described methods.

The apparatus 1200 may also include a power supply assembly 1206 configured to perform power management of the beam alignment apparatus 1200, a wired or wireless network interface 1205 configured to connect the beam alignment apparatus 1200 to a network, and an input and output (I/O ) interface 1208. Device 1200 may operate based on an operating system stored in memory 1203, such as Windows Server™, Mac OS X™, Unix™, Linux™, FreeBSD™ or the like.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, when the instructions in the storage medium are executed by the processor of the apparatus 1100 or the apparatus 1200, the apparatus 1100 or the apparatus 1200 can perform the following beam alignment method, the method comprising:

Obtain at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device;

Traverse and scan the directions of each wide beam to determine the target wide beam that the local device is aiming at the opposite device;

determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam;

Traversely scan the directions of each narrow beam to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the peer device.

In one embodiment, determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam includes:

Determining the narrow beams in the available narrow beams of the local device that are pointing upwards to the target wide beam as at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; or,

According to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam are determined.

In one embodiment, the method further includes:

Acquiring at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein, the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is on the orientation of the transmit beam;

Traversely scan the directions of each candidate narrow beam to determine the target narrow beam that the local device is aiming at the opposite device.

In one embodiment, traversing and scanning the directions of each wide beam to determine that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device, including:

Use each wide beam in turn to transmit wireless signals;

Receive a wide-beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein, the wide-beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each wide beam of the opposite end device;

According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the remote device on each wide beam, it is determined that in each wide beam, the local device is aimed at the target wide beam of the opposite device.

In one embodiment, traversing and scanning the directions of each narrow beam to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device, including:

use each narrow beam in turn to transmit wireless signals;

Receive a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein, the narrow beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each narrow beam of the opposite end device;

According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each narrow beam by the opposite end device, it is determined that in each narrow beam, the local end device is aimed at the transmit beam of the opposite end device.

Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or techniques in the technical field not disclosed by the present disclosure . The specification and examples are to be regarded as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structures described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims (12)

1. a beam alignment method, is characterized in that, comprises: Acquiring at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device; traversing and scanning the directions of each of the wide beams, and determining that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device; determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; The directions of each of the narrow beams are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam comprises: Determining, among the available narrow beams of the local device, the narrow beams that are pointing in the direction of the target wide beam as at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; or, According to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam are determined. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: acquiring at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is on the orientation of the transmit beam; The directions of each candidate narrow beam are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the target narrow beam of the opposite device. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the traversing and scanning the directions of the wide beams to determine that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device, comprising: using each of the wide beams in turn to transmit wireless signals; receiving a wide-beam measurement report sent by the opposite-end device; wherein the wide-beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the wide-beams by the opposite end device; According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each of the wide beams, it is determined that the local device is aimed at the target wide beam of the opposite end device in each of the wide beams. 5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the traversing scanning of the directions of the narrow beams to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device comprises: 5 . using each of the narrow beams in turn to transmit wireless signals; receiving a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the narrow beam measurement report includes the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the narrow beams by the opposite end device; According to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the narrow beams by the opposite end device, it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite end device in each of the narrow beams. 6. A beam alignment device, comprising: a first acquisition module, configured to acquire at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each of the wide beams covers the signal area of the local device; a wide beam alignment module, used for traversing and scanning the directions of the wide beams, and determining the target wide beam that the local device aligns with the opposite end device; a first determining module, configured to determine at least two narrow beams with different directions corresponding to the target wide beam; The narrow beam alignment module is configured to traverse and scan the directions of the narrow beams to determine that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device. 7 . The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the first determining module: determines a narrow beam in the available narrow beams of the local device that is pointed upward by the target wide beam as the same as the target wide beam. 8 . at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; or, according to the pre-acquired correspondence between the wide beam and the narrow beam, determine at least two differently oriented narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam. 8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus further comprises: a second acquiring module, configured to acquire at least two candidate narrow beams with different orientations corresponding to the transmit beam; wherein, the orientation of each candidate narrow beam is in the orientation of the transmit beam; The second determining module is configured to traverse and scan the directions of the candidate narrow beams, and determine that the local device is aligned with the target narrow beam of the opposite device. 9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the wide beam alignment module comprises: a first transmitting sub-module for transmitting wireless signals using each of the wide beams in sequence; a first receiving sub-module, configured to receive a wide-beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the wide-beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the wide beams by the opposite end device; a first determination submodule, configured to determine, according to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each of the wide beams, the target of the local device aiming at the opposite end device in each of the wide beams wide beam. 10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the narrow beam alignment module comprises: a second transmitting sub-module, configured to transmit wireless signals using each of the narrow beams in sequence; a second receiving sub-module, configured to receive a narrow beam measurement report sent by the opposite end device; wherein the narrow beam measurement report includes a measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by each of the narrow beams by the opposite end device; The second determination sub-module is configured to determine, according to the measurement result of the wireless signal transmitted by the opposite end device on each of the narrow beams, the transmission of the local device aimed at the opposite end device in each of the narrow beams beam. 11. A beam alignment device, comprising: processor; memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to: Acquiring at least two wide beams with different pointing directions; wherein, the pointing set of each wide beam covers the signal area of the local device; traversing and scanning the directions of each of the wide beams, and determining that the local device is aligned with the target wide beam of the opposite device; determining at least two differently directed narrow beams corresponding to the target wide beam; The directions of each of the narrow beams are traversed and scanned, and it is determined that the local device is aligned with the transmit beam of the opposite device. 12. A computer-readable storage medium on which computer instructions are stored, characterized in that, when the instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the method of any one of claims 1-5 are implemented.