Beam tracking method, apparatus, and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10027027-B2
Application number	US-201615064354-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2016
Priority date	Sep 9, 2013
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and discloses a beam tracking method, apparatus, and system, so as to ensure rapid discovery and to switch from an optimal link to a backup link in time, or switch from a backup link to an optimal link, thereby effectively improving a throughput of a system link. The beam tracking method includes: transmitting, by a beam tracking initiator, a beam tracking request to a beam tracking responder; receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, an enhanced beam tracking training auxiliary sequence transmitted, according to the enhanced beam tracking request, by the beam tracking responder; and when it is determined according to a reception detection result of the enhanced beam tracking training auxiliary sequence that it is necessary to switch to a backup beam link, transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, first link switching information to the beam tracking responder.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A beam tracking method, comprising:
transmitting, by a beam tracking initiator, a beam tracking request to a beam tracking responder;
receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, a beam tracking training auxiliary sequence transmitted, according to the beam tracking request, by the beam tracking responder, wherein the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence comprises:
a beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit of a current beam link,
a beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit of a proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link, and
a beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit of a first backup beam link,
wherein the proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link is a selectable beam link proximate to the current beam link,
wherein the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit of the current beam link comprises: an automatic gain control (AGC) field and a training sequence (TRN) field of the current beam link;
wherein the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit of the proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link comprises: an AGC field and a TRN field of the proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link; and
wherein the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit of the first backup beam link comprises: a short training sequence (STF) field and a channel estimation (CE) field of the first backup beam link, wherein the STF field and the CE field are at end of the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence; and

when it is determined according to a reception detection result of the STF field and the CE field of the first backup beam link, the AGC field and the TRN field of the current beam link, and the AGC field and the TRN field of the proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link, to switch to the first backup beam link, transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, first link switching information to the beam tracking responder, wherein the first link switching information is used to instruct the beam tracking initiator and the beam tracking responder to switch to the first backup beam link.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting, by a beam tracking initiator, a beam tracking request to a beam tracking responder comprises:
if the current beam link via which the beam tracking initiator and the beam tracking responder perform communication is an optimal link after beamforming, and the beam tracking initiator detects that signal attenuation of the current beam link exceeds a preset threshold, transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, the beam tracking request to the beam tracking responder; or
if the current beam link via which the beam tracking initiator and the beam tracking responder perform communication is a second optimal link after beamforming, and the beam tracking initiator detects that an optimal link after beamforming is recovered, transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, the beam tracking request to the beam tracking responder.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence transmitted, according to the beam tracking request, by the beam tracking responder comprises:
receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit, of the current beam link, transmitted by using the current beam link by the beam tracking responder, receiving the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit, of the proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link, transmitted by using the proximate selectable beam link of the current beam link by the beam tracking responder, and receiving the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence unit, of the first backup beam link, transmitted by using the first backup beam link by the beam tracking responder.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein before transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, the beam tracking request to a beam tracking responder, the method further comprises:
transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, enhanced beam tracking information to the beam tracking responder, wherein the enhanced beam tracking information comprises: antenna configuration information of the first backup beam link and an indicator of requesting the beam tracking responder to transmit the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence; and
receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, response information transmitted by the beam tracking responder, wherein the response information is used to instruct the beam tracking responder whether to transmit the beam tracking training auxiliary sequence.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, enhanced beam tracking information to the beam tracking responder comprises:
transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, the enhanced beam tracking information to the beam tracking responder in a sector-level sweep (SLS) phase; or
transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, the enhanced beam tracking information to the beam tracking responder in a beam refinement protocol (BRP) phase.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein:
the enhanced beam tracking information is in an enhanced beam tracking information unit of a media access control (MAC) layer;
transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator, enhanced beam tracking information to the beam tracking responder comprises:
transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator to the beam tracking responder, a sector sweep (SSW) frame or a sector sweep feedback (SSW-feedback) frame comprising the enhanced beam tracking information unit, or
transmitting, by the beam tracking initiator to the beam tracking responder, a beam refinement protocol (BRP) frame comprising the enhanced beam tracking information unit; and
receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, response information transmitted by the beam tracking responder comprises:
receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, an SSW frame or an SSW-feedback frame, carrying an enhanced beam tracking information unit of the response information, transmitted by the beam tracking responder, or
receiving, by the beam tracking initiator, a BRP frame, carrying an enhanced beam tracking information unit of the response information, transmitted by the beam tracking responder.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the enhanced beam tracking information unit comprises:
an information element identity (Element ID) used to represent an ID of a current information unit;
a length, used to represent a length of the current information unit;
a backup beam link antenna weight vector setting (Backup AWV Setting) used to represent whether to update an antenna vector setting of a peer backup beam link;
a peer transmit-sector identity (Peer Tx_Sector ID) used to represent whether a peer transmit-sector identity needs to be backed up;
a peer transmit-antenna identity (Peer Tx_Antenna ID) used to represent whether a peer transmit-antenna identity needs to be backed up;
an enhanced beam tracking in receiver request (E-BT-R Request) used to represent whether to request a peer to receive a training auxiliary sequence according to an enhanced beam tracking mode;
an enhanced beam tracking in receiver OK (E-BR-R OK) used to represent whether itself receives a training auxiliary sequence of an enhanced beam tracking mode;
an enhanced beam tracking in transmitter request (E-BT-T Request) used to represent whether to request a peer to transmit a training auxiliary sequence according to an enhanced beam tracking mode; and
an enhanced beam tracking in transmitter OK (E-BR-T OK) used to represent whether itself transmits a training auxiliary sequence of an enhanced beam tracking mode.

8. The method acc

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Gao Bo
• Jin Depeng
• Li Dejian
• Chen Jiamin
• Liu Pei

Classifications

• H04B7/088

  using beam selection · CPC title

• H04L27/2607

  Cyclic extensions · CPC title

• H04B7/086

  using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming · CPC title

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H01Q3/24 Primary

  varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching · CPC title