Beam sweep configuration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11044720-B2
Application number	US-202017007850-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2020
Priority date	Jan 9, 2017
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

A beam sweep configuration of at least one beam sweep is exchanged between nodes of a network. The beam sweep configuration may be indicative of a time-duplex configuration of a plurality of beams of the at least one beam sweep. A beam configuration may be determined based on a receive property of pilot signals transmitted and/or received in the beam sweep.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of a node of a network determining a beam configuration of a beam used for transmission of data on a wireless link of the network, the method comprising:
exchanging, with a further node of the network, a beam sweep configuration, wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of a time-duplex configuration of a plurality of beams of each beam sweep of at least one beam sweep,
transmitting and/or receiving pilot signals in the plurality of beams of the at least one beam sweep which is configured in accordance with the beam sweep configuration,
determining the beam configuration based on a receive property of the pilot signals, and
implementing the time-duplex configuration by re-assigning processing of antenna signals associated with a plurality of antenna ports of an interface of the node between an analog domain of the interface and a digital domain of the interface when transmitting and/or receiving the pilot signals.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the time-duplex configuration is indicative of at least two beams of the plurality of beams of each beam sweep for which the respective pilot signals are transmitted and/or received contemporaneously.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
time-synchronizing the at least one beam sweep with the further node based on the time-duplex configuration.

4. A method of a node of a network determining a beam configuration of a beam used for transmission of data on a wireless link of the network, the method comprising:
exchanging, with a further node of the network, a beam sweep configuration,
transmitting and/or receiving pilot signals in a plurality of beams of at least one beam sweep which is configured in accordance with the beam sweep configuration, and
determining the beam configuration based on a receive property of the pilot signals,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of a time-per-beam for the plurality of beams of each beam sweep.

5. The method of claim 4 ,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of a frequency band allocated for the pilot signals on the wireless link.

6. The method of claim 4 ,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of directional characteristics of the at least one beam sweep, wherein the directional characteristics are optionally selected from the group comprising: a number of beams; a two-dimensional spatial arrangement of beams; a three-dimensional spatial arrangement of beams; a beam width of beams; a peak-to-peak opening angle of the at least one beam sweep; and a sweep sequence of beams.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
selecting the beam sweep configuration from a plurality of candidate beam sweep configurations exchanged with the further node.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining the beam sweep configuration based on at least one of a latency requirement of the transmission of the data and an energy consumption associated with the beam sweep.

9. A method of a node of a network determining a beam configuration of a beam used for transmission of data on a wireless link of the network, the method comprising:
exchanging, with a further node of the network, a beam sweep configuration,
transmitting and/or receiving pilot signals in a plurality of beams of at least one beam sweep which is configured in accordance with the beam sweep configuration,
determining the beam configuration based on a receive property of the pilot signals, and
repeatedly triggering said determining of the beam configuration based on at least one of a mobility of the node and a mobility of the further node.

10. The method of claim 9 ,
wherein the at least one beam sweep comprises a transmit beam sweep and/or a receive beam sweep,
wherein the pilot signals comprise uplink pilot signals and/or downlink pilot signals.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
negotiating the beam sweep configuration with the further node based on a beam sweep capability, the beam sweep capability comprising at least one of analog beamforming, digital beamforming, and hybrid beamforming.

12. The method of claim 9 ,
wherein the node is a user equipment connected to the network via a base station,
wherein the further node is selected from the group comprising: the base station;
a target base station of the network to which a handover of the user equipment is predicted; a further user equipment communicating with the user equipment via a sidelink of the network.

13. A node of a network, comprising:
an interface for transmission on a wireless link of the network, and
a control circuit configured to determine a beam configuration of a beam used for transmission of data by the interface by: exchanging, with a further node of the network, a beam sweep configuration; controlling the interface to transmit and/or receive pilot signals in a plurality of beams of at least one beam sweep which is configured in accordance with the beam sweep configuration; and determining the beam configuration based on a receive property of the pilot signals,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of a time-duplex configuration of the plurality of beams of each beam sweep of the at least one beam sweep,
wherein the interface is configured to implement the time-duplex configuration by re-assigning processing of antenna signals associated with a plurality of antenna ports of the interface between an analog domain of the interface and a digital domain of the interface when transmitting and/or receiving the pilot signals.

14. The node of claim 13 ,
wherein the time-duplex configuration is indicative of at least two beams of the plurality of beams of each beam sweep for which the respective pilot signals are transmitted and/or received contemporaneously.

15. The node of claim 13 ,
wherein the control circuit is configured to time-synchronize the at least one beam sweep with the further node based on the time-duplex configuration.

16. A node of a network, comprising:
an interface for transmission on a wireless link of the network, and
a control circuit configured to determine a beam configuration of a beam used for transmission of data by the interface by: exchanging, with a further node of the network, a beam sweep configuration; controlling the interface to transmit and/or receive pilot signals in a plurality of beams of at least one beam sweep which is configured in accordance with the beam sweep configuration; and determining the beam configuration based on a receive property of the pilot signals,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of a time-per-beam for the plurality of beams of each beam sweep.

17. The node of claim 16 ,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of a frequency band allocated for the pilot signals on the wireless link.

18. The node of claim 16 ,
wherein the beam sweep configuration is indicative of directional characteristics of the at least one beam sweep, wherein the directional characteristics are optionally selected from the group comprising: a number of beams; a two-dimensional spatial arrangement of beams; a three-dimensional spatial arrangement of beams; a beam width of beams; a peak-to-peak opening angle of the at least one beam sweep; and a sweep sequence of beams.

19. The node of claim 16 ,
wherein the control circuit is configured to select the beam sweep configuration from a plurality of candidate beam sweep configurations exchanged with the further node.

20. The node of c

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Priyanto Basuki
• Bengtsson Erik
• Zander Olof
• Bolin Thomas
• Ying Zhinong
• Larsson Bo

Classifications

• H04W72/23 Primary

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/046

  the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams · CPC title

• H04W72/0453

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04L5/0048

  Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver (allocation of control signalling H04L5/0053; use of control signalling H04L5/0091) · CPC title