Beam training method, communication device, chip system, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11784689-B2
Application number	US-201916457804-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2019
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	Oct 10, 2023
Grant date	Oct 10, 2023

Abstract

This application discloses a beam training method, a communication device, a chip system, and a storage medium. The method includes: performing, by a transmit device, clear channel assessment on sectors corresponding to an antenna of the transmit device; and sending, by the transmit device in a sector whose result of clear channel assessment is idle, a training signal to a receive device, where the training signal is used to perform beamforming training on the antenna. With this solution, beamforming training efficiency can be improved and resource utilization can be increased.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A beam training method, wherein the method comprises:
performing, by a transmit device, clear channel assessment on sectors corresponding to an antenna of the transmit device; and
sending, by the transmit device in a sector whose result of clear channel assessment is idle, a training signal to a receive device,
wherein the training signal is used to perform beamforming training on the antenna, and
wherein the sending the training signal to the receive device comprises:
sequentially sending, by the transmit device in each sector whose result of the clear channel assessment indicates that said each sector is idle, the training signal to N sectors corresponding to an antenna of the receive device, wherein N is a positive integer.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
before the performing, by the transmit device, the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna, the method further comprises:
performing, by the transmit device, clear channel assessment on an omnidirectional channel corresponding to the antenna, and

when a result of the clear channel assessment on the omnidirectional channel corresponding to the antenna is busy, the performing, by the transmit device, the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna is executed.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
after a duration of the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna reaches a preset duration, the method further comprises:
switching, by the transmit device, from performing the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna to performing clear channel assessment on an omnidirectional channel corresponding to the antenna; and
when a result of the clear channel assessment on the omnidirectional channel is idle, sending, by the transmit device, the training signal in a sector in which no training signal has been sent.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the training signal sent in an idle sector carries a first indicator bit indicating a sector identifier of the idle sector in which the training signal is sent.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein
the training signal sent in the idle sector further carries a second indicator bit indicating a quantity of sectors in which no training signal has been sent among the sectors corresponding to the antenna.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein
the performing, by the transmit device, the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna of the transmit device comprises:
sequentially performing, by the transmit device, clear channel assessment on all the sectors corresponding to the antenna.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
after the sending the training signal to the receive device, the method further comprises:
sending, by the transmit device in a sector with best transmitted signal quality among the sectors corresponding to the antenna, the training signal N times to the N sectors corresponding to the antenna of the receive device, to perform receive beam training or receive beam refinement on the receive device.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
after the sending the training signal to the receive device, the method further comprises:
receiving, by the transmit device in the sectors corresponding to the antenna of the transmit device, further training signals from the receive device; and
using, by the transmit device and among the sectors corresponding to the antenna of the transmit device, a sector with best received signal quality as a best receive sector of the antenna of the transmit device.

9. A communication device, wherein the communication device comprises:
a processor configured to perform clear channel assessment on sectors corresponding to an antenna of the communication device; and
a transceiver, wherein, when a result of the clear channel assessment performed by the processor indicates that a sector among the sectors corresponding to the antenna is an idle sector, the transceiver is configured to send, in the idle sector, a training signal to a receive device to perform beamforming training on the antenna,
wherein the training signal sent in the idle sector carries a first indicator bit indicating a sector identifier of the idle sector in which the training signal is sent.

10. The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein
before performing the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna, the processor is further configured to:
perform clear channel assessment on an omnidirectional channel corresponding to the antenna, and

when a result of the clear channel assessment on the omnidirectional channel corresponding to the antenna is busy, the processor is configured to perform the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna.

11. The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein
after a duration of the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna reaches a preset duration, the processor is further configured to:
switch from performing the clear channel assessment on the sectors corresponding to the antenna to performing clear channel assessment on an omnidirectional channel corresponding to the antenna, and

when a result of the clear channel assessment on the omnidirectional channel is idle, the transceiver is further configured to send the training signal in a sector in which no training signal has been sent.

12. The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein
the processor is further configured to:
when the training signal is sent in the idle sector, count sectors in which no training signal has been sent among the sectors corresponding to the antenna.

13. The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein
the training signal sent in the idle sector further carries a second indicator bit indicating a quantity of sectors in which no training signal has been sent among the sectors corresponding to the antenna.

14. The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein
after sending the training signal to the receive device, the transceiver is further configured to:
send, in a sector with best transmitted signal quality among the sectors corresponding to the antenna, the training signal N times to N sectors corresponding to an antenna of the receive device, to perform receive beam training or receive beam refinement on the receive device, wherein N is a positive integer.

15. The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein
the transceiver is further configured to:
sequentially send, in each sector whose result of the clear channel assessment indicates that said each sector is idle, the training signal to N sectors corresponding to an antenna of the receive device, wherein N is a positive integer.

16. The communication device according to claim 15 , wherein
after the training signal is sent to the receive device, the processor is further configured to:
receive, in the sectors corresponding to the antenna of the communication device, further training signals from the receive device by using the transceiver, and
use, among the sectors corresponding to the antenna of the communication device, a sector with best received signal quality as a best receive sector of the antenna of the communication device.

17. A chip system, comprising a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, wherein
the memory, the transceiver, and the processor are interconnected by a bus,
the memory stores instructions, and

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jia Qiong
• Luo Jun
• Wu Ji
• Lin Yingpei

Classifications

• H04B7/06958 Primary

  Multistage beam selection, e.g. beam refinement · CPC title

• H04B7/0613 Primary

  using simultaneous transmission (H04B7/0686 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W74/006

  in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal · CPC title

• H04W74/0808

  using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] · CPC title

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title