Communication Method and Apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016165458-A1
Application number	US-201615047826-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 19, 2016
Priority date	Aug 20, 2013
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to a communication method and a base station that are provided in embodiments of the present invention, the base station transmits a broad beam that covers a sector of the base station and narrow beams whose coverage areas completely fall within a coverage area of the broad beam, which implements that under a premise that a coverage area of the sector of the base station maintains unchanged by using the broad beam, enhanced coverage of the sector is further achieved by using the narrow beams, thereby improving spectral efficiency. In the solutions, a sector coverage area of the broad beam transmitted by the base station still maintains unchanged, and therefore, a coverage relationship between sectors is not affected. In addition, neither an additional site backhaul resource nor additional standardization support is required in the solutions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A communication method, comprising:
determining, by a base station, that at least two narrow beams are used to transmit data to at least two terminals, wherein the base station transmits a broad beam and the at least two narrow beams; and transmitting, by the base station, data to the at least two terminals on a same time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams determined be used to transmit data to the at least to terminals; wherein the broad beam covers a sector of the base station; wherein coverage areas of the at least two narrow beams fall within a coverage area of the broad beam; and wherein the broad beam and the at least two narrow beams have a same physical cell identifier (PCI).

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining, by the base station, that the broad beam is used to transmit data to one or more other terminals different from the at least two terminals; and transmitting, by the base station, data to the one or more other terminals by using the broad beam.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the transmitting, by the base station, data to the at least two terminals on a same time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams comprises:
transmitting, by the base station, data to the at least two terminals on a first time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the transmitting, by the base station, data to the one or more other terminals by using the broad beam comprises:
transmitting, by the base station, data to the one or more other terminals on a second time-frequency resource different from the first time-frequency resource by using the broad beam.

5 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining, by the base station, that the broad beam is used to transmit data to the one or more other terminals comprises:
receiving, separately, by the base station, using an antenna used to transmit the broad beam and antennas used to transmit the at least two narrow beams, a first sounding reference signal (SRS) sent by each terminal of the one or more other terminals; determining, according to a first signal strength value of the first SRS that is sent by each terminal of the one or more other terminals and that is separately received by using the antenna used to transmit the broad beam and the antennas used to transmit the at least two narrow beams, a first channel quality of a channel that is from the antenna used to transmit the broad beam and that is to each terminal of the one or more other terminals and determining a second channel quality of channels that are from the antennas used to transmit the at least two narrow beams and that are to each terminal of the one or more other terminals; and determining, in response to the first channel quality being better than the second channel quality, that the broad beam is used to transmit data to each terminal of the one or more other terminals.

6 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining, by a base station, that the at least two narrow beams are used to transmit data to the at least two terminals comprises:
receiving, separately, by the base station, using an antenna used to transmit the broad beam and antennas used to transmit the at least two narrow beams, a second SRS sent by each terminal of the at least two terminals; determining, according to a second signal strength value of the second SRS that is sent by each terminal of the at least two terminals and that is received separately using the antenna used to transmit the broad beam and the antennas used to transmit the at least two narrow beams, a first channel quality of a channel that is from the antenna used to transmit the broad beam and to each terminal of the at least two terminals and a second channel quality of channels that are from the antennas used to transmit the at least two narrow beams and to each terminal of the at least two terminals; and determining, in response to the second channel quality being better than the first channel quality, that the at least two narrow beams are used to transmit data to each terminal of the at least two terminals.

7 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises:
sending, by the base station, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) by using the broad beam; and sending, separately, by the base station, channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs) using each of the at least two narrow beams transmitted by the base station and according to the respective CSI-RS separately preset for each narrow beam transmitted by the base station, wherein the CSI-RSs preset for different narrow beams are different from each other.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitting, by the base station, data to the at least two terminals on a same time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams comprises performing at least one of:
transmitting, by the base station, the data to the at least two terminals on the same time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams, wherein the data is transmitted to different terminals of the at least two terminals separately by using different narrow beams; or transmitting, by the base station, the data to the at least two terminals on the same time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams, wherein the data is transmitted to a same one of the at least two terminals by using at least two narrow beams.

9 . A communications apparatus, comprising:
a transceiver configured to transmit a broad beam and at least two narrow beams; and a processor connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine that the at least two narrow beams are used to transmit data to at least two terminals; wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit data to the at least two terminals on a same time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams determined to be used to transmit data to the at least two terminals; wherein the broad beam covers a sector of the communications apparatus; wherein coverage areas of the at least two narrow beams fall within a coverage area of the broad beam; and wherein the broad beam and the at least two narrow beams have a same physical cell identifier (PCI).

10 . The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the broad beam is used to transmit data to one or more other terminals different from the at least two terminals; and
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit data to the one or more other terminals by using the broad beam.

11 . The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit data to the at least two terminals on a first time-frequency resource by using the at least two narrow beams.

12 . The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit data to the one or more other terminals on a second time-frequency resource different from the first time-frequency resource by using the broad beam.

13 . The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, separately, by using an antenna used to transmit the broad beam and antennas used to transmit the at least two beams, a first sounding reference signal (SRS) sent by each terminal of the one or more other terminals; determine, according to a first signal strength value of the first SRS that is sent by each terminal of the one or more other terminals and that is separ

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Peng Yan
• Zhou Hongrui
• Yang Jing
• Ma Ni
• Zhao Jianping

Classifications

• H04W16/32

  Hierarchical cell structures · CPC title

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04B7/0626

  Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI] · CPC title

• H04W72/046

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

• H04B7/0617

  for beam forming · CPC title