METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING COMMUNICATION BEAM

• US 20180206218A1
• Filed: 01/18/2018
• Published: 07/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd. (Xiaomi Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd. (Xiaomi Corp.)
• Inventors: HUANG, Jiangtao
• Granted Patent: US 10,631,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for determining a communication beam. The method includes receiving, via a user equipment, at least two beams; acquiring beam information of the received beams; selecting a target beam from the received beams based on the beam information; and transmitting information via the target beam.

Claims

1. A method for determining a communication beam, comprising:

receiving, via a user equipment, at least two beams;

acquiring beam information of the received beams;

selecting a target beam from the received beams based on the beam information; and

transmitting information via the target beam.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the beam information of the received beams is acquired under at least one of following triggering conditions:

when the user equipment is ready to access a network;

when the user equipment is in an idle state;

when the user equipment receives beam scheduling information sent by a transmitting terminal of a first beam in case of accessing a network through the first beam; and

when a signal intensity of a first beam is lower than a preset intensity threshold value, or when a signal descending rate of a first beam is higher than a preset rate threshold value, in case of the user equipment accessing a network through the first beam.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein acquiring the beam information of the received beams comprises:

acquiring a signal intensity and a beam identification of each of the received beams;

arranging the signal intensities of the received beams in a preset order; and

generating an intensity order list based on the arranged signal intensities.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein selecting the target beam comprises:

selecting one of the received beams with a largest signal intensity as the target beam based on the intensity ordered list.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein selecting the target beam comprises:

determining current state information of the user equipment;

determining priorities of the received beams based on the current state information of the user equipment and the intensity ordered list; and

selecting one of the received beams with a highest priority as the target beam.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein determining the current state information of the user equipment comprises:

when the user equipment selects a first beam with a currently strongest signal based on the intensity ordered list to connect to a network, determining network connection state information of the user equipment, and

wherein determining the priorities of the received beams comprises;

when the network connection state information indicates that network access fails, determining a second beam with a signal intensity second only to the first beam as the received beam with the highest priority based on the intensity ordered list.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein determining the current state information of the user equipment comprises:

when the user equipment transmits data through a first beam, determining data transmission state information of the user equipment, and

wherein determining the priorities of the received beams comprises;

when the data transmission state information indicates that a current data transmission state is lower than a preset threshold value, re-determining the priorities of the received beams based on the intensity ordered list.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein re-determining the priorities of the received beams comprises:

determining a second beam with a signal intensity second only to the first beam as the received beam with the currently highest priority based on the intensity ordered list.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein re-determining the priorities of the received beams comprises:

receiving a set of beams to be selected sent by a transmitting terminal of the first beam;

matching the intensity ordered list based on the set of beams to be selected so as to obtain a matching result; and

determining a received beam with a currently highest priority based on the matching result.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein determining the priorities of the received beams further comprises:

when the first beam is still a received beam with a currently strongest signal, rejecting the first beam as the received beam with the highest priority within a preset time range.

11. A method for determining a communication beam, comprising:

receiving, via a beam transmitting terminal, a network connection request sent from a user equipment through a first beam;

determining a current load of the first beam;

when the current load of the first beam exceeds a preset threshold value, rejecting the network connection request; and

when the current load of the first beam does not exceed the preset threshold value, establishing a communication connection between the transmitting terminal and the user equipment through the first beam.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

when a data transmission state of a user equipment through a data transmission link of the first beam is lower than a preset threshold value, detecting a load condition of each beam;

acquiring a set of beams to be selected including of a group of beam identifications of available beams based on the load condition of each beam; and

sending the set of beams to be selected to the user equipment, such that the user equipment reselects a target beam based on the set of beams to be selected.

13. An apparatus for determining a communication beam, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor,

wherein the processor is configured to;

receive, via a user equipment, at least two beams;

acquire beam information of the received beams;

select a target beam from the received beams based on the beam information of the received beams; and

transmit information via the target beam.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire the beam information of the received beams under at least one of following triggering conditions:

when the user equipment is ready to access a network;

when the user equipment is in an idle state;

when the user equipment receives beam scheduling information sent by a transmitting terminal of a first beam in case of accessing a network through the first beam; and

when a signal intensity of a first beam is lower than a preset intensity threshold value, or when a signal descending rate of the first beam is higher than a preset rate threshold value, in case of the user equipment accessing a network through the first beam.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

acquire a signal intensity and a beam identification of each of the received beams;

arrange the signal intensities of the received beams in a preset order; and

generate an intensity order list based on the arranged signal intensities.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

select one of the received beams with a largest signal intensity as the target beam based on the intensity ordered list,

17. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine current state information of the user equipment;

determine priorities of the received beams based on the current state information of the user equipment and the intensity ordered list; and

select one of the received beams with a highest priority as the target beam.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to:

when the user equipment selects a first beam with a currently strongest signal based on the intensity ordered list to connect a network, determine network connection state information of the user equipment, and

when the network connection state information indicates that network access fails, determine a second beam with a signal intensity second only to the first beam as a receiving beam with a highest priority based on the intensity ordered list.

19. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to:

when the user equipment transmits data through a first beam, determine data transmission state information of the user equipment, and

when the data transmission state information indicates that a current data transmission state is lower than a preset threshold value, re-determine priorities of the received beams based on the intensity ordered list.

20. An apparatus for determining a communication beam, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor,

wherein the processor is configured to;

receive, via a beam transmitting terminal, a network connection request sent from user equipment through a first beam;

determine a current load of the first beam;

when the current load of the first beam exceeds a preset threshold value, reject the network connection request; and

when the current load of the first beam does not exceed the preset threshold value, establish a communication connection between the transmitting terminal and the user equipment through the first beam.