CN114363915B

CN114363915B - Beam training method, device, equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114363915B
Application number: CN202011097335.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张胜峰
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-14
Filing date: 2020-10-14
Publication date: 2023-11-10
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-14
Also published as: CN114363915A

Abstract

The application discloses a beam training method, device, equipment and storage medium, and belongs to the technical field of wireless communication. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring a history access record of the target AP, wherein the history access record comprises a history beam direction corresponding to each STA accessed to the target AP every time, and the history beam direction is obtained through a history beam training process; determining the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access record; and in the current beam training process, transmitting beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density. The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can improve the flexibility of sending the beacon frame by the AP.

Description

Beam training method, device, equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a beam training method, apparatus, device, and storage medium.

Background

With the rapid growth of the number of wireless devices and mobile traffic, existing spectrum resources have come close to saturation, and thus, currently, both 3GPP and IEEE focus on using millimeter wave bands to acquire more abundant available spectrum resources. However, the millimeter wave frequency band has the problem of large path loss, so that a beam forming technology is introduced into the millimeter wave frequency band, in the beam forming technology, a transmitting end can transmit signals in a beam form, so that the transmitted energy is concentrated in the direction of a transmitting beam, and meanwhile, a receiving end can receive signals in the direction of a receiving beam, and directional communication can be realized through the beam forming technology, so that the path loss can be well counteracted. In practical applications, a beam forming technology is adopted, beam training is required, and both an Access Point (AP) and a Station (STA) can obtain an optimal transmit-receive beam direction through the beam training.

In the related art, during the beam training process, an AP may periodically transmit a beacon (english) frame to each beam direction in an omni-directional manner, so that an STA to be accessed can perform beam training according to the beacon frame.

However, in the related art, the manner in which the AP transmits the beacon frame is less flexible.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on this, the embodiment of the application provides a beam training method, a device, equipment and a storage medium, which can improve the flexibility of sending beacon frames by an AP.

In a first aspect, a beam training method is provided, which is used in a target AP, and the method includes:

acquiring a history access record of the target AP, wherein the history access record comprises a history beam direction corresponding to each STA accessed to the target AP every time, and the history beam direction is obtained through a history beam training process; determining the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access record; and in the current beam training process, transmitting beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density.

In a second aspect, a beam training apparatus is provided, for use in a target AP, the apparatus comprising:

The acquisition module is used for acquiring a history access record of the target AP, wherein the history access record comprises a history beam direction corresponding to each STA accessed to the target AP every time, and the history beam direction included in the history access record is obtained through a history beam training process;

the determining module is used for determining the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access record;

and the transmitting module is used for transmitting the beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density in the current beam training process.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, implements the beam training method as described in the first aspect above.

In a fourth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, implements a beam training method as described in the first aspect above.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application has the beneficial effects that at least:

the historical access record of the target AP is obtained, wherein the historical access record comprises historical beam directions of each STA accessing the target AP, each time the STA accessing the target AP accesses the historical beam directions of the target AP, the historical beam directions of the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process, then, the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process is determined according to the historical access record, in the current beam training process, the beacon frames are sent by the target AP to different beam directions according to the determined density, and because the historical access record of the target AP comprises the historical beam directions corresponding to each STA accessing the target AP, each time the STA accessing the target AP is accessed by the historical access record, the relative positions of the target AP and each STA which is in the same with the target AP can be reflected to a certain extent, and the target AP adjusts the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access record, so that the beacon frame sending density of the different beam directions is matched with the relative positions, and the target AP has higher flexibility compared with the existing mode of sending the beacon frames to all beam directions according to the same density.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an implementation environment provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a beam training method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a relative position of an AP and an STA according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determining the density of beacon frames transmitted in different beam directions during current beam training in accordance with an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determining the density of beacon frames transmitted in different beam directions during current beam training in accordance with an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of a beam training apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a block diagram of another beam training apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Currently, millimeter wave frequency bands are widely focused by technicians in order to obtain richer available spectrum resources. In general, a network architecture related to a millimeter wave band is generally taken as a basic service set (Basic Service Set, BSS), where one BSS generally includes an Access Point (AP) and a plurality of Stations (STAs), and in practical application, the STAs may Access the AP to communicate with the AP.

Since the millimeter wave band has a problem of large path loss, a beamforming technology is introduced in the millimeter wave band, and beam training is required by adopting the beamforming technology, and generally, the beam training is usually performed in the process of accessing the AP by the STA.

In order to facilitate the reader to understand the technical method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the following briefly describes the basic process of beam training.

In the 802.11ay communication standard, the beam training procedure may include a sector level scanning (Sector Level Sweep, SLS) phase and a beam refining (Beam Refinement Protocol, BRP) phase. The SLS stage mainly trains the transmitting beam directions of the AP and the STA, and the BRP stage mainly trains the receiving beam directions of the AP and the STA.

Typically, the SLS phase may include four sub-phases, an Initiator sending a Sector Sweep (Initiator-Transmit Sector Sweep, I-TXSS), a Responder sending a Sector Sweep (Responder-Transmit Sector Sweep, R-TXSS), a Sector Sweep Feedback (Sector Sweep Feedback, SSW-Feedback), and a Sector Sweep acknowledgement (SSW-ACK).

1. I-TXSS sub-phase: and the AP omnidirectionally transmits the beacon frames in all beam directions, the STA pseudo-omnidirectionally receives the beacon frames, and the beam directions of the received beacon frames are ordered according to the signal to interference plus noise ratio SINR of the received beacon frames, so that a first ordering result is obtained.

2. R-TXSS sub-phase: and the STA omnidirectionally transmits the SSW frame in each beam direction, carries the first ordering result in the SSW frame, and the AP pseudo-omnidirectionally receives the SSW frame and orders each beam direction of the received SSW frame according to the SINR of the received SSW frame to obtain a second ordering result.

3. SSW-feed back sub-stage: and the AP sends the SSW-feed back frame in the beam direction with the optimal SINR in the first sequencing result, and carries the second sequencing result in the SSW-feed back frame, and the STA receives the SSW-feed back frame in a pseudo-omni-directional manner.

4. SSW-ACK sub-phase: and the STA transmits the SSW-ACK frame in the beam direction with the optimal SINR in the second sequencing result.

The BRP phase mainly includes three sub-phases of training Setup (Setup), multi-sector identification (Multiple Sector Identifier, MID), beam Combining (BC). Because the BRP stage is less associated with the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application is not further described herein.

As can be seen from the above description, in the SLS phase, the AP needs to transmit the beacon frame in all beam directions, and in the related art, the AP transmits the beacon frame with the same transmission density without distinguishing between all beam directions. However, in practical applications, the STA in the network architecture related to the millimeter wave band is generally a device with low mobility, such as a home router, a desktop computer, a television, an intelligent sound device, an intelligent desk lamp, and the like, and the relative position of the STA and the AP is generally fixed, so that the scheme of sending the beacon frame provided by the related art does not completely consider the characteristic of the STA in the network architecture related to the millimeter wave band, which results in low flexibility.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam training method, in which a target AP may obtain its own history access record, where the history access record includes a history beam direction corresponding to each STA that accesses the target AP when each STA accesses the target AP, where the history beam direction included in the history access record is obtained through a history beam training process, and then, according to the history access record, it is determined that the target AP sends beacon frames to different beam directions in the current beam training process, and in the current beam training process, the target AP sends beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density, and because the history access record of the target AP includes a history beam direction corresponding to each STA that accesses the target AP when each STA accesses the target AP, it can reflect to a certain extent a relative position of each STA that the target AP and each STA that is in the same with the target AP, and the target AP adjusts its own density to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the history access record, so that the beacon frame sending density in different beam directions is adapted to the relative position, and thus, the beacon frame sending density in different beam directions is more flexible than the current directions.

Next, an implementation environment related to the beam training method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be briefly described.

Referring to fig. 1, the implementation environment may include a target AP101 and at least one STA 102, where the target AP101 and the STA 102 belong to the same BSS, and the STA 102 may access the target AP101 to communicate with the target AP101, and during the accessing process, the target AP101 and the STA 102 may perform beam training to determine optimal transmit and receive beam directions of the target AP101 and the STA 102, respectively.

Referring to fig. 2, a flowchart of a beam training method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown, where the beam training method may be applied to the target AP101 in the implementation environment described above. As shown in fig. 2, the beam training method may include the steps of:

step 201, the target AP obtains its own history access record.

As described above, each time the STA accesses the target AP, it needs to perform beam training, and the best transmit/receive beam direction of the STA and the best transmit/receive beam direction of the target AP can be obtained through beam training. In the embodiment of the present application, after each beam training, the target AP may store the result of the beam training in the history access record of the target AP.

The historical access record comprises historical beam directions corresponding to all STAs of the historical access target AP when each STA accesses the target AP, and all the historical beam directions included in the historical access record are obtained through a historical beam training process.

Optionally, the historical beam direction corresponding to the STA included in the historical access record when accessing the target AP may be: at least one of an optimal historical transmit beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, an optimal historical receive beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, an optimal historical transmit beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP, and an optimal historical receive beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP.

For example, when the STA 01 performs beam training during the process of accessing the target AP, the best transmitting beam direction of the target AP is the direction a, the best receiving beam direction of the target AP is the direction b, the best transmitting beam direction of the STA 01 is the direction c, and the best receiving beam direction of the STA 01 is the direction d, the identifier and the direction a of the STA 01 may be stored in the history access record correspondingly, the identifier and the direction b of the STA 01 may be stored in the history access record correspondingly, the identifier and the direction c of the STA 01 may be stored in the history access record correspondingly, the identifier and the direction d of the STA 01 may be stored in the history access record correspondingly, and at least two of the identifier and the direction a, the direction b, the direction c and the direction d of the STA 01 may be stored in the history access record correspondingly.

Before each beam training, the target AP may acquire its own historical access record to perform a subsequent beam training process based on the historical access record.

Step 202, the target AP determines the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the history access record.

Because the mobility of the STA in the network architecture related to the millimeter wave frequency band is low, the relative positions of each STA to be accessed to the target AP belonging to the same BSS as the target AP and the target AP are generally fixed. This results in the following situations being highly likely: there are no or fewer STAs to be accessed in one beam direction of the target AP and there are more STAs to be accessed in the other beam direction of the target AP. Referring to fig. 3, STA1, STA2, and STA3 exist in beam direction a of the target AP 02, and STA does not exist in beam direction b of the target AP 02.

If the beacon frames are transmitted in the related art, the target AP transmits the beacon frames to each beam direction in the same density in an omni-directional manner, which results in waste of the beacon frames transmitted in some beam directions (there are no STAs to be accessed or less STAs to be accessed), and the beacon frames transmitted in some beam directions (there are more STAs to be accessed) cannot guarantee the access efficiency of the STAs, which results in poor flexibility of transmitting the beacon frames by the target AP.

In view of this, in the embodiment of the present application, the target AP may determine, based on its historical access record, a beam direction in which an STA to be accessed may exist and a beam direction in which an STA to be accessed may not exist, and adjust, according to a result of the determination, a density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process.

Optionally, the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to a certain beam direction in the current beam training process is positively correlated with the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the beam direction, that is, if the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the certain beam direction is higher, the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the beam direction is higher, otherwise, if the possibility that the STA to be accessed exists in the certain beam direction is lower, the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the beam direction is smaller.

Therefore, on one hand, the beacon frame waste can be avoided, the communication resource is saved, and the power consumption of the target AP is reduced, and on the other hand, the access efficiency of the STA can be ensured, so that the flexibility is higher.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the beam direction is actually a sector, and the density of sending beacon frames to a certain beam direction may be: the angular size of the interval between two successive transmissions of beacon frames in the beam direction. For example, the density of beacon frames sent in a certain beam direction may be: the beacon frame is transmitted every 1 ° in the beam direction.

In step 203, in the current beam training process, the target AP sends beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, after the current beam training process is finished, the beam direction corresponding to the STA accessing the target AP based on the current beam training process may also be stored in the history access record.

As in the above, the beam direction corresponding to the STA accessing the target AP based on the current beam training procedure may be: at least one of an optimal transmit beam direction of the STA, an optimal receive beam direction of the STA, an optimal transmit beam direction of the target AP, and an optimal receive beam direction of the target AP.

Referring to fig. 4, in one possible implementation, the target AP may determine the density of beacon frames transmitted to different beam directions during the current beam training process based on the technical process shown in fig. 4, which includes the following steps:

step 401, the target AP determines a first beam direction according to the history access record.

Wherein the likelihood that there is a STA to be accessed in the first beam direction is greater than a first likelihood threshold.

In an alternative embodiment of the present application, the technical process of determining the first beam direction by the target AP may include the steps of:

And A1, determining whether a target STA exists or not by the target AP according to the historical access record.

The historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA is accessed to the target AP n times in a historical manner are all the same beam direction, and n is a positive integer greater than 1.

Please refer to table 1, which is an exemplary history access record.

TABLE 1

STA identity	Historical beam direction
		01	a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a
02	a,b,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a
		03	a,b,c,a,a,a,a,a,a,a
04	b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b
		……	……

As can be seen from table 1, the historical beam directions corresponding to STA 01 when accessing the target AP 10 times in the history are beam direction a, and the historical beam directions corresponding to STA 04 when accessing the target AP 10 times in the history are beam direction b. STA 01 and STA 04 may be determined as target STAs.

It should be noted that, in the above example, n=10 is merely taken as an example, in fact, n may not be 10, for example, n may be 20 or another value set by a skilled person, and the specific size of n is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Since the historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in succession are the same beam direction, it can be determined that the relative positions of the target STA and the target AP are relatively fixed.

And step B1, if the target STA exists, the target AP takes the corresponding historical beam direction of the target STA when the target STA is accessed to the target AP n times in a historical manner as a first beam direction.

With continued reference to table 1, the target AP may take, as the first beam direction, a historical beam direction a corresponding to STA 01 when it accesses the target AP n times in a history and a historical beam direction b corresponding to STA 04 when it accesses the target AP n times in a history.

As described above, the relative positions of the target STA and the target AP are relatively fixed, and if the target STA does not consider sudden movement or sudden removal, the possibility that the target STA exists in the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in the history is very high, so the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in the history can be used as the first beam direction.

Step 402, the target AP uses the first density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process.

As described above, the probability that the STA to be accessed exists on the first beam is greater than the first probability threshold, so the target AP may perform the strategy of dense transmission in the first beam direction to improve the access efficiency of the STA that may exist in the first direction, so the target AP may use the first density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP in the current beam training process to the first beam direction, where the first density is greater than the first density threshold, and the first density threshold may be set by a technician.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the first density may be 5 times that of the normal beacon frame, for example, the normal beacon frame is sent once every 5 ° and then the first density may be sent once every 1 °.

Referring to fig. 5, in another possible implementation, the target AP may determine the density of beacon frames transmitted to different beam directions during the current beam training process based on the technical process shown in fig. 5, which includes the following steps:

step 501, the target AP determines a second beam direction according to the history access record.

Wherein the likelihood that there is a STA to be accessed in the second beam direction is less than a second likelihood threshold.

In an alternative embodiment of the present application, the technical process of determining the second beam direction by the target AP may include the steps of:

and A2, determining whether a candidate beam direction exists or not by the target AP according to the historical access record.

The candidate beam direction is not accessed by the STA in the continuous m times of access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1.

With continued reference to table 1, the beam directions of the beacon frame transmitted by the target AP may include beam direction a, beam direction b, beam direction c, and beam direction d, and as can be seen from the description in table 1, in the 10 consecutive access processes, no STA accesses in beam direction d, beam direction d may be regarded as a candidate beam direction.

It should be noted that, in the above example, only m=10 is taken as an example, in fact, the value of m may not be 10, for example, the value of m may be 50 or other values set by a technician, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the specific size of m.

And step B2, if the candidate beam direction exists, the target AP determines a second beam direction based on the candidate beam direction.

Since no STA accesses in the candidate beam direction in the consecutive m access processes, the possibility that there is an STA to be accessed in the candidate beam direction may be considered to be small, so in a possible implementation manner of the present application, the target AP may directly use the candidate beam direction as the second beam direction.

However, in the embodiment of the present application, the target AP needs to perform a sparse transmission strategy in the second beam direction in the subsequent step, and this strategy, although capable of avoiding beacon frame waste, saving communication resources and reducing power consumption of the target AP, can also greatly affect the access efficiency of the STA that may exist in the second beam direction.

Thus, it should be noted that, in another possible implementation of the present application, the target AP does not directly use the candidate beam direction as the second beam direction, but acquires, after obtaining the candidate beam direction, a historical communication record of the target AP, where the historical communication record includes a historical beam direction corresponding to each communication performed by the target AP historically, and in a similar manner as described above, the historical beam direction corresponding to the communication performed by the target AP may be: at least one of a historical transmitting beam direction when the target AP communicates, a historical receiving beam direction of an STA communicating with the target AP and a historical transmitting beam direction of the STA communicating with the target AP, after the historical communication record of the target AP is acquired, the target AP can determine a second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP does not communicate continuously p times in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

The target AP does not communicate in a certain beam direction p times in succession, which means that there is no STA in the beam direction that may move in the past, and therefore, the target AP may take the beam direction as the second beam direction and execute the strategy of thinning transmission in the second beam direction in the subsequent step.

It should be noted that the value of p may be set by a skilled person, for example, the value of p may be 500, and in an alternative embodiment of the present application, the value of p may be greater than the value of m.

Step 502, the target AP uses the second density as the density of the beacon frame sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process.

As described above, the probability that the STA to be accessed exists on the second beam is smaller than the second probability threshold, so the target AP may perform the strategy of sparse transmission in the second beam direction, so as to avoid beacon frame waste, save communication resources and reduce power consumption of the target AP, so the target AP may send the density of the beacon frame to the second beam direction during the current beam training process with the second density as the target AP, where the second density is smaller than the second density threshold, the second density threshold may be set by a technician, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited specifically, and optionally, the second density threshold may be smaller than or equal to the first density threshold described above.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the second density may be 1/5 of the density of the normal transmission beacon frames, for example, the normal transmission beacon frames are transmitted once every 2 ° and the first density may be transmitted once every 10 °.

Referring to fig. 6, a block diagram of a beam training apparatus 600 according to an embodiment of the present application is shown, where the beam training apparatus 600 may be configured in a target AP. As shown in fig. 6, the beam training apparatus 600 may include: an acquisition module 601, a determination module 602, and a transmission module 603.

The acquiring module 601 is configured to acquire a history access record of the target AP, where the history access record includes a history beam direction corresponding to each STA that accesses the target AP each time that accesses the target AP, and the history beam direction included in the history access record is obtained through a history beam training process.

The determining module 602 is configured to determine, according to the historical access record, a density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in a current beam training process.

The sending module 603 is configured to send beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density in the current beam training process.

In an alternative embodiment of the application, the determining module 602 includes:

and the first determining submodule is used for determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, and the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the first beam direction is larger than a first possibility threshold.

And the second determining submodule is used for taking the first density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is larger than a first density threshold value.

In an alternative embodiment of the application, the first determining submodule is specifically configured to: determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA is accessed to the target AP for n times in a historical manner are all the same beam direction, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; if the target STA exists, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in succession historically is used as the first beam direction.

and the third determining submodule is used for determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, and the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold.

And a fourth determining submodule, configured to send a second density of beacon frames to the second beam direction in the current beam training process by using the second density as the density of the beacon frames, where the second density is less than a second density threshold.

In an alternative embodiment of the application, the third determination submodule is specifically configured to: determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction is not accessed by the STA in the continuous m times of access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1; if the candidate beam direction is present, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

In an alternative embodiment of the application, the third determination submodule is specifically configured to: acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each communication carried out on the target AP historically; and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP in the second beam direction does not communicate continuously for p times, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

Referring to fig. 7, another beam training apparatus 700 is provided according to an embodiment of the present application, where the beam training apparatus 700 includes, in addition to the respective modules included in the beam training apparatus 600, optionally, a storage module 604.

Wherein, the storage module 604 is configured to: after the current beam training process is finished, the beam direction corresponding to the STA which is accessed to the target AP based on the current beam training process is stored in the history access record.

The beam training device provided by the embodiment of the application can realize the method embodiment, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, and are not repeated here.

For specific limitations of the beam training apparatus, reference may be made to the above limitations of the beam training method, and no further description is given here. The various modules in the beam training apparatus described above may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, and combinations thereof. The above modules may be embedded in hardware or may be independent of a processor in the computer device, or may be stored in software in a memory in the computer device, so that the processor may call and execute operations corresponding to the above modules.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of a communication device, which may be an AP, in one embodiment. As shown in fig. 8, the communication device includes a processor, a memory, and a communication component connected by a system bus. Wherein the processor is operative to provide computing and control capabilities supporting operation of the entire communication device. The memory may include a non-volatile storage medium and an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium stores an operating system and a computer program. The computer program is executable by a processor for implementing a beam training method as provided by the above embodiments. The internal memory provides a cached operating environment for the operating system and computer programs in the non-volatile storage media. The communication device may communicate with other communication devices (e.g., STAs) through a communication component.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the structure shown in fig. 8 is merely a block diagram of a portion of the structure associated with the present inventive arrangements and is not limiting of the communication device to which the present inventive arrangements are applied, and that a particular communication device may include more or fewer components than shown, or may combine certain components, or have a different arrangement of components.

In one embodiment of the present application, there is provided a communication device including a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program, the processor implementing the following steps when executing the computer program:

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the first beam direction is larger than a first possibility threshold; and taking the first density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is larger than a first density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA is accessed to the target AP for n times in a historical manner are all the same beam direction, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; if the target STA exists, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in succession historically is used as the first beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold; and taking the second density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than a second density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction is not accessed by the STA in the continuous m times of access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1; if the candidate beam direction is present, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each communication carried out on the target AP historically; and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP in the second beam direction does not communicate continuously for p times, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

In one embodiment of the application, the processor when executing the computer program further performs the steps of: after the current beam training process is finished, the beam direction of the STA corresponding to the access target AP based on the current beam training process is stored into the history access record.

The implementation principle and technical effects of the communication device provided by the embodiment of the present application are similar to those of the above-mentioned method embodiment, and are not described herein again.

In one embodiment of the present application, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of:

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further implements the steps of: determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the first beam direction is larger than a first possibility threshold; and taking the first density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is larger than a first density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further implements the steps of: determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA is accessed to the target AP for n times in a historical manner are all the same beam direction, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; if the target STA exists, the historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in succession historically is used as the first beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further implements the steps of: determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold; and taking the second density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than a second density threshold value.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further implements the steps of: determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction is not accessed by the STA in the continuous m times of access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1; if the candidate beam direction is present, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further implements the steps of: acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each communication carried out on the target AP historically; and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP in the second beam direction does not communicate continuously for p times, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

In one embodiment of the application, the computer program when executed by the processor further implements the steps of: after the current beam training process is finished, the beam direction corresponding to the STA which is accessed to the target AP based on the current beam training process is stored in the history access record.

The computer readable storage medium provided in this embodiment has similar principles and technical effects to those of the above method embodiment, and will not be described herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that implementing all or part of the above described methods may be accomplished by way of a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed, may comprise the steps of the embodiments of the methods described above. Any reference to memory, storage, database, or other medium used in embodiments provided herein may include non-volatile and/or volatile memory. The nonvolatile memory can include Read Only Memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in M forms such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link (SyMchlimk) DRAM (SLDRAM), memory bus (RaMbus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM), among others.

The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined, and all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are not described for brevity of description, however, as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features, they should be considered as the scope of the description.

The above examples illustrate only a few embodiments of the application, which are described in detail and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the claims. It should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the application, which are all within the scope of the application. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present application is to be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of beam training for use in a target AP, the method comprising:

acquiring a history access record of the target AP, wherein the history access record comprises a history beam direction corresponding to each STA accessed to the target AP every time, and the history beam direction included in the history access record is obtained through a history beam training process; the historical beam direction corresponding to the time when the STA accesses the target AP is at least one of the optimal historical transmitting beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, the optimal historical receiving beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, the optimal historical transmitting beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP and the optimal historical receiving beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP;

Determining the density of beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access record; wherein the density of beacon frames refers to the angular size of the interval between two successive transmissions of beacon frames in the beam direction;

in the current beam training process, beacon frames are sent to different beam directions according to the determined density; wherein, the density of beacon frames transmitted in different beam directions is positively correlated with the possibility that STAs to be accessed exist in the beam directions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining, from said historical access record, a density of beacon frames transmitted by said target AP to different beam directions during a current beam training procedure comprises:

determining a first beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the first beam direction is larger than a first possibility threshold;

and taking the first density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the first beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the first density is larger than a first density threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining a first beam direction from said historical access record comprises:

Determining whether a target STA exists according to the historical access record, wherein the historical beam directions corresponding to the target STA when the target STA is accessed to the target AP for n times in a historical manner are all the same beam direction, and n is a positive integer greater than 1;

and if the target STA exists, taking a historical beam direction corresponding to the target STA when the target STA accesses the target AP n times in a historical way as the first beam direction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining, from said historical access record, a density of beacon frames transmitted by said target AP to different beam directions during a current beam training procedure comprises:

determining a second beam direction according to the historical access record, wherein the possibility of the STA to be accessed in the second beam direction is smaller than a second possibility threshold;

and taking the second density as the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to the second beam direction in the current beam training process, wherein the second density is smaller than a second density threshold value.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said determining a second beam direction from said historical access record comprises:

determining whether a candidate beam direction exists according to the historical access record, wherein the candidate beam direction is not accessed by an STA in the continuous m times of access processes, and m is a positive integer greater than 1;

If the candidate beam direction exists, the second beam direction is determined based on the candidate beam direction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining the second beam direction based on the candidate beam direction comprises:

acquiring a historical communication record of the target AP, wherein the historical communication record comprises a historical beam direction corresponding to each communication carried out on the target AP historically;

and determining the second beam direction in the candidate beam directions according to the historical communication record, wherein the target AP continuously does not communicate for p times in the second beam direction, and p is a positive integer greater than 1.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein after transmitting beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density, the method further comprises:

and after the current beam training process is finished, storing the beam direction corresponding to the STA which is accessed to the target AP based on the current beam training process into the history access record.

8. A beam training apparatus for use in a target AP, the apparatus comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring a history access record of the target AP, wherein the history access record comprises a history beam direction corresponding to each STA accessed to the target AP in a history way, and the history beam direction included in the history access record is obtained through a history beam training process; the historical beam direction corresponding to the time when the STA accesses the target AP is at least one of the optimal historical transmitting beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, the optimal historical receiving beam direction of the STA when the STA accesses the target AP, the optimal historical transmitting beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP and the optimal historical receiving beam direction of the target AP when the STA accesses the target AP;

The determining module is used for determining the density of the beacon frames sent by the target AP to different beam directions in the current beam training process according to the historical access record; wherein the density of beacon frames refers to the angular size of the interval between two successive transmissions of beacon frames in the beam direction;

the transmitting module is used for transmitting beacon frames to different beam directions according to the determined density in the current beam training process; wherein, the density of beacon frames transmitted in different beam directions is positively correlated with the possibility that STAs to be accessed exist in the beam directions.

9. A communication device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, implements the beam training method of any of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the beam training method according to any of claims 1 to 7.