阅读说明：本技术 使用图像处理以辅助波束成形 (Using image processing to assist beamforming ) 是由 J·H·刘 V·拉加万 厉隽怿 于 2019-01-09 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开内容的各个方面通常涉及无线通信。在一些方面中,无线通信设备可以确定对象相对于无线通信设备的位置,其中位置是至少部分地基于处理包括对象的一个或多个图像的结果来确定的。无线通信设备可以至少部分地基于对象相对于无线通信设备的位置,来配置波束或用于标识要由无线通信设备使用的波束的波束扫描特性中的至少一者。无线通信设备可以使用波束来通信。提供许多其它方面。(Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications. In some aspects, a wireless communication device may determine a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device, where the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object. The wireless communication device may configure at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by the wireless communication device based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device. The wireless communication device may communicate using the beam. Numerous other aspects are provided.)

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device, comprising:

determining a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object;

configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying the beam to be used by the wireless communication device based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the wireless communication device; and

communicating using the beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is associated with a user equipment with which the wireless communication device is to communicate via the beam.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the beam is a millimeter wave radar beam for millimeter wave radar.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein configuring at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics comprises at least one of:

configuring a rate of transmission of the millimeter-wave radar beam,

configuring a width of the millimeter wave radar beam,

configuring a direction of the millimeter-wave radar beam,

configuring a signal characteristic of the millimeter wave radar beam,

configuring the signal frequency of said millimeter wave radar beam, or

Some combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: signaling, to a User Equipment (UE) associated with the object, a capability of the wireless communication device to use a location of the UE to assist in beamforming.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: an association is determined between the object and a User Equipment (UE) with which the wireless communication device is to communicate via the beam.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the association is determined based at least in part on at least one of:

the location of the object and a location reported by the UE;

a speed of the object and a speed reported by the UE;

an acceleration of the object and an acceleration reported by the UE;

a direction in which the object is moving and a direction reported by the UE;

a visible characteristic detected in the one or more images for the object and an indication of the visible characteristic of the object reported by the UE, or

Some combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the location reported by the UE comprises global positioning system data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining an updated location associated with the object, and reconfiguring at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics based at least in part on the updated location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating comprises transmitting information to or receiving information from a User Equipment (UE) via the beam.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: signaling a beam configuration for the UE based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the wireless communication device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on at least one of:

global Positioning System (GPS) data received from a user device associated with the object,

a speed associated with the object is determined,

an acceleration associated with the object is determined,

the object is in the direction of movement,

a visible characteristic of said object, or

Some combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises at least one of:

the user equipment is provided with a display device,

a means of transportation is provided with a vehicle,

human, or

Some combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more images are one or more frames of a video.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more images are processed by the wireless communication device, or wherein the result of processing the one or more images is received by the wireless communication device from another device that processes the one or more images.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics comprises at least one of:

one or more of the beam parameters are modified,

the direction of the beam is modified,

modifying a rate of radar transmissions sent in the direction of the beam,

the switch-over to a different beam is made,

scanning the beam more frequently in a first direction towards the location than in a second direction not towards the location, or

Some combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device is a base station or a user equipment.

18. A wireless communication device, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

determining a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object;

configuring at least one of a beam or a beam scanning characteristic for identifying the beam to be used by the wireless communication device based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the wireless communication device; and

communicating using the beam.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 18, wherein the object is associated with a user device with which the wireless communication device is to communicate via the beam.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 18, wherein the beam is a millimeter wave radar beam for millimeter wave radar.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors, when configuring at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics, are configured to perform at least one of:

configuring a rate of transmission of the millimeter-wave radar beam,

configuring a width of the millimeter wave radar beam,

configuring a direction of the millimeter-wave radar beam,

configuring a signal characteristic of the millimeter wave radar beam,

configuring the signal frequency of said millimeter wave radar beam, or

Some combination thereof.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine an association between the object and a User Equipment (UE) with which the wireless communication device is to communicate via the beam.

23. The wireless communication device of claim 22, wherein the association is determined based at least in part on at least one of:

the location of the object and a location reported by the UE;

a speed of the object and a speed reported by the UE;

an acceleration of the object and an acceleration reported by the UE;

a direction in which the object is moving and a direction reported by the UE;

a visible characteristic detected in the one or more images for the object and an indication of the visible characteristic of the object reported by the UE, or

Some combination thereof.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors, when configuring at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics, are configured to perform at least one of:

one or more of the beam parameters are modified,

the direction of the beam is modified,

modifying a rate of radar transmissions sent in the direction of the beam,

the switch-over to a different beam is made,

scanning the beam more frequently in a first direction towards the location than in a second direction not towards the location, or

Some combination thereof.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication, the one or more instructions comprising:

when executed by one or more processors of a wireless communication device, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more instructions to:

determining a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object;

configuring at least one of a beam or a beam scanning characteristic for identifying the beam to be used by the wireless communication device based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the wireless communication device; and

communicating using the beam.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the object is associated with a user equipment with which the wireless communication device is to communicate via the beam; and

wherein the one or more instructions that cause the one or more processors to configure at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics further cause the one or more processors to perform at least one of:

one or more of the beam parameters are modified,

the direction of the beam is modified,

modifying a rate of radar transmissions sent in the direction of the beam,

the switch-over to a different beam is made,

scanning the beam more frequently in a first direction towards the location than in a second direction not towards the location, or

Some combination thereof.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the beam is a millimeter wave radar beam for a millimeter wave radar; and is

Wherein the one or more instructions that cause the one or more processors to configure at least one of the beam or the beam scanning characteristics further cause the one or more processors to perform at least one of:

configuring a rate of transmission of the millimeter-wave radar beam,

configuring a width of the millimeter wave radar beam,

configuring a direction of the millimeter-wave radar beam,

configuring a signal characteristic of the millimeter wave radar beam,

configuring the signal frequency of said millimeter wave radar beam, or

Some combination thereof.

28. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining a location of an object relative to the apparatus, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object;

means for configuring at least one of a beam or a beam scanning characteristic for identifying the beam to be used by the apparatus based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the apparatus; and

means for communicating using the beam.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising: means for determining an association between the object and a User Equipment (UE) with which the apparatus is to communicate via the beam.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the association is determined based at least in part on at least one of:

the location of the object and a location reported by the UE;

a speed of the object and a speed reported by the UE;

an acceleration of the object and an acceleration reported by the UE;

a direction in which the object is moving and a direction reported by the UE;

a visible characteristic detected in the one or more images for the object and an indication of the visible characteristic of the object reported by the UE, or

Some combination thereof.

Technical Field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques and apparatus for using image processing to assist in beamforming.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access techniques include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE/LTE-advanced is an enhanced set of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standards promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP).

A wireless communication network may include several Base Stations (BSs) capable of supporting communication for several User Equipments (UEs). A User Equipment (UE) may communicate with a Base Station (BS) via a downlink as well as an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As will be described in greater detail herein, the BS may be referred to as a node B, gNB, an Access Point (AP), a radio head, a Transmit Receive Point (TRP), a New Radio (NR) BS, a 5G node B, etc.

The above multiple access techniques have been adopted in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different user equipment to communicate at a municipal, national, regional, or even global level. The New Radio (NR), which may also be referred to as 5G, is an enhanced set of LTE mobile standards promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). NR is designed to better support mobile broadband internet access by improving spectral efficiency, reducing costs, improving services, utilizing new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with Cyclic Prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the Downlink (DL), CP-OFDM and/or SC-FDM (also known as discrete fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), for example) on the Uplink (UL), and supporting beamforming, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements in LTE and NR technologies. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunications standards employing these techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device may comprise: determining a location of the object relative to the wireless communication device, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object; configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by a wireless communication device based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device; and communicating using the beam.

In some aspects, a wireless communication device for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to: determining a location of the object relative to the wireless communication device, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object; configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by a wireless communication device based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device; and communicating using the beam.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the wireless communication device, may cause the one or more processors to determine a location of the object relative to the wireless communication device, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object; configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by a wireless communication device based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device; and communicating using the beam.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may comprise: means for determining a location of an object relative to an apparatus, wherein the location is determined based at least in part on a result of processing one or more images including the object; means for configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by an apparatus based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the apparatus; and means for communicating using the beam.

Aspects generally include methods, apparatuses, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, wireless communication devices, and processing systems substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings and description.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of an example in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The features of the concepts disclosed herein, both as to their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the claims.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a base station communicating with a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3A is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a frame structure in a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3B is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example synchronous communication hierarchy in a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example subframe format with a normal cyclic prefix in a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of wireless communication via one or more beams in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6-9 are schematic diagrams illustrating examples of using image processing to assist in beamforming in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a wireless communication device, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or combined with any other aspect of the present disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such apparatus or methods, which are practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

Several aspects of a telecommunications system will be presented with reference to various apparatus and techniques. These means and techniques are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, procedures, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

It should be noted that although aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and beyond, including NR technologies.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. The network 100 may be an LTE network or some other wireless network, such as a 5G or NR network. Wireless network 100 may include several BSs 100 (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A BS is an entity that communicates with UEs and may also be referred to as a base station, NR BS, node B, gNB, 5G node b (nb), access point, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), etc. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of a BS and/or a BS subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macrocell, a picocell, a femtocell, and/or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence), and may allow restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). The BS for the macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. The BS for the pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. The BS for the femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in fig. 1, BS 110a may be a macro BS for macro cell 102a, BS 110b may be a pico BS for pico cell 102b, and BS 110c may be a femto BS for femto cell 102 c. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms "eNB", "base station", "NRBS", "gNB", "TRP", "AP", "node B", "5G NB" and "cell" may be used interchangeably herein.

In some aspects, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some aspects, BSs may be interconnected in the access network 100 to each other and/or to one or other BSs or network nodes (not shown) through various types of backhaul interfaces, such as direct physical connections using any suitable transport network, virtual networks, and so forth.

Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity capable of receiving a transmission of data from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and sending a transmission of the data to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that is capable of relaying transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in fig. 1, relay station 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and UE120 d to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE120 d. The relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay base station, a relay, etc.

The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs, such as macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, and the like. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless network 100. For example, the macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while the pico BS, femto BS, and relay BS may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

Network controller 130 may be coupled to a set of BSs and may provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicate with each other, e.g., directly or indirectly via a wireless or wired backhaul.

UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be called an access terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, station, etc. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smartphone), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop, a cordless phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, a biometric sensor/device, a wearable device (smartwatch, smartclothing, smartglasses, a smartwristband, smartjewelry (e.g., smartring, smartbracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicle component or sensor, a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

Some UEs may be considered Machine Type Communication (MTC) or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, a robot, drone, remote device, sensor, meter, monitor, location tag, etc., that may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide connectivity to or from a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the internet or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered internet of things (IoT) devices and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). UE120 may be included within a housing that houses components of UE120, such as a processor component, a memory component, and the like.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequencies may also be referred to as carriers, frequency channels, and the like. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE120 a and UE120 e) may communicate directly using one or more sidelink (sidelink) channels (e.g., without using base station 110 as an intermediary to communicate with each other). For example, the UE120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocol (e.g., which may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol, etc.), mesh networks, and/or the like. In this case, UE120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by base station 110.

In some aspects, base station 110 and/or UE120 may be capable of communicating (e.g., transmitting and/or receiving) using millimeter waves. To improve millimeter-wave communications, base station 110 and/or UE120 may use beamforming to focus a directional millimeter-wave beam. Base station 110 and/or UE120 may use such beams to establish an initial millimeter wave link for control communications, for data communications (e.g., steady state data rate communications, peak data rate communications, etc.), and so on. Beamforming may be achieved by using antenna arrays (e.g., having dimensions of 16x4, 32x4, 32x8, 64x4, 64x8, 128x16, etc.) in combination of antenna elements in the antenna array, such that signals at certain angles experience constructive interference and signals at other angles experience destructive interference. Base station 110 and/or UE120 may use millimeter-wave beams to communicate with other devices (e.g., via BS-to-UE communication, UE-to-UE communication, BS-to-BS communication, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, base station 110 and/or UE120 may use millimeter wave radar to track objects in the vicinity of base station 110 and/or UE120, such as by transmitting millimeter wave signals via one or more beams and monitoring return signals.

As indicated above, fig. 1 is provided by way of example only. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a design 220 of base station 110 and UE120, which base station 110 and UE120 may be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in fig. 1. The base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234T and the UE120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252R, where generally T ≧ 1 and R ≧ 1.

At base station 110, transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from a data source 212, select one or more Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCSs) for each UE based at least in part on a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on a MSC selected for each UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-Static Resource Partition Information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., Primary Synchronization Signals (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS)). A Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T Modulators (MODs) 232a through 232T. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232T may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234T, respectively. According to various aspects described in more detail below, a synchronization signal can be generated along with a position code to convey additional information.

At UE120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive downlink signals from base station 110 and/or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254R, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. The channel processor may determine Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), and the like.

On the uplink, at UE120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information from a controller/processor 280 (e.g., for reporting including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). Transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to base station 110. At base station 110, the uplink signals from UE120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to controller/processor 240. The base station 110 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate to the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. Network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller/processor 290, and a memory 292.

In some aspects, one or more components of UE120 may be included in a housing. Controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE120, and/or any other component of fig. 2 may perform one or more techniques associated with using image processing to assist in beamforming, as described elsewhere herein. For example, controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE120, and/or any other component of fig. 2 may perform or direct the operations of, for example, process 1000 of fig. 10 and/or other processes as described herein. Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for base station 110 and UE120, respectively. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the uplink and/or downlink.

In some aspects, base station 110 and/or UE120 may include means for determining a location of an object relative to a wireless communication device (e.g., base station 110 and/or UE 120), wherein the location is determined based at least in part on processing one or more images including the object; means for configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by a wireless communication device based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device; and means for communicating using the beam, etc. In some aspects, such units may include one or more components of base station 110 and/or UE120 described in conjunction with fig. 2.

As indicated above, fig. 2 is provided as an example only. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 2.

Fig. 3A shows an example frame structure 300 for FDD in a telecommunication system (e.g., NR). The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration and may be divided into a set of Z (Z ≧ 1) subframes (e.g., with indices of 0 through Z-1). Each subframe may include a set of slots (e.g., two slots per subframe are shown in fig. 3A). Each slot may include a set of L symbol periods. For example, each slot may include seven symbol periods (e.g., as shown in fig. 3A), fifteen symbol periods, and so on. In case that a subframe includes two slots, the subframe may include 2L symbol periods, wherein the 2L symbol periods in each subframe may be allocated indexes of 0 to 2L-1. In some aspects, the scheduling units for FDD may be frame-based, subframe-based, slot-based, symbol-based, and the like.

Although some techniques are described herein in connection with frames, subframes, slots, etc., these techniques may be equally applied to other types of wireless communication structures that may be referred to in 5G NR using terms other than "frame," "subframe," "slot," etc. In some aspects, a wireless communication structure may refer to a periodic, sometimes limited, communication unit defined by a wireless communication standard and/or protocol. Additionally or alternatively, configurations of wireless communication structures other than those shown in fig. 3A may be used.

In some telecommunications (e.g., NR), a base station may transmit a synchronization signal. For example, a base station may transmit a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), etc., on a downlink for each cell supported by the base station. The UE may use PSS and SSS for cell search and acquisition. For example, a UE may use PSS to determine symbol timing and SSS to determine a physical cell identifier and frame timing associated with a base station. The base station may also transmit a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). The PBCH may carry some system information, such as system information supporting initial access by the UE.

In some aspects, a base station may transmit a PSS, a SSs, and/or a PBCH according to a synchronization communication hierarchy (e.g., Synchronization Signal (SS) hierarchy) including a plurality of synchronization communications (e.g., SS blocks), as described below in connection with fig. 3B.

Fig. 3B is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example SS hierarchy, which is an example of a synchronous communication hierarchy. As shown in fig. 3B, the SS tier may include a set of SS bursts, which may include a plurality of SS bursts (identified as SS burst 0 through SS burst B-1, where B is the maximum number of repetitions of an SS burst that may be sent by a base station). As further shown, each SS burst may include one or more SS blocks (identified as SS block 0 through SS block (b)_{max_SS-1}) Wherein b is_{max_SS-1}Is the maximum number of SS blocks that can be carried over an SS burst). In some aspects, different SS blocks may be beamformed differently. The set of SS bursts may be transmitted periodically by the wireless node, such as every X milliseconds, as shown in fig. 3B. In some aspects, the set of SS bursts may have a fixed or dynamic length, shown as Y milliseconds in fig. 3B.

The set of SS bursts shown in fig. 3B is an example of a set of synchronous communications, and other sets of synchronous communications may be used in conjunction with the techniques described herein. Further, the SS blocks shown in fig. 3B are examples of synchronous communications, and other synchronous communications may be used in conjunction with the techniques described herein.

In some aspects, SS blocks include resources that carry a PSS, SSs, PBCH, and/or other synchronization signals (e.g., a Third Synchronization Signal (TSS)) and/or synchronization channels. In some aspects, multiple SS blocks are included in an SS burst, and the PSS, SSs, and/or PBCH may be the same across each SS block in the SS burst. In some aspects, a single SS block may be included in an SS burst. In some aspects, an SS block may be at least four symbol periods in length, with each symbol carrying one or more of PSS (e.g., occupying one symbol), SSs (e.g., occupying one symbol), and/or PBCH (e.g., occupying two symbols).

In some aspects, the symbols of the SS blocks are consecutive, as shown in fig. 3B. In some aspects, the symbols of the SS block are discontinuous. Similarly, in some aspects, one or more SS blocks in an SS burst may be transmitted in consecutive radio resources (e.g., consecutive symbol periods) during one or more subframes. Additionally or alternatively, one or more SS blocks in an SS burst may be transmitted in discontinuous radio resources.

In some aspects, an SS burst may have a burst period, whereby SS blocks in the SS burst are transmitted by a base station according to the burst period. That is, the SS blocks may be repeated during each SS burst. In some aspects, the set of SS bursts may have a burst set periodicity, whereby SS bursts in the set of SS bursts are transmitted by the base station according to a fixed burst set periodicity. That is, the SS bursts may be repeated during each set of SS bursts.

The base station may transmit system messages, such as system message blocks (SIBs), on the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes. The base station may send control information/data on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in C symbol periods of a subframe, where B may be configurable for each subframe. The base station may transmit traffic data and/or other data on the PDSCH in the remaining symbol periods of each subframe.

As indicated above, fig. 3A and 3B are provided as examples. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 3A and 3B.

Fig. 4 shows an example subframe format 410 with a normal cyclic prefix. The available time-frequency resources may be divided into resource blocks. Each resource block may cover a set of subcarriers (e.g., 12 subcarriers) in one slot and may include several resource elements. Each resource element may cover one subcarrier in one symbol period (e.g., in time) and may be used to transmit one modulation symbol, which may be real or complex valued. In some aspects, subframe format 410 may be used for transmission of SS blocks carrying PSS, SSs, PBCH, etc., as described herein.

In some telecommunication systems (e.g., NR), an interleaving structure may be used for each of the downlink and uplink for FDD. For example, Q interlaces may be defined with indices of 0 through Q-1, where Q may be equal to 4, 6, 8, 10, or some other value. Each interlace may include subframes spaced apart by Q frames. In particular, interlace Q may include subframes Q, Q + Q, Q +2Q, etc., where Q ∈ {0, …, Q-1 }.

The UE may be located within the coverage of multiple BSs. One of the BSs may be selected to serve the UE. The serving BS may be selected based at least in part on various criteria such as received signal strength, received signal quality, path loss, and the like. The received signal quality may be quantified by a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SNIR), or a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or some other metric. The UE may operate in a dominant interference scenario, in which the UE may observe high interference from one or more interfering BSs.

Although aspects of the examples described herein may be associated with NR or 5G technologies, aspects of the disclosure may be applicable to other wireless communication systems. A New Radio (NR) may refer to a radio configured to operate according to a new air interface (e.g., different from an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) -based air interface) or a fixed transport layer (e.g., different from an Internet Protocol (IP)). In aspects, NR may utilize OFDM with CP (referred to herein as cyclic prefix OFDM or CP-OFDM) and/or SC-FDM on the uplink, CP-OFDM on the downlink, and support for half-duplex operation using TDD. In aspects, the NR may utilize OFDM with CP on the uplink (referred to herein as CP-OFDM) and/or discrete fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM), for example, may utilize CP-OFDM on the downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. NR may include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services targeting wide bandwidths (e.g., 80 megahertz (MHz) and above), millimeter waves (mmW) targeting high carrier frequencies (e.g., 60 gigahertz (GHz)), massive MTC (MTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technologies, and/or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services.

In some aspects, a single component carrier bandwidth of 100MHz may be supported. The NR resource blocks may span 12 subcarriers having a subcarrier bandwidth of 60 or 120 kilohertz (kHz) in a 0.1 millisecond (ms) duration. Each radio frame may include 40 subframes having a length of 10 ms. Thus, each subframe may have a length of 0.25 ms. Each subframe may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL or UL) for data transmission, and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. Each subframe may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control data.

Beamforming may be supported and the beam directions may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configuration in DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmission of up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmission with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. With up to 8 serving cells, aggregation of multiple cells may be supported. Alternatively, the NR may support a different air interface than an OFDM based interface. The NR network may comprise such entities of a central unit or distributed units.

As indicated above, fig. 4 is provided as an example. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 4.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example 500 of wireless communication via one or more beams in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure.

As shown in fig. 5, a first apparatus 505 (e.g., shown as UE120 in example 500, but the first apparatus may be a base station 110) may communicate with a second apparatus 510 (e.g., shown as a base station in example 500, but the second apparatus may be a UE 120) using one or more beams (e.g., which operate in a millimeter wave radio frequency band). The first apparatus 505 and/or the second apparatus 510 may comprise one or more wireless communication devices, such as a base station 110, a UE120, and/or the like. The first apparatus 505 and/or the second apparatus 510 may use beamforming for directional signal transmission and/or reception via a beam, such as by combining elements in an antenna array such that signals at certain angles experience constructive interference and signals at other angles experience destructive interference. Beamforming may be used to improve the performance of millimeter wave communications that are susceptible to propagation loss and diffraction, which may be mitigated by narrowly concentrating the millimeter wave beam.

In some aspects, the first apparatus 505 and the second apparatus 510 may communicate using an active beam 515. In some aspects, the first apparatus 505 and the second apparatus 510 may also be capable of communicating via one or more candidate beams 520. In some aspects, the active beam 515 may be selected from the set of candidate beams 520 by comparing beam parameters (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI, etc.) of the set of candidate beams 520, which may be determined by performing a beam sweep to determine beam parameters of a plurality of beams. For example, the active beam 515 may be the beam having the best beam parameters among all the beams in the set of candidate beams 520 scanned during the beam sweep.

However, determining an active beam 515 for communication (e.g., in a particular direction) may be a time-consuming and power-intensive process that consumes significant device resources (e.g., memory resources, processing resources, antenna resources, etc.) and network resources (e.g., air time resources, frequency resources, etc.). For example, the base station 110 and/or the UE120 may be required to perform beam scanning in a wide range of directions to determine the beam that is used as the active beam 515. Some techniques and apparatuses described herein use computer vision and/or image processing to assist in beamforming (e.g., determining active beam 515). In this way, device resources and/or network resources may be conserved, such as by reducing the number of directions in which beam scanning needs to be performed, allowing beam directions to be determined more quickly, and so forth.

As indicated above, fig. 5 is provided as an example. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 5.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example 600 of using image processing to assist in beamforming in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example 600 is an example of a base station 110 using image processing to assist in beamforming a beam to be used for communicating with a UE120 associated with a vehicle.

As shown in fig. 6, base station 110 may communicate with UE 120. As further shown, the base station 110 may be in communication with a camera 605 and/or an image processor 610. Camera 605 may include, for example, a video camera, a still camera, an infrared camera, a conventional camera, and/or another type of video capture device or image capture device. Camera 605 may obtain one or more images 615 (e.g., a sequence of images forming a video, one or more frames of a video, etc.), and may provide one or more images 615 to image processor 610. Image processor 610 may process one or more images 615 to identify one or more objects in image 615, and/or may determine the location of objects in image 615 (e.g., vehicles, people, UE120, etc.). In some aspects, the camera 605 and/or the image processor 610 may be integrated into the base station 110 and/or co-located with the base station 110 (e.g., mounted on the base station 110). In some aspects, the camera 605 and/or the image processor 610 may be separate from the base station 110 and/or may not be co-located with the base station 110.

As shown by reference numeral 620, the base station 110 can determine the location of the object relative to the base station 110. The location of the object may be determined based at least in part on the results of processing one or more images 615 that include the object. In some aspects (e.g., when base station 110 includes image processor 610), base station 110 may determine the location based at least in part on performing image processing of one or more images 615 to determine a result of the image processing. In some aspects (e.g., when the base station 110 does not include the image processor 610), the base station 110 may determine the location based at least in part on receiving a result of the image processing from another device (e.g., a device that includes the image processor 610). As described in more detail below, the location of the object associated with the UE120 may be used to assist in identifying and/or configuring beams to be used for communicating with the UE 120.

In some aspects, the object may be associated with a UE120 with which the base station 110 is to communicate (e.g., using a beam identified and/or configured based at least in part on the location of the object). For example, the object may comprise a vehicle (e.g., a car, truck, bus, boat, aircraft, etc.), in which case the UE120 may be integrated into the vehicle, communicate with a communication system of the vehicle, attached to the vehicle, carried inside the vehicle, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the object may comprise a person, in which case the UE120 may be carried by the person, worn by the person (e.g., internally or externally), associated with a subscription of the person, and so forth. Additionally or alternatively, the object may include the UE120 (e.g., it may have a different form depending on the type of UE 120). In example 500, the object is a vehicle, but other types of objects are possible.

As shown by reference number 625, in some aspects, the base station 110 may signal to the UE120 the ability of the base station 110 to use the location of the UE120 to assist in beamforming. For example, the capabilities may be signaled in a Master Information Block (MIB), a System Information Block (SIB), a group common PDCCH, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, Downlink Control Information (DCI), sidelink (sidelink) control information (SCI), and so on.

Additionally or alternatively, base station 110 may request tracking information associated with UE120 from UE120 to assist in determining the location of UE120 from image 615. The tracking information may indicate, for example, a location of the UE120 (e.g., using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, etc.), a velocity of the UE120 in movement, an acceleration of the UE120, a direction of the UE120 in movement, visible characteristics of the UE120 and/or objects associated with the UE120, a time at which the tracking information was obtained and/or transmitted, etc. The visible characteristics may include, for example, a color of a vehicle associated with the UE120, a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, a license plate number of the vehicle, a visible code associated with the vehicle (e.g., a barcode, a QR code, etc.), a picture of a person associated with the UE120, a color of clothing worn by the person, etc. The tracking information may be used to identify objects in the image 615 and/or associate objects with the UE120 so that beamforming may be performed by tracking the objects.

As shown by reference numeral 630, UE120 may transmit and base station 110 may receive tracking information. In some aspects, the base station 110 may use the tracking information to determine and/or store an association between an object and the UE120 with which the base station 110 is to communicate using the beam. For example, base station 110 may use the location reported by UE120 and the location of the object in image 615 (e.g., at a particular time or within a time period) to determine that the object is associated with UE120 (e.g., because the object and UE120 are located at the same location or within a threshold proximity of the same location at the same time or within a threshold time period). Similarly, the base station 110 may use the velocity, acceleration, and/or direction of movement reported by the UE and the velocity, acceleration, and/or direction of movement determined for the object (e.g., using image processing across the plurality of images 615 over time) to determine that the object is associated with the UE 120. Additionally or alternatively, the base station 110 may use the visible characteristics of the object reported by the UE120 and the visible characteristics of the object observed in the image 615 to determine that the object is associated with the UE 120. Base station 110 may use a single factor described above or a combination of factors described above to associate an object with UE 120.

As shown by reference number 635, the base station 110 can configure at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by the base station 110 based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the base station 110. In some aspects, base station 110 may configure beams based at least in part on the location of the object relative to base station 110. For example, the base station 110 may configure the beam by forming the beam, selecting an active beam from a plurality of candidate beams, switching to a different beam, configuring and/or modifying one or more beam parameters of the beam (e.g., transmit power of one or more antenna elements, phase of a signal transmitted by one or more antenna elements thereon, amplitude of a signal transmitted by one or more antenna elements thereon, transmission direction of an antenna array, etc.), configuring and/or modifying a direction of the beam, etc. In some aspects, the base station 110 may configure a transmit (Tx) beam to be used by the base station 110 to transmit (e.g., to the UE 120) information. Additionally or alternatively, the base station 110 may configure a receive (Rx) beam to be used by the base station 110 to receive information (e.g., from the UE 120).

In some aspects, the base station 110 may configure the beam to improve the speed, quality, reliability, etc., of communications with the UE120 via the beam. For example, base station 110 may configure a beam in the direction of UE120 (to point at the location of UE120 and/or a location where UE120 would be predicted from velocity, acceleration, direction of movement, etc.) based at least in part on determining the location of an object associated with UE120 relative to base station 110. In this way, communication between UE120 and base station 110 may be improved.

In some aspects, base station 110 may further improve communications by signaling to UE120 a beam configuration to be used by UE120 to communicate with base station 110. Base station 110 may determine a beam configuration to be used by UE120 based at least in part on a location of an object associated with UE120 relative to base station 110. In some aspects, signaling a beam configuration may include indicating an active beam to select from a plurality of candidate beams, indicating a beam to switch to, indicating one or more beam parameters to use for a beam, indicating a direction to use for a beam, and so on. In some aspects, the base station 110 may transmit a beam configuration for a transmit (Tx) beam to be used by the UE120 to transmit information (e.g., to the base station 110). Additionally or alternatively, the base station 110 may transmit a beam configuration for a receive (Rx) beam to be used by the UE120 to receive information (e.g., from the base station 110).

In some aspects, base station 110 may configure beam scanning characteristics based at least in part on the location of the object relative to base station 110. The beam scanning characteristics may be used to identify the beam to be used by the base station 110. For example, the beam scanning characteristics may include a first range of directions to scan, a second range of directions not to scan, a frequency to scan the beam in one or more directions, and so on. In some aspects, the base station 110 may determine a location of the object and may scan beams more frequently in a first direction toward the location and may scan beams less frequently in a second direction not toward the location. In some aspects, the base station 110 may scan beams more frequently in a direction toward an object identified in the image 615 and may scan beams less frequently in a direction not toward the object identified in the image 615. In this way, the base station 110 may reduce the amount of time required to identify a beam, may save device resources and network resources associated with beamforming and/or beam scanning, etc.

In some aspects, base stations 110 may communicate using beams. For example, base station 110 may communicate with UE120 via a beam. This communication may include, for example, transmitting information to UE120 via the beam and/or receiving information from UE120 via the beam. By using image processing to determine a location of an object associated with UE120, and using the location to assist in beamforming, base station 110 and UE120 may quickly establish communication via a beam, speed, quality, and/or reliability of communication may be improved, device resources (e.g., of base station 110 and/or UE 120) associated with beamforming may be conserved, and so forth.

In some aspects, base station 110 may reconfigure beams and/or beam scanning characteristics (e.g., after initial configuration) by performing one or more operations described herein. For example, base station 110 may reconfigure beams and/or beam scanning characteristics to UE120 and/or object movement associated with UE 120. In this case, base station 110 may, for example, determine an updated location of the object, and may reconfigure the beams and/or beam scanning characteristics based at least in part on the updated location, in a similar manner as described above. In this way, the base station 110 may efficiently configure beams to maintain a connection with the UE 120.

As indicated above, fig. 6 is provided as an example. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 6.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example 700 of using image processing to assist in beamforming in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example 700 is an example of a base station 110 using image processing to assist in beamforming a beam to be used for communicating with a UE120 associated with a person.

As shown in fig. 7, base station 110 may communicate with UE 120. As further shown, the base station 110 may be in communication with a camera 605 and/or an image processor 610, the image processor 610 capturing and/or analyzing one or more images 705, as described above in connection with fig. 6.

As shown by reference numeral 710, the base station 110 may determine a location of the object relative to the base station 110, as described above in connection with fig. 6. In example 700, the object is a person, but other types of objects are possible.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may signal to the UE120 the ability of the base station 110 to use the location of the UE120 to assist in beamforming, as described above in connection with fig. 6. Additionally or alternatively, base station 110 may request tracking information associated with UE120 from UE120 to assist in determining the location of UE120 from image 705, as described above in connection with fig. 6. In some aspects, UE120 may transmit and base station 110 may receive tracking information, as described above in connection with fig. 6.

As shown by reference numeral 715, the base station 110 can configure at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristic based at least in part on a location of the object relative to the base station 110, as described above in connection with fig. 6. Additionally or alternatively, base station 110 may signal to UE120 a beam configuration to be used by UE120 to communicate with base station 110, as described above in connection with fig. 6.

As shown by reference number 720, the base station 110 may use beams for communication as described above in connection with fig. 6. By using image processing to determine a location of an object associated with UE120, and using the location to assist in beamforming, base station 110 and UE120 may quickly establish communication via a beam, speed, instruction, and/or reliability of communication may be improved, device resources (e.g., of base station 110 and/or UE 120) associated with beamforming may be conserved, and/or the like.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may reconfigure beam and/or beam scanning characteristics, as described above in connection with fig. 6. In this way, the base station 110 may efficiently configure beams to maintain a connection with the UE 120.

As indicated above, fig. 7 is provided as an example. Other examples may be different than described with respect to fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example 800 of using image processing to assist in beamforming in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example 800 is an example of a first UE120 using image processing to assist in beamforming a beam to be used for communicating with a second UE 120. In the example 800, the first UE120 and the second UE120 are associated with a vehicle. In some aspects, the first UE120 and/or the second UE120 may be associated with another type of object, such as a person.

As shown in fig. 8, a first UE120 may communicate with one or more other UEs 120, which one or more other UEs 120 may include a second UE 120. As further shown, the first UE120 may be in communication with the camera 805 and/or the image processor 810. The camera 805 may include, for example, a video camera, a still camera, an infrared camera, a conventional camera, and/or another type of video capture device or image capture device. The camera 805 may obtain one or more images 815 (e.g., a sequence of images forming a video, one or more frames of a video, etc.), and may provide the one or more images 815 to the image processor 810. The image processor 810 may process the one or more images 815 to identify one or more objects in the images 815 and/or may determine the location of the objects (e.g., vehicle, person, UE120, etc.) in the images 815. In some aspects, the camera 805 and/or the image processor 810 may be integrated into the first UE120 and/or an object associated with the first UE120, and/or co-located with the first UE120 and/or an object associated with the first UE120 (e.g., mounted on the first UE120 and/or an object such as a vehicle). In some aspects, camera 805 and/or image processor 810 may be separate from first UE120 and/or an object associated with first UE120, and/or may not be co-located with first UE120 and/or an object associated with first UE 120.

As shown by reference numeral 820, the first UE120 may determine the location of the object relative to the first UE120, in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6. In some aspects (e.g., when the first UE120 includes the image processor 810), the first UE120 may determine the location based at least in part on a result of performing image processing on the one or more images 815 to determine image processing. In some aspects (e.g., when first UE120 does not include image processor 810), first UE120 may determine the location based at least in part on receiving results of the image processing from another device (e.g., a device that includes image processor 810). In some aspects, the object may be associated with a second UE120 with which the first UE120 is to communicate. For example, the object may include a vehicle, a person, the second UE120, etc., as described above in connection with fig. 6. In example 800, the object is a vehicle, but other types of objects are possible.

In some aspects, first UE120 may signal to second UE120 the ability of first UE120 to use the location of second UE120 to assist in beamforming, in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6. Additionally or alternatively, first UE120 may request tracking information associated with second UE120 from second UE120 to assist in determining the location of second UE120 from image 815, in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6. In some aspects, the second UE120 may transmit and the first UE120 may receive the tracking information in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6.

As shown by reference numeral 825, the first UE120 may configure at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristic based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the first UE120, in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6. Additionally or alternatively, first UE120 may signal to second UE120 a beam configuration to be used by second UE120 to communicate with first UE120, in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6.

The first UE120 may communicate using beams in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6. By using image processing to determine a location of an object associated with second UE120, and using the location to assist in beamforming, first UE120 and second UE120 may quickly establish communication via a beam, speed, quality, and/or reliability of communication may be improved, device resources (e.g., of first UE120 and/or second UE 120) associated with beamforming may be conserved, and/or the like.

In some aspects, the first UE120 may reconfigure the beam and/or beam scanning characteristics in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6. In this way, the first UE120 may efficiently configure the beam to maintain the connection with the second UE 120.

As indicated above, fig. 8 is provided as an example. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 8.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example 900 of using image processing to assist in beamforming in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example 900 is an example of UE120 using image processing to assist in beamforming a beam to be used for millimeter wave radar.

As shown in fig. 9, UE120 may use millimeter wave radar to detect one or more objects (e.g., for collision avoidance, driving control, etc.). As further shown, the UE120 may be in communication with the camera 805 and/or an image processor 810, the image processor 810 capturing and/or analyzing one or more images 905, in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6-8.

As shown by reference number 910, UE120 may determine the location of the object relative to UE120 in a similar manner as described above in connection with fig. 6-8. In some aspects, the object may include a vehicle, a person, an animal, a stationary object (e.g., a building, a traffic sign, a traffic signal, etc.), and the like. In example 900, the object is a person, but other types of objects are possible.

As shown by reference numeral 915, UE120 can configure at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristic based at least in part on a location of an object relative to UE 120. In some aspects, the beam is a millimeter wave radar beam for millimeter wave radar. For example, UE120 may use millimeter-wave radar beams to track objects in the vicinity of UE120, such as by transmitting millimeter-wave signals via one or more beams and monitoring return signals.

In this case, the UE120 may configure the beam and/or beam scanning characteristics by configuring a rate of transmission of the millimeter wave radar beam. For example, UE120 may configure millimeter wave radar beam transmissions to occur more frequently in one or more directions toward the location of the object and/or may configure millimeter wave radar beam transmissions to occur less frequently in one or more directions away from the location of the object. In this way, the UE120 may respond to the object faster (e.g., for collision avoidance).

Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may configure the beam and/or beam scanning characteristics by configuring a width of the millimeter wave radar beam. For example, UE120 may configure a narrower millimeter wave radar beam in one or more directions toward the location of the object and/or may configure a wider millimeter wave radar beam in one or more directions not toward the location of the object. In this way, UE120 may obtain more accurate radar images in the location of interest (e.g., for collision avoidance).

Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may configure the beam and/or beam scanning characteristics by configuring the direction of the millimeter wave radar beam. For example, UE120 may configure transmission of millimeter wave radar beams in one or more directions toward the location of the object and/or may not configure transmission of millimeter wave radar beams in one or more directions not toward the location of the object. In this way, UE120 may focus the millimeter wave radar beam toward a direction of interest (e.g., for collision avoidance). Furthermore, by configuring millimeter wave radar beams in fewer than omni-directional directions, resources of UE120 (e.g., processor resources, memory resources, battery power, etc.) may be conserved.

Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may configure the beam and/or beam scanning characteristics by configuring signal characteristics and/or signal frequencies of the millimeter wave radar beam. For example, the UE120 may configure millimeter wave radar beams having different frequencies for different types of objects (e.g., a first frequency for people, a second frequency for cars, a third frequency for trucks, etc.), which may result in better radar imaging. Additionally or alternatively, the UE120 may configure millimeter wave radar beams having different phases, different amplitudes, etc. for different types of objects, which may result in better radar imaging.

UE120 may communicate using the millimeter-wave radar beam, such as by transmitting one or more millimeter-wave signals via the millimeter-wave radar beam and monitoring for return signals. By using image processing to determine the location of the object and using the location to assist in beamforming and/or transmission of millimeter wave radar beams, UE120 may improve the speed, quality, and/or reliability of millimeter wave radar, may conserve device resources (e.g., of UE 120) associated with beamforming and/or transmitting millimeter wave radar beams, may improve collision avoidance, and/or the like.

As indicated above, fig. 9 is provided as an example. Other examples may be different than that described with respect to fig. 9.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example process 1000, e.g., performed by a wireless communication device, in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. Example process 1000 is an example of a wireless communication device (e.g., base station 110, UE120, etc.) using image processing to assist in beamforming.

As shown in fig. 10, in some aspects, process 1000 may include determining a location of an object relative to a wireless communication device, where the location is determined based at least in part on results of processing one or more images including the object (block 1010). For example, the wireless communication device (e.g., using controller/processor 240, controller/processor 280, etc.) may determine the location of the object relative to the wireless communication device, as described above in connection with fig. 6-9. In some aspects, the location is determined based at least in part on results of processing one or more images including the object.

As further illustrated in fig. 10, in some aspects process 1000 may include configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by a wireless communication device based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device (block 1020). For example, the wireless communication device (e.g., using controller/processor 240, controller/processor 280, etc.) may configure at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristics for identifying a beam to be used by the wireless communication device based at least in part on the location of the object relative to the wireless communication device, as described above in connection with fig. 6-9.

As further illustrated in fig. 10, in some aspects process 1000 may include communicating using beams (block 1030). For example, wireless communication devices (e.g., using transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, MOD/DEMOD 232, antenna 234, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, antenna 252, MOD/DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, controller/processor 280, etc.) may communicate using beams as described above in connection with fig. 6-9.

Process 1000 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect described below or any combination of aspects described below.

In some aspects, the object is associated with a user device with which the wireless communication device is to communicate via the beam. In some aspects, the beam is associated with a millimeter wave radar beam for millimeter wave radar. In some aspects, configuring at least one of the beam or beam scanning characteristics comprises at least one of: a rate of transmission of the millimeter-wave radar beam is configured, a width of the millimeter-wave radar beam is configured, a direction of the millimeter-wave radar beam is configured, a signal characteristic of the millimeter-wave radar beam is configured, a signal frequency of the millimeter-wave radar beam is configured, or some combination thereof.

In some aspects, a wireless communication device may signal to a User Equipment (UE) associated with an object a capability of the wireless communication device to use a location of the UE to assist in beamforming. In some aspects, a wireless communication device may determine an association between an object and a user device with which the wireless communication device will communicate via a beam. In some aspects, the association is determined based at least in part on at least one of: the location of the object and the location reported by the UE, the velocity of the object and the velocity reported by the UE, the acceleration of the object and the acceleration reported by the UE, the direction of movement of the object and the direction reported by the UE, a visible characteristic detected for the object in one or more images and an indication of the visible characteristic of the object reported by the UE, or some combination thereof. In some aspects, the location reported by the UE includes global positioning system data.

In some aspects, the wireless communication device may determine an updated location associated with the object and reconfigure at least one of the beam or beam scanning characteristics based at least in part on the updated location. In some aspects, using a beam for communication includes transmitting information to or receiving information from a User Equipment (UE) via the beam. In some aspects, a wireless communication device may signal a beam configuration for a UE based at least in part on a location of an object relative to the wireless communication device.

In some aspects, the location is determined based at least in part on at least one of: global Positioning System (GPS) data received from a user device associated with the object, a velocity associated with the object, an acceleration associated with the object, a direction in which the object is moving, a visible characteristic of the object, or some combination thereof. In some aspects, the object comprises at least one of: a user device, a vehicle, a person, or some combination thereof.

In some aspects, the one or more images are one or more frames of a video. In some aspects, one or more images are processed by a wireless communication device. In some aspects, the results of processing the one or more images are received by the wireless communication device from another device that processes the one or more images.

In some aspects, configuring at least one of the beam or beam scanning characteristics comprises at least one of: modifying one or more beam parameters, modifying a direction of a beam, modifying a rate of radar transmissions sent in the direction of a beam, switching to a different beam, or some combination thereof. In some aspects, configuring at least one of a beam or beam scanning characteristic comprises: the beam is scanned more frequently in a first direction toward the location than in a second direction not toward the location.

In some aspects, the wireless communication device is a base station. In some aspects, the wireless communication device is a user equipment.

Although fig. 10 shows example blocks of the process 1000, in some aspects the process 1000 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in fig. 10. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of process 1000 may be performed in parallel.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit aspects to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of various aspects.

As used herein, the term "component" is intended to be broadly interpreted as hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software.

Some aspects are described herein in connection with a threshold. As used herein, satisfying a threshold may refer to a value that is greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, and the like.

It will be apparent that the systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented in various forms of hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement the systems and/or methods is not limited in all respects. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to the specific software code-it being understood that software and hardware may be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein.

Although particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of possible aspects. Indeed, many of these features may be combined in ways not explicitly recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosure of possible aspects includes each dependent claim in combination with all other claims in the set of claims. A phrase referring to "at least one of a list of items" refers to any combination of these items, including a single member. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination of multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c, or any other permutation of a, b, and c).

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. In addition, as used herein, the articles "a" and "an" are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with "one or more". Further, as used herein, the terms "set" and "group" are intended to include one or more items (e.g., related items, unrelated items, combinations of related and unrelated items, etc.) and may be used interchangeably with "one or more. Where only one item is intended, the term "only one" or similar language is used. Further, as used herein, the terms "having", "containing", and the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based, at least in part, on" unless explicitly stated otherwise.