IP Library Granted Patent US 12,526,036
Granted Patent B2
US 12,526,036 · App. 18/792,674 · Granted Jan 13, 2026

Method and apparatus for beam alignment using direction of attention

Inventors: Young-Hoon Kim (Daejeon, KR); Seon-Ae Kim (Daejeon, KR)
Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
H04B7/086H04B7/06958H04W36/06H04W72/046
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,526,036
App. No.
18/792,674
Granted
Jan 13, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method of a transmitting node may comprise: exchanging, with a receiving node, configuration information for beam direction search; generating DoA measurement request frames based on the configuration information; transmitting the DoA measurement request frames to the receiving node through a coarse beam in a partitioned area selected among partitioned areas within a beam search range, in a transmission occasion of the DoA measurement request frames based on the configuration information; receiving a DoA measurement response message from the receiving node; identifying whether the receiving node is located within the selected partitioned area based on DoA information included in the DoA measurement response message; and in response to the receiving node being located within the selected partitioned area, changing a beam direction for beam alignment based on the DoA information.

Claims (51)

1 . A method of a transmitting node, comprising:

exchanging, with a receiving node, configuration information for beam direction search;

generating direction of attention (DoA) measurement request frames based on the configuration information;

transmitting the DoA measurement request frames to the receiving node through a coarse beam in a partitioned area selected among partitioned areas within a beam search range, in a transmission occasion of the DoA measurement request frames based on the configuration information;

receiving a DoA measurement response message from the receiving node;

identifying whether the receiving node is located within the selected partitioned area based on DoA information included in the DoA measurement response message; and

in response to the receiving node being located within the selected partitioned area, changing a beam direction for beam alignment based on the DoA information,

wherein the DoA information includes a DoA measurement value obtained by measuring correlations with sequences included in the DoA measurement request frames and a relative direction value indicating a misaligned direction of the DoA measurement request frames.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration information further includes at least one of a number of the partitioned areas within the beam search range, information on a first partitioned area in which the DoA measurement request frames are to be transmitted, or information on partitioned area selection criteria.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration information further includes global positioning system (GPS) location information of the transmitting node and GPS location information of the receiving node.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein when the DoA measurement value is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the receiving node is determined to be located within the selected partitioned area.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the changing of the beam direction for beam alignment comprises:

mapping the DoA measurement value to previously-stored relative angle(s);

in response to two mapped relative angles existing, determining a direction of a relative angle using the relative direction value included in the DoA information; and

adjusting the beam direction by the relative angle of the determined direction from a beam direction in which the DoA measurement request frames are transmitted.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the generating of the DoA measurement request frames comprises:

generating a first signal, a second signal, and a third signal for transmission to a partitioned area within the beam search range; and

generating the DoA measurement request frames by mapping the first signal to frequency resources of a first symbol, and equally mapping the second signal and the third signal to frequency resources of the second symbol.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the first symbol and the second symbol are consecutive symbols, the second signal is mapped to odd-numbered frequency resources of the second symbol, and the third signal is mapped to even-numbered frequency resources of the second symbol.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the DoA measurement request frames are respectively transmitted through a first beam transmitted to a center of the selected partitioned area, a second beam deviated by a predetermined angle to a right of the first beam within the selected partitioned area, and a third beam deviated by the predetermined angle to a left of the first beam within the selected partitioned area.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting information on the changed beam direction to the receiving node.

10 . A method of a receiving node, comprising:

exchanging, with a transmitting node, configuration information for beam direction search;

receiving direction of attention (DoA) measurement request frames through a coarse beam in an occasion based on the configuration information;

calculating a DoA measurement value obtained by measuring the received DoA measurement request frames and a relative direction value indicating a misaligned direction of the DoA measurement request frames;

transmitting a DoA measurement response message including the DoA measurement value and the relative direction value to the transmitting node; and

communicating with the transmitting node based on the DoA measurement response message.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving, from the transmitting node, beam direction information for the communication; and

performing reception beamforming to receive a first signal from the transmitting node and transmission beamforming to transmit a second signal to the transmitting node based on the beam direction information.

12 . A transmitting node comprising at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor causes the transmitting node to perform:

exchanging, with a receiving node, configuration information for beam direction search;

generating direction of attention (DoA) measurement request frames based on the configuration information;

transmitting the DoA measurement request frames to the receiving node through a coarse beam in a partitioned area selected among partitioned areas within a beam search range, in a transmission occasion of the DoA measurement request frames based on the configuration information;

receiving a DoA measurement response message from the receiving node;

identifying whether the receiving node is located within the selected partitioned area based on DoA information included in the DoA measurement response message; and

in response to the receiving node being located within the selected partitioned area, changing a beam direction for beam alignment based on the DoA information,

wherein the DoA information includes a DoA measurement value obtained by measuring correlations with sequences included in the DoA measurement request frames and a relative direction value indicating a misaligned direction of the DoA measurement request frames.

13 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein the configuration information further includes at least one of a number of the partitioned areas within the beam search range, information on a first partitioned area in which the DoA measurement request frames are to be transmitted, or information on partitioned area selection criteria.

14 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein the configuration information further includes global positioning system (GPS) location information of the transmitting node and GPS location information of the receiving node.

15 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor further causes the transmitting node to perform: in response to the DoA measurement value being equal to or greater than a preset threshold, determining that the receiving node is located within the selected partitioned area.

16 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein in the changing of the beam direction for beam alignment, the at least one processor further causes the transmitting node to perform:

mapping the DoA measurement value to previously-stored relative angle(s);

in response to two mapped relative angles existing, determining a direction of a relative angle using the relative direction value included in the DoA information; and

adjusting the beam direction by the relative angle of the determined direction from a beam direction in which the DoA measurement request frames are transmitted.

17 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein in the generating of the DoA measurement request frames, the at least one processor further causes the transmitting node to perform:

generating a first signal, a second signal, and a third signal for transmission to a partitioned area within the beam search range; and

generating the DoA measurement request frames by mapping the first signal to frequency resources of a first symbol, and equally mapping the second signal and the third signal to frequency resources of the second symbol.

18 . The transmitting node according to claim 17 , wherein the first symbol and the second symbol are consecutive symbols, the second signal is mapped to odd-numbered frequency resources of the second symbol, and the third signal is mapped to even-numbered frequency resources of the second symbol.

19 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein the DoA measurement request frames are respectively transmitted through a first beam transmitted to a center of the selected partitioned area, a second beam deviated by a predetermined angle to a right of the first beam within the selected partitioned area, and a third beam deviated by the predetermined angle to a left of the first beam within the selected partitioned area.

20 . The transmitting node according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor further causes the transmitting node to perform: transmitting information on the changed beam direction to the receiving node.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 2, 2024
From: KIM, YOUNG-HOON; KIM, SEON-AE
To: ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Reel/Frame 068161/0222 →
Priority Claims (2)
KR 10-2023-0100984 · Aug 2, 2023 · national
KR 10-2024-0095920 · Jul 19, 2024 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20250047360A1 · Feb 6, 2025
References Cited (17)
US 9413441B2 · Kim et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9839047B2 · Kwon et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9941586B2 · Seol et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10236946B2 · Park et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10314003B2 · Wang · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10966181B2 · Gheorghiu et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11245442B1 · Foo et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 12057919B2 · Horn · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 12066555B1 · Busser · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 12164044B2 · Smith · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 20140070996A1 · Kneckt · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20150341090A1 · Oh et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20210184744A1 · Pezeshki · 2021 [cited by examiner]
CN 116224216A · 2023 [cited by applicant]
KR 1020210124660A · 2021 [cited by applicant]
Byung-Jae Kwak et al., “Random Jitter Beamforming for Point-And-Link Communications”, 2012 IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP), pp. 496-499, Aug. 5-8, 2012. [cited by applicant]
Junyi Wang et al., “Beam Codebook Based Beamforming Protocol for Multi-Gbps Millimeter-Wave WPAN Systems”, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 27, No. 8, pp. 1390-1399, Oct. 2009. [cited by applicant]