Method and apparatus for pdsch transmission performed by node and user equipment in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G communication system or a 6G communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4G communication system such as long term evolution (LTE). The present disclosure provides a node and a user equipment in a wireless communication system and methods performed by the same. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system includes: receiving, from a first node, first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and receiving, from the first node, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots, wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PDSCH TRANSMISSION PERFORMED BY NODE AND USER EQUIPMENT IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a technical field of wireless communication, and more specifically, to a node and a user equipment in a wireless communication system and methods performed by the same.

[0002] Considering the development of wireless communication from generation to generation, the technologies have been developed mainly for services targeting humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. Following the commercialization of 5G (5th-generation) communication systems, it is expected that the number of connected devices will exponentially grow. Increasingly, these will be connected to communication networks. Examples of connected things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machines, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various form-factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the 6G (6th-generation) era, there have been ongoing efforts to develop improved 6G communication systems. For these reasons, 6G communication systems are referred to as beyond-5G systems.

[0003] 6G communication systems, which are expected to be commercialized around 2030, will have a peak data rate of tera (1,000 giga)-level bps and a radio latency less than 100μsec, and thus will be 50 times as fast as 5G communication systems and have the 1 / 10 radio latency thereof.

[0004] In order to accomplish such a high data rate and an ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in a terahertz band (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands). It is expected that, due to severer path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz bands than those in mmWave bands introduced in 5G, technologies capable of securing the signal transmission distance (that is, coverage) will become more crucial. It is necessary to develop, as major technologies for securing the coverage, radio frequency (RF) elements, antennas, novel waveforms having a better coverage than orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multiantenna transmission technologies such as large-scale antennas. In addition, there has been ongoing discussion on new technologies for improving the coverage of terahertz-band signals, such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).

[0005] Moreover, in order to improve the spectral efficiency and the overall network performances, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: a full-duplex technology for enabling an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resource at the same time; a network technology for utilizing satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and the like in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and enabling network operation optimization and automation and the like; a dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on a prediction of spectrum usage; an use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wireless communication for improvement of overall network operation by utilizing AI from a designing phase for developing 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and a next-generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limit of UE computing ability through reachable super-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as mobile edge computing (MEC), clouds, and the like) over the network. In addition, through designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing a hardware-based security environment and safe use of data, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, attempts to strengthen the connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote softwarization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communications are continuing.

[0006] It is expected that research and development of 6G communication systems in hyper-connectivity, including person to machine (P2M) as well as machine to machine (M2M), will allow the next hyper-connected experience. Particularly, it is expected that services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram, and digital replica could be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery for security and reliability enhancement, industrial automation, and emergency response will be provided through the 6G communication system such that the technologies could be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles, and home appliances.

[0007] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, which includes: receiving, from a first node, first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and receiving, from the first node, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots, wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

[0008] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the third information includes the number M of the reference signals, where M satisfies any one of: M = 1; 1 < M < N; M = N, where N is the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0009] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a symbol interval of the reference signals, the symbol interval includes at least one of: the number of symbols between two adjacent reference signals; the number of symbols used for the PDSCH transmission between two adjacent reference signals.

[0010] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a first mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode includes at least one of: determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a 1st reference signal among the reference signals based on a first symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the first symbol location is a symbol location of the 1st reference signal among the reference signals in a 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; or determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a last reference signal among the reference signals based on a second symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the second symbol location is a symbol location of the last reference signal among the reference signals in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission.

[0011] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first time domain interval is determined based on a first number of symbols and the number of the reference signals, wherein the first number of symbols includes at least one of: the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol for the PDSCH transmission in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to the second symbol location; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a previous symbol location of a 1st reference signal in a 1st slot for a next scheduled PDSCH transmission; an accumulated sum of the number of symbols for the PDSCH transmission in the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0012] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the 1st slot; a C-th symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission, where C is an integer greater than 1; and wherein the second symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the last slot; an E-th symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission, where E is an integer greater than 1.

[0013] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in a case that the symbol location of the first reference signal among the reference signals conflicts with other channels or signals, the determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode further includes at least one of: determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal; determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal, determining a second time domain interval based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and the determined symbol location, and determining symbol locations of reference signals after the first reference signal based on the second time domain interval; determining symbol locations of the first reference signal and reference signals after the first reference signal based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and a third time domain interval, wherein the third time domain interval is included in the fourth information or determined based on the first time domain interval.

[0014] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a slot interval, wherein the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a second mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the second mode includes determining at least one of the following as slots occupied by the reference signals: a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and the number of the reference signals; a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and a slot interval of the reference signals; a 1st slot where the PDSCH transmission is restarted in a case that the PDSCH transmission is interrupted.

[0015] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in each of the slots occupied by the reference signals, the symbol locations of the reference signals include at least one of: a 1st symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the slot; an F-th symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot, where F is an integer greater than 1.

[0016] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a frequency domain pattern of the reference signals includes: for one reference signal, using J code division multiplexing (CDM) groups and an orthogonal cover code (OCC) with a frequency domain length of K, where J and K are positive integers, and a product of J and K is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0017] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a resource element (RE) location start offset of a reference signal having an even reference signal index among the reference signals and a RE location start offset of a reference signal having an odd reference signal index among the reference signals are different for a same antenna port.

[0018] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: performing measurement on a channel used for transmitting the PDSCH transmission; and transmitting a measurement result of the measurement to the first node, wherein the first information is determined based on the measurement result.

[0019] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: receiving a channel state information (CSI) report configuration related to the measurement result from the first node, wherein the CSI report configuration includes indication information related to quantization of the measurement result, wherein the indication information includes information related to at least one of: one or more quantization levels used to quantize the measurement result, one or more threshold ranges corresponding to the one or more quantization levels, the number of the one or more quantization levels, and a quantization mode of the measurement result.

[0020] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the measurement result includes a time domain measurement result obtained based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for time domain measurement received from the first node, wherein the time domain measurement result is determined based on a correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first time unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second time unit.

[0021] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first time unit and the second time unit are two different time units among all time units occupied by the CSI-RSs.

[0022] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the measurement result includes a frequency domain measurement result obtained based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for frequency domain measurement received from the first node, wherein the frequency domain measurement result is determined based on a correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first frequency domain unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second frequency domain unit.

[0023] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first frequency domain unit and the second frequency domain unit are two different frequency domain units among all frequency domain units occupied by the CSI-RSs.

[0024] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the CSI report configuration further includes a target quantization level, wherein the measurement result includes identification information of resources the quantization level of whose measurement value meets the target quantization level.

[0025] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, which includes: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and transmitting, to the UE, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots, wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

[0026] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the third information includes the number M of the reference signals, where M satisfies any one of: M = 1; 1 < M < N; M = N, where N is the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0027] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a symbol interval of the reference signals, the symbol interval includes at least one of: the number of symbols between two adjacent reference signals; the number of symbols used for the PDSCH transmission between two adjacent reference signals.

[0028] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a first mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode includes at least one of: determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a 1st reference signal among the reference signals based on a first symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the first symbol location is a symbol location of the 1st reference signal among the reference signals in a 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; or determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a last reference signal among the reference signals based on a second symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the second symbol location is a symbol location of the last reference signal among the reference signals in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission.

[0029] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first time domain interval is determined based on a first number of symbols and the number of the reference signals, wherein the first number of symbols includes at least one of: the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol for the PDSCH transmission in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to the second symbol location; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a previous symbol location of a 1st reference signal in a 1st slot for a next scheduled PDSCH transmission; an accumulated sum of the number of symbols for the PDSCH transmission in the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0030] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the 1st slot; a C-th symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission, where C is an integer greater than 1; and wherein the second symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the last slot; an E-th symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission, where E is an integer greater than 1.

[0031] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in a case that the symbol location of the first reference signal among the reference signals conflicts with other channels or signals, the determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode further includes at least one of: determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal; determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal, determining a second time domain interval based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and the determined symbol location, and determining symbol locations of reference signals after the first reference signal based on the second time domain interval; determining symbol locations of the first reference signal and reference signals after the first reference signal based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and a third time domain interval, wherein the third time domain interval is included in the fourth information or determined based on the first time domain interval.

[0032] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a slot interval, wherein the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a second mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the second mode includes determining at least one of the following as slots occupied by the reference signals: a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and the number of the reference signals; a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and a slot interval of the reference signals; a 1st slot where the PDSCH transmission is restarted in a case that the PDSCH transmission is interrupted.

[0033] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in each of the slots occupied by the reference signals, the symbol locations of the reference signals include at least one of: a 1st symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the slot; an F-th symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot, where F is an integer greater than 1.

[0034] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a frequency domain pattern of the reference signals includes: for one reference signal, using J code division multiplexing (CDM) groups and an orthogonal cover code (OCC) with a frequency domain length of K, where J and K are positive integers, and a product of J and K is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0035] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a resource element (RE) location start offset of a reference signal having an even reference signal index among the reference signals and a RE location start offset of a reference signal having an odd reference signal index among the reference signals are different for a same antenna port.

[0036] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: receiving a measurement result of a measurement performed on a channel used for transmitting the PDSCH transmission from the UE, wherein the first information is determined based on the measurement result.

[0037] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report configuration related to the measurement result to the UE, wherein the CSI report configuration includes indication information related to quantization of the measurement result, wherein the indication information includes information related to at least one of: one or more quantization levels used to quantize the measurement result, one or more threshold ranges corresponding to the one or more quantization levels, the number of the one or more quantization levels, and a quantization mode of the measurement result.

[0038] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the measurement result includes a time domain measurement result obtained based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for time domain measurement received from the first node, wherein the time domain measurement result is determined based on a correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first time unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second time unit.

[0039] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first time unit and the second time unit are two different time units among all time units occupied by the CSI-RSs.

[0040] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the measurement result includes a frequency domain measurement result obtained based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for frequency domain measurement received from the first node, wherein the frequency domain measurement result is determined based on a correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first frequency domain unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second frequency domain unit.

[0041] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first frequency domain unit and the second frequency domain unit are two different frequency domain units among all frequency domain units occupied by the CSI-RSs.

[0042] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the CSI report configuration further includes a target quantization level, wherein the measurement result includes identification information of resources the quantization level of whose measurement value meets the target quantization level.

[0043] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, including: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to: receive, from a first node, first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals, or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and receive, from the first node, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots, wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

[0044] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a node device in a wireless communication system, including a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals, or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and transmit, to the UE, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots, wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

[0045] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform methods performed by any node and / or user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0046] The methods performed by a node and / or user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system provided by the present disclosure can effectively improve data throughput by reducing the proportion of signals used for channel estimation and / or demodulation in a data transmission channel.

[0047] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts:

[0048] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0049] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0050] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0051] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 3 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0052] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 4 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0053] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 6 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0054] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of DMRS frequency domain patterns for different DMRS symbol indexes when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0055] FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of merging two DMRS symbols when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 4 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0056] FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of DMRS frequency domain patterns for different DMRS symbol indexes when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 6, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0057] FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic diagram of DMRS frequency domain patterns for different DMRS symbol indexes when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 6, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0058] FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 4 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0059] FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 5 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0060] FIG. 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 6 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0061] FIG. 14 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 5 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0062] FIG. 15 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 6 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0063] FIG. 16 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 7 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0064] FIG. 17 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 8 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0065] FIG. 18 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0066] FIG. 19 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0067] FIG. 20 illustrates a schematic diagram of a node according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0068] FIG. 21 illustrates a schematic diagram of a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0069] FIG. 22 illustrates a schematic diagram of variables related to the calculation of a CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain; and

[0070] FIG. 23 illustrates a schematic diagram of variables related to the calculation of a CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain.

[0071] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0072] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0073] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0074] The term “include” or “may include” refers to the existence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation or component which can be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure and does not limit one or more additional functions, operations, or components. The terms such as “include” and / or “have” may be construed to denote a certain characteristic, number, step, operation, constituent element, component or a combination thereof, but may not be construed to exclude the existence of or a possibility of addition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof.

[0075] The term “or” used in various embodiments of the present disclosure includes any or all of combinations of listed words. For example, the expression “A or B” may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.

[0076] Unless defined differently, all terms used herein, which include technical terminologies or scientific terminologies, have the same meaning as that understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary are to be interpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant field of art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the present disclosure.

[0077] Figures discussed below and various embodiments for describing the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are only for illustration and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure can be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

[0078] Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term “couple” and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms “transmit,” “receive,” and “communicate,” as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase “associated with,” as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The term “controller” means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase “at least one of,” when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, “at least one of: A, B, and C” includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C. Likewise, the term “set” means one or more. Accordingly, a set of items can be a single item or a collection of two or more items.

[0079] Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms “application” and “program” refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase “computer readable program code” includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase “computer readable medium” includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A “non-transitory” computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

[0080] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0081] The figures included herein, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Further, those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged wireless communication system.

[0082] FIGS. 1-3 below describe various embodiments of the present disclosure implemented in wireless communications systems. The descriptions of FIGS. 1-3 are not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations to the manner in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably-arranged communications system.

[0083] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0084] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network includes a base station (next generation nodeB, gNB or gNodeB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0085] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which may be located in a small business; a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R1); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R2); and a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116, as well as subscriber stations (SS, for example, UEs) 117, 118 and 119. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using existing wireless communication techniques, and one or more of the UE 111-119 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., UEs 117-119) using other existing or proposed wireless communication techniques.

[0086] Depending on the network type, the term “base station” or “BS” can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced (or “evolved”) base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a base station-type apparatus and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term “user equipment” (UE) can refer to any component such as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station (SS), remote terminal, wireless terminal, receive point, or user device. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a user equipment-type device and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normally considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0087] Dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0088] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-119 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gNBs 101-103 includes circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof.

[0089] Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the wireless network could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0090] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

[0091] As shown in FIG 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 200a-200n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 201a-201n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 203, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 204. The gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 205, a memory 206, and a backhaul or network interface (IF) 207.

[0092] The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive, from the antennas 200a-200n, incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100. The RF transceivers 201a-201n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to the RX processing circuitry 204, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 204 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 205 for further processing.

[0093] The TX processing circuitry 203 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, electronic mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 205. The TX processing circuitry 203 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TX processing circuitry 203 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 201a-201n.

[0094] The controller / processor 205 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 205 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 201a-201n, the RX processing circuitry 204, and the TX processing circuitry 203 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 205 could support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.

[0095] For instance, the controller / processor 205 could support beam forming or directional routing operations in which outgoing signals from multiple antennas 200a-200n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 205.

[0096] The controller / processor 205 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 206, such as an operating system (OS). The controller / processor 205 can move data into or out of the memory 206 as required by an executing process.

[0097] The controller / processor 205 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 207. The backhaul or network interface 207 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The interface 207 could support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The interface 207 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0098] The memory 206 is coupled to the controller / processor 205. Part of the memory 206 could include a random access memory (RAM), and another part of the memory 206 could include a Flash memory or other read only memory (ROM).

[0099] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of each component shown in FIG. 2. As a particular example, an access point could include a number of interfaces 207, and the controller / processor 205 could support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, while shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 203 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 204, the gNB 102 could include multiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver). Also, various components in FIG. 2 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs.

[0100] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 and 117-119 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0101] As shown in FIG. 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, TX processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 305. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller or processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 308, an input device 309, a touchscreen display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an OS 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0102] The RF transceiver 302 receives, from the antenna 301, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuitry 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to the processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0103] The TX processing circuitry 303 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 307. The TX processing circuitry 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0104] The processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 307 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuitry 305, and the TX processing circuitry 303 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0105] The processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 311, such as processes for Channel State Information (CSI) reporting on uplink channel. The processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 307 is configured to execute the applications 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from gNBs or an operator. The processor 307 is also coupled to the I / O interface 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 308 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 307.

[0106] The processor 307 is also coupled to the touchscreen display 310. The user of the UE 116 can use the touchscreen display 310 to enter data into the UE 116. The touchscreen display 310 may be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0107] The memory 311 is coupled to the processor 307. Part of the memory 311 could include RAM, and another part of the memory 311 could include a Flash memory or other ROM.

[0108] Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, various components in FIG. 3 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 307 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while FIG. 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0109] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0110] The text and drawings are provided as examples only to help understand the present disclosure. They should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, based on the disclosure herein, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that changes can be made to the illustrated embodiments and examples without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0111] Fixed wireless access (FWA) technology is an alternative to Fiber To The Premises (FTTP), which is used to solve a connection problem of the “last mile”. It can provide high-speed broadband connection service for places where optical fiber cannot reach, especially for low-density markets. In recent years, FWA has gradually become a mainstream connection scheme, which has attracted more and more attention. As a technology for providing broadband access services by combining fixed-line communication with wireless communication, the principle and framework of FWA are very simple: a base station provides signal coverage, and then at a user's residence or business place, equipment such as a customer premise equipment (CPE) receives signals and converts the received signals into Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) or wired signals, to provide network access services for more terminals.

[0112] Compared with FTTP, FWA has advantages of low deployment complexity, low cost per user and short deployment time. However, for optical fiber technology, the existing research results can achieve a transmission speed of 4.1P bits per second (1P = 1000T=1000000G), while the commercial FWA equipment in the market (such as 5G FWA ultra Gen3 of Qualcomm) can only provide a transmission speed of 10G bits per second at most. How to improve the transmission capacity of FWA is a hot research topic.

[0113] On the one hand, demodulation reference signal (DMRS), as a physical layer reference signal used for channel estimation, every time when data transmission of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is performed, will be forced to be configured with one or two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and in a case of additional DMRS symbols, will be forced to be configured with up to 4 DMRS symbols, to support data transmission in rapidly changing channels. As a result, DMRS may occupy as much as 29% of resources in a transmission slot. For communication systems (such as FWA communication systems) with relatively stable channels and without need for frequent channel estimation, this will cause a waste of resources.

[0114] On the other hand, because the deployment of FWA is relatively fixed, the beam direction between a base station and a CPE usually remains unchanged for a certain period of time. Therefore, there is a stable channel environment between the base station and CPE. Meanwhile, in order to overcome the serious path loss caused by high-frequency communication, FWA working in millimeter-wave frequency bands is often deployed outdoors and within a line of sight (LOS) communication range of the base station, so the quality of communication channels thereof is generally good enough and the signal-to-noise ratio is high. Based on these two characteristics, we can conclude that in FWA communication, less channel estimation can be used than in traditional mobile communication systems. Therefore, for some specific communication systems, we can reduce the transmission of DMRS signals and use the symbols used for DMRS signal transmission to transmit data, thus increasing data throughput.

[0115] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a new design method of time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS signals, which can reduce the transmission of DMRS signals and thus increase data throughput.

[0116] In the present disclosure, users can refer to user equipment (UE), terminals, user-side equipment, customer premise equipment (CPE) and so on.

[0117] In the present disclosure, time domain location and time domain pattern can be used interchangeably. For example, the time domain locations of one or more first signals may also be called the time domain pattern of one or more first signals.

[0118] The methods of the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to any existing or future signal and / or channel including the demodulation reference signal (DMRS), for example, any reference signal, any signal used for channel estimation or demodulation, which can be referred to as a first signal herein. In addition, the methods of the embodiments of the present disclosure can also be applied to any other reference signal, for example, a reference signal used for channel estimation and / or demodulation of any channel such as physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), sidelink, etc. In the following embodiments, DMRS for PDSCH will be described as an example.

[0119] User-side behaviors provided by embodiments of the present disclosure may include at least one of the following:

[0120] a user receives configuration information of a time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS for PDSCH from a first node (e.g., a base station);

[0121] the user receives a PDSCH from the first node; and / or

[0122] the user receives DMRS signals for PDSCH from the first node based on the configuration information.

[0123] In the present disclosure, the configuration information of the time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS may also be referred to as first information related to a time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of a first signal. In some implementations, the configuration information may include at least one of the following: third information related to the number of one or more DMRS symbols (or may be called as one or more first signals associated with one scheduled PDSCH transmission) used for channel estimation of one scheduled PDSCH transmission, fourth information related to a time domain interval (e.g., it may include a symbol interval, a slot interval, etc.) of one or more DMRS symbols, time domain locations of one or more DMRS symbols, fifth information related to a mode (e.g., a first mode, a second mode, etc. as described below) used for determining the time domain interval and / or time domain locations of one or more DMRS symbols, sixth information related to a frequency domain pattern of one or more DMRS, etc. In addition, the configuration information may also include a method and / or mode and / or information for determining any one or more of the above information of the one or more DMRS. That is, the configuration information may directly include specific information of the above information (for example, the specific number, time domain interval and time domain location of DMRS symbols, etc.), and may also include methods and / or modes and / or information used to determine these information. In this case, users may determine one or more of the above information by themselves based on these methods and / or modes and / or information. In addition, one or more of the above methods and / or modes and / or information may be transmitted through the same message or information, or may be transmitted through different messages or information respectively, which is not limited herein. In addition, one or more of the above methods and / or modes and / or information may also be pre-configured or pre-specified by the protocol. In this case, the user and the base station may transmit signals and / or channels respectively based on the pre-configured or pre-specified methods and / or modes and / or information. The following will be described in detail with examples.

[0124] As for the time domain pattern provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, when PDSCH transmission is performed, each slot has at most one DMRS symbol, which is particularly suitable for a case where multiple slots are scheduled for one PDSCH transmission at a time (that is, a case where one PDSCH transmission is scheduled to be transmitted on multiple slots). Assuming that N slots are configured for PDSCH transmission in one PDSCH transmission scheduling, and the number of configured DMRS symbols is M, then M<=N, where M and N are positive integers. Compared with the design of at least one DMRS symbol for each PDSCH transmission slot in the current 3GPP protocol (that is, M>=N), the methods provided by embodiments of the present disclosure can reduce the transmission of DMRS symbols, thereby increasing the data throughput. Herein, as for the PDSCH transmission which is scheduled with N slots at a time for the transmission thereof, the content transmitted on the N slots (i.e., the content of the PDSCH transmission) is not limited. For example, it may be that repetitions of a PDSCH in a single slot are transmitted on the N slots; or it may be that multiple PDSCHs (multi-PDSCH) are transmitted on the multiple slots, where each PDSCH contains an independent Transport block (TB) and each TB is limited within one slot; or it may be that a TB(s) of one PDSCH is transmitted on the multiple slots, etc.

[0125] The number of DMRS symbols according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be determined by specific application scenarios. Optionally, when multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, the number of DMRS symbols used may be 1. This setting mode of the number of DMRS symbols is suitable for a case where the channel is very stable. In this case, only one DMRS symbol is configured in multiple slots, and channel estimation encompassing all slots can be performed by using the only one DMRS symbol.

[0126] Optionally, when multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, the number M of DMRS symbols used may satisfy 1<M<N. This setting mode of the number of DMRS symbols is suitable for a case where the channel changes relatively a little, performance requirements of channel estimation for all slots cannot be met by using one DMRS symbol, and it is necessary to set more than one DMRS symbol.

[0127] Optionally, when multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, the number M of DMRS symbols used may satisfy M = N. This setting mode of the number of DMRS symbols is suitable for a case where the channel changes relatively quickly, such as a corresponding terminal is moving. In this case, it is necessary to use a DMRS symbol in each transmission slot to perform channel estimation of data transmission in this slot for demodulation of the transmission data. This setting mode of the number of DMRS symbols may be a back-off mechanism.

[0128] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a setting mode of DMRS symbol locations satisfies at least one of the following criteria: DMRS symbol interval may be constant (in case that the DMRS symbols do not conflict with other symbols); a DMRS symbol is located in the 1st placeable location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured; a DMRS symbol is located in the 3rd or 4th location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured; a DMRS symbol is located in the lastA-th placeable location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured, where A is a positive integer less than or equal to the total number of locations that can be used to place DMRS in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured. More generally, a DMRS symbol may be located in the C-th symbol location that can be used to place DMRS in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured, where C is a positive integer. Herein, a placeable location refers to a symbol location that can be used to place DMRS in a certain slot, for example, it may be a symbol location that does not conflict with symbols used for other channels, signals and / or data transmission among slots and / or symbols scheduled for a PDSCH transmission.

[0129] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the DMRS symbol interval refers to the number of symbols between two adjacent DMRS symbols in a case that multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission. For example, the first DMRS symbol is located at a symbol location with a symbol index of 1 and the second DMRS symbol is located at a symbol location with a symbol index of 4, so the symbol interval between the two DMRS symbols may be considered as 3. Herein, the DMRS symbol interval may include the number of non-PDSCH symbols, that is, the DMRS symbol interval refers to an absolute number of time domain symbols between two adjacent DMRS symbols. When the absolute number of time domain symbols between two adjacent DMRS symbols is constant, performance of channel estimation is optimal.

[0130] The DMRS symbol interval may also include only the number of PDSCH symbols, that is, the number of PDSCH symbols between two adjacent DMRS among the symbols including DMRS and PDSCH (that is, only the symbols including DMRS and / or PDSCH are considered, or the symbols including non-DMRS and / or non-PDSCH are excluded) in a case that multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, that is, the number of only the symbols used for PDSCH transmission between two adjacent DMRS. When using the design criterion that the number of PDSCH symbols between two adjacent DMRS symbols is constant, all available PDSCH resources in multiple slots of one scheduling can be used to design the locations of DMRS symbols according to a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) configuration for PDSCH in each slot. This method is simple to implement and does not need to deal with a problem that DMRS symbols conflict with other channels or signals. Herein, “a / one scheduling” may refer to a scheduling of one PDSCH transmission, which may refer to a scheduling of one or more slots for a PDSCH transmission at a time, without limiting the content transmitted on the one or more slots. For example, it may be that repetitions of a PDSCH in a single slot are transmitted on the one or more slots; or it may be that multiple PDSCHs (multi-PDSCH) are transmitted on the multiple slots, where each PDSCH contains an independent Transport block (TB) and each TB is limited within one slot; or it may be that a TB(s) of one PDSCH is transmitted on the multiple slots, etc.

[0131] The slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured described herein may include a slot in which a DMRS symbol needs to be configured, which is determined according to calculation or specific application scenarios.

[0132] Specifically, the slots in which a DMRS symbol needs to be placed (or configured) may be determined according to the number of slots of a scheduling (that is, the number of slots used for a PDSCH transmission) and the number of DMRS symbols. For example, an index of the slot where a DMRS symbol is located may be calculated according to the number of slots of a scheduling and the number of DMRS symbols. The slot corresponding to the calculated index of the slot where a DMRS symbol is located is a slot in which a DMRS symbol needs to be placed. Herein, the slot may contain one DMRS symbol. A specific implementation of the method may be as follows: when the number of slots of a scheduling is N and the number of DMRS symbols is M, a slot with a slot index of contains a DMRS symbol, where is a DMRS symbol index, and is a downward rounding operation. The method is simple to implement, in which after calculating the index of the slot where a DMRS symbol is located according to the number of slots of a scheduling and the number of DMRS symbols, it can be judged whether a current transmission slot contains a DMRS symbol or not according to whether the index of the current transmission slot match with (or is the same with) the index of the slot where a DMRS symbol is located, that is, slot locations of one or more DMRS symbols are determined. It should be understood that the above-mentioned calculation method for slot index is only an example, and embodiments of the present disclosure can also include any other calculation method based on the number of slots and the number of DMRS symbols, as long as the condition that each slot has at most one DMRS symbol can be satisfied. Herein, the slot in which a DMRS symbol needs to be placed may also be called a slot occupied by a DMRS symbol or a slot including a DMRS symbol.

[0133] Optionally, the slots in which a DMRS symbol needs to be placed (or configured) may be determined according to the number of slots of a scheduling (that is, the number of slots used for a PDSCH transmission) and a slot interval of the DMRS symbols. The slot interval of the DMRS symbols may be included in the configuration information or fourth information as described above. In an implementation, assuming that the number of slots of a scheduling is N and the slot interval of the DMRS symbols is E slots, slots with slot indexes of {0, E, 2E, 3E, …} among the N slots may be determined as the slots including a DMRS symbol.

[0134] Optionally, the slots in which a DMRS symbol needs to be placed may also be determined according to the following: when a plurality of slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, if the PDSCH transmission is interrupted by a specific transmission midway, and in this case, when the PDSCH transmission is restarted, a DMRS symbol needs to be placed in the first slot in which the PDSCH transmission is restarted after the interruption. This configuration mode may be applied to, for example, a case where an operation state of a transmission equipment and / or device changes so that previous channel estimation results cannot be reused when the PDSCH transmission is restarted. The transmission equipment and / or device may be a RF device, such as a phase shifter, and / or an antenna configuration, etc. Specifically, the specific transmission mentioned here may be a transmission of signals transmitted by a base station to other terminals and / or a transmission with a different beam direction, such as uplink and downlink switching of a terminal, etc. This method is suitable for a scenario where multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, and an operation state of a transmission equipment and / or device changes, so that previous channel estimation results cannot be reused and channel estimation needs to be re-performed.

[0135] Optionally, the slots in which a DMRS symbol needs to be placed may also be the remaining slots excluding slots from which the DMRS symbol can be removed in a set of transmission slots (for example, one or more slots scheduled for a PDSCH transmission). In this case, each of the remaining slots must contain a DMRS symbol. The slots from which the DMRS symbol can be removed may be slots in which there is no change of an operation state of a transmission equipment and / or device to make previous channel estimation results not able to be reused, or in other words, slots in which a channel estimation result of a previous slot can be reused, which may also be called a first slot herein. For example, a PDSCH transmission of the same UE is performed in consecutive slots. Under the condition of a stable channel, in other slots after the 1st slot, the DMRS symbol may be removed, and the channel estimation result obtained using the DMRS symbol in the 1st slot may be reused for demodulation, or the channel estimation results on data symbols transmitted on slots without DMRS symbols may be calculated by interpolation or extrapolation using the channel estimation results of the DMRS symbols in the remaining slots.

[0136] As mentioned above, “a DMRS symbol is located in the 1st placeable location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured” means that the DMRS symbol is located at a symbol start location of a PDSCH transmission in a scheduled slot. Herein the symbol start location of the PDSCH transmission may be determined according to the start and length indicator value (LIV) in configuration information of the PDSCH. The design method that the DMRS symbol is located at the start symbol location belongs to a front-placing design method, and the location where the DMRS symbol occurs is as close as possible to the starting point of a scheduling, which is helpful for the receiver to quickly estimate the channel and perform reception detection, and reduce the demodulation and decoding delay. It is worth noting that the 1st placeable location here refers to the starting point of a scheduling (that is, the starting point of a scheduled PDSCH transmission), which may be not the starting location of the slot where it is located. Especially, the method is suitable for a case where a PDSCH transmission is interrupted by a specific transmission, and a DMRS symbol needs to be placed when the PDSCH transmission is resumed. In this case, a DMRS symbol needs to be placed in the 1st slot for the resumed PDSCH transmission for demodulation of the following PDSCH transmission.

[0137] The design method of “a DMRS symbol is located in the 3rd or 4th location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured” as mentioned above has an implicit premise that the 3rd or 4th location belongs to a scheduled PDSCH scope. In this case, in a slot, PDSCH data may also be transmitted in front of the DMRS symbol (for example, the 1st and / or 2nd location in the slot). This method may be compatible with the existing design methods in the 3GPP protocol.

[0138] Specifically, when multiple slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, if the number of configured DMRS symbols is 1, that is,M= 1, the DMRS symbol may be located in the 1st slot of each PDSCH transmission. In other implementations, the DMRS symbol may also be located in the last slot of each PDSCH transmission or other slots scheduled for the PDSCH transmission. The location of the DMRS symbol in the first slot (or the last slot or other scheduled slots) may be the 1st placeable location in the slot, or the 3rd or 4th location in the slot. In this design method, one PDSCH transmission only needs to transmit one DMRS symbol, which can save the most resources for data transmission.

[0139] Specifically, when a plurality of slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission, if the number of slots of a scheduling isNand the number of DMRS symbols isM, the calculation method of DMRS symbol locations may be an equal DMRS symbol interval method, which means that intervals between adjacent DMRS symbols are equal and are a constant. This method may include at least one of the following: determining a location of a DMRS symbol in a certain slot; determining a DMRS symbol interval; and determining the location of each DMRS symbol.

[0140] The certain slot may be at least one of the following slots: the 1st slot, that is, the slot with a slot index of 0; the 1st slot of two adjacent schedules; the last slot, that is, the slot with a slot index of N-1.

[0141] The “location of a DMRS symbol in a certain slot” may be the 1st placeable location in the certain slot; it may also be the 3rd or 4th location in the certain slot; it may also be the lastA-th placeable location in the certain slot. Particularly, the scope ofAmay be . The design method that the location in a certain slot is the 1st placeable location in the certain slot is a front-placing design method, which may reduce the demodulation and decoding delay. The design method that the location in a certain slot is the 3rd or 4th location in the certain slot may be compatible with the existing design methods in the 3GPP protocol without too many changes. The design method that the location in a certain slot is the lastA-th placeable location in the certain slot may be to ensure the channel estimation accuracy in the slots at the end of a transmission.

[0142] The method for determining a DMRS symbol interval may at least include one of the following: determining a scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation (or may be referred to as the number of symbols that needs to be covered by channel estimation, or a first number of symbols); and determining the DMRS symbol interval according to the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation and the number of DMRS symbols.

[0143] Optionally, determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may be to determine a scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation after a 1st DMRS symbol according to the location of a DMRS symbol in a 1st slot (i.e., the location of the 1st DMRS symbol in the 1st slot, which may be called a first symbol location), including the number of the 1st DMRS symbol and symbols after the 1st DMRS symbol in the 1st slot, and the number of symbols in the remaining slots of this scheduling. For example, assuming that the 1st DMRS symbol is the -th symbol in the 1st slot, the number of slots scheduled for this transmission is , and the number of symbols in a slot is , then the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may be expressed as time domain symbols, where the “1” represents the 1st DMRS symbol in the 1st slot, represents the number of time domain symbols after the 1st DMRS symbol in the 1st slot, and represents the number of time domain symbols in the other slots except the 1st slot. The method for determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation requires three parameters , and , in which the number of slots and the number of symbols in a slot are already known during the scheduling of PDSCH, thus the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation can be obtained by further knowing one additional parameter only in this case, which is simple to implement.

[0144] Optionally, the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may also be determined according to a location of a DMRS symbol in the 1st slot (for example, a first symbol location), the last symbol location used for this scheduled PDSCH transmission in the last slot (for example, a second symbol location), and the number of slots scheduled for this transmission. For example, assuming that the 1st DMRS symbol is the -th symbol in the 1st slot, the number of slots scheduled for this transmission is , the number of symbols in a slot is , and in the last slot, the last symbol used for this scheduled PDSCH transmission is the -th symbol in this slot, then the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may be expressed as time domain symbols. This method is suitable for a case that the number of symbols used for PDSCH transmission in the last slot does not occupy the whole slot.

[0145] Optionally, determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may also be to determine the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation in this scheduled PDSCH transmission process according to a location of a DMRS symbol in the 1st slot and a location of a DMRS symbol in the last slot. For example, assuming that the location of the DMRS in the 1st slot (i.e., the first DMRS) is the P-th symbol, and the location of the DMRS in the last slot (i.e., the last DMRS) is the Q-th symbol, the number of slots scheduled for this PDSCH transmission scheduling is N, and the number of symbols in a slot is B, then the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may be expressed as (B - P +1)+(N - 2)*B + Q time domain symbols. This method for determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation needs to first determine the locations of DMRS in the 1st and last slots for this scheduled PDSCH transmission, which is suitable for a case with special requirements on the location of the DMRS symbol in the last slot. The special requirements may be requirements for channel estimation accuracy on symbols used for the PDSCH transmission in the last slot. In this case, channel estimation on the symbols used for the PDSCH transmission located after the DMRS symbol in the last slot may be obtained by using the channel estimation result based on the DMRS symbol in the last slot, or by extrapolating the channel estimation results based on the DMRS symbol in the last slot and its previous DMRS symbol (i.e., the second last DMRS symbol).

[0146] Optionally, determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may also be to determine the scope of channel estimation of two adjacent scheduled transmissions according to the location of a DMRS symbol in the 1st slot of each scheduled transmission in the two adjacent PDSCH transmission scheduling (e.g., the last slot of the first scheduled PDSCH transmission and the first slot of the second scheduled PDSCH transmission are adjacent). For example, assuming that the location of DMRS in the 1st slot in the first scheduled transmission is the -th symbol, and the location of DMRS in the 1st slot in the second scheduled transmission is the -th symbol, the number of slots scheduled for the current scheduled transmission (that is, the first scheduled transmission) is , the number of symbols in a slot is B, then the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may be expressed as (B - P1+ P2) + (N - 1)*B time domain symbols, where (B - P1+ 1) + (N - 1)*B is a scope from the 1st DMRS symbol in the 1st slot of the first scheduling to the last symbol of the last slot of the first scheduling, (P2- 1) is a scope from the last symbol (excluding) of the last slot of the first scheduling to the previous symbol of the 1st DMRS symbol in the 1st slot of the second scheduling, and the sum of the two is the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation as described above. Particularly, in a case of continuous scheduling and when the DMRS locations in the 1st slot of each continuous scheduling are set the same, that is, , the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation is . The method for determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation requires information of the current scheduled transmission and the next scheduled transmission, and can obtain optimal channel estimation performance for continuous scheduled transmissions.

[0147] Optionally, determining the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation may also include acquiring symbol resources for a PDSCH transmission according to the TDRA configuration of PDSCH in each slot among the plurality of slots for the scheduling of the PDSCH transmission. For example, by accumulating the symbol length used for a PDSCH transmission in each slot of a scheduling, the total number of symbols used for the PDSCH transmission, that is, the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation, can be obtained. In this case, the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation includes only a scope of symbols used for PDSCH transmission, and does not include other channels or signals, thus no conflict would occur when allocating DMRS symbol locations.

[0148] Optionally, the method of determining the DMRS symbol interval according to the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation and the number of DMRS symbols may be to determine the DMRS symbol interval as , where R is the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation, M is the number of DMRS symbols, and is a downward rounding operation. The calculation method of the DMRS symbol interval is suitable for a case where the location of one DMRS symbol has been determined and only locations of the remaining M-1 DMRS symbols need to be determined. For example, it is suitable for a case where the DMRS symbol in the 1st slot has been determined, and in this case, the scope R that needs to be covered by channel estimation needs to be divided into M-1 parts to determine the locations of the remaining M-1 DMRS symbols. Because the method for determining the DMRS symbol interval is to divide the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation into M-1 parts, that is, there will be a DMRS symbol near the beginning and end of this scheduled PDSCH transmission to ensure the performance of channel estimation.

[0149] Optionally, the method for determining the DMRS symbol interval according to the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation and the number of DMRS symbols may be to determine the DMRS symbol interval as where R is the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation, M is the number of DMRS symbols, and is a downward rounding operation. The calculation method of the DMRS symbol interval is to divide the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation into M parts, which is suitable for a case where the DMRS symbol is not needed for channel estimation near the end of this scheduled PDSCH transmission.

[0150] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the method of determining the DMRS symbol location according to the DMRS symbol interval is to place a DMRS symbol every DMRS symbol interval after determining the DMRS symbol location in the 1st slot. Using this DMRS symbol placement method in which the symbol interval is fixed, not only the hardware implementation complexity can be simplified, but also improvement of the accuracy of channel estimation can be facilitated. In addition, the DMRS symbol interval may also be specified by the protocol or configured by the base station, for example, included in the fourth information as described above.

[0151] Specifically, when a plurality of slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission in a scheduling, if the number of slots scheduled is N, the number of DMRS symbols is M, the method for calculating the DMRS symbol locations may be an equal DMRS slot interval method. The equal DMRS slot interval method means that slot intervals between slots containing DMRS symbols are equal and are a constant. This method may include at least one of the following: determining a slot index of a slot in which the DMRS symbol is located; and determining the location of a DMRS symbol in the corresponding slot.

[0152] Specifically, when a plurality of slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission in a scheduling, if the number of slots scheduled is N, the number of DMRS symbols is M, the calculation method of the slot where a DMRS symbol is located may be as follows: the slot with a slot index of contains a DMRS symbol, where , m is an index of a DMRS symbol. This calculation method of the slot indexes where the DMRS are located can ensure that there is a DMRS symbol every slot with equal distance, so as to ensure the result of channel estimation.

[0153] Optionally, the location of the DMRS symbol in the 1st slot (that is, the slot whose slot index is 0) may be the 1st placeable location in the slot, the 3rd or 4th location in the slot, or the lastA-th placeable location in the slot, or theC-th placeable location in the slot, where C is a positive integer.

[0154] Optionally, the location of a DMRS symbol in a slot with a non-zero slot index (i.e., a slot except the 1st slot) may be consistent with the location of the DMRS symbol in the 1st slot. That is, if the location of the DMRS symbol is the 1st placeable location in the slot with a slot index of 0, the location of the DMRS symbol is also the 1st placeable location in a slot with a non-zero slot index; or, if the location of the DMRS symbol is the 3rd or 4th location in a slot with a slot index of 0, the location of the DMRS symbol is also the 3rd or 4th location in a slot with a non-zero slot index; or, if the location of the DMRS symbol is the lastA-th placeable location in a slot with a slot index of 0, the location of the DMRS symbol is also the lastA-th placeable location in a slot with a non-zero slot index. Using the same design criteria helps the receiving end to quickly locate the locations of DMRS symbols, and also helps to reduce signaling overhead, that is, only one design method needs to be used for all slots containing DMRS symbols.

[0155] Optionally, the location of a DMRS symbol in a slot with a non-zero slot index may be inconsistent with the location of the DMRS symbol in the 1st slot. In this case, the location of the DMRS symbol in each slot may be set separately. The design method is more flexible to implement, and the locations of DMRS symbols may be different in different slots.

[0156] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the method for scheduling a plurality of slots for a PDSCH transmission is not limited, and the scheduling may be a dynamically scheduling by PDCCH or DCI, or a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) by a radio resource control (RRC) configuration.

[0157] In embodiments of the present disclosure, when the location of a DMRS symbol conflicts with another channel or signal, a placement method of the location of the DMRS symbol may be to place the conflicting DMRS symbol on an adjacent (or neighboring) placeable symbol location. For example, the DMRS symbol may be placed on a symbol location which is used for the current PDSCH transmission adjacent to the conflicting location. In this method, only a location of the conflicting DMRS symbol changes, and locations of the remaining DMRS symbols are not affected and are still set in a predetermined method. The above-described method may be applied to a case where DMRS symbols are placed according to an equal DMRS symbol interval method, or may be applied to a case where DMRS symbols are placed according to an equal DMRS slot interval method.

[0158] In embodiments of the present disclosure, when the location of a DMRS symbol conflicts with another channel or signal, a placement method of the location of the DMRS symbol may be to re-select a DMRS symbol interval. For example, when a DMRS symbol interval 1 (for example, a first symbol interval or a first time domain interval) is obtained by calculation according to a method for determining a DMRS symbol interval described above, and DMRS symbols are placed according to the DMRS symbol interval, and if another channel or signal is present, which lead to that a DMRS symbol cannot be placed at a predetermined location. In this case, the conflicting DMRS symbol may be placed at a location which is adjacent to the conflicting location and at which the DMRS symbol can be placed. Then, a DMRS symbol interval 2 (which may be referred to as, for example, a second symbol interval or a second time domain interval) is recalculated from the location of the previous DMRS symbol of the conflicting DMRS symbol and the location of the current DMRS symbol (i.e., the newly determined symbol location for the current PDSCH transmission adjacent to the conflicting location), and the DMRS symbol interval 2 is used to calculate the locations of the remaining DMRS symbols (i.e., the DMRS symbols after the conflicting DMRS symbol). By adopting this method for determining the DMRS symbol interval, the number of symbols among several adjacent DMRS symbols can be made equal as much as possible, so as to ensure the performance of channel estimation. In addition, when the location of a DMRS symbol conflicts with another channel or signal, a new symbol interval (e.g., a third symbol interval or a third time domain interval) may be re-determined first, and then the symbol locations of the conflicting DMRS symbol and the subsequent DMRS symbols may be determined based on the location of the previous DMRS symbol of the conflicting DMRS symbol and the new symbol interval. In some implementations, the third symbol interval may be configured by a base station, for example, included in configuration information or fourth information as described above. In some implementations, the third symbol interval may be determined based on the first symbol interval used before the conflict occurred, e.g., by increasing or decreasing a particular numerical value (e.g., +1 or -1, etc.) to the first symbol interval.

[0159] Optionally, when the number of DMRS symbol intervals is greater than 1, a threshold of the number of DMRS symbol intervals may be set. For example, assuming that the number of DMRS symbol intervals isS, and the threshold of the number of DMRS symbol intervals isT. When the number of DMRS symbol intervalsSis less than the thresholdT, in a process of determining the locations of DMRS symbols, if it is necessary to increase the number of DMRS symbol intervals, the number of the DMRS symbol intervals may be increased; otherwise, other conflict handling schemes are employed. This setting method is suitable for a case where when placing the DMRS symbol locations by using an equal DMRS symbol interval method, a method for recalculating a DMRS symbol interval is used to deal with a conflict of the location of a DMRS symbol with other channels or signals, and the calculated number of the DMRS symbol intervals is too large, so as to avoid the situation that the number of the DMRS symbol intervals is too large and the implementation is complicated.

[0160] Optionally, the method for avoiding the conflict between the DMRS symbols and other signals or channels may further include determining a location scope set in which the DMRS symbols can be selected in a scheduled transmission according to the SLIV in each slot in the scheduled transmission, and then selecting at least one DMRS symbol interval in the location scope set according to the number of DMRS symbols. In this case, a global design method is adopted to avoid conflicts. Particularly, for the global design method, a threshold of the number of DMRS symbol intervals may be set to avoid a situation where the number of DMRS symbols is too large, resulting in complicated implementation.

[0161] Specifically, the method of selecting a DMRS symbol interval according to the SLIV in each slot in a scheduled transmission may only consider the number of PDSCH symbols, that is, when calculating the DMRS symbol interval, the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation in this scheduling may be obtained only according to the accumulation of the SLIV in each slot in this scheduling, and the DMRS symbol interval may be determined by using the scope and the number of DMRS symbols. This method does not need to consider symbols occupied by other channels or signals in the slots scheduled in this scheduling, and is simple to implement.

[0162] Specifically, the method of selecting a DMRS symbol interval according to the SLIV in each slot in a scheduled transmission may also consider symbols occupied by other channels or signals in the slots scheduled in this scheduling. In this case, when calculating the scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation, it is necessary to consider all symbols in a plurality of slots scheduled in this scheduling, and even if these symbols are not used for PDSCH transmission, it is necessary to consider their locations, and then the DMRS symbol interval and / or the locations of DMRS symbols are selected according to the locations of the symbols used for PDSCH transmission. In this case, the characteristic of equal DMRS symbol interval can be used to ensure the accuracy of channel estimation, and conflict with other signals or channels can be avoided.

[0163] Optionally, the method for determining a DMRS symbol interval may also be to set a DMRS symbol interval by serving a DMRS symbol in a case where a DMRS symbol is necessary to be configured as a reference. Specifically, the case where a DMRS symbol is necessary to be configured may be that, when a PDSCH transmission is restarted / resumed after the PDSCH is interrupted by a specific transmission in a PDSCH transmission process, one DMRS symbol has to be configured. In this case, the symbol location and / or the slot of the DMRS symbol may be used as a reference to determine a DMRS symbol interval. The method of determining the DMRS symbol interval may be to determine a DMRS symbol interval according to the locations of one or more existing DMRS symbols. A specific method may be that, when the symbol location of a DMRS symbol is determined in the case where a DMRS symbol is necessary to be configured, the interval between the determined DMRS symbol locations may be set as a DMRS symbol interval. If there are a plurality of DMRS symbol intervals, the case where the DMRS symbol interval is minimum or maximum may be selected to adapt to a case where the channel change is relatively fast or the channel change is gentle. This method is suitable for cases where, for some DMRS symbols, the symbol locations thereof have been determined. A specific method may be that, if the symbol location of the DMRS symbol is not determined in the case where a DMRS symbol is necessary to be configured, the slots in which other DMRS symbols are located may be determined according to the number of remaining DMRS symbols and the number of slots scheduled this time and according to the slot in which the DMRS symbol is located, and then the symbol locations of the DMRS symbols may be further determined. The symbol location of a DMRS symbol refers to which symbol in one slot the DMRS symbol is.

[0164] Optionally, as a back-off scheme, the DMRS symbol may be placed at a specific location in the slot where the calculated DMRS symbol is located. Optionally, the slots where the calculated DMRS symbols are located may be, if the number of scheduled slots is N, the number of DMRS symbols is M, then a slot with a slot index of is a slot where the DMRS symbol is located, where is the DMRS symbol index. This method is simple in design and requires few calculation parameters.

[0165] Optionally, when there is more than one selectable DMRS symbol interval, a DMRS symbol interval having the smallest value may be selected, which is suitable for a case where the channel changes relatively quickly.

[0166] Optionally, when there is more than one selectable DMRS symbol interval, a DMRS symbol interval having the largest value may be selected, which is suitable for a case where the channel changes relatively slowly.

[0167] Optionally, the slots where the calculated DMRS symbols are located may also be: the symbol location of each DMRS is determined by using a scope that needs to be covered by channel estimation and a DMRS symbol interval, and in this case, the slots where each DMRS symbol location is located are the slots where the calculated DMRS symbols are located. This method of determining the slot location in which a DMRS symbol is located can more accurately achieve an equal interval between adjacent DMRS symbol locations, thereby providing more accurate channel estimation performance.

[0168] Optionally, the specific location may be at least one of the following: a DMRS symbol is located at a 1st placeable location in a slot in which the DMRS symbol is located; a DMRS symbol is located at the 3rd or 4th location in a slot in which the DMRS symbol is located; a DMRS symbol is located in the lastA-th placeable location in a slot in which the DMRS symbol is located.

[0169] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a DMRS symbol configuration method, in which a base station configures locations of DMRS symbols when a plurality of slots are scheduled for a PDSCH transmission at a time. The configuration method may include configuring the number of DMRS symbols by a base station, for example, M. In this case, the base station and the UE may determine the locations of DMRS symbols according to at least one of the following: the location of a DMRS symbol in the 1st slot; the number of slots scheduled for this scheduling; the number of DMRS symbols configured by the base station. Herein, the location of a DMRS symbol in the 1st slot may be one of the following: the DMRS symbol is located in the 1st placeable location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured; the DMRS symbol is located in the 3rd or 4th location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured; the DMRS symbol is located in the lastA-th placeable location in a slot where a DMRS symbol needs to be configured. The locations has been described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0170] The configuring method may further include configuring a DMRS symbol interval by base station. In this case, the base station and the UE may determine the location of the DMRS symbols according to at least one of the following: the location of a DMRS symbol in the 1st slot; the number of slots scheduled this time; DMRS symbol interval configured by base station. After the DMRS symbol location of the 1st slot, one DMRS symbol is placed every DMRS symbol interval.

[0171] The configuration method may further include calculating the location of the DMRS symbols using equations, or may further include representing the location of the DMRS symbols by a table or a diagram. A specific implementation may be that the slots in which the DMRS symbols are located and / or the locations of the DMRS symbols are represented by using a table or a diagram for different scheduling configurations. The method of using a table or diagram is visual and intuitional, which can save calculation resources and time.

[0172] Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a frequency domain pattern of DMRS symbols. Using the frequency domain pattern of the DMRS may support, with reduced DMRS symbols, a comparable number of antenna ports as that of a case where DMRS symbols are not reduced. For example, using one DMRS symbol may support a comparable number of antenna ports as that of the usage of two DMRS symbols before.

[0173] Optionally, the frequency domain pattern of the DMRS symbols may be a frequency domain pattern in which code division multiplexing (CDM) groups are increased to increase the number of antenna ports that can be supported by one DMRS symbol.

[0174] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 4. Specifically, FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 3 CDM groups when DMRS is designated (or configured) as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1, 12 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using 3 CDM groups combined with an orthogonal cover code (OCC) of a length of 4 in the frequency domain.

[0175] The equation of mapping of DMRS from a pseudo-random sequence r(m) to a resource element (RE) may be expressed as follows:

[0176]

[0177]

[0178] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 5. Specifically, FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 4 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1, 4 CDM groups are used. In this method, 4 CDM groups are used, and in combination with an OCC of a length of 4 in the frequency domain, 16 antenna ports can be supported using a single DMRS symbol.

[0179]

[0180]

[0181] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 6. Specifically, FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 6 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When DMRS is specified as Configuration Type 1, 6 CDM groups are used. In this method, 6 CDM groups are used, and in combination with an OCC of a length of 4 in the frequency domain, 24 antenna ports can be supported using a single DMRS symbol.

[0182]

[0183]

[0184] The Configuration Type 1 adopting a parameter of 3, 4 or 6 CDM groups can ensure that the number of occupied REs is consistent for all antenna ports, and is helpful for hardware implementation. More generally, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, regardless of whether the DMRS is configured as Configuration Type 1 or Configuration Type 2, for one DMRS symbol, its frequency domain pattern may employ a combination of J CDM groups and an OCC with a frequency domain length of L, where J and K may be any positive integer, respectively. In this case, the product of J and K may represent the number of antenna ports that can be supported by one DMRS symbol. In a case where the number of antenna ports that can be supported by one DMRS symbol is required to be greater than or equal to a specific threshold (e.g., a first threshold), J and K may be set such that the product thereof is greater than or equal to the specific threshold.

[0185] Optionally, when the frequency domain pattern of DMRS symbols adopts more than two CDM groups, the same antenna port may have different RE location start offsets for different DMRS symbol indexes. The DMRS symbol indexes (which may also be referred to as an index) refer to indexes of only symbols containing a DMRS symbol, or may refer to an index of the DMRS symbol among all one or more DMRS symbols used for a scheduled PDSCH transmission. For example, the first DMRS symbol may have a symbol index of 0, the second DMRS symbol may have a symbol index of 1, and so on; or the first DMRS symbol may have a symbol index of 1, the second DMRS symbol may have a symbol index of 2, and so on.

[0186] In a specific implementation, when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 4, the RE location start offset of a certain antenna port in the DMRS symbol having an even symbol index is different from the RE location start offset corresponding to the same antenna port in the DMRS symbol having an odd symbol index. Specifically, the difference may be 2. A specific implementation of the method may be as shown in FIG. 7, in which Table 2 is replaced by Table 4 and Table 5. Specifically, FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of DMRS frequency domain patterns for different DMRS symbol indexes when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0187] Table 4 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (4 CDM groups), with an even DMRS symbol index.

[0188]

[0189] Table 5 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (4 CDM Groups), with an odd DMRS symbol index.

[0190]

[0191] After merging two DMRS symbols, the spacing of adjacent DMRS REs on one DMRS symbol changes from 4 before merging to 2. By using the method in which the start offset locations of REs are different for different antenna ports with odd and even DMRS symbol indexes, the number of DMRS REs belonging to the same antenna port on DMRS symbols can be increased to improve the accuracy of channel estimation. It is worth noting that the merging of different DMRS symbols is based on the premise that the channel is stable and does not change rapidly with time. An example after merging is shown in FIG. 8. Specifically, FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of merging two DMRS symbols when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 4 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0192] In a specific implementation, when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 6, the RE location start offset of a certain antenna port in the DMRS symbol having an even symbol index is different from the RE location start offset corresponding to the same antenna port in the DMRS symbol having an odd symbol index. Specifically, the difference may be 3. A specific implementation of the method may be as shown in FIG. 9, in which Table 3 is replaced by Table 6 and Table 7. Specifically, FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of DMRS frequency domain patterns for different DMRS symbol indexes when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 6, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0193] Table 6 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (6 CDM Groups), with an even DMRS symbol index.

[0194]

[0195] Table 7 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (6 CDM Groups), with an odd DMRS symbol index.

[0196]

[0197] After merging two DMRS symbols, the spacing of adjacent DMRS REs on one DMRS symbol changes from 6 before merging to 3. By using the method in which the start offset locations of REs are different for different antenna ports with odd and even DMRS symbol indexes, the number of DMRS REs belonging to the same antenna port on DMRS symbols can be increased to improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

[0198] In a specific implementation, when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 6, the RE location start offsets corresponding to the same antenna port in DMRS symbols of different symbol indexes are different. Specifically, the difference may be 2. A specific implementation of the method may be as shown in FIG. 10, where Table 4 is replaced by Table 8, Table 9, and Table 10. Specifically, FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic diagram of DMRS frequency domain patterns for different DMRS symbol indexes when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 and the number of CDM groups is 6, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0199] Table 8 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (6 CDM groups), .

[0200]

[0201] Table 9 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (6 CDM groups), .

[0202]

[0203] Table 10 Parameters of PDSCH DMRS Configuration Type 1 (6 CDM groups), .

[0204]

[0205] Where represents a remainder of the DMRS symbol index value m dividing by 3.

[0206] After merging three DMRS symbols, the spacing of adjacent DMRS REs on one DMRS symbol changes from 6 before merging to 2. Merging DMRS symbols with different start offset locations of 3 REs can increase the number of DMRS REs belonging to the same antenna port on a DMRS symbol to improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

[0207] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 11. Specifically, FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 4 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2, 16 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using 4 CDM groups combined with an OCC of a length of 4 in the frequency domain.

[0208] The equation of mapping of DMRS from a pseudo-random sequence r(m) to a resource element may be expressed as follows:

[0209]

[0210]

[0211] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 12. Specifically, FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 5 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2, 20 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using 5 CDM groups combined with an OCC of a length of 4 in the frequency domain.

[0212] The equation of mapping of DMRS from a pseudo-random sequence r(m) to a resource element may be expressed as follows:

[0213]

[0214]

[0215] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 13. Specifically, FIG. 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern of 6 CDM groups when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2, 24 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using 6 CDM groups combined with an OCC of a length of 4 in the frequency domain.

[0216] The equation of mapping of DMRS from a pseudo-random sequence r(m) to a resource element may be expressed as follows:

[0217]

[0218]

[0219] Optionally, the method in which the same antenna port in different DMRS symbol indexes may have different RE location start offsets may also be applied to a case where the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2, and in this case, merging several DMRS symbols can increase the number of DMRS REs of a single antenna port in the DMRS symbol frequency domain to improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

[0220] Optionally, the frequency domain pattern of the DMRS symbol may also be that: increasing the sequence length of the frequency domain OCC to increase the number of antenna ports that can be supported by one DMRS symbol, so as to realize that one DMRS symbol supports the number of antenna ports comparable to two DMRS symbols.

[0221] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 14. Specifically, FIG. 14 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 5 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1, 10 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using an OCC of a length of 5 in combination with 2 CDM groups.

[0222]

[0223]

[0224] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 15. Specifically, FIG. 15 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 6 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1, 12 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using an OCC of a length of 6 in combination with 2 CDM groups.

[0225]

[0226]

[0227] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 16. Specifically, FIG. 16 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 7 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1, 14 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using an OCC of a length of 7 in combination with 2 CDM groups.

[0228]

[0229]

[0230] A specific implementation of a frequency domain pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be as shown in FIG. 17. Specifically, FIG. 17 illustrates a schematic diagram of a DMRS frequency domain pattern with an OCC length of 8 when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. When the DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 1, 16 antenna ports can be supported by a single DMRS symbol using an OCC of a length of 8 in combination with 2 CDM groups.

[0231]

[0232]

[0233] Using frequency domain OCCs with different sequence lengths, the number of antenna ports that can be supported by a single DMRS symbol can be increased, and the method does not reduce the number of REs of different ports compared to a method in which a CDM length is increased.

[0234] Optionally, the higher layer parameter dmrs-TypeEnh may be combined into the method of increasing the length of the frequency domain OCC sequence, to support the use of partial antenna ports. Particularly, when the higher layer parameter dmrs-TypeEnh is configured, all of the antenna ports may be used, otherwise, some of the antenna ports may be used.

[0235] Optionally, the method of increasing the length of the frequency domain OCC sequence may also be applied when DMRS is designated as Configuration Type 2, so as to increase the number of antenna ports supported by a single DMRS.

[0236] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the index order of the antenna ports may be changed, and the group order and / or offset of the corresponding CDM group may also be changed. This standard only gives an example and does not limit the order of the indexes.

[0237] The methods of increasing the number of CDM groups and / or increasing the sequence length of the frequency domain OCC and / or adopting different RE location start offsets for the same antenna port in different DMRS symbol indices in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be arbitrarily combined. The use of one or more combinations thereof is still within the scope of the present invention.

[0238] It should be understood that the various example aspects, methods, steps, processes, etc. illustrated above in conjunction with the drawings may be implemented in combination in any manner depending on the application scenarios, and are not limited herein.

[0239] Next, FIG. 18 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1800 performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0240] As shown in FIG. 18, a method 1800 performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure may include: in step S1801, receiving first information from a first node, wherein the first information includes third information related to the number of reference signals and / or fourth information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and in step S1802, receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission from the first node, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots. In some implementations, the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

[0241] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the third information includes the number M of the reference signals, where M satisfies any one of: M = 1; 1 < M < N; M = N, where N is the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0242] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a symbol interval of the reference signals, the symbol interval includes at least one of: the number of symbols between two adjacent reference signals; the number of symbols used for the PDSCH transmission between two adjacent reference signals.

[0243] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a first mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode includes at least one of: determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a 1st reference signal among the reference signals based on a first symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the first symbol location is a symbol location of the 1st reference signal among the reference signals in a 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; or determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a last reference signal among the reference signals based on a second symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the second symbol location is a symbol location of the last reference signal among the reference signals in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission.

[0244] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first time domain interval is determined based on a first number of symbols and the number of the reference signals, wherein the first number of symbols includes at least one of: the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol for the PDSCH transmission in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to the second symbol location; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a previous symbol location of a 1st reference signal in a 1st slot for a next scheduled PDSCH transmission; an accumulated sum of the number of symbols for the PDSCH transmission in the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0245] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the 1st slot; a C-th symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission, where C is an integer greater than 1; and wherein the second symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the last slot; an E-th symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission, where E is an integer greater than 1.

[0246] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in a case that the symbol location of the first reference signal among the reference signals conflicts with other channels or signals, the determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode further includes at least one of: determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal; determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal, determining a second time domain interval based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and the determined symbol location, and determining symbol locations of reference signals after the first reference signal based on the second time domain interval; determining symbol locations of the first reference signal and reference signals after the first reference signal based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and a third time domain interval, wherein the third time domain interval is included in the fourth information or determined based on the first time domain interval.

[0247] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a slot interval, wherein the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a second mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the second mode includes determining at least one of the following as slots occupied by the reference signals: a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and the number of the reference signals; a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and a slot interval of the reference signals; a 1st slot where the PDSCH transmission is restarted in a case that the PDSCH transmission is interrupted.

[0248] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in each of the slots occupied by the reference signals, the symbol locations of the reference signals include at least one of: a 1st symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the slot; an F-th symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot, where F is an integer greater than 1.

[0249] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a frequency domain pattern of the reference signals includes: for one reference signal, using J code division multiplexing (CDM) groups and an orthogonal cover code (OCC) with a frequency domain length of K, where J and K are positive integers, and a product of J and K is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0250] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a resource element (RE) location start offset of a reference signal having an even reference signal index among the reference signals and a RE location start offset of a reference signal having an odd reference signal index among the reference signals are different for a same antenna port.

[0251] FIG. 19 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1900 performed by a first node in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0252] As illustrated in FIG. 19, a method 1900 performed by a first node in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure may include: in step S1901, transmitting first information to a user equipment (UE), wherein the first information includes third information related to the number of reference signals and / or fourth information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; and in step 1902, transmitting a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots. In some implementations, the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

[0253] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the third information includes the number M of the reference signals, where M satisfies any one of: M = 1; 1 < M < N; M = N, where N is the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0254] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a symbol interval of the reference signals, the symbol interval includes at least one of: the number of symbols between two adjacent reference signals; the number of symbols used for the PDSCH transmission between two adjacent reference signals.

[0255] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a first mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode includes at least one of: determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a 1st reference signal among the reference signals based on a first symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the first symbol location is a symbol location of the 1st reference signal among the reference signals in a 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; or determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a last reference signal among the reference signals based on a second symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the second symbol location is a symbol location of the last reference signal among the reference signals in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission.

[0256] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first time domain interval is determined based on a first number of symbols and the number of the reference signals, wherein the first number of symbols includes at least one of: the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol for the PDSCH transmission in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to the second symbol location; the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a previous symbol location of a 1st reference signal in a 1st slot for a next scheduled PDSCH transmission; an accumulated sum of the number of symbols for the PDSCH transmission in the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.

[0257] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the first symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the 1st slot; a C-th symbol location in the 1st slot for the PDSCH transmission, where C is an integer greater than 1; and wherein the second symbol location includes one or more of: a 1st symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the last slot; an E-th symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission, where E is an integer greater than 1.

[0258] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in a case that the symbol location of the first reference signal among the reference signals conflicts with other channels or signals, the determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode further includes at least one of: determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal; determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal, determining a second time domain interval based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and the determined symbol location, and determining symbol locations of reference signals after the first reference signal based on the second time domain interval; determining symbol locations of the first reference signal and reference signals after the first reference signal based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and a third time domain interval, wherein the third time domain interval is included in the fourth information or determined based on the first time domain interval.

[0259] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth information includes a slot interval, wherein the first information further includes fifth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fifth information includes a second mode, wherein, determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the second mode includes determining at least one of the following as slots occupied by the reference signals: a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and the number of the reference signals; a slot determined based on the number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission and a slot interval of the reference signals; a 1st slot where the PDSCH transmission is restarted in a case that the PDSCH transmission is interrupted.

[0260] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in each of the slots occupied by the reference signals, the symbol locations of the reference signals include at least one of: a 1st symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot; a 3rd or 4th symbol location in the slot; an F-th symbol location for the PDSCH transmission in the slot, where F is an integer greater than 1.

[0261] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a frequency domain pattern of the reference signals includes: for one reference signal, using J code division multiplexing (CDM) groups and an orthogonal cover code (OCC) with a frequency domain length of K, where J and K are positive integers, and a product of J and K is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0262] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a resource element (RE) location start offset of a reference signal having an even reference signal index among the reference signals and a RE location start offset of a reference signal having an odd reference signal index among the reference signals are different for a same antenna port.

[0263] Before receiving the configuration information of the time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS for PDSCH from the first node, the UE may further perform measurement (e.g., channel estimation, etc.) on a channel and / or related resources used for transmitting the PDSCH. For example, the UE may perform measurement related to channel stability on the channel and / or related resources used for transmitting the PDSCH. The measurement results (e.g., including information related to channel stability, or channel estimation results, etc.) may be used (e.g., for the UE and / or the first node) to determine whether to configure the time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of the DMRS in the present disclosure, and / or to determine the specific configuration parameters. For example, the UE may transmit the measurement result to the first node, and the first information described above may be determined based on the measurement result.

[0264] The channel stability (also referred to herein as a channel estimation result or measurement result obtained based on a reference signal, or a measurement result of channel stability) includes at least one of the following: channel correlation coefficient in time domain and channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain. Herein, the channel stability may be a channel estimation result obtained based on a reference signal, and the reference signal may be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0265] The channel correlation coefficient in time domain may be a CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, which is defined as a coefficient for quantifying the similarity (or correlation) between channel estimations based on CSI-RSs at different times, where the channel estimations are obtained based on one or more reference ports and / or one or more reference subcarriers located in an active downlink BWP. The channel correlation coefficient in time domain reflects the dynamic change of the state of a channel in time domain.

[0266] For example, the measurement result may include a time domain measurement result obtained based on CSI-RSs for time domain measurement (or time domain channel estimation) received from the first node. In some implementations, the time domain measurement result may be determined based on the similarity or correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first time unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second time unit.

[0267] In some implementations, the first time unit and the second time unit may be any two different time units among all time units occupied by CSI-RSs for time domain channel estimation configured by the first node. For example, the first time unit may be the 1st time unit among all time units occupied by CSI-RSs for time domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and the second time unit may be any other time unit except the first time unit among all time units occupied by CSI-RSs for time domain channel estimation configured by the first node. For example, the first time unit may be the 1st time unit among all time units occupied by CSI-RSs for time domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and the second time unit may be the last time unit among all time units occupied by CSI-RSs for time domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and so on. For example, the first time unit and / or the second time unit may be any time unit configured or designated by the first node. For example, the first time unit and / or the second time unit may be the time unit located in the center of all the time units occupied by CSI-RSs for time domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and so on. In the present disclosure, a time unit may refer to a time domain symbol, a slot, a subframe or a frame, etc.

[0268]

[0269] Herein,

[0270] : channel estimation based on CSI-RSs at the first time ;

[0271] : channel estimation based on CSI-RSs at the second time ;

[0272] : the element with an index of in the channel estimation vector or matrix ;

[0273] : the element with an index of in the channel estimation vector or matrix ;

[0274] : the average of all elements in ;

[0275] : the average of all elements in .

[0276] FIG. 22 illustrates a schematic diagram of variables related to the calculation of a CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain.

[0277] The channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain may be a CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, which is defined as a coefficient for quantifying the similarity between channel estimations based on CSI-RSs at different frequencies, where the channel estimations are obtained based on one or more reference ports and / or one or more time domain reference units. The time domain reference unit may be a time domain symbol, a slot, a subframe or a frame, etc., which is not limited herein. The channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain reflects the dynamic change of the state of a channel in frequency domain.

[0278] For example, the measurement results may include a frequency domain measurement result obtained based on CSI-RSs for frequency domain measurement (or frequency domain channel estimation) received from the first node. In some implementations, the frequency domain measurement result may be determined based on the similarity or correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first frequency domain unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second frequency domain unit.

[0279] In some implementations, the first frequency domain unit and the second frequency domain unit may be any two different frequency domain units among all frequency domain units occupied by CSI-RSs for frequency domain channel estimation configured by the first node. For example, the first frequency domain unit may be the 1st frequency domain unit among all frequency domain units occupied by CSI-RSs for frequency domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and the second frequency domain unit may be any other frequency domain unit except the first frequency domain unit among all frequency domain units occupied by CSI-RSs for frequency domain channel estimation configured by the first node. For example, the first frequency domain unit may be the 1st frequency domain unit among all frequency domain units occupied by CSI-RSs for frequency domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and the second frequency domain unit may be the last frequency domain unit among all frequency domain units occupied by CSI-RSs for frequency domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and so on. For example, the first frequency domain unit and / or the second frequency domain unit may be any frequency domain unit configured or designated by the first node. For example, the first frequency domain unit and / or the second frequency domain unit may be the frequency domain unit located in the center of all the frequency domain units occupied by CSI-RSs for frequency domain channel estimation configured by the first node, and so on. In the present disclosure, a frequency domain unit may refer to a subcarrier, a carrier, an RE or an RB in the frequency domain, etc.

[0280] In an example, the equation for calculating the CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain is defined as:

[0281]

[0282] Herein,

[0283] : channel estimation based on CSI-RSs at the first frequency ;

[0284] : channel estimation based on CSI-RSs at the second frequency ;

[0285] : the element with an index of in the channel estimation vector or matrix ;

[0286] : the element with an index of in the channel estimation vector or matrix ;

[0287] : the average of all elements in ;

[0288] : the average of all elements in .

[0289] FIG. 23 illustrates a schematic diagram of variables related to the calculation of a CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain.

[0290] The channel estimation may be obtained based on channel estimation algorithms, which may include at least one of the following: Least Squares (LS), Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (Linear MMSE, LMMSE). A standardized channel estimation algorithm is the premise of establishing a unified measurement standard. Herein, the LS algorithm is simple in calculation and has a closed solution; the MMSE algorithm can achieve an optimal accuracy of channel estimation in an uncertain scenario; and the LMMSE algorithm can balance computational efficiency and performance.

[0291] In some implementations, the UE may receive a CSI report configuration related to the measurement result from the first node. The CSI report configuration may include one or more of the following: a resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, a resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, and indication information related to quantization of the measurement result.

[0292] In some implementations, the indication information related to the quantization of the measurement result may include information related to at least one of the following: one or more quantization levels used to quantize the measurement result, one or more threshold ranges corresponding to the one or more quantization levels, the number of the one or more quantization levels, and a quantization mode of the measurement result.

[0293] For example, the UE may receive a channel state information (CSI) report configuration related to the measurement result (for example, related to channel stability) from the first node, and then measure the channel stability based on the CSI report configuration and report the measurement result. Herein, the way to report the measurement result includes at least one of the following: reporting the channel stability of specified resources and reporting indexes of resources that meet a channel stability requirement.

[0294] The CSI report configuration corresponding to the way of reporting the channel stability of specified resources includes information related to at least one of the following: a resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, a resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, and indication information related to quantization of the measurement result (for example, it may be called quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient, or any other name).

[0295] The resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain indicates a set of reference signal resources for calculation of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, such as a set of CSI-RS reference signal resources. When the CSI report configuration received by the UE from the first node contains the resource set for the measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, the UE is implicitly informed to report the channel stability in time domain. Thus, the UE measures the channel correlation coefficient in time domain.

[0296] The resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain indicates a set of reference signal resources for calculation of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, such as a set of CSI-RS reference signal resources. When the CSI report configuration received by the UE from the first node contains the resource set for the measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, the UE is implicitly informed to report the channel stability in frequency domain. Thus, the UE measures the channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain.

[0297] The resource allocation methods can reduce the signaling overhead for the first node to indicate the UE to measure the channel stability in time domain or frequency domain.

[0298] The quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient corresponds to at least one of the following: predefined quantization threshold range levels and / or the number of the quantization threshold range levels and / or the corresponding quantization threshold ranges, and the mode for the UE to determine the level of the channel correlation coefficient to be reported.

[0299] A specific implementation of the predefined quantization threshold range levels and / or the number of the quantization threshold range levels and / or the corresponding quantization threshold ranges is to divide a total quantization range (for example, [0,1]) into several threshold ranges, each threshold range corresponding to a level. For example, a quantization range is divided into three threshold ranges, corresponding to three levels respectively, such as: Level 1, the corresponding threshold range is greater than 0.8 and less than or equal to 1.0, that is, (0.8, 1.0]; Level 2, the corresponding threshold range is greater than 0.5 and less than or equal to 0.8, that is, (0.5, 0.8]; Level 3, the corresponding threshold range is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 0.5, that is, [0,0.5]. Using the quantization threshold range levels to determine the reporting result of the UE can save the high signaling overhead caused by the UE reporting specific measurement results. For example, it takes 4 bytes to directly report a 32-bit floating-point coefficient, but only 2 bits to report 3 levels, saving 98% of data transmission amount.

[0300] In the case that the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient corresponds to the predefined quantization threshold range levels and / or the number of the quantization threshold range levels and / or the corresponding quantization threshold ranges, a specific implementation may be that different quantization category indications of channel correlation coefficient correspond to different predefined quantization threshold range levels and / or the number of the quantization threshold range levels and / or the corresponding quantization threshold ranges. For example, when the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient is 0, the number of corresponding quantization threshold range levels is three, and the three threshold ranges are (0.8, 1.0], (0.5, 0.8] and [0, 0.5] respectively. When the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient is 1, the number of corresponding quantization threshold range levels is five, and the five threshold ranges are (0.9, 1.0], (0.8, 0.9], (0.7, 0.8], (0.5, 0.7] and [0, 0.5] respectively, in which the quantization threshold ranges are further refined. This method can support adaptive adjustment and adjust the accuracy of the measurement to be reported according to specific requirements.

[0301] The mode for the UE to determine the level of the channel correlation coefficient to be reported may be at least one of the following: comparing the absolute value of a calculated channel correlation coefficient with (one or more) quantization threshold ranges, and then reporting the level corresponding to the quantization threshold range it belongs to; comparing a calculated channel correlation coefficient with (one or more) quantization threshold ranges, and then reporting the level corresponding to the quantization threshold range it belongs to. The range of the channel correlation coefficient calculated according to an equation may be -1 to 1. By means of determining a corresponding level after taking the absolute value of the calculated channel correlation coefficient, the stability of the channel may be determined. For example, it may be that the closer the absolute value is to 1, the more stable the channel is; and the closer the absolute value is to 0, the more unstable the channel is. By means of using the channel correlation coefficient to determine the level directly, whether two channels are positively correlated may be further determined. For example, when the channel correlation coefficient is closer to 1, it means that the two channels are more positively linearly correlated; when the channel correlation coefficient is closer to 0, it means that there is less correlation between the two channels; and when the channel correlation coefficient is closer to -1, it means that the two channels are more negatively linearly correlated.

[0302] A specific implementation of comparing the absolute value of a calculated channel correlation coefficient with (one or more) quantization threshold ranges and then reporting the level corresponding to the quantization threshold range it belongs to is as follows: a total quantization range is 0 to 1 (for example, [0, 1]), and the total range is divided, for example, into three threshold ranges or levels, in which, for example, the threshold range corresponding to Level 1 is (0.8, 1.0], the threshold range corresponding to Level 2 is (0.5, 0.8], and the threshold range corresponding to Level 3 is [0,0.5]. By means of comparing the absolute value of the measurement result of the calculated channel stability with the one or more threshold ranges or levels, a level to be reported is obtained (for example, the level corresponding to the threshold range to which the absolute value of the measurement result belongs). This method can determine the stability of the channel.

[0303] A specific implementation of comparing a calculated channel correlation coefficient with (one or more) quantization threshold ranges and then reporting the level corresponding to the quantization threshold range it belongs to is as follows: a total quantization range is -1 to 1 (for example, [-1, 1]), and the total range is divided, for example, into six threshold ranges or levels, in which, for example, the threshold range corresponding to Level 1 is (0.8, 1.0], the threshold range corresponding to Level 2 is (0.5,0.8], the threshold range corresponding to Level 3 is(0, 0.5], the threshold range corresponding to Level 4 is (-0.5, 0], the threshold range corresponding to Level 5 is (-0.8, 0.5], and the threshold range corresponding to Level 6 is [-1.0, 0.8]. By means of comparing the measurement result of the calculated channel stability with the levels, a level to be reported is obtained (for example, the level corresponding to the threshold range to which the measurement result belongs). This method can determine the positive stability of the channel.

[0304] A specific implementation of the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient may be that, for a certain quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient, the predefined quantization threshold ranges and / or the number of the quantization threshold range levels, and / or the mode for the UE to determine the level of the channel correlation coefficient to be reported can be obtained correspondingly. For example, when the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient is 0, the number of predefined quantization threshold ranges is three: Level 1 is (0.8, 1.0], Level 2 is (0.5, 0.8], and Level 3 is [0, 0.5]. The mode for the UE to determine the level of the channel correlation coefficient to be reported may be that, comparing the absolute value of a calculated channel correlation coefficient with (one or more) quantization threshold ranges. For another example, when the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient is 1, the number of predefined quantization threshold ranges is six: Level 1 is (0.8, 1.0], Level 2 is (0.5, 0.8], Level 3 is (0, 0.5], Level 4 is (-0.5, 0], Level 5 is (-0.8, 0.5], and Level 6 is [-1.0, -0.8]. The mode for the UE to determine the level of the channel correlation coefficient to be reported may be that, comparing a calculated channel correlation coefficient with (one or more) quantization threshold ranges. In this way, the signaling overhead can be reduced, and the threshold range parameters and reporting mode can be obtained implicitly through one indication.

[0305] The quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient may be further divided into the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient in time domain and / or the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain. In this case, the UE may have different quantization threshold ranges and reporting modes in time domain and frequency domain, for determining the level of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain and / or the level of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, so as to determine different reporting accuracies in time domain and frequency domain.

[0306] It may also be that only one quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient is configured. In this case, the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient is applicable to the time domain and the frequency domain respectively, and the reporting accuracies in time domain and frequency domain are the same.

[0307] The CSI report corresponding to the way of reporting the channel stability of specified resources at least includes one of the following: a level of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain and a level of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain. The UE measures the channel correlation coefficient based on a first reference resource and other reference resources in a configured reference resource set, and determines the level of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain and / or the level of the CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain in combination with the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient. For example, the first reference resource may be the 1st CSI resource in the resource set. Alternatively, the first reference resource may be designated by the base station in other ways, such as giving an index of the first reference resource, etc., and the way of determining the first reference resource is not limited herein.

[0308] The method of reporting the channel stability of specified resources supports the first node to decide whether to adopt the design methods of time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS proposed in the present disclosure, and to determine corresponding parameters, such as time domain and / or frequency domain intervals, etc., and this method provides specific channel stability information among different resources, and supports the first node to make flexible decisions.

[0309] The CSI report configuration corresponding to the way of reporting indexes of resources that meet a channel stability requirement includes information related to at least one of the following: a resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, a resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, a quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient, and a target quantization level (for example, it may also be called a target channel stability level). Herein, the resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, the resource set for measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain and the quantization category indication of channel correlation coefficient have been described before, and will not be repeated here. When the CSI report configuration received by the UE from the first node contains the resource set for the measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in time domain, the UE is implicitly informed to report the indexes of resources that meet a channel stability requirement in time domain, so that the UE can measure the channel correlation coefficient in time domain. Similarly, when the CSI report configuration received by the UE from the first node contains the resource set for the measurement of CSI channel correlation coefficient in frequency domain, the UE is implicitly informed to report the indexes of resources that meet a channel stability requirement in frequency domain, so that the UE can measure the channel correlation coefficient in the frequency domain.

[0310] The target channel stability level is defined as a channel stability requirement that the first node needs to meet when designing the time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS proposed in the present disclosure. The target channel stability level triggers the UE to report the indexes of measurement resources meeting a predefined channel stability criterion, where the predefined channel stability criterion is the target channel stability. For example, when the target channel stability is Level 1, the UE reports the indexes of the reference resources whose channel correlation coefficient level measured based on the first reference resource and other reference resources meets Level 1 among a specified resource set. The expression of a quantization level of a measurement result (or measurement value, or channel estimation result, etc.) meeting a target channel stability level mentioned herein means that the quantization level of the measurement result (or measurement value, or channel estimation result, etc.) is equal to or better than the target channel stability level. Furthermore, depending on the specific physical meaning of a measurement value and one or more specific quantization threshold ranges corresponding to one or more quantization threshold range levels, the quantization level of a measurement result being better than the target channel stability level may mean that the quantization level of the measurement result is greater than the target channel stability level, or the quantization level of the measurement result is less than the target channel stability level. For example, assuming that there are three quantization threshold range levels, that is, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, and the threshold range corresponding to Level 1 is (0.8, 1.0]; the threshold range corresponding to Level 2 is (0.5, 0.8]; and the threshold range corresponding to Level 3 is [0,0.5]. In addition, assuming that the larger the measurement value is, the higher the channel stability is indicated, and assuming that the target channel stability level is Level 2, then, when the quantization level of the measurement value is Level 2 and / or Level 1, it can be regarded as meeting the target channel stability level.

[0311] The target channel stability level may be further divided into target channel stability level in time domain and / or target channel stability level in frequency domain. In this case, there may be different target channel stability levels for time domain and frequency domain.

[0312] It may also be that there is only one kind of target channel stability levels. In this case, the target channel stability level is applicable for the time domain and the frequency domain respectively. That is, the time domain and the frequency domain have the same channel stability requirements.

[0313] The CSI report corresponding to the way of reporting indexes (and / or any other identification information) of resources that meet a channel stability requirement includes at least one of the following: indexes of CSI resources meeting a channel stability criterion in time domain and indexes of CSI resources meeting a channel stability criterion in frequency domain. The UE reports the indexes of CSI resources to enable the base station to determine the setting of DMRS parameters, such as adjusting the interval of DMRS in time domain and / or frequency domain according to the reported CSI indexes meeting the channel stability criterion.

[0314] The method of reporting indexes of resources that meet a channel stability requirement supports the first node to decide whether to adopt the design methods of time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS proposed in the present disclosure, and to determine corresponding parameters, such as time domain and / or frequency domain intervals, etc., and this method only needs to report information of resources meeting the requirements, thus optimizing the signaling overhead for reporting.

[0315] The present disclosure provides various DMRS configuration modes to determine the parameters of the time domain and / or frequency domain pattern of DMRS, which makes full use of RRC semi-static parameters, dynamic signaling of downlink control information, DCI) and MAC control element (MAC CE) to optimize the utilization of resources. In addition, the UE and the first node may determine the configuration of DMRS in a predefined way jointly, thus avoiding the signaling overhead for configuration of the first node.

[0316] A DMRS configuration mode may be to define the time domain parameters and / or frequency domain parameter combinations of multiple groups of DMRS resources by setting parameter combinations. Herein the time domain parameters of DMRS include at least one of the following: the number of DMRS symbols, the symbol interval of the DMRS, and the slot interval of the DMRS. The frequency domain parameters of DMRS include at least one of the following: the subcarrier spacing of DMRS and subcarrier offsets of different DMRS symbols. By defining various parameter combinations in advance, or by the UE receiving a parameter combination configuration from the first node through RRC, a selectable parameter combination range may be determined. Then the UE receives a selected parameter combination from the first node through DCI or MAC CE, and finally determines the time domain parameters and / or frequency domain parameters of the DMRS resources. This method is suitable for scenarios requiring flexible configuration switching.

[0317] A DMRS configuration mode may also be to determine a slot containing a DMRS symbol by using a DMRS slot interval in combination with a method of activating or deactivating the DMRS symbol in the current slot: determining time domain parameters (such as the slot interval of DMRS) and / or frequency domain parameters (such as a subcarrier interval of DMRS and subcarrier offsets of different DMRS symbols) through RRC signaling; then dynamically deciding, through DCI or MAC CE, whether the DMRS symbol in the current slot is activated or deactivated and / or the location of the DMRS symbol in the current slot. In this mode, the slot interval of DMRS may be used to determine how many slots there is a DMRS symbol, and whether there is a DMRS symbol in the current slot may be determined then by dynamically activating or deactivating the DMRS symbol in the current slot. This method is suitable for periodic service and can optimize resource utilization and delay.

[0318] A DMRS configuration mode may also be to mark slots containing DMRS symbols by using a slot bitmap: determining time domain parameters (such as slot bitmap to mark slots containing DMRS symbols) and / or frequency domain parameters (such as a subcarrier spacing of DMRS and subcarrier offsets of different DMRS symbols) through RRC signaling; then determining the location of DMRS symbol in the slot containing a DMRS symbol through DCI or MAC CE. This method is suitable for the scene where the location of the DMRS symbol needs to be accurately controlled.

[0319] The DMRS configuration mode may also be that the UE and the first node jointly use a predefined mode to determine the configuration parameters of the DMRS. For example, the UE and the first node agree that when the measured channel stability meets a predefined channel stability criterion, the UE and the first node adopt a corresponding DMRS configuration parameter. After reporting the measurement results of channel stability, UE can determine the configuration parameters adopted by the first node when transmitting DMRS symbols according to whether a predefined channel stability criterion is met without waiting for the parameter configuration of DMRS of the first node. This method does not need the configuration overhead of the base station.

[0320] It should be understood that the methods 1800 and 1900, and the like, according to embodiments of the present disclosure may also include any of the methods or steps described in connection with various examples, aspects, drawings, and the like of the present disclosure.

[0321] Next, FIG. 20 illustrates a schematic diagram of a node 2000 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0322] As shown in FIG. 20, a node 2000 (e.g., any node as described herein, e.g., a first node) according to embodiments of the present disclosure may include a transceiver 2010 and a processor 2020. The transceiver 2010 may be configured to transmit and receive signals. The processor 2020 may be coupled to the transceiver 2010 and may be configured (e.g., to control the transceiver 2010) to perform methods performed by any node in the wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a node may also be referred to as a node device.

[0323] FIG. 21 illustrates a schematic diagram of a user equipment 2100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0324] As illustrated in FIG. 21, a user equipment 2100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure may include a transceiver 2110 and a processor 2120. The transceiver 2110 may be configured to transmit and receive signals. The processor 2120 may be coupled to the transceiver 2110 and may be configured (e.g., to control the transceiver 2110) to perform methods performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a processor may also be referred to as a controller.

[0325] Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement any method according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0326] Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented as computer-readable codes embodied on a computer-readable recording medium from a specific perspective. A computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data readable by a computer system. Examples of computer-readable recording media may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage device, carrier wave (e.g., data transmission via the Internet), etc. Computer-readable recording media can be distributed by computer systems connected via a network, and thus computer-readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. Furthermore, functional programs, codes and code segments for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure can be easily explained by those skilled in the art to which the embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

[0327] It will be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The software may be stored as program instructions or computer-readable codes executable on a processor on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable recording media include magnetic storage media (such as ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, etc.) and optical recording media (such as CD-ROM, digital video disk (DVD), etc.). Non-transitory computer-readable recording media may also be distributed on computer systems coupled to a network, so that computer-readable codes are stored and executed in a distributed manner. The medium can be read by a computer, stored in a memory, and executed by a processor. Various embodiments may be implemented by a computer or a portable terminal including a controller and a memory, and the memory may be an example of a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium suitable for storing program (s) with instructions for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The present disclosure may be realized by a program with code for concretely implementing the apparatus and method described in the claims, which is stored in a machine (or computer)-readable storage medium. The program may be electronically carried on any medium, such as a communication signal transmitted via a wired or wireless connection, and the present disclosure suitably includes its equivalents.

[0328] What has been described above is only the specific implementation of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Anyone who is familiar with this technical field may make various changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present disclosure, and these changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:receiving, from a first node, first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals, or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; andreceiving, from the first node, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots,wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.The method of claim 1, wherein the second information includes a number M of the reference signals, where M satisfies any one of:M is equal to 1;M is greater than 1, and less than N;M is equal to N,where N is a number of slots of the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.The method of claim 1, wherein the third information includes a symbol interval of the reference signals, the symbol interval includes at least one of:the number of symbols between two adjacent reference signals; orthe number of symbols used for the PDSCH transmission between two adjacent reference signals.The method of claim 1, wherein the first information further includes fourth information related to a mode used for determining symbol locations of the reference signals, wherein the fourth information includes a first mode, wherein,determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode includes at least one of:determining symbol locations of reference signals other than a first reference signal among the reference signals based on a first symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the first symbol location is a symbol location of the first reference signal among the reference signals in a first slot for the PDSCH transmission;ordetermining symbol locations of reference signals other than a last reference signal among the reference signals based on a second symbol location and a first time domain interval of the reference signals, wherein the second symbol location is a symbol location of the last reference signal among the reference signals in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission.The method of claim 4, wherein,the first time domain interval is determined based on a first number of symbols and the number of the reference signals,wherein the first number of symbols includes at least one of:the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission;the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a last symbol for the PDSCH transmission in a last slot for the PDSCH transmission;the number of symbols from the first symbol location to the second symbol location;the number of symbols from the first symbol location to a previous symbol location of a first reference signal in a first slot for a next scheduled PDSCH transmission; andan accumulated sum of the number of symbols for the PDSCH transmission in the plurality of slots for the PDSCH transmission.The method of claim 4,wherein the first symbol location includes one or more of:a first symbol location in the first slot for the PDSCH transmission;a third or fourth symbol location in the first slot; anda C-th symbol location in the first slot for the PDSCH transmission,where C is an integer greater than 1; andwherein the second symbol location includes one or more of:a first symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission;a third or fourth symbol location in the last slot; andan E-th symbol location in the last slot for the PDSCH transmission, where E is an integer greater than 1.The method of claim 4, wherein in a case that the symbol location of the first reference signal among the reference signals conflicts with other channels or signals, the determining symbol locations of the reference signals based on the first mode further includes at least one of:determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal;determining a symbol location for the PDSCH transmission adjacent to the symbol location of the first reference signal as a symbol location of the first reference signal, determining a second time domain interval based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and the determined symbol location, and determining symbol locations of reference signals after the first reference signal based on the second time domain interval;determining symbol locations of the first reference signal and reference signals after the first reference signal based on a symbol location of a previous reference signal of the first reference signal and a third time domain interval, wherein the third time domain interval is included in the third information or determined based on the first time domain interval.The method of claim 1, further comprising:performing measurement on a channel used for transmitting the PDSCH transmission; andtransmitting, to the first node, a measurement result of the measurement, wherein the first information is determined based on the measurement result.The method of claim 8, further comprising:receiving, from the first node, a channel state information (CSI) report configuration related to the measurement result,wherein the CSI report configuration includes indication information related to quantization of the measurement result, andwherein the indication information includes information related to at least one of: one or more quantization levels used to quantize the measurement result, one or more threshold ranges corresponding to the one or more quantization levels, the number of the one or more quantization levels, and a quantization mode of the measurement result.The method of claim 8, wherein the measurement result includes a time domain measurement result obtained based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for time domain measurement received from the first node,wherein the time domain measurement result is determined based on a correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first time unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second time unit, andwherein the first time unit and the second time unit are two different time units among all time units occupied by the CSI-RSs.The method of claim 8, wherein the measurement result includes a frequency domain measurement result obtained based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for frequency domain measurement received from the first node,wherein the frequency domain measurement result is determined based on a correlation between a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a first frequency domain unit and a channel estimation result of CSI-RSs on a second frequency domain unit, andwherein the first frequency domain unit and the second frequency domain unit are two different frequency domain units among all frequency domain units occupied by the CSI-RSs.The method of claim 9, wherein the CSI report configuration further includes a target quantization level,wherein the measurement result includes identification information of resources the quantization level of whose measurement value meets the target quantization level.A method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, comprising:transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals, or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; andtransmitting, to the UE, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots,wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to:receive, from a first node, first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals, or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; andreceive, from the first node, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots,wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.A first node in a wireless communication system, the first node comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to:transmit, to a user equipment (UE), first information including at least one of second information related to a number of reference signals, or third information related to a time domain interval of the reference signals; andtransmit, to the UE, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the PDSCH transmission is scheduled for transmission over a plurality of slots,wherein the reference signals are used for demodulation of the PDSCH transmission.

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