A method and system for improved sounding reference signal (SRS) overhead and flexible reuse scheme

By dynamically configuring and reusing uplink detection reference signal (SRS) resources in 5G NR wireless communication systems, the problem of excessive resource overhead consumption in the prior art is solved, and more efficient resource management and system performance improvement is achieved.

CN115039475BActive Publication Date: 2025-04-01ZTE CORP
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202080095285.5
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2020-04-11
Publication Date
2025-04-01
Estimated Expiration
2040-04-11

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

In 5G NR wireless communication systems, it is difficult for the prior art to effectively reuse uplink detection reference signal (SRS) resources, resulting in excessive resource overhead consumption.

Method used

By passing configuration parameters between the user equipment and the base station, the user equipment can dynamically determine and configure the uses of multiple SRS resource clusters and send a probe reference signal according to these uses. The base station may also receive these configured SRS resources to support channel monitoring and resource management for multiple purposes.

Benefits of technology

This approach enables flexible reuse of SRS resources, reduces resource overhead consumption, and improves system performance, especially in support of multi-user and multi-antenna systems.

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Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method and system for transmitting one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets, the sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets being used for one or more purposes. In one embodiment, the method performed by a user equipment includes: receiving one or more configuration parameters from a wireless network node; determining one or more purposes for multiple SRS resources within the one or more SRS resource sets based on the one or more configuration parameters; and transmitting SRS using the multiple SRS resources configured for the one or more purposes.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly, to methods and systems for sounding reference signal configuration to support uplink and downlink transmissions. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services, such as telephone, video, data, information transceiving and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies, capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE).

[0003] A wireless communication network may include several base stations (BS) that support communication with several user equipment (UE). The UE may communicate with the base station via a downlink (DL) (or forward link) and an uplink (UL) (or reverse link). DL refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and UL refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As will be described in more detail herein, the BS may be referred to as a Node B, a g NodeB (gNB), an access point (AP), a radio head, a transmit receive node (TRP), a new radio (NR) BS, a 5G NodeB, etc.

[0004] The above-mentioned multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards, which provide a common protocol that enables different user devices to communicate at various geographical levels. 5G NR (New Radio) is a multiple access technology designed for 5G (fifth generation) mobile networks promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). 5G NR provides higher data rates and greater capacity with improved reliability and lower latency, which enhances mobile broadband services. 5G NR also provides new service categories for vehicles, fixed wireless broadband and the Internet of Things (IoT).

[0005] To support the increased data rates, a Multiple Input Multiple Output MIMO (MIMO) antenna system is used in 5G NR to beamform the signals transmitted between the BS and the UE. If the additional dimensions created by multiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized, the MIMO system can provide improved performance (e.g., higher throughput and / or greater reliability). However, 5G NR with a MIMO system may exhibit poor propagation phenomena, such as multipath, which may cause the wireless signal to reach the receiving antenna via two or more paths. Therefore, a key requirement for enjoying the benefits of MIMO technology is to obtain accurate channel state information (CSI) for each wireless link.

[0006] One way to obtain CSI at the transmitter of the BS is by using an uplink (UL) channel monitoring. Channel monitoring is a signaling mechanism in which the UE sends a pilot signal or a sounding reference signal (SRS) on the UL channel to enable the BS to estimate the UL channel response. This method assumes reciprocity of the uplink channel and the downlink channel (DL), which is usually present in a time division duplexing (TDD) system. In addition, the number of UL SRS required in the above method for DL ​​channel estimation is proportional to the number of UEs served and is independent of the number of BS antennas.

[0007] In addition, in order to obtain wideband or subband CSI of UL channels, the BS can use SRS to assist the UL medium access control (MAC) scheduler in allocating UEs to resource blocks (RBs). The base station can use SRS in allocating uplink resources to transmitting terminals.

[0008] In current 5G NR wireless communication systems, channel monitoring with SRS supports a variety of use case sets. For example, SRS can be simply used at the BS to obtain signal strength measurements, for example, for the purpose of UL beam management. On the other hand, SRS can be used at the BS to obtain detailed amplitude and phase estimates as a function of frequency, time and space. Other uses of SRS include UL CSI acquisition in codebook / non-codebook mode. In the codebook / non-codebook scenario, reciprocity between downlink and uplink cannot / can be assumed. Another use of SRS is uplink beam management based on an SRS resource set sent by the UE to the BS. In current 5G NR wireless communication systems, SRS is configured in an SRS resource set including one or more SRS resources. In addition, in current 5G NR wireless communication systems, the SRS resource set contains a parameter called "Purpose", which specifies a single purpose of the SRS resource set suitable for the indicated use case.

[0009] In this environment, the allocation of UEs to UL SRS becomes critical in the 5G standardization work because it can significantly affect system performance. Since the number of UL SRS for a given bandwidth is limited, and because the number of multiplexed UEs may be significantly larger than the number of UEs in existing systems, a large amount of resource overhead is incurred. Therefore, a UL SRS reuse method and system are needed to reduce resource overhead consumption.

[0010] In addition, in the current 5G NR and 3GPP evolved LTE (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A) wireless communication systems, two types of SRS are defined. The first type of periodic SRS (Periodic SRS, p-SRS) is used to obtain long-term channel information. The period of p-SRS is usually longer (up to 320ms) to reduce overhead. The p-SRS parameters are configured by the higher-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC), so the configuration time is long (e.g., 15-20ms), resulting in low signaling flexibility. For uplink MIMO, closed-loop spatial multiplexing highly requires p-SRS resources, especially when the number of UEs becomes large. The second type of aperiodic SRS (Aperiodic SRS, ap-SRS) is a new feature triggered by a downlink grant or an uplink grant via the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). Once triggered, the UE sends a detection sequence at a predefined position for one transmission. Ap-SRS supports multi-antenna detection for uplink MIMO. Ap-SRS is much more flexible than p-SRS. Thus, the predefined position for one transmission of ap-SRS is defined by a number of slot offsets, which are offsets from the reception of the downlink control information (DCI) trigger carried in the PDCCH. However, the predefined position for one transmission of ap-SRS is limited because it only allows one SRS resource to occupy consecutive OFDM symbols in one slot. Therefore, there is a need for enhanced aperiodic SRS triggering. Summary of the invention

[0011] The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are intended to solve problems related to one or more problems existing in the prior art, as well as to provide additional features, which will become apparent when referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. According to multiple embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that these embodiments are presented in an exemplary and non-limiting manner, and it will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art who has read this disclosure that various modifications can be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of this disclosure.

[0012] In one embodiment, a method for sending one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets for one or more purposes, the method being performed by a user equipment, comprises: receiving one or more configuration parameters from a wireless network node; determining one or more purposes of a plurality of SRS resources in the one or more SRS resource sets based on the one or more configuration parameters; and sending SRS by configuring the plurality of SRS resources for the one or more purposes.

[0013] In another embodiment, a method for receiving one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets configured for one or more purposes, the method being performed by a base station, comprises: sending one or more configuration parameters to a user equipment; and receiving the SRS from a plurality of SRS resources configured by the user equipment (UE), wherein the plurality of SRS resources are configured for one or more purposes.

[0014] In another embodiment, a method for sending a non-periodic sounding reference signal (SRS), which is performed by a user equipment, includes: receiving a time slot offset for an SRS resource or an SRS resource subset within an SRS resource set, wherein the time slot offset indicates the time when the non-periodic SRS transmission is triggered, relative to the time position of a receiving time slot of downlink control information (DCI); receiving the DCI; and sending each SRS resource in the SRS resource subset or in the SRS resource set at a time corresponding to the time slot offset.

[0015] In yet another embodiment, a method for sending a sounding reference signal (SRS), the method being performed by a user equipment, comprises: receiving one or more configuration parameters and a bitmap, the configuration parameters indicating at least one of one or more starting positions of one or more groups of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or consecutive uplink (UL) OFDM symbols, and the bitmap indicating selection of OFDM symbols; determining a time domain resource set for sending the SRS based on the one or more configuration parameters; and sending the SRS in the time domain resource set.

[0016] In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a device configured to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0017] In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed, perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0018] In yet another embodiment, a wireless communication node includes a memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform any of the methods disclosed herein; and at least one processor connected to the memory and configured to execute the computer executable instructions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] A number of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and only describe exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present disclosure. Therefore, the accompanying drawings should not be considered as limiting the breadth, scope or applicability of the present disclosure. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of description, these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0020] Figure 1A is a block diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 1B is a block diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration to support multiple uses according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 3A An SRS resource set with two SRS time-frequency resources according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0024] Figure 3B An SRS resource having two antenna ports and configured for antenna switching and codebook usage scenarios according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0025] Figure 3C A timing diagram of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission corresponding to SRS resources having one or more uses according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figures 4A-4C A timing diagram of SRS resource allocation according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0027] Figure 5A-5B A block diagram of a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver chain according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0028] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a flowchart of a method of transmitting one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets for one or more purposes according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 7 A block diagram showing a flowchart of a method for transmitting an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0030] Figure 8 A block diagram of a wireless communication node configured to perform the methods disclosed herein is shown according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] A number of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the present disclosure. It is obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that, after reading the present disclosure, various changes or modifications may be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. In addition, the specific order and / or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein are merely exemplary methods. Based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps of the disclosed methods or processes may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or actions in an exemplary order, and the present disclosure is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless otherwise expressly stated.

[0032] As discussed herein, according to the conventional understanding of these terms in the art, a "wireless communication node" may include or be implemented as a next generation node B (Generation Node B, gNB), an E-UTRAN node B (E-UTRAN Node B, eNB), a transmission reception node (Transmission Reception Point, TRP), an access point (Access Point, AP), a donor node (Donor Node, DN), a relay node, a core network (Core Network, CN) node, a RAN node, a master node, a secondary node, a distributed unit (Distributed Unit, DU), a centralized unit (Centralized Unit, CU), etc. In addition, as discussed herein, according to the conventional understanding of these terms in the art, a "wireless communication device" may include or be implemented as a station (STA), a mobile terminal (MT), a mobile station (MS), etc. In the description of the following exemplary embodiments, a "wireless communication node" is referred to as a base station "BS", and a "wireless communication device" is referred to as a user equipment "UE". However, it should be understood that the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited to these exemplary embodiments.

[0033] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a wireless communication network 100A according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless communication network 100A may be an LTE network or some other wireless network, such as a 5G NR network. The wireless communication network 100A may include several BSs 103 and several UEs 101. In some embodiments, the BSs 103 may perform one or more of the following functions: transmission of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages.

[0034] In addition, each BS 103 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area 105. In some embodiments, the geographic area covered by the BS and / or BS subsystem serving the geographic area may be referred to as a "cell". There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 105. In other embodiments, the BS 103 may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other BSs via various types of backhaul links 107. The backhaul link 107 may include an interface, such as a direct physical connection, a virtual network, and / or an interface using any suitable transport network. The backhaul link 107 may be wired or wireless.

[0035] The wireless communication network 100A may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs 103, such as a macro BS, a pico BS, a femto BS, a relay BS, etc. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless communication network 100A. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while a pico BS, a femto BS, and a relay BS may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

[0036] UEs 101 may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100A, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smartphone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, a biosensor / device, a wearable device (smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicle component or sensor, a smart meter / sensor, an industrial manufacturing device, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

[0037] Figure 1B 1 is a diagram illustrating an example 100B of a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, a base station 103 may configure one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets for a UE 101. In various embodiments, SRS resources are configured in an SRS resource set that includes one or more SRS resources. This configuration mechanism simplifies activation (e.g., semi-persistent) and DCI triggering (e.g., aperiodic SRS) because multiple resources can be activated / triggered simultaneously.

[0038] Reference again Figure 1B In some embodiments, BS 103 may configure one or more SRS resource sets for UE 101 to allocate resources for SRS transmissions sent by UE 101. For example, BS 103 may send one or more configuration parameters or indications of SRS resource sets 107 to UE 101. In further embodiments, one or more configuration parameters may be carried in a radio resource control (RRC) message (e.g., an RRC configuration message and an RRC reconfiguration message), etc. In some embodiments, one or more configuration parameters or RRC messages sent from BS 103 may specify a parameter called "purpose". According to the purpose parameter, the SRS resource set may have different configurations suitable for the indicated usage scenario. For example, the SRS resource set may be configured to have different purposes, such as "antenna switching", "codebook", "non-codebook" and "beam management". In other embodiments, the SRS resource set may be configured to have multiple purposes. For example, the SRS resource set may be configured to have "codebook" and "beam management" purposes. An exemplary advantage of SRS resource reuse in different purposes is that it reduces the overhead consumption of SRS resources.

[0039] As shown by reference numeral 109, UE 101 may send the configured SRS to the BS, and the BS may utilize the received SRS to determine uplink channel quality, link adaptation, or downlink scheduling under channel reciprocity. In a further embodiment, the BS may utilize the received SRS to allocate uplink resources to the transmitting UE.

[0040] Figure 2 An example of a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration scheme 200 that can support multiple uses is shown. In some embodiments, the configuration information 203 of the SRS resource set 201 can indicate one or more time-frequency resources in which the SRS will be sent, and can indicate one or more antenna ports on which the SRS will be sent in those time-frequency resources. In other embodiments, the configuration of the SRS resource set can indicate the usage scenario of the SRS resource set 205 (for example, in the SRS resource set usage = {antenna switching, codebook, beam management} information element). For example, the BS 103 can configure one or more SRS resource sets 201 with the configuration information 203, and the configuration information 203 indicates multiple uses of the SRS resource set 205. In some embodiments, a usage list can be configured for the SRS resource set 201, indicating that all or part of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set 201 are used for antenna switching, codebook-based UL, and beam management.

[0041] In a further embodiment, a bitmap may be configured for one or more SRS resource sets to indicate a usage scenario for all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set. For example, from the set of {"antenna switching", "codebook", "non-codebook", "beam management"} SRS resource usages, "1001" in the bitmap may indicate a usage {"antenna switching", "beam management"} for all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set, the usage being selected from the set of SRS resource usages.

[0042] In yet another embodiment, a combined usage parameter may be defined to indicate multiple usages for all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set. For example, the combined usage parameter "antenna switching and codebook" may be configured to indicate that all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set are used for both antenna switching and codebook-based UL usage scenarios.

[0043] Antenna switching SRS resource sets may be used to indicate downlink channel state information (CSI) with reciprocity between uplink and downlink channels. For example, BS 103 may configure one or more SRS resource sets 201 by a usage parameter 203 including an "antennaSwitching" value. The number of SRS resource sets configured for antenna switching depends on the capabilities of UE 101, which may be represented by the number of Tx (e.g., transmit) and Rx (e.g., receive) antenna chains that are available simultaneously. In some embodiments, UE 101 may transmit simultaneously on the same number of antennas in the uplink as the number of antennas used by BS 103 for reception in the downlink. For example, BS 103 may configure SRS resource sets including SRS resources for UE 101 using configuration parameter 203, for which the number of SRS ports is equal to the number of UE antenna ports. After receiving the SRS from UE 101, BS 103 may obtain downlink CSI based on an estimate of the full UL spatial channel, the estimate being based on the configured SRS resources. In this embodiment, UE 101 may indicate its capabilities from a set of values: 1T1R, 2T2R, and 4T4R, where “T” indicates a transmit chain (Tx antenna) and “R” indicates a receive chain (Rx antenna).

[0044] In other embodiments, UE 101 may not be able to transmit on the same number of antennas as it has receive antennas, and partial sounding may be performed through antenna switching. For example, if UE 101 has four receive antennas, but it can only transmit on two of them simultaneously, the UE may indicate "2T4R" during its capability exchange process. That is, BS 103 may request UE 101, in order to obtain CSI of the full spatial channel, to first transmit a first dual-port SRS resource on a first UE antenna port during one time instance, and then, at a later time instance, to transmit a second dual-port SRS resource on a second UE antenna port. As another example, for an SRS resource set configured for "2T4R" antenna switching, two SRS resources in the SRS resource set are configured, and each SRS resource may include a dual-port SRS resource. In a further embodiment, an SRS resource set for xTyR antenna switching, where x is the number of transmit antennas, y is the number of receive antennas, and y / x or y / x in the SRS resource is or is not. ( (y / x is rounded down) SRS resources are configured, and each SRS resource may include x-port SRS resources, where x and y are integers. For example, x may be 1, 2, or 4, and y may be 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8.

[0045] The codebook SRS resource set may be used to indicate uplink CSI when the base station 103 indicates an uplink precoder (e.g., a precoding matrix or weights) to the UE 101. For example, when the base station 103 is configured to indicate an uplink precoder (e.g., using a precoder codebook) to the UE 101, the base station 103 may use the codebook SRS (e.g., an SRS sent using resources of the codebook SRS resource set) to obtain uplink CSI.

[0046] When UE 101 selects an uplink precoding weight to be used by UE 101 (e.g., instead of an uplink precoding weight indicated by BS 103), a non-codebook SRS resource set may be used to indicate uplink CSI. In this case, the precoding weight is determined at the UE based on the reception of the associated CSI-RS resource by assuming DL-UL reciprocity. In some embodiments, when UE 101 is configured to select an uplink precoder (e.g., an uplink precoding weight), BS 103 may use a non-codebook SRS (e.g., an SRS sent via resources of a non-codebook SRS resource set) to obtain uplink CSI.

[0047] The beam management SRS resource set can be used to indicate the CSI for millimeter wave communication. Thus, to support uplink beam management, one or more SRS resource sets 201 can be configured with a usage parameter 203 including a "beam management" value. In some embodiments, if the UE maintains a fixed spatial domain transmit filter on the SRS resource set, the BS can adjust its spatial domain receive filter (receive beam) to optimize reception.

[0048] In some embodiments, one or more SRS resources in an SRS resource set configured for one or more purposes may include one or more SRS resource ports. In addition, different SRS resources may have the same or different numbers of SRS resource ports.

[0049] Figure 3A An SRS resource set with two SRS time-frequency resources is shown. 300A In some embodiments, only a subset of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set 300A may be configured for one or more purposes. Thus, the UE 101 may determine the subset of SRS resources configured for one or more purposes based on predefined rules or configuration parameters received from the BS 103. For example, Figure 3A As shown, each of the SRS resources 301 and 303 in the SRS resource set 300A has two antenna ports. In this embodiment, both the SRS resources 301 and 303 can be used for antenna switching, and the SRS resource 303 can also be used for codebook-based UL.

[0050] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, UE 101 may determine a set of N uses {U1, U2, ..., U N In various embodiments, UE 101 may determine a mapping between a set of usages and one or more SRS resources based on predefined rules. For example, a first usage U1 from the set of usages may be mapped to all SRS resources in the SRS resource set, a second usage U2 may be mapped to a first X2SRS resource with the lowest SRS resource ID in the SRS resource set, and the remaining usages in the set of usages may be mapped to SRS resources in the SRS resource set in a similar manner. In further embodiments, X2, X3, ..., X N SRS resources are integers, where X2, X3, …, X N Sort as follows: X2≥X3≥…≥X N .

[0051] In various embodiments of the present disclosure, UE 101 may determine a set {U1, U2, ..., U N} and SRS resources. For example, the first usage U1 from the set of usages may be mapped to all SRS resources in the SRS resource set. BS 103 may also configure one or more configuration parameters indicating which resources may be used for usage U1. i , where 2≤i≤N. In some embodiments, BS 103 may be configured with one or more bitmaps or resource IDs, where the bitmaps and resource IDs are configured to select i SRS resources.

[0052] like Figure 2 As shown, the SRS resource set 205 may be configured to have an antenna switching usage scenario. Figure 3A As shown, the SRS resource set with antenna switching purpose may include a first SRS resource 301 and a second SRS resource 303. Therefore, two antenna ports (e.g., antenna port 0 and antenna port 1) may be used to send antenna switching SRS in SRS resource 301 (e.g., first time-frequency resource), and two antenna ports (e.g., antenna port 2 and antenna port 3) may be used to send antenna switching SRS in SRS resource 303 (e.g., second time-frequency resource).

[0053] However, in some embodiments, it is envisioned that there may be some special cases where the UE may have different types of antenna switching capabilities due to a limited number of radio frequency (RF) chains, or limited antenna switching capabilities due to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products. For example, multiple antenna switching capabilities may include various combinations of transmit (Tx) antennas and receive (Rx) antennas. Specifically, the UE may be configured to support at least two antenna switching capabilities from a set consisting of {(x, y) where x:=1, 2, 4, y:=1, 2, 4, 6, 8}, where the capability (x, y) indicates support for x transmit (Tx) antennas and y receive (Rx) antennas. For example, the UE may indicate that it supports both 1T2R and 2T4R antenna switching capabilities.

[0054] In some embodiments, the BS may configure one or more SRS resource sets for one or more antenna switching capabilities from the set {(x, y)}. For example, if the UE supports at least two combinations, such as (x1, y1) and (x2, y2), where x1 is less than x2, and the BS may configure the UE using the antenna switching capability (x1, y1), this may cause the UE not to use its full transmit power for SRS transmission. Therefore, the BS may need more information to accurately configure the UE. In some embodiments, the UE's capability information may be reported to the BS in UE capability signaling.

[0055] In some embodiments, the UE may report to the BS its ability to share transmit power between antennas for one or more purposes. In this case, the UE may signal its ability to the BS by reporting whether the maximum transmit power of the SRS of the N1 antenna is equal to the maximum transmit power of the SRS of the N2 antenna, where N1 and N2 are integers indicating the number of UE antennas, and N1 is less than N2. For example, N2 is K times N1, where K is an integer greater than 1. In multiple other embodiments, the UE may signal its ability to the BS by reporting the ratio between the maximum transmit power of the SRS of the N1 antenna and the maximum transmit power of the SRS of the N2 antenna, where N1 and N2 are integers, and N1 is less than N2. In particular, the UE may report the ratio K=N2 / N1, where K is an integer greater than 1. In other embodiments, the ratio may be at least one of 1 / 4, 1 / 2, and 1. In further embodiments, the UE may report the minimum number of antennas that may achieve SRS transmission at full transmit power. In other embodiments, the UE may report to the BS the maximum or minimum supported transmit power scaling value for SRS transmission.

[0056] In some embodiments, the UE may have different capabilities for various uses. For example, for an antenna switching use scenario, the UE 101 may support a maximum of A1 number of antennas (or antenna ports), while for another use scenario (e.g., UL transmissions including codebook, non-codebook, and / or beam management), the UE 101 may also support a maximum of A2 number of antennas (or antenna ports). In some embodiments, the number of antenna ports in different SRS resources within an SRS resource set may be different. Figure 3B The above exemplary embodiment is shown, in which the SRS resource set 300B It includes two SRS time-frequency resources with different numbers of antenna ports. In particular, Figure 3B The SRS resource 311 is shown, having two antenna ports 305 and 307, and is configured for antenna switching and codebook usage scenarios. 300B Also included is an SRS resource 309 having an antenna port 305 and configured for an antenna switching usage scenario. In some embodiments, the UE 101 may determine which antenna ports in the SRS resource may be configured for a first purpose from a set of purposes. For example, the UE 101 may determine, based on a predefined rule, the antenna ports configured for the first purpose in the SRS resource used for both the first and a purposes. In some embodiments, the UE 101 may configure a predefined number of antenna ports (e.g., the antenna port with the lowest ID) for the first purpose. In other embodiments, the UE 101 may configure the antenna ports of the SRS resource for the first purpose based on one or more configuration parameters received from the BS 103. In a further embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may be one or more bitmaps. In other embodiments, if at least two SRS resources for different purposes are transmitted in overlapping resources, for the two SRS resources, the antenna ports with the same port index are the same ports. For example, overlapping SRS resources may be antenna ports, frequency domain, time domain, and / or code domain resources (e.g., sequence-related parameters).

[0057] Figure 3CA timing diagram corresponding to SRS resources having one or more uses for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission is shown. In some embodiments, two PUSCH transmissions 319 and 321 can be associated with two different SRS resources 313 and 315 in one SRS resource set 300C. In some embodiments, SRS resources 313 and 315 can be used for antenna switching and UL transmission (e.g., codebook-based UL and / or non-codebook-based UL) at the same time. In addition, there may be a gap 318 between the two PUSCH 319 and 321 transmissions. In some embodiments, the length of the gap 318 (e.g., the number of OFDM symbols) is the same as the length of the gap 317 between the two SRS resources 313 and 315.

[0058] In a further embodiment, the UE 101 may equally divide the limited transmission power P across multiple antenna ports configured for SRS transmission. SRS . Thus, if at least two SRS resources from two different SRS resource sets conflict in the antenna port, time domain, frequency domain and / or code domain during at least one SRS transmission opportunity, or if at least two SRS resources from two different SRS resource sets are configured to share (or reuse) the same physical resource, the transmit power of each conflicting SRS resource may be determined based on the antenna port, SRS resource ID, or the time domain, frequency domain or code domain resource specified in the two conflicting SRS resources. In one embodiment, the time domain resource may be periodic, non-periodic or semi-persistent. In some embodiments, if two SRS resources have the same resource ID, the UE may scale the transmit power P of each conflicting (or shared) SRS resource by a factor S. SRS. In other embodiments, if the two conflicting (or shared) SRS resources have the same antenna port, the UE may scale the transmit power of each conflicting (or shared) SRS resource by a factor S. In some embodiments, if the two conflicting (or shared) SRS resources completely overlap in the time domain, frequency domain, and code domain (e.g., completely overlap in resource elements (RE), cyclic shifts, and SRS sequences), the UE may scale the transmit power of each conflicting (or shared) SRS resource by a factor S. In other embodiments, the transmit power scaling factor S may be equal to 1. In a further embodiment, if, within two conflicting (or shared) SRS resources, a first SRS resource has time domain, frequency domain, and code domain resources (e.g., RE, cyclic shift, SRS sequence) that are a subset of the time domain, frequency domain, and code domain resources of a second SRS resource, then for each SRS resource in an SRS resource set, the UE 101 may scale the transmit power P by a factor S1 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the first SRS resource and a factor S2 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the second SRS resource. SRS , where S1 is less than or equal to S2. In some embodiments, if, within two conflicting (or shared) SRS resources, a first SRS resource has antenna ports that are a subset of antenna ports of a second SRS resource, then for each SRS resource in an SRS resource set, UE 101 may scale the transmit power P by a factor S1 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the first SRS resource and a factor S2 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the second SRS resource. SRS , where S1 is less than or equal to S2. In some embodiments, if, within two conflicting (or shared) SRS resources, a first SRS resource has time domain, frequency domain, and code domain resources (e.g., RE, cyclic shift, SRS sequence) that are a subset of the time domain, frequency domain, and code domain resources of a second SRS resource, then for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, the UE may scale the transmit power P by a factor S1 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the first SRS resource and a factor S2 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the second SRS resource. SRS In some embodiments, if, within two conflicting (or shared) SRS resources, a first SRS resource has antenna ports that are a subset of ports of a second SRS resource, then for each SRS resource in an SRS resource set, the UE may scale the transmit power P by a factor S1 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the first SRS resource and a factor S2 for SRS resources in the SRS resource set including the second SRS resource. SRSIn some embodiments, S2 is equal to 1, and S1 may be less than or equal to 1. In other embodiments, the factor may be determined by S1=NP1 / NP2, where NP1 is the number of ports in the first SRS resource, and NP2 is the number of ports in the second SRS resource. In addition, for other resources in the SRS resource set, UE 101 may scale the transmit power P by a factor of 1. SRS .

[0059] Figures 4A-4C 1 shows a timing diagram of SRS resource allocation according to multiple embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when UE 101 sends SRS resources, BS 103 can configure the time domain position. For example, Figure 4A As shown, BS 103 may configure a plurality of time domain positions 401 (e.g., represented by L_1 and L_2 time slots), where the time domain position 401 indicates the starting position of the OFDM symbol of the SRS resource within slot 400A. In multiple embodiments, the time domain position may be indicated by a time domain slot, where the time domain slot may include one or more concurrent resource blocks (RBs). In some embodiments, in a 5G NR wireless communication node, slot 400A includes a predefined number N (e.g., N=14) OFDM symbols. In other embodiments, within slot 400A, a variable number τ OFDM symbols may be dedicated to the transmission of SRS, while the remaining N-τ OFDM symbols may be allocated to UL data. In a further embodiment, BS 103 may configure the length (K) of the consecutive OFDM symbols used by the SRS resource. In an exemplary embodiment, the SRS resource may occupy (K) OFDM symbols 403 starting from the starting position 401. In some embodiments, the value K may be the number of OFDM symbols in repetition or frequency hopping. Unlike existing solutions that limit the time domain location of SRS resources, an exemplary advantage of the present method is that it allows flexibility in the symbol location of SRS resources. In addition, the present method also allows SRS resources to occupy non-contiguous OFDM symbols.

[0060] In some embodiments, BS 103 may configure bitmap 405 to indicate the OFDM symbols occupied by SRS resources in slot 400B. In various embodiments, the size of the bitmap may be determined by the number of OFDM symbols in slot 400B. In another example, the size of the bitmap may be determined based on the number of OFDM symbols in slot 400B, the number of frequency hopping, and / or the number of repetitions. Figure 4B As shown, each bit 407 / 409 in the bitmap 405 may be associated with a set of repeating symbols or frequency hopping.

[0061] In some embodiments, BS 103 may configure a start symbol 411 and a bitmap 414 to indicate the OFDM symbols occupied by the SRS resource in slot 400C. The start symbol 411 indicates the first symbol position of the SRS resource in slot 400C. From the first symbol 411 to the last symbol of slot 400C, there may be a total of S symbols. In some embodiments, the size of the bitmap may be determined by the number of symbols S, the number of frequency hopping, and / or the number of repetitions. In various embodiments, such as Figure 4C As shown, each bit 413 / 415 in the bitmap may be associated with a set of repeating symbols or frequency hopping.

[0062] In some embodiments, the transmission of SRS resources can be in a non-periodic manner. Thus, after receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) with downlink control information (DCI) that explicitly triggers an SRS resource set, the non-periodic SRS resource transmission of UE 101 can be triggered by BS 103. In particular, BS 103 can configure a trigger slot offset, which is measured as the number of time slots between the time slot in which the DCI trigger is received and the time slot containing the non-periodic SRS resource transmission. In multiple embodiments, the trigger slot offset can take a value between 0 and 6 time slots, where 0 refers to the same time slot in which UE 101 receives the DCI trigger. In some embodiments, the trigger slot offset can be configured at the SRS resource set level. Therefore, the SRS resources within the SRS resource set can be configured / activated / triggered on a per-set basis.

[0063] In a further embodiment of the present disclosure, BS 103 may configure one or more trigger slot offsets for one or more subsets of SRS resource sets. In this embodiment, each trigger slot offset is associated with a subset of SRS resource sets. In this embodiment, SRS resources within a subset of SRS resource sets may have the same trigger slot offset. In addition, resources in a subset of SRS resource sets may be sent in the same time slot. Unlike the previously described method in which each SRS resource set only allows a single trigger slot offset, an exemplary advantage of this embodiment is that each SRS resource set allows one or more trigger slot offsets. The method also provides flexible determination of one or more trigger slot offsets.

[0064] In some embodiments, UE 101 may determine the number of subsets of the SRS resource set based on configuration parameters or predefined rules. In multiple embodiments, subsets of the SRS resource set may be formed based on the number of subsets and the order of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. The order of the SRS resources may be determined based on the SRS resource ID. In multiple embodiments, subsets of the SRS resource set may have an equal number of SRS resources. In other embodiments, a list of bijective (e.g., one-to-one) mappings between a specified trigger slot offset and a subset of the SRS resource set may be configured. In some embodiments, BS 103 may configure a subset ID for each subset of the SRS resource set. In this embodiment, each subset ID may be mapped to a trigger slot offset.

[0065] In a further embodiment, BS 103 may configure a trigger time slot offset for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set. In addition, the number of time slots configured for the transmission of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set may be limited to be no greater than a predefined value M. In other embodiments, the number of time slots may be configured by BS 103. In addition, in other exemplary embodiments, the number of time slots may be carried in the capability signaling of UE 101.

[0066] In another embodiment, the maximum time range (M) can be determined by UE 101, and the maximum time range (M) is measured as the time slot or OFDM symbol used for the transmission of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. In other embodiments, BS 103 can configure the maximum time range M for the transmission of SRS resources. In this embodiment, the maximum time range M can be defined as the maximum number of OFDM symbols or time slots between the earliest and last SRS resource transmissions. In some embodiments, the maximum time range M can be determined based on the difference between the maximum trigger time slot offset and the minimum trigger time slot offset of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. Moreover, the maximum time range M can be configured by BS 103. In addition, the maximum time range M can also be a predefined value. In addition, in other exemplary embodiments, the maximum time range M can be carried in the capability signaling of UE 101.

[0067] Figure 5A-5B A block diagram of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver chain is shown. Figure 5A As shown, UE 101 may include antenna 503 and a single RF chain with power amplifier 501. In other embodiments, such as Figure 5BAs shown, UE 101 may include an antenna 509 and two parallel RF chains with power amplifiers 505 and 507. In some embodiments, UE 101 may report its capabilities to BS 103, including the number of RF chains. In further embodiments, UE 101 may report to BS 103 its ability to share transmit power among antennas configured for one or more purposes. In other embodiments, UE 101 may report whether the maximum transmit power of one SRS resource use (e.g., antenna switching) is equal to that of another SRS resource use (e.g., UL transmission). In other embodiments, UE 101 may report the ratio between the maximum transmit power of one SRS resource use (e.g., antenna switching) and that of another SRS resource use (e.g., UL transmission). In some embodiments, the ratio may be one of 1 / 4, 1 / 2, 1, 2, and 4.

[0068] In other embodiments, UE 101 may report whether the maximum transmit power of the N1 antenna SRS is equal to that of the N2 antenna SRS, where N1 < N2. In other embodiments, UE 101 may report the minimum number of antennas for SRS transmission that achieve full transmit power. In other embodiments, UE 101 may report the maximum or minimum power scaling value for SRS transmission. In other embodiments, the capabilities of UE 101 may be implicitly conveyed from other control signals. For example, control signals related to UL full-power transmission may be used to determine the capabilities of UE 101. In other embodiments, UE 101 may report its capabilities for each type of SRS resource use. For example, for the purpose of antenna switching, each type corresponds to a combination of x and y in the xTyR capability, where x is the number of transmit (Tx) antennas and y is the number of receive (Rx) antennas. In other embodiments, if each SRS resource use supports multiple types, UE 101 may report its capabilities. For example, for the purpose of antenna switching, if UE 101 supports multiple combinations of x and y in the xTyR capability, or there are multiple x values among the supported combinations of x and y, UE 101 may report its capabilities. In other embodiments, if the maximum number of antenna ports for one purpose (e.g., antenna switching) is not equal to the maximum number of antenna ports or its SRS for another purpose (e.g., UL transmission), UE 101 may report its capabilities. Otherwise, UE 101 may not report its capabilities.

[0069] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a flowchart of a method for transmitting one or more sets of sounding reference signal (SRS) resources for one or more purposes according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, Figure 6The shown flow chart may be executed by UE 101, for example.

[0070] In block 601, UE 101 may receive one or more configuration parameters from BS 103. In block 603, UE 101 may determine one or more usages for a plurality of SRS resources in one or more SRS resource sets based on the one or more configuration parameters. In block 605, UE 101 may transmit SRS using the plurality of SRS resources configured for the one or more usages.

[0071] Figure 7 A block diagram illustrating a flow chart of a method for transmitting an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) according to multiple embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, Figure 7 The shown flow chart may be executed by UE 101, for example.

[0072] In block 701, UE 101 may receive downlink control information (DCI) from BS 103. In block 703, UE 101 may receive a slot offset for an SRS resource or a subset of SRS resources within an SRS resource set, wherein the slot offset indicates a time at which aperiodic SRS is triggered relative to a time slot of a reception of the downlink control information (DCI). In block 705, UE 101 may transmit each SRS resource in the SRS resource set or the subset of SRS resources at a time corresponding to the slot offset.

[0073] Figure 8 A block diagram of a network node (NN) 800 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. NN 800 is an example of a wireless communication node that can be configured to implement the various methods described herein. In some embodiments, NN 800 can be a wireless communication node, such as a user equipment (UE) described herein. In other embodiments, NN 800 can be a wireless communication device, such as a base station (BS) described herein. Figure 8 As shown, NN 800 includes a housing 840 containing a system clock 802 , a processor 804 , a memory 806 , a transceiver 810 including a transmitter 812 and a receiver 814 , a power module 808 , and an SRS transmission module 820 .

[0074] In this embodiment, system clock 802 provides timing signals to processor 404 that are used to control the timing of all operations of NN 800. Processor 804 controls the overall operation of NN 800 and may include one or more processing circuits or modules, such as a central processing unit (CPU) and / or a general-purpose microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), programmable logic device (PLD), controller, state machine, gated logic, discrete hardware components, dedicated hardware finite state machines, or any other suitable circuit, device, and / or structure capable of performing calculations or other data operations.

[0075] The memory 806, which may include a read-only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM), can provide instructions and data to the processor 804. A portion of the memory 806 may also include a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). The processor 804 generally performs logic and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored in the memory 806. The instructions (also referred to as software) stored in the memory 806 can be run by the processor 804 to perform the methods described herein. The processor 804 and the memory 806 together form a processing system for storing and running software. As used herein, "software" means any type of instruction, whether it is called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, etc., which can configure a machine or device to perform one or more desired functions or processes. Instructions may include code (e.g., source code format, binary code format, executable code format, or any other suitable code format). When run by one or more processors, these instructions cause the processing system to perform the various functions described herein.

[0076] The transceiver 810 including a transmitter 812 and a receiver 814 allows the NN 800 to send and receive data to and from an external network node (e.g., a BS or a UE). An antenna 850 is typically attached to the housing 840 and electrically connected to the transceiver 810. In various embodiments, the NN 800 includes (not shown) multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and multiple transceivers. In some embodiments, the antenna 850 includes a multi-antenna array capable of forming multiple beams according to MIMO beamforming technology, each beam pointing in a different direction.

[0077] The SRS transmission module 820 may be implemented as part of the processor 804 programmed to perform the functions herein, or it may be implemented as a separate module of hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. According to various embodiments, as described above, the SRS transmission module 820 is configured to transmit periodic / aperiodic sounding reference signals configured for a variety of purposes. In some embodiments, the SRS transmission module 820 may be implemented as software (i.e., computer executable instructions) stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which, when executed by the processor 804, converts the processor 804 into a special-purpose computer to perform the zeroing operations described herein.

[0078] The various components and modules within the housing 840 discussed above are connected together via a bus system 830. In addition to the data bus, the bus system 830 may also include a data bus, such as a power bus, a control signal bus, and / or a status signal bus. It should be understood that the modules of the NN 800 can be operably connected to each other using any suitable technology and medium. It should also be understood that additional modules (not shown) may be included in the NN 800 without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0079] Although various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, it should be understood that they are presented by way of example only, rather than by way of limitation. Similarly, various figures may depict example architectures or configurations, which are provided to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the exemplary features and functions of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the example architectures or configurations shown, but can be implemented using various alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, as those of ordinary skill in the art should understand, one or more features of an embodiment can be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Therefore, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

[0080] It should also be understood that any reference to an element using designations such as "first," "second," etc. herein generally does not limit the number or order of these elements. Rather, these designations can be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of elements. Thus, reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be used, or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner.

[0081] In addition, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that any of a variety of different techniques and methods can be used to represent information and signals. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits and symbols, such as those referred to in the above description, can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0082] Those of ordinary skill in the art should also understand that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, devices, circuits, methods, and functions described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware (e.g., digital implementations, analog implementations, or a combination of both), firmware, various forms of programs or design codes incorporating instructions (which, for convenience, may be referred to herein as "software" or "software modules"), or any combination of these technologies.

[0083] In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described above according to their functions. Whether this functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware or software, or a combination of these technologies, depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. Skilled technicians can implement the described functionality in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions will not lead to deviations from the scope of this disclosure. According to various embodiments, processors, devices, components, circuits, structures, machines, modules, etc. can be configured to perform one or more functions described herein. The terms "configured to" or "configured for" used herein with respect to a specific operation or function refer to a processor, device, component, circuit, structure, machine, module, signal, etc., which is physically constructed, programmed, arranged and / or formatted to perform a specified operation or function.

[0084] In addition, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, devices, components, and circuits described herein can be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (IC), which may include a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device or any combination thereof. The logic blocks, modules, and circuits may also include antennas and / or transceivers to communicate with various components within a network or within a device. A processor programmed to perform the functions herein will be a specially programmed or dedicated processor and can be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration to perform the functions described herein.

[0085] If implemented in software, these functions can be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Therefore, the steps of the method or algorithm disclosed herein can be implemented as software stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any media that can transfer a computer program or code from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access. By way of example and not limitation, such a computer-readable medium can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0086] In this article, the term "module" used herein refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements for performing the relevant functions described herein. In addition, for the purpose of discussion, various modules are described as discrete modules. However, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that two or more modules can be combined to form a single module that performs the relevant functions according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0087] Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. And the general principles defined herein can be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but rather to the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein, as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transmitting an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: The receiver is configured as: receiving a plurality of time slot offsets for an SRS resource or a subset of SRS resources within an SRS resource set, wherein each of said time slot offsets indicates a time at which aperiodic SRS transmission is to be triggered, relative to a time slot for receiving downlink control information (DCI), and receiving the DCI; a processor configured to determine a length of a time interval for sending the SRS resource or the SRS resource subset, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value comprises at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is a difference between a maximum time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set and a minimum time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set; The transmitter is configured to transmit each SRS resource in the SRS resource set or the SRS resource subset at a time corresponding to a plurality of the time slot offsets based on the determined length of the time interval.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is further configured to form a plurality of SRS resource subsets based on a configuration parameter, the configuration parameter indicating a number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein: The SRS resources within an SRS resource set are mapped to SRS resource subsets among the plurality of SRS resource subsets based on at least one of the number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets and the order of identification numbers of the SRS resources.

4. The device according to claim 2, wherein: Each of the multiple SRS resource subsets has the same number of SRS resources.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the time interval is the maximum number of OFDM symbols or time slots between the earliest SRS resource and the last SRS resource transmission in the SRS resource set.

6. An apparatus for sending a sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: a receiver configured to receive one or more configuration parameters indicating at least one of one or more starting positions of one or more groups of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or consecutive uplink (UL) OFDM symbols, and a bitmap indicating selection of the OFDM symbols; The processor is configured as: Based on the one or more configuration parameters, determine a time domain resource set for sending the SRS; and determining a length of a time interval for sending the SRS, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value comprises at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is a difference between a maximum time slot offset and a minimum time slot offset associated with sending the SRS; and The transmitter is configured to transmit the SRS in the time domain resource set based on the determined length of the time interval.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein: Each of the one or more groups of consecutive OFDM symbols or consecutive UL OFDM symbols has the same number of OFDM symbols.

8. The device according to claim 6, wherein: The size of the bitmap is determined by at least one of the following items: the number of OFDM symbols in one or more time slots, the number of UL OFDM symbols in the one or more time slots, or the number of OFDM symbols between the one or more starting positions and the last OFDM symbol in the one or more time slots.

9. The device according to claim 6, wherein: The size of the bitmap is determined by the number of frequency hopping or repetitions within one or more time slots.

10. The device according to claim 6, wherein: The processor is further configured to associate each bit in the bitmap with a group of the OFDM symbols or a group of the UL OFDM symbols.

11. The device according to claim 6, wherein: The processor is further configured to associate each bit in the bitmap with a group of OFDM symbols or repeated OFDM symbols having the same frequency hopping pattern in the time domain.

12. An apparatus for receiving an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: The transmitter is configured as: transmitting a plurality of time slot offsets for SRS resources or SRS resource subsets within an SRS resource set, wherein each of the time slot offsets indicates a time at which aperiodic SRS transmission is to be triggered, relative to a time slot for receiving downlink control information (DCI); and sending the DCI; and A receiver is configured to receive each SRS resource in the SRS resource set or the SRS resource subset at a moment corresponding to the time slot offset, and to receive the SRS resources during a specified time interval, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value includes at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, wherein the length of the time interval is the difference between the maximum time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set and the minimum time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a processor configured to send a configuration parameter indicating a number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein: The SRS resource in the SRS resource set is mapped to an SRS resource subset in the plurality of SRS resource subsets based on at least one of the number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets and the order of the identification numbers of the SRS resources.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein: Each of the multiple SRS resource subsets has the same number of SRS resources.

16. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The length of the time interval is the maximum number of OFDM symbols or time slots between the earliest SRS resource and the last SRS resource transmission in the SRS resource set.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit at least one configuration parameter indicating a time domain position within a time slot for transmitting each SRS resource.

18. An apparatus for receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: The transmitter is configured as: sending one or more configuration parameters indicating at least one of one or more starting positions of one or more groups of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or consecutive uplink (UL) OFDM symbols, and a bitmap indicating a selection of the OFDM symbols; Based on the one or more configuration parameters, determine a time domain resource set for receiving the SRS; and A receiver is configured to receive the SRS within the time domain resource set during a time interval, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value includes at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is the difference between a maximum time slot offset and a minimum time slot offset associated with receiving the SRS.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein Each of the one or more groups of consecutive OFDM symbols or consecutive UL OFDM symbols has the same number of the OFDM symbols.

20. The device according to claim 18, wherein The size of the bitmap is determined by at least one of the following items: the number of OFDM symbols in one or more time slots, the number of UL OFDM symbols in the one or more time slots, or the number of OFDM symbols located between the one or more starting positions and the last OFDM symbol in the one or more time slots.

21. The device according to claim 18, wherein The size of the bitmap is determined by the number of frequency hopping or repetitions within one or more time slots.

22. The device according to claim 18, wherein The transmitter is further configured to associate each bit in the bitmap with a group of the OFDM symbols or a group of the UL OFDM symbols.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the transmitter is further configured to associate each bit in the bitmap with a group of OFDM symbols or repeated OFDM symbols having the same frequency hopping pattern in the time domain.

24. A method for transmitting an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: receiving a plurality of time slot offsets for an SRS resource or a subset of SRS resources within an SRS resource set, wherein each of the time slot offsets represents a time at which aperiodic SRS transmission is to be triggered relative to a time slot for receiving downlink control information (DCI); receiving the DCI; and Determine a length of a time interval for sending the SRS in the SRS resource set, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value includes at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is a difference between a maximum time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set and a minimum time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set; At times corresponding to the plurality of time slot offsets, each SRS resource in the SRS resource subset or in the SRS resource set is transmitted based on the determined length of the time interval.

25. The method according to claim 24 further includes: forming multiple SRS resource subsets based on configuration parameters, wherein the configuration parameters indicate the number of the multiple SRS resource subsets.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein: The SRS resources in an SRS resource set are mapped to an SRS resource subset in the plurality of resource subsets based on at least one of the number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets and the order of the identification numbers of the SRS resources.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein: Each of the multiple SRS resource subsets has the same number of SRS resources.

28. The method according to claim 26, in, The length of the time interval is the maximum number of OFDM symbols or time slots between the earliest SRS resource and the last SRS resource transmission in the SRS resource set.

29. A method for sending a sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: receiving one or more configuration parameters indicating at least one of one or more starting positions of one or more groups of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or consecutive uplink (UL) OFDM symbols, and a bitmap indicating selection of OFDM symbols; Determine, based on the one or more configuration parameters, a time domain resource set for sending the SRS; determining a length of a time interval for sending the SRS, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value comprises at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is a difference between a maximum time slot offset and a minimum time slot offset associated with sending the SRS; and The SRS is sent within the time domain resource set based on the determined length of the time interval.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein: Each of the one or more groups of consecutive OFDM symbols or the consecutive ULOFDM symbols has the same number of OFDM symbols.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the size of the bitmap is determined by at least one of: The number of the OFDM symbols within one or more time slots, the number of the UL OFDM symbols within the one or more time slots, or the number of the OFDM symbols located between the one or more starting positions and the last OFDM symbol within the one or more time slots.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the size of the bitmap is determined by a number of frequency hopping or repetitions within one or more time slots.

33. The method of claim 29, further comprising: Each bit in the bitmap is associated with a group of OFDM symbols or a group of UL OFDM symbols.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising: Each bit in the bitmap is associated with a group of OFDM symbols or repeated OFDM symbols having the same frequency hopping pattern in the time domain.

35. A method for receiving an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: transmitting a plurality of time slot offsets for SRS resources or SRS resource subsets within an SRS resource set, wherein each of the time slot offsets indicates a time at which aperiodic SRS transmission is to be triggered, relative to a time slot for receiving downlink control information (DCI); Sending the DCI; and At a moment corresponding to the time slot offset, each SRS resource in the SRS resource subset or in the SRS resource set is received, and the SRS resources are received during a specified time interval, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value includes at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is the difference between the maximum trigger time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set, and the minimum trigger time slot offset among the SRS resources in the SRS resource set.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising: A configuration parameter is sent, where the configuration parameter indicates the number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein: The SRS resource in the SRS resource set is mapped to an SRS resource subset in the plurality of SRS resource subsets based on at least one of the number of the plurality of SRS resource subsets and the order of the identification numbers of the SRS resources.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein: Each of the multiple SRS resource subsets has the same number of SRS resources.

39. The method of claim 35, further comprising: The length of the time interval corresponds to the number of the time slots.

40. The method of claim 35, further comprising: At least one configuration parameter is sent, the configuration parameter indicating a time domain position within a time slot for sending each SRS resource.

41. A method for sending a sounding reference signal (SRS), comprising: sending one or more configuration parameters indicating at least one of one or more starting positions of one or more groups of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or consecutive uplink (UL) OFDM symbols, and a bitmap indicating a selection of the OFDM symbols; Based on the one or more configuration parameters, determine a time domain resource set for receiving the SRS; and The SRS is sent within the time domain resource set during a time interval, wherein the length of the time interval is equal to or less than a predefined value, wherein the predefined value includes at least one of the following items: a fixed value, and a value reported in capability signaling, and wherein the length of the time interval is a difference between a maximum time slot offset and a minimum time slot offset associated with receiving the SRS.

42. The method according to claim 41, wherein: Each of the one or more groups of consecutive OFDM symbols or the consecutive ULOFDM symbols has the same number of the OFDM symbols.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the size of the bitmap is determined by at least one of: The number of the OFDM symbols within one or more time slots, the number of the UL OFDM symbols within the one or more time slots, or the number of the OFDM symbols between the one or more starting positions and the last OFDM symbol within the one or more time slots.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein: The size of the bitmap is determined by the number of frequency hopping or repetitions within one or more time slots.

45. The method of claim 41, further comprising: Each bit in the bitmap is associated with a group of OFDM symbols or a group of UL OFDM symbols.

46. ​​The method of claim 41, further comprising: Each bit in the bitmap is associated with a group of OFDM symbols or repeated OFDM symbols having the same frequency hopping pattern in the time domain.

47. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed, perform any of the methods of claims 24-46.

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