Communication method and device and readable storage medium

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of mobile communications, which can be applied to a protocol framework such as NR or 6G, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus, and a readable storage medium, the method comprising: a UE obtains N pieces of channel information, and sends first information to a base station, the first information being used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N pieces of channel information, the compression feedback mode comprises one or more of the following items: the number of channel feedback quantities or a corresponding relation between the channel feedback quantities and channel information; wherein one piece of channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback quantities. By adopting the embodiment of the invention, the flexibility of channel information feedback can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, device and readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] With the development of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the number of services they support is increasing, and higher requirements are placed on communication systems in terms of system capacity, communication delay, etc. By having multiple base stations collaboratively serve users, or by using channels in multiple frequency bands to serve users, the number of data transmission streams supported simultaneously can be increased, thereby increasing the rate.

[0003] In order to achieve coordinated transmission between base stations or multi-band data transmission, the base station needs to obtain the channel state information (CSI) of the downlink channels of multiple stations or multiple frequency bands, and then determine the precoding matrix and user scheduling based on the CSI. However, in the currently widely used frequency division duplex (FDD)-based communication system, the uplink and downlink channels are not mutually different, and the base station needs the user equipment (UE) to obtain the CSI of the downlink channel through uplink feedback. For example: the base station sends a downlink reference signal to the UE, and the UE receives the downlink reference signal; since the UE knows the transmission information of the downlink reference signal, the UE can estimate (measure) the downlink channel experienced by the downlink reference signal based on the received downlink reference signal, and then the UE can generate CSI based on the measured downlink channel matrix, and then the CSI can be fed back to the base station.

[0004] At present, an important component of CSI feedback is the precoding matrix indicator (PMI), that is, the use of "0" and "1" bits to quantize the channel matrix or precoding matrix. The design of PMI (also known as codebook design) is a basic problem in mobile communication systems. The traditional codebook design method is to predefine (or agree on) a series of precoding matrices and corresponding numbers in the protocol. These precoding matrices can also be called codewords. The channel matrix or precoding matrix can be approximately expressed by using predefined codewords or linear combinations of multiple codewords. Therefore, the UE can feedback the corresponding number of the codeword and one or more of the weighting coefficients to the base station through the PMI, which is used by the base station to restore the channel matrix or precoding matrix. The traditional method requires pre-defining the codebook design for each CSI feedback scenario, such as pre-defining a set of codebooks for the feedback of channel information of multiple stations, and pre-defining a set of codebooks for the feedback of channel information of multiple frequency points. With the continuous expansion of scenarios, the number of predefined codebooks continues to increase, resulting in insufficient flexibility in CSI feedback. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, an apparatus, and a readable storage medium, in order to improve the flexibility of channel information feedback, and to improve feedback accuracy while reducing feedback overhead.

[0006] The present application is introduced below from different aspects. It should be understood that the implementation methods and beneficial effects of the following different aspects can be referenced to each other.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a second communication device such as a UE or a component for a second communication device, such as a circuit or a chip, and the method includes: obtaining N channel information and sending first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N channel information, and the compression feedback mode may include one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. In other words, the first information can be used to indicate one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. It can be understood that when the first information indicates any one of the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information, the other item can be predefined or preconfigured. For example, if the first information indicates the number of channel feedback amounts, then the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information can be predefined or preconfigured. In other words, the first information can be used to determine the compression feedback mode of the above-mentioned N channel information.

[0008] One channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback quantities. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0009] The term "compression feedback method" in this application can be understood as a feedback method of the compression amount, which will not be elaborated below.

[0010] The channel information in this application can be used to characterize the channel. The channel information can be full channel information, such as a channel response (such as a complex matrix with dimensions of the number of receiving antenna ports × the number of transmitting antenna ports × the number of subbands), or a characteristic vector or a characteristic matrix composed of multiple characteristic vectors obtained after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the channel response. The channel information can be obtained by the communication device performing channel measurement on the reference signal.

[0011] The channel feedback amount in this application can be obtained by compressing the channel information through an artificial intelligence (AI) model. Then the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information in this application can also be understood as the corresponding relationship between the output and input of the AI ​​model.

[0012] The present application indicates which compression feedback method is used specifically through the first information, which can improve the flexibility of channel information feedback. In addition, the present application can also use an AI model to compress channel information, which can reduce feedback overhead while improving feedback accuracy.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, after sending the first information, the method further includes: sending third information, the third information including the channel feedback amount of the N channel information after being processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the first information.

[0014] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, obtaining N channel information includes: receiving N reference signals; performing channel measurement based on the N reference signals to obtain N channel information. All or part of the N reference signals may come from the same communication device, or different communication devices. The transmission frequency bands of the N reference signals may be the same, partially the same, or different, and this application does not limit this.

[0015] This application is aimed at scenarios where a UE feeds back multiple channel information, such as coordinated transmission of multiple base stations and multiple frequency bands, and can also achieve a unified compressed feedback method.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a first communication device such as a base station or a part of a base station, and the method includes: receiving first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N channel information; determining the compression feedback mode based on the first information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. In other words, the first information can be used to indicate one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. It can be understood that when the first information indicates any one of the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information, the other item can be predefined or preconfigured. For example, if the first information indicates the number of channel feedback amounts, then the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information can be predefined or preconfigured. In other words, the first information can be used to determine the compression feedback mode of the above-mentioned N channel information.

[0017] One channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback quantities. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0018] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, after receiving the first information, the method further includes: receiving third information, the third information including the channel feedback amount after the N channel information is processed by the compression feedback method indicated by the first information; based on the compression feedback method indicated by the first information and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information, recovering one or more channel information. The number of channel feedback amounts included in the third information is related to the compression feedback method indicated by the first information, and the details are described in the following embodiment, which will not be described in detail here.

[0019] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, before receiving the first information, the method further includes: sending one or more reference signals, where the reference signals are used to determine channel information.

[0020] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute steps or functions performed by a second communication device, and the communication device includes: a processing unit, used to obtain N channel information, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; a transceiver unit, used to send first information, the first information is used to indicate a compressed feedback method of the N channel information, and the compressed feedback method includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; one of the channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0021] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further used to send third information, where the third information includes the channel feedback amount of the N channel information after being processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the first information.

[0022] In conjunction with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically used to control the transceiver unit to receive N reference signals, and perform channel measurement based on the N reference signals to obtain N channel information. All or part of the N reference signals may come from the same communication device, or different communication devices. The transmission frequency bands of the N reference signals may be the same, partially the same, or different, and this application does not limit this.

[0023] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute the steps or functions performed by a first communication device, and the communication device includes: a transceiver unit, which is used to receive first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compressed feedback method of N channel information, and the compressed feedback method includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; one of the channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; a processing unit, which is used to determine the compressed feedback method based on the first information.

[0024] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further used to receive third information, the third information including the channel feedback amount after the N channel information is processed by the compression feedback method indicated by the first information; the processing unit is further used to restore one or more channel information based on the compression feedback method indicated by the first information and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information. The number of channel feedback amounts included in the third information is related to the compression feedback method indicated by the first information, and the details are described in the following embodiment, which will not be described in detail here.

[0025] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further used to send one or more reference signals, where the reference signals are used to determine channel information.

[0026] In combination with any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the compression feedback mode of the N channel information is determined based on the correlation between at least two channel information in the N channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which will not be repeated here.

[0027] The present application can flexibly select a suitable compression feedback method according to the similarity between channel information, thereby reducing the complexity of channel compression feedback and improving the compression ratio of channel information.

[0028] In combination with any one of the first to fourth aspects, in a possible implementation, the compressed feedback method of the N channel information includes: the N channel information corresponds to (M+K) channel feedback amounts, one channel feedback amount among the K channel feedback amounts is used to represent common information of at least two channel information subsets among the M channel information subsets, one channel information subset includes one or more channel information among the N channel information, and the union of the M channel information subsets is equal to the N channel information. One channel feedback amount among the M channel feedback amounts is used to represent specific information of a channel information subset, and M and K are both positive integers less than N.

[0029] Exemplarily, at least two of the above-mentioned M channel information subsets can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by a first encoder (encoder) (such as extracting common features and compressing, etc.), and the first encoder can be implemented using an AI model. A channel information subset and the public information corresponding to the channel information subset can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by a second encoder (encoder) (such as extracting specific features and compressing, etc.), and the second encoder can be implemented using an AI model. Among them, the first encoder and the second encoder are different.

[0030] Exemplarily, the above-mentioned M channel information subsets are determined based on the correlation between the above-mentioned N channel information. For example, a clustering algorithm can be used to divide the N channel information into M channel information subsets, wherein the distance between sample objects in the clustering algorithm is determined by the correlation between the channel information (such as the inner product between vectors), for example, the distance between sample objects is (1-correlation between channel information), or exp(-correlation between channels). Among them, exp() represents an exponential function with the natural constant e as the base, which will not be repeated below. It can be understood that the higher the correlation between channel information, the smaller the distance between sample objects corresponding to the channel information.

[0031] Exemplarily, the N channel information corresponds to N reference signal resources, and the N reference signal resources belong to one or more reference signal resource sets. The M channel information subsets may also be determined based on the reference signal resource set. For example, the channel information corresponding to the reference signal resources belonging to the same reference signal resource set is divided into a channel information subset. In other words, the reference signal resources corresponding to the channel information in a channel information subset all belong to the same reference signal resource set.

[0032] The compressed feedback method provided in the present application jointly compresses the common features of multiple channel information into one channel feedback amount, which can fully utilize the similarities between multiple channel information, has a high degree of compression, and has low complexity. It is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N channel information is moderate.

[0033] In combination with any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the compressed feedback method of the N channel information includes: the N channel information corresponds to M channel feedback amounts, and one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of a channel information subset. A channel information subset includes one or more channel information in the N channel information. The union of the M channel information subsets is equal to the N channel information, and the intersection of any two channel information subsets in the M channel information subsets is an empty set. M is a positive integer less than N.

[0034] Exemplarily, a channel information subset among the above-mentioned M channel information subsets can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by an encoder (such as compression), and the encoder can be implemented using an AI model.

[0035] Exemplarily, the M channel information subsets are determined based on the correlation between the N channel information. For example, a clustering algorithm may be used to divide the N channel information into M channel information subsets, wherein the distance between sample objects in the clustering algorithm is determined by the correlation between the channel information (such as the inner product between vectors), for example, the distance between sample objects is (1-correlation between channel information), or exp(-correlation between channels).

[0036] Exemplarily, the N channel information corresponds to N reference signal resources, and the N reference signal resources belong to one or more reference signal resource sets. The M channel information subsets can also be determined based on the reference signal resource set. For example, the channel information corresponding to the reference signal resources belonging to the same reference signal resource set is divided into a channel information subset. In other words, the reference signal resources corresponding to all the channel information in a channel information subset belong to the same reference signal resource set.

[0037] The compressed feedback method provided in the present application jointly compresses multiple channel information into one channel feedback amount, which can fully utilize the similarities between multiple channel information and has a high degree of compression. It is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N channel information is high.

[0038] In combination with any one of the first to fourth aspects, in a possible implementation manner, the compressed feedback method of the above-mentioned N channel information includes: the N channel information corresponds to N channel feedback amounts, and one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of one channel information.

[0039] Exemplarily, a channel information can be processed by an encoder (eg, compressed) to obtain a channel feedback quantity, and the encoder can be implemented using an AI model.

[0040] The compressed feedback method provided in this application uses an AI model to compress channel information, which can reduce feedback overhead and improve feedback accuracy.

[0041] In combination with any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first information includes an identifier of a compression feedback mode. Exemplarily, several compression feedback modes can be predefined, and each predefined compression feedback mode includes the number of channel feedback quantities and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback quantity and the channel information. For example, the three compression feedback modes mentioned above: (1) N channel information corresponds to (M+K) channel feedback quantities, one of the K channel feedback quantities is used to represent the common information of at least two channel information subsets in the M channel information subsets, and one of the M channel feedback quantities is used to represent the specific information of a channel information subset; (2) N channel information corresponds to M channel feedback quantities, one of which is used to represent the content of a channel information subset; (3) N channel information corresponds to N channel feedback quantities, one of which is used to represent the content of a channel information. Then, a unique identifier is set for each predefined compression feedback mode. The present application does not limit the specific setting method. It is only necessary for the sender and receiver to reach an agreement on the corresponding relationship between the predefined compression feedback mode and the identifier; thus, the compression feedback mode of the N channel information can be determined by carrying the identifier of the compression feedback mode in the first information. It can be understood that the compression feedback mode here is only an example. In actual applications, more or fewer compression feedback modes can be predefined, and this application does not limit it. It can also be understood that different numbers of channel feedback amounts can correspond to different compression feedback modes, which can use different identifiers. Of course, the corresponding relationship between different channel feedback amounts and channel information can also correspond to different compression feedback modes, which can use different identifiers.

[0042] Alternatively, the first information includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts corresponding to the N channel information, or the corresponding relationship between each channel feedback amount and one or more channel information in the N channel information. Exemplarily, a 0 / 1 matrix can be used to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the N channel information. The rows of the 0 / 1 matrix represent the channel information, and the columns represent the channel feedback amounts. The number of columns of the 0 / 1 matrix is ​​the number of channel feedback amounts. The element of the i-th row and j-th column is 1, indicating that the j-th channel feedback amount corresponds to the i-th channel information. The element of the i-th row and j-th column is 0, indicating that there is no corresponding relationship between the j-th channel feedback amount and the i-th channel information. Again exemplarily, a list can also be used to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between each channel feedback amount and the channel information. A row of the list represents a channel feedback amount and its corresponding channel information, and the number of rows of the list represents the number of channel feedback amounts.

[0043] It is understood that the present application does not limit the specific form of the first information, or in other words, the present application does not limit the signaling form of the first information. Any signaling indication method that can express the content of the above first information is within the protection scope of the present application.

[0044] The present application provides two methods for indicating compressed feedback modes to align the understanding of the channel feedback amount between the UE and the base station, so as to facilitate the base station to recover the channel information.

[0045] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a first communication device such as a base station or a part of a base station, and the method includes: determining a compression feedback mode of N first channel information, and sending first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information. In other words, the first information can be used to indicate one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information. It can be understood that when the first information indicates any one of the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information, the other item can be predefined or preconfigured. For example, if the first information indicates the number of channel feedback amounts, then the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information can be predefined or preconfigured. In other words, the first information can be used to determine the compression feedback mode of the above-mentioned N first channel information.

[0046] Wherein, one piece of first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0047] In the present application, the first channel information may be downlink channel information.

[0048] The present application indicates which compression feedback method is used specifically through the first information, which can improve the flexibility of channel information feedback. In addition, the present application can also use an AI model to compress channel information, which can reduce feedback overhead while improving feedback accuracy.

[0049] In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: the first communication device receives third information, the third information including the channel feedback amount of the N first channel information after being processed by the compression feedback method indicated by the first information; the first communication device restores one or more first channel information based on the compression feedback method and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information. The number of channel feedback amounts included in the third information is related to the compression feedback method indicated by the first information, and the details are referred to in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here.

[0050] In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: the first communication device receives second information, the second information including a correlation between at least two first channel information in N first channel information. The correlation between at least two first channel information in the N first channel information can be used to determine a compression feedback method for the N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here.

[0051] The UE of the present application informs the base station of the correlation between channel information through the second information, and the base station flexibly selects an appropriate compression feedback method according to the correlation between the channel information, which can reduce the complexity of channel compression feedback and improve the compression ratio of the channel information.

[0052] In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first channel information is determined based on a first reference signal. N first channel information can be determined based on N first reference signals. All or part of the N first reference signals may come from the same communication device, or from different communication devices. The transmission frequency bands of the N first reference signals may be the same, partially the same, or different, and the present application does not limit this. Exemplarily, the first reference signal is an uplink reference signal.

[0053] This application is aimed at scenarios where a UE feeds back multiple channel information, such as coordinated transmission of multiple base stations and multiple frequency bands, and can also achieve a unified compressed feedback method.

[0054] The method also includes: the first communication device receives one or more second reference signals, and the second reference signals are used to determine the second channel information; the first communication device obtains the correlation between at least two second channel information in the L second channel information, and the correlation between at least two second channel information in the L second channel information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the above-mentioned N first channel information. The specific determination method can be referred to the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here. L is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0055] In the present application, the second channel information may be uplink channel information, and the second reference signal may be an uplink reference signal.

[0056] The base station of the present application utilizes the correlation between uplink channel information (i.e., the second channel information) to determine the compression feedback method of downlink channel information (i.e., the first channel information). It can be applicable to scenarios where there is reciprocity between uplink and downlink channels, or where uplink channel aging is not serious. It can also flexibly select a suitable compression feedback method to reduce the complexity of channel compression feedback and improve the compression ratio of channel information.

[0057] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a second communication device such as a UE, and the method includes: obtaining N first channel information, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; receiving first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, and the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information. In other words, the first information can be used to indicate one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information. It can be understood that when the first information indicates any one of the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information, the other item can be predefined or preconfigured. For example, if the first information indicates the number of channel feedback amounts, then the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information can be predefined or preconfigured. In other words, the first information can be used to determine the compression feedback mode of the above-mentioned N first channel information.

[0058] Wherein, one piece of first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0059] In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: the second communication device sends third information, and the third information includes the channel feedback amount of the above-mentioned N first channel information after being processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the above-mentioned first information.

[0060] In conjunction with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: a second communication device sends second information, the second information including a correlation between at least two first channel information in the N first channel information. The correlation between at least two first channel information in the N first channel information can be used to determine a compression feedback method for the N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here.

[0061] In conjunction with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first channel information is determined based on a first reference signal received by a second communication device. The method also includes: the second communication device sends one or more second reference signals, the second reference signal is used to determine the second channel information, wherein the correlation between the second channel information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here.

[0062] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute the steps or functions performed by a first communication device, and the communication device includes: a processing unit, used to determine the compression feedback method of N first channel information; a transceiver unit, used to send first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback method of the N first channel information, and the compression feedback method includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information; one of the first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0063] In conjunction with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further used to receive third information, the third information including the channel feedback amount after the N first channel information is processed by the compression feedback method indicated by the first information; the processing unit is further used to restore one or more first channel information based on the compression feedback method and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information. The number of channel feedback amounts included in the third information is related to the compression feedback method indicated by the first information, and the details are described in the following embodiment, which will not be described in detail here.

[0064] In conjunction with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further used to receive second information, where the second information includes a correlation between at least two first channel information in N first channel information. The correlation between at least two first channel information in the N first channel information can be used to determine a compression feedback method for the N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below and is not described in detail here.

[0065] In conjunction with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the above-mentioned first channel information is determined based on a first reference signal. N first channel information can be determined based on N first reference signals. All or part of the N first reference signals may come from the same communication device, or different communication devices. The transmission frequency bands of the N first reference signals may be the same, or partially the same, or different, and this application does not limit this. Exemplarily, the first reference signal is an uplink reference signal.

[0066] The transceiver unit is further used to receive one or more second reference signals, which are used to determine the second channel information; the processing unit is further used to obtain the correlation between at least two of the L second channel information, and the correlation between at least two of the L second channel information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the above-mentioned N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here. L is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0067] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute steps or functions performed by a second communication device, and the communication device includes: a processing unit, used to obtain N first channel information, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; a transceiver unit, used to receive first information, the first information is used to indicate a compressed feedback method of the N first channel information, and the compressed feedback method includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information, wherein one first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0068] In combination with the eighth aspect, in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further used to send third information, where the third information includes the channel feedback amount of the N first channel information after being processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the first information.

[0069] In conjunction with the eighth aspect, in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further used to send second information, where the second information includes a correlation between at least two of the N first channel information. The correlation between at least two of the N first channel information can be used to determine a compression feedback method for the N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here.

[0070] In conjunction with the eighth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first channel information is determined based on a first reference signal received by the second communication device. The transceiver unit is further used to send one or more second reference signals, where the second reference signal is used to determine the second channel information, wherein the correlation between the second channel information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information. The specific determination method can be found in the description of the embodiment below, which is not described in detail here.

[0071] In combination with any one of the fifth to eighth aspects, in a possible implementation, the compressed feedback method of the N first channel information includes: the N first channel information corresponds to (M+K) channel feedback amounts, one channel feedback amount among the K channel feedback amounts is used to represent the common information of at least two channel information subsets among the M channel information subsets, one channel information subset includes one or more first channel information among the N channel information, and the union of the M channel information subsets is equal to the N first channel information. One channel feedback amount among the M channel feedback amounts is used to represent specific information of a channel information subset, and M and K are both positive integers less than N. It can be understood that in this compressed feedback method, all information of a channel information subset can be represented by 2 channel feedback amounts.

[0072] Exemplarily, at least two of the above-mentioned M channel information subsets can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by a first encoder (encoder) (such as extracting common features and compressing, etc.), and the first encoder can be implemented using an AI model. A channel information subset and the public information corresponding to the channel information subset can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by a second encoder (encoder) (such as extracting specific features and compressing, etc.), and the second encoder can be implemented using an AI model. Among them, the first encoder and the second encoder are different.

[0073] Exemplarily, the M channel information subsets are determined based on the correlation between the N first channel information. For example, a clustering algorithm can be used to divide the N first channel information into M channel information subsets, wherein the distance between sample objects in the clustering algorithm is determined by the correlation between the first channel information (such as the inner product between vectors), for example, the distance between sample objects is (1-correlation between channel information), or exp(-correlation between channels).

[0074] Exemplarily, the N first channel information correspond to N reference signal resources, and the N reference signal resources belong to one or more reference signal resource sets. The M channel information subsets can also be determined based on the reference signal resource set. For example, the first channel information corresponding to the reference signal resources belonging to the same reference signal resource set is divided into a channel information subset. In other words, the reference signal resources corresponding to the first channel information in a channel information subset all belong to the same reference signal resource set.

[0075] The compression feedback method provided in the present application jointly compresses the common features of multiple first channel information into one channel feedback amount, which can fully utilize the similarities between multiple first channel information, has a high degree of compression, and has low complexity. It is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N first channel information is moderate.

[0076] In combination with any one of the fifth to eighth aspects, in a possible implementation, the compressed feedback method of the N first channel information includes: the N first channel information corresponds to M channel feedback amounts, and one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of a channel information subset. A channel information subset includes one or more first channel information in the N first channel information. The union of the M channel information subsets is equal to the N first channel information, and the intersection of any two channel information subsets in the M channel information subsets is an empty set. M is a positive integer less than N.

[0077] Exemplarily, a channel information subset among the above-mentioned M channel information subsets can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by an encoder (such as compression), and the encoder can be implemented using an AI model.

[0078] Exemplarily, the M channel information subsets are determined based on the correlation between the N first channel information. For example, a clustering algorithm may be used to divide the N first channel information into M channel information subsets, wherein the distance between sample objects in the clustering algorithm is determined by the correlation between the first channel information (such as the inner product between vectors), for example, the distance between sample objects is (1-correlation between channel information), or exp(-correlation between channels).

[0079] Exemplarily, the N first channel information correspond to N reference signal resources, and the N reference signal resources belong to one or more reference signal resource sets. The M channel information subsets can also be determined based on the reference signal resource set. For example, the first channel information corresponding to the reference signal resources belonging to the same reference signal resource set is divided into a channel information subset. In other words, the reference signal resources corresponding to all the first channel information in a channel information subset belong to the same reference signal resource set.

[0080] The compressed feedback method provided in the present application jointly compresses multiple first channel information into one channel feedback amount, which can fully utilize the similarities between the multiple first channel information and has a high degree of compression. It is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N first channel information is high.

[0081] In combination with any aspect from the fifth aspect to the eighth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the compressed feedback method of the above-mentioned N first channel information includes: the N first channel information corresponds to N channel feedback amounts, and one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of one first channel information.

[0082] Exemplarily, a first channel information can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed (such as compressed) by an encoder, and the encoder can be implemented using an AI model.

[0083] The compressed feedback method provided in the present application uses an AI model to compress the first channel information, which can reduce feedback overhead and improve feedback accuracy.

[0084] In combination with any one of the fifth to eighth aspects, in a possible implementation manner, the first information includes an identifier of a compression feedback mode. Alternatively, the first information includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts corresponding to the N first channel information, or the correspondence between each channel feedback amount and one or more of the N first channel information.

[0085] The present application provides two methods for indicating compressed feedback modes to align the understanding of the channel feedback amount between the UE and the base station, so as to facilitate the base station to recover the channel information.

[0086] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may include a processing circuit and a transceiver circuit, and the processing circuit is connected to the transceiver circuit. The transceiver circuit is used to interact (or receive and send or input and output) information or data, and the processing circuit is used to run program instructions so that the communication device executes the method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect, the second aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, or any of the aspects above. The transceiver circuit may be a communication interface, an input-output interface, or a transceiver. The transceiver may be a radio frequency module in a communication device, or a combination of a radio frequency module and an antenna. The transceiver circuit may be an input-output interface of a chip or a circuit.

[0087] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, the communication device comprising a processor, configured to execute the method described in the first aspect, the second aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, or any possible implementation of any one of them. Alternatively, the processor is configured to execute a program stored in a memory, and when the program is executed, the method described in the second aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, or any possible implementation of any one of them is executed.

[0088] In combination with the tenth aspect, in a possible implementation, the memory is located outside the above-mentioned communication device.

[0089] In combination with the tenth aspect, in a possible implementation, the memory is located within the above-mentioned communication device.

[0090] In conjunction with the tenth aspect, in a possible implementation, the processor and the memory may also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory may also be integrated together. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a chip.

[0091] In conjunction with the tenth aspect, in a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a transceiver, the transceiver being configured to receive the first information or send the first information. Exemplarily, the transceiver may also be configured to receive a reference signal or send a reference signal. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a terminal device or a network device.

[0092] In the eleventh aspect, the present application provides a readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect, or the second aspect, or the fifth aspect, or the sixth aspect, or any possible implementation manner of any one of the aspects above.

[0093] In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a program product comprising program instructions, which, when executed, enables the method described in the first aspect, or the second aspect, or the fifth aspect, or the sixth aspect, or any possible implementation of any one of the aspects therein to be executed.

[0094] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a device, which can be implemented in the form of a chip or in the form of a device, and the device includes a processing circuit. The processing circuit is used to read and execute a program stored in a memory to execute one or more of the first aspect, the second aspect, the fifth aspect, and the sixth aspect, or one or more of any possible implementations of any aspect. The communication method provided. Optionally, the device also includes a memory, which is connected to the processing circuit through a circuit. Further optionally, the device also includes a communication interface, and the processing circuit is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used to receive information to be processed, and the processing circuit obtains the information from the communication interface, processes the information, and outputs the processing results through the communication interface. The communication interface can be an input and output interface.

[0095] Optionally, the processing circuit and the memory may be physically independent units, or the memory may be integrated with the processing circuit.

[0096] In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising a first communication device and a second communication device; the first communication device is used to execute the method described in the second aspect, the fifth aspect, or any possible implementation of any aspect therein, and the second communication device is used to execute the method described in the first aspect, the sixth aspect, or any possible implementation of any aspect therein.

[0097] The technical effects achieved in the above-mentioned aspects can be referred to each other or to the beneficial effects in the method embodiments shown below, and will not be described in detail here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0098] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a neural network provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a neuron provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0100] Figure 3 is a simplified schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0101] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a possible application architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0102] Figure 5is another possible application architecture diagram of the communication system provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0103] Figure 6 It is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0104] Figure 7a This is a schematic diagram of a channel information compression feedback method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0105] Figure 7b is another schematic diagram of a channel information compression feedback method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0106] Figure 7c This is another schematic diagram of a channel information compression feedback method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0107] Figure 7d This is yet another schematic diagram of the channel information compression feedback method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0108] Figure 8a This is a schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0109] Figure 8b is another schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0110] Figure 8c This is another schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0111] Figure 8d This is yet another schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0112] Fig. 9 is another flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0113] Fig.10 It is another flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0114] Fig.11 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0115] Fig.12 is another structural schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0116] Fig.13 This is another structural diagram of the communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0117] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0118] In the description of the present application, the words "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish different objects, and do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second", etc. do not necessarily limit them to be different. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units that are not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0119] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or", for example, A / B can mean A or B. "And / or" in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, "at least one (item)", "the following one (item) or more (items)" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items (items) or plural items (items). For example, at least one item (item) of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a, b and c. Among them, a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0120] In the description of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary", "for example" or "for example" should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary", "for example" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way.

[0121] It can be understood that in the description of this application, "when", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will take corresponding actions under certain objective circumstances, but do not limit the time, nor do they require that the device must have a judgment action when it is implemented, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0122] The term “simultaneously” in the present application may be understood as at the same time point, within a period of time, or within the same cycle, and may be understood in conjunction with the context.

[0123] Elements used in the singular herein are intended to mean "one or more" rather than "one and only one" unless specifically stated otherwise.

[0124] Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein.

[0125] It can be understood that in each embodiment of the present application, "A corresponds to B", "A corresponds to B" or similar expressions indicate that B is associated with A, or that B can be determined according to A. However, it should also be understood that determining B according to (or based on) A does not mean that B is determined only according to (or based on) A, and B can also be determined according to (or based on) A and / or other information.

[0126] The following is a brief introduction to artificial intelligence (AI).

[0127] Artificial intelligence (AI) can give machines human intelligence, for example, it can allow machines to use computer hardware and software to simulate certain intelligent human behaviors. Usually, artificial intelligence refers to the technology of presenting human intelligence through ordinary computer programs. Artificial intelligence can be defined as machines or computers that imitate humans and have cognitive functions related to human thinking, such as learning and problem solving. Artificial intelligence can learn from past experiences, make reasonable decisions, and respond quickly. The goal of artificial intelligence is to understand intelligence by building computer programs with symbolic reasoning or reasoning.

[0128] Machine learning is an important technical approach to realize artificial intelligence, that is, using machine learning as a means to solve problems in artificial intelligence. Machine learning theory mainly designs and analyzes some algorithms that allow computers to "learn" automatically. Machine learning algorithms are a type of algorithm that automatically analyzes data to obtain patterns and uses the patterns to predict unknown data. Because machine learning algorithms involve a large amount of statistical theory, machine learning is particularly closely related to inferential statistics, and is also called statistical learning theory. Machine learning can be divided into supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning.

[0129] An AI model is an algorithm or computer program that can implement AI functions. The AI ​​model represents the mapping relationship or function between the input and output of the model. The AI ​​model can be used for reasoning (or prediction), that is, the AI ​​model can be used to predict the output corresponding to a given input. Among them, the output can also be called the reasoning result. The AI ​​model can be a neural network or other machine learning model.

[0130] Neural network (NN) is a specific implementation form of machine learning. It is a mathematical model that imitates the behavioral characteristics of animal neural networks and processes information. According to the universal approximation theorem, neural networks can theoretically approximate any continuous function, so that neural networks have the ability to learn any mapping. Therefore, neural networks can accurately abstract and model complex high-dimensional problems. Traditional communication systems require rich expert knowledge to design communication modules, while communication systems based on deep neural networks (DNN) can discover implicit pattern structures from large data sets, establish mapping relationships between data, and obtain performance that is superior to traditional modeling methods.

[0131] A neural network generally includes a multi-layer structure, and each layer may include one or more logic judgment units, which are called neurons. Increasing the depth and / or width of a neural network can improve the expressive power of the neural network and provide more powerful information extraction and abstract modeling capabilities for complex systems. The depth of a neural network can be understood as the number of layers the neural network includes, and the number of neurons in each layer can be called the width of the layer. Figure 1 , Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a neural network provided in an embodiment of the present application. In one implementation, the neural network includes an input layer and an output layer. The input layer of the neural network processes the received input through neurons, and passes the result to the output layer, and the output layer obtains the output result of the neural network. In another implementation, the neural network includes an input layer, a hidden layer, and an output layer. The input layer of the neural network processes the received input through neurons, and passes the result to the middle hidden layer, and the hidden layer then passes the calculation result to the output layer or the adjacent hidden layer, and finally the output layer obtains the output result of the neural network. A neural network may include one or more hidden layers connected in sequence, and the present application does not limit the number of hidden layers in the neural network. DNN usually includes multiple hidden layers, and the hidden layers usually affect the ability to extract information and fit functions. Increasing the number of hidden layers of DNN or expanding the width of each layer can improve the function fitting ability of DNN. Figure 1 The neural network shown includes 1 input layer, 1 hidden layer and 1 output layer, where the input layer has 3 neurons, the hidden layer has 4 neurons, and the output layer has 2 neurons. It can be understood that Figure 1 The number of neural network layers and the number of neural network elements contained in each layer shown are only examples.

[0132] Each connection between neurons corresponds to a weight (whose value is called a weight), which can be updated through training. Each neuron can also correspond to a bias value, which can be updated through training. Updating a neural network means updating these weights and bias values. Knowing the structure of a neural network, that is, how the output of the previous neuron is input into the subsequent neuron, as well as the weights and bias values, you will know all the information about the neural network.

[0133] Depend on Figure 1 It can be seen that a neuron may have multiple input connections, and each neuron calculates the output based on the input. For example, each neuron performs a weighted sum operation on its input values, and the result of the weighted sum is passed through an activation function to generate an output. A neuron may have multiple output connections, and the output of one neuron serves as the input of the next neuron. It should be understood that the input layer only has output connections, and each neuron in the input layer is the value input into the neural network, and the value of each neuron serves as the input of all output connections. The output layer only has input connections.

[0134] See also Figure 2 , Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the structure of neurons provided in the embodiments of the present application. Figure 2 As shown, assuming that the input of the neuron is x = [x0, x1, ..., x m ], and the weights corresponding to each input are w=[w0,w1,...,w m ], where m is a positive integer, w i and x i It can be a decimal, an integer (such as 0, a positive integer or a negative integer, etc.), or a complex number. i As x i The weight of x i The bias value of the weighted sum of the input values ​​according to the weight is b. Assuming that the activation function is represented by f(z), then Figure 2 The output y of the neuron shown is:

[0135]

[0136] The bias value b can be a decimal, an integer (0, a positive integer or a negative integer) or a complex number. The activation functions of different neurons in the neural network can be the same or different.

[0137] The activation function f(z) can be in various forms. Assuming that the activation function of a neuron is f(z) = max(0,z), the output of the neuron is For example, if the activation function of a neuron is f(z)=z, then the output of the neuron is This application does not limit the form of the activation function.

[0138] During the training process of a neural network, a loss function can be defined. The loss function describes the gap or difference between the output of the neural network and the target data. The smaller the loss function, the better the output of the neural network fits the target data. An example using mean square error as a loss function is as follows:

[0139] loss=(y out -y target ) 2 …… ...

[0140] Among them, y out represents the output of the neural network, y target represents the target data. Minimizing the loss function (i.e., the loss in formula (1-2)) means minimizing both (i.e., y out and target ) numerical differences. It should be understood that in addition to the mean square error loss function, the loss function can also be a cross entropy loss function, an absolute value loss function, etc., and this application does not limit the type of loss function. The training process of a neural network is to adjust some or all of the parameters of the neural network, such as the number of layers, width, weights of neurons, or parameters in the activation function of neurons, so that the value of the loss function is less than a threshold value or meets the target requirements.

[0141] The system architecture of the embodiment of the present application is described below.

[0142] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: long term evolution (LTE) system, fifth generation (5G) system, such as new generation radio access technology (NR), network integrating multiple systems, Internet of Things system, Internet of Vehicles system, open radio access network (O-RAN) system, and future communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) system.

[0143] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to other communication systems, for example: in the communication system, there is a first entity that sends configuration information to the second entity, and sends data to the second entity, or receives data sent by the second entity; the second entity receives the configuration information, and sends data to the first entity according to the configuration information, or receives data sent by the first entity. When the first entity is a base station and the second entity is a terminal device (such as UE), the base station and the UE can form a communication system. In this communication system, the UE can send uplink data to the base station, and the base station receives the uplink data sent by the UE. The base station can also send configuration information to the UE. Different UEs can also form a communication system, in which case the first entity and the second entity are both UEs. For example, in a vehicle networking system, UE1 sends configuration information to UE2 and receives data sent by UE2; and UE2 receives the configuration information sent by UE1 and sends data to UE1.

[0144] In a possible implementation, a communication system includes a communication device, and the communication devices can use air interface resources for wireless communication. Among them, the communication device may include a network device and a terminal device, and the network device may also be called a base station device. The air interface resources may include at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources, and space resources. In the present application, at least one may also be described as one or more, and a plurality may be two, three, four or more, which is not limited in the present application.

[0145] It should be understood that the system architecture described in the embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can know that with the evolution of the system architecture, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0146] See also Figure 3 , Figure 3 Schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 As shown, the communication system includes a wireless access network 100. The wireless access network 100 may be a next generation (e.g., 6G or higher) wireless access network, or a traditional (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G, or 2G) wireless access network. One or more terminal devices (120a-120j, collectively referred to as 120) may be connected to each other or to one or more network devices (110a, 110b, collectively referred to as 110) in the wireless access network 100. Optionally, Figure 3 This is just a schematic diagram. The communication system may also include other devices, such as core network devices, wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices. Figure 3 Not drawn in.

[0147] In practical applications, the communication system may include multiple network devices (also called access network devices) at the same time, and may also include multiple terminal devices at the same time. A network device may serve one or more terminal devices at the same time. A terminal device may also access one or more network devices at the same time. Multiple network devices may collaboratively serve a terminal device, or a network device may use channels of multiple frequency bands to serve a terminal device. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of terminal devices and network devices included in the communication system.

[0148] Terminal equipment can be called terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc. It can be a device with wireless transceiver function; it can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water (such as ships); it can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons and satellites). Terminal equipment can be used to connect people, objects and machines. The terminal device 120 can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), peer to peer (P2P), machine to machine (M2M), machine type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, smart home, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc. The terminal device 120 may be a user equipment (UE) of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) standard, a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device, a wearable device, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal computer, a smart book, a vehicle, a satellite, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a target tracking device, a drone, a helicopter, an aircraft, a ship, a remote control device, a smart home device, an industrial device. The terminal device may also be a communication device in a future wireless communication system.

[0149] In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal may be a terminal; or it may be a device capable of supporting the terminal to realize the function, such as a chip system, or a communication module, or a modem, etc., which may be installed in the terminal. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal is a terminal, and the terminal is a UE as an example to describe the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0150] In one possible implementation, the UE may be used to act as a base station. For example, the UE may act as a scheduling entity that provides sidelink signals between UEs in V2X, D2D, or P2P, etc. Figure 3 As shown, the cell phone 120a and the car 120b communicate with each other using a sidelink signal. The cell phone 120a and the smart home device 120d communicate with each other without relaying the communication signal through the base station 110a.

[0151] In a possible implementation, the UE may also be used to act as a relay node. For example, the UE may act as a relay device or an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node to provide wireless backhaul services for terminal devices.

[0152] A network device may be an entity on the network side for transmitting or receiving signals, such as a base station (BS), which may be a device deployed in a wireless access network that can communicate wirelessly with a terminal. Base stations may have various forms, such as macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, and access points. Exemplarily, the base stations involved in the embodiments of the present application may be base stations in 5G, base stations in sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems, access network devices or modules of access network devices in open radio access networks (O-RAN) systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, or access nodes in WiFi systems, or evolved base stations (evolved nodeB, eNB) in LTE, etc. Among them, the base station in 5G can also be called a transmission reception point (TRP) or a 5G base station (next-generation node B, gNB). The base station can also be replaced with the following names, such as: wireless access point, node B (nodeB), transmitting point (transmitting point, TP), main station MeNB, secondary station SeNB, multi-standard radio (Multi-standard radio, MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (access point, AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (baseband unit, BBU), remote radio unit (remote radio unit, RRU), active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU), remote radio head (remoteradio head, RRH), centralized unit (centralized unit, CU), distributed unit (distributed unit, DU), positioning node, IAB donor, etc.

[0153] A base station (BS) may be fixed or mobile. For example, base stations 110 a and 110 b are stationary and are responsible for wireless transmission and reception in one or more cells from terminal devices 120 . Figure 3 The helicopter or drone 120i shown in the figure can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move according to the location of the mobile base station 120i. In other examples, the helicopter or drone (120i) can be configured to act as a terminal device communicating with the base station 110a.

[0154] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be an integrated base station, or may be a base station including a centralized unit (CU) and / or a distributed unit (DU). A base station including a CU and a DU may also be referred to as a base station with CU and DU separated, such as the base station including a gNB-CU and a gNB-DU. Among them, the CU may also be separated into a CU control plane (CU control plane, CU-CP) and a CU user plane (CU user plane, CU-UP), such as the base station including a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP and a gNB-DU. Alternatively, the network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be an antenna unit (radiounit, RU). Alternatively, the network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific deployment method of the network device. Exemplarily, when the network device is an O-RAN architecture, the network device shown in the embodiment of the present application may be an access network device in O-RAN, such as a combination of one or more of CU, DU, or RU, or a module in an access network device. In the ORAN system, CU can also be called open (O)-CU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, DU can also be called O-DU, and RU can also be called O-RU.

[0155] In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the network device may be a network device; or it may be a device capable of supporting the network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, or a communication module, or a modem, etc., which may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the network device is a network device, and the network device is a base station as an example to describe the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. The base station may support networks with the same or different access technologies. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0156] The network device and / or terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water surface; it can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and satellites in the air. The scenarios in which the network device and the terminal device are located are not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In addition, the terminal device and the network device can be hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, or software functions running on general-purpose hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform), or entities including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. The present application does not limit the specific forms of the terminal device and the network device.

[0157] In one possible implementation, in order to support machine learning functions in a wireless network, an AI network element may be introduced into the communication system provided in the present application to implement some or all AI-related operations. The AI ​​network element may also be referred to as an AI node, an AI device, an AI entity, an AI module, an AI model, or an AI unit, etc. The AI ​​network element may be a network element built into a communication system, or may be an independently set network element. For example, the AI ​​network element may be an AI module built into: an access network device, a core network device, a cloud server, or a network management (operation, administration and maintenance, OAM) to implement AI-related functions. Among them, OAM may be a network management as a core network device and / or a network management as an access network device. In one possible implementation, an AI entity may also be included in a terminal or a chip built into the terminal to implement AI-related functions. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the AI ​​network element.

[0158] In one possible implementation, the AI ​​network element is deployed in a server or cloud device of an over the top (OTT) system. Optionally, the cloud device is located on one or more of the terminal device side, the network device side, or the core network side.

[0159] It is understood that the present application does not limit the number of AI nodes. For example, when there are multiple AI nodes, the multiple AI nodes can be divided based on functions, such as different AI nodes are responsible for different functions.

[0160] It can also be understood that AI nodes can be independent devices, or they can be integrated into the same device to implement different functions, or they can be network elements in hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, or they can be virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform). This application does not limit the specific form of the above-mentioned AI nodes.

[0161] See also Figure 4 , Figure 4 Schematic diagram of a possible application architecture of the communication system provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 As shown, the network elements of the communication system are connected through interfaces (such as NG interfaces, Xn interfaces, F1 interfaces, etc.) or air interfaces. One or more AI modules are set in one or more devices in these network element nodes, such as core network devices, access network nodes (RAN nodes), terminals or OAM (for clarity, Figure 4Only one is shown in the figure). The access network node may be a separate RAN node or may include multiple RAN nodes, for example, a CU and a DU. The CU and / or DU may also be provided with one or more AI modules. Optionally, the CU may also be split into a CU-CP and a CU-UP. One or more AI models are provided in the CU-CP and / or the CU-UP.

[0162] The above-mentioned AI module can be used to implement the corresponding AI function. The AI ​​modules deployed in different network elements can be the same or different. The model of the AI ​​module can implement different functions according to different parameter configurations. The model of the AI ​​module can be configured based on one or more of the following parameters: structural parameters (such as the number of neural network layers, neural network width, connection relationship between layers, weights of neurons, activation functions of neurons, or at least one of the bias values ​​in the activation function, etc.), input parameters (such as the type of input parameters and / or the dimension of input parameters), or output parameters (such as the type of output parameters and / or the dimension of output parameters).

[0163] An AI module can have one or more models. A model can be inferred to obtain an output, which includes one parameter or multiple parameters. The learning process, training process, or reasoning process of different models can be deployed in different nodes or devices, or can be deployed in the same node or device. This application mainly focuses on the situation where AI modules are set in both terminals and access network nodes.

[0164] See also Figure 5 , Figure 5 Schematic diagram of another possible application architecture of the communication system provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As shown, the communication system includes a RAN intelligent controller (RAN intelligent controller, RIC). For example, the RIC may be an AI module for implementing AI-related functions. The RIC may include a near-real time RIC (near-real time RIC, near-RT RIC) and a non-real time RIC (non-real time RIC, Non-RT RIC).

[0165] Among them, near real-time RIC can be used for model training and reasoning. For example, it is used to train an AI model and use the AI ​​model for reasoning. Near real-time RIC can obtain information on the network side and / or the terminal side from a RAN node (such as CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and / or RU) and / or a terminal. This information can be used as training data or reasoning data. Optionally, near real-time RIC can submit the reasoning results to the RAN node and / or the terminal. Optionally, the reasoning results can be exchanged between the CU and the DU, and / or between the DU and the RU. For example, the near real-time RIC submits the reasoning results to the DU, and the DU sends it to the RU.

[0166] Non-real-time RIC can also be used for model training and reasoning. For example, it is used to train an AI model and use the AI ​​model for reasoning. Non-real-time RIC can obtain information on the network side and / or the terminal side from RAN nodes (such as CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and / or RU) and / or terminals. The information can be used as training data or reasoning data, and the reasoning result can be submitted to the RAN node and / or the terminal. Optionally, the reasoning results can be exchanged between the CU and the DU, and / or between the DU and the RU. For example, the non-real-time RIC submits the reasoning result to the DU, and the DU sends it to the RU.

[0167] The near real-time RIC and the non-real-time RIC may also be separately set as a network element. Optionally, the near real-time RIC and / or the non-real-time RIC may also be part of other devices, for example, the near real-time RIC is set in a RAN node (e.g., in a CU and / or DU), and the non-real-time RIC is set in an OAM, a cloud server, a core network device, or other network devices.

[0168] In order to support the coordinated transmission of multiple base stations or multiple frequency bands (i.e., multiple base stations serve one user in a coordinated manner, or use channels of multiple frequency bands to serve one user), the UE needs to feedback the channel information of multiple base stations or multiple frequency bands. However, in the currently widely used frequency division duplex (FDD)-based communication system, an important component of channel information feedback (such as channel state information (CSI) feedback) is the precoding matrix indicator (PMI), that is, the use of "0" and "1" bits to quantize the channel matrix or precoding matrix. The design of PMI (also known as codebook design) is a basic problem in mobile communication systems. The traditional codebook design method is to predefine (or agree on) a series of precoding matrices and corresponding numbers in the protocol, and these precoding matrices can also be called codewords. The channel matrix or precoding matrix can be approximated by using a predefined codeword or a linear combination of multiple codewords. Therefore, the UE can feedback the corresponding codeword number and one or more of the weighting coefficients to the base station through the PMI, which is used for the base station to restore the channel matrix or precoding matrix. Exemplarily, the base station may perform weighted summation based on the fed-back codewords and weighting coefficients to restore the channel matrix or precoding matrix. It can be seen that the existing feedback of channel information is to restore the channel matrix or precoding matrix by feeding back predefined (or agreed) codewords and / or weighting coefficients.

[0169] It can be understood that the higher the accuracy of the CSI fed back by the UE, the richer the information, the more accurate the channel information restored by the base station based on the CSI, and thus the more accurate the precoding matrix determined by the base station, so that the downlink spatial division multiplexing performance is better, the UE's received signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is higher, and the system capacity is higher.

[0170] However, as the size of the antenna array in the system increases, the number of supported antenna ports increases. The size of the channel matrix is ​​proportional to the number of antenna ports. Feedback of the channel matrix to the base station through CSI in a large-scale MIMO system means huge feedback overhead. Especially in the scenario of coordinated transmission of multiple base stations or multiple frequency bands, the UE needs to feedback multiple sets of codeword numbers and weighting coefficients to restore the channel information between the UE and multiple base stations, or to restore the channel information of multiple frequency bands. Therefore, the feedback overhead of the channel information increases significantly with the increase in the number of base stations or frequency bands, affecting the data transmission efficiency of the uplink communication link. This is because the capacity of the uplink is limited. If the feedback channel information occupies more resources, the resources used to transmit uplink data will be reduced.

[0171] For scenarios where the UE feeds back multiple channel information, such as multiple base stations and multiple frequency bands coordinating transmissions, the problem of high feedback overhead becomes more serious. In order to minimize the feedback overhead, the traditional codebook-based channel feedback method needs to predefine the codebook design according to the channel characteristics in each CSI feedback scenario. For example, a set of codebooks is predefined for the feedback of channel information of multiple stations, and a set of codebooks is predefined for the feedback of channel information of multiple frequency points. As the scenarios continue to expand, the number of predefined codebooks continues to increase, resulting in inflexible CSI feedback and increasing the complexity of implementation and protocol design.

[0172] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, an apparatus, and a readable storage medium, which can improve the flexibility of channel information feedback, improve feedback accuracy while reducing feedback overhead, and realize the unification of feedback methods, that is, for scenarios where a UE feeds back multiple channel information such as coordinated transmission of multiple base stations and multiple frequency bands, a unified feedback method can be designed.

[0173] The technical solution provided by this application is described in detail below.

[0174] In order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solution of the present application, the present application is described through multiple embodiments, and specifically refer to the description of each embodiment below. In the present application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between each embodiment or implementation can refer to each other. In each embodiment of the present application, and each implementation method / implementation method / implementation method in each embodiment, if there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments and each implementation method / implementation method / implementation method in each embodiment are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments and each implementation method / implementation method / implementation method in each embodiment can be combined to form a new embodiment, implementation method, implementation method, or implementation method according to its inherent logical relationship. The implementation method of the present application described below does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of the present application. It can be understood that the order of the following embodiments does not represent the degree of importance.

[0175] It should be understood that in the present application, indication includes direct indication (also called explicit indication) and implicit indication. Wherein, direct indication of information A means including the information A; implicit indication of information A means indicating information A through the correspondence between information A and information B and direct indication of information B. Wherein, the correspondence between information A and information B can be predefined, pre-stored, pre-burned, or pre-configured.

[0176] It should be understood that in the present application, information C is used to determine information D, including information D being determined based only on information C, and information D being determined based on information C and other information. In addition, information C is used to determine information D, and it may also include indirect determination, for example, information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0177] In addition, "network element A sends information A to network element B" in each embodiment of the present application can be understood as the destination end of the information A or the intermediate network element in the transmission path between the destination end and the network element B, which may include directly or indirectly sending information to network element B. "Network element B receives information A from network element A" can be understood as the source end of the information A or the intermediate network element in the transmission path between the source end and the network element A, which may include directly or indirectly receiving information from network element A. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0178] The method provided in the present application can be applied to the network devices shown above, such as base stations, and of course can also be applied to the terminal devices shown above, such as UE. The first communication device in the present application can be a network device, such as a base station, CU, DU, RU, O-CU, O-DU, or O-RU, etc.; correspondingly, the second communication device can be a terminal device, such as UE or a chip in UE. Alternatively, the first communication device is a terminal device, such as UE; the second communication device is a network device, such as a base station. Of course, the first communication device and the second communication device can also be both network devices, as mentioned above Figure 3 110a and 110b in the embodiment; or both are terminal devices, as mentioned above Figure 3 120a and 120b in the present application do not limit the specific implementation forms of the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0179] The module used to implement the AI ​​model (or AI function) in this application (referred to as the AI ​​module in this application) can be deployed in the first communication device and the second communication device, or it can be deployed outside the first communication device and / or the second communication device, such as in a core network device, a server or a cloud device, and this application does not impose any restrictions.

[0180] The encoder and decoder in this application can be implemented using an AI model, as described below, which will not be described in detail here. The encoder can be used to compress and quantize channel information, and the decoder can be used to recover the corresponding channel information. In the scenario of channel information feedback, the encoder can also be called a channel information generator, and the decoder can also be called a channel information recoverer. The channel information generator can also include a quantizer, and the channel information recoverer can also include a dequantizer.

[0181] Before introducing the communication method provided by the present application, the reference signal and channel information in the method are briefly described. The reference signal in the method may be one or more of the following: channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), synchronization signal block / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block, SSB), sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS). Among them, CSI-RS, SSB and DMRS can be used for channel measurement to obtain downlink channel information, and SRS and DMRS can be used for channel measurement to obtain uplink channel information. For uplink channel information, the measured channel may be a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), etc. For downlink channel information, the measured channel may be a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink control channel (PDCCH).

[0182] The channel information in the method can be used to characterize the channel. The channel information can be full channel information, such as a channel response (such as a complex matrix with dimensions of the number of receiving antenna ports × the number of transmitting antenna ports × the number of subbands), or a characteristic vector obtained by singular value decomposition (SVD) of the channel response or a characteristic matrix composed of multiple characteristic vectors. The channel information can be obtained based on the communication device performing channel measurement on the reference signal.

[0183] The term "compression feedback method" in this application can be understood as a feedback method of the compression amount.

[0184] See also Figure 6 , Figure 6 The method mainly introduces that the UE selects a suitable compression feedback mode and informs the base station through indication information (i.e., the first information in the embodiment of the present application) so that the base station can restore the channel information based on the channel feedback amount fed back by the UE.

[0185] like Figure 6 As shown, the communication method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0186] S101: A first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) sends one or more reference signals to a second communication device (such as a UE).

[0187] S102: A second communication device (such as a UE) receives N reference signals, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0188] S103: The second communication device (such as UE) performs channel measurement based on the N reference signals to obtain N channel information.

[0189] In a possible implementation, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a compressed feedback scenario of multiple channel information. For example, "multiple channel information" can be understood as the channel information corresponding to a single frequency band of multiple base stations (referred to as multi-station single frequency), or the channel information corresponding to multiple frequency bands of a single base station (referred to as single-station multi-frequency), or the channel information corresponding to multiple frequency bands of multiple base stations (referred to as multi-station multi-frequency), or the channel information corresponding to multiple reference signals of a single frequency band of a single base station, etc. "Multi-frequency" can also be understood as multi-carrier.

[0190] In a possible implementation, the first communication device may send one or more reference signals, and the second communication device may receive N reference signals, and the N reference signals may all come from the first communication device, or may partially come from the first communication device. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. For example, for a multi-station single-frequency scenario, N may represent the number of collaborative base stations, and the first communication device may be any base station (or a part of any base station) or a master station (or a part of a master station) participating in multi-station collaborative transmission, and the first communication device may send a reference signal. In other words, in a multi-station single-frequency scenario, part (such as one reference signal) of the N reference signals received by the second communication device comes from the first communication device, and the remaining part comes from other communication devices. For another example, for a single-station multi-frequency scenario, N may represent the number of frequency bands, and the first communication device may use N frequency bands to send N reference signals, and one reference signal may be sent on one frequency band. In other words, in a single-station multi-frequency scenario, the N reference signals received by the second communication device all come from the first communication device. For another example, for a multi-station multi-frequency scenario, assuming that the number of frequency bands of each base station is the same, N can be equal to the product of N1 and N2, where N1 represents the number of cooperating base stations, and N2 represents the number of frequency bands. The first communication device can be any base station (or a part of any base station) or a master station (or a part of a master station) participating in multi-station cooperative transmission. The first communication device can use N2 frequency bands to send N2 reference signals, and one reference signal can be sent on one frequency band. In other words, in a multi-station multi-frequency scenario, some of the N reference signals received by the second communication device (such as N2 reference signals) come from the first communication device, and the remaining part comes from other communication devices. It can be understood that for the sake of clarity in the embodiments of the present application, the above takes sending a reference signal on a frequency band or sending a reference signal on a station as an example, but in actual applications, multiple reference signals can also be sent on a frequency band or on a station, and this application does not limit it.

[0191] In another possible implementation, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to the channel information compression feedback scenario of a single base station single frequency band (single station single frequency for short). In the single station single frequency scenario, the first communication device can send N reference signals (on one frequency band), and these N reference signals can be sent at different times. Correspondingly, the second communication device can receive the N reference signals.

[0192] In a possible implementation, after receiving the reference signal, the second communication device may perform channel measurement based on the reference signal to obtain channel information. Exemplarily, the second communication device may perform a channel measurement once it receives a reference signal; or it may perform channel measurement on each of the multiple reference signals after receiving multiple reference signals. If performing channel measurement on a reference signal can obtain one channel information, then performing channel measurement on each of N reference signals can obtain N channel information.

[0193] In a possible implementation, before the first communication device sends a reference signal, that is, before step S101, the first communication device may configure a reference signal resource (RS resource) for the second communication device. For example, the first communication device sends resource configuration information, and the resource configuration information may include one or more reference signal resources. Among them, one reference signal resource can be used to carry one reference signal. In other words, the number of reference signals sent by the first communication device may be equal to the number of reference signal resources configured by the first communication device. Then, the second communication device may determine N reference signal resources based on the resource configuration information sent by the first communication device, or based on the resource configuration information sent by the first communication device and other communication devices. These N reference signal resources may belong to one or more reference signal resource sets (RS resource set (s)). The second communication device may receive (or obtain) N reference signals on these N reference signal resources, and then perform channel measurement based on these N reference signals to obtain N channel information. Therefore, one channel information may correspond to one reference signal resource, for example, to one reference signal resource identifier, and N channel information may correspond to these N reference signal resources (resource identifiers).

[0194] For example, take the reference signal as CSI-RS. In a multi-station scenario (including multi-station single-frequency and multi-station multi-frequency), one or more CSI-RSresources corresponding to base station 1 are configured, and one or more CSI-RSresources corresponding to base station 2 are configured, that is, a total of N CSI-RSresources corresponding to base station 1 and base station 2 are configured, and these N CSI-RSresources belong to one or more CSI-RSresource set(s). Among them, the above configuration can be completed by a single base station, such as all completed by base station 1, or by multiple base stations, such as completed by base station 1 and base station 2 respectively. Base station 1 and base station 2 respectively send CSI-RS on the corresponding CSI-RSresource, and the UE receives CSI-RS on these N CSI-RSresources, and performs channel measurement to obtain channel information. In a single-station scenario (including single-station single-frequency and single-station multi-frequency), the differences from the aforementioned multi-station scenario include: N CSI-RS resources are all configured by the same base station, and this base station sends N reference signals on these N CSI-RS resources, which is not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

[0195] S104, the second communication device (such as UE) sends first information to the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station), where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. One channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0196] Correspondingly, the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) receives the first information.

[0197] S105: The first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) determines a compression feedback method of the N channel information based on the first information.

[0198] In a possible implementation, after the second communication device obtains the above-mentioned N channel information, it can calculate the correlation between at least two channel information in the N channel information. Exemplarily, the second communication device can calculate the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information to determine the similarity between the N channels corresponding to the N channel information. For example, the channel information is the eigenvector obtained after the channel response is subjected to singular value decomposition (SVD), and the inner product between the eigenvectors can be used to characterize the correlation between the channel information. For another example, the channel information is the channel response (expressed in the form of a matrix), and the channel response can be converted into a vector, and the correlation between the channel information can be characterized by the inner product between the vectors. For example, the larger the inner product value between the vectors, the higher the correlation between the channel information, which also means that the similarity between the channels is greater.

[0199] In a possible implementation, the second communication device may determine the compression feedback mode of the N channel information based on the correlation between at least two of the N channel information. For example, several compression feedback modes may be predefined, and the second communication device selects a compression feedback mode from the predefined compression feedback modes as the compression feedback mode of the N channel information according to the correlation between the N channel information. The compression feedback mode may be characterized by the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information.

[0200] (a) Predefined compression feedback mode 1: One channel information corresponds to one channel feedback amount, or one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of one channel information, then N channel information corresponds to N channel feedback amounts. In other words, one channel information can obtain one channel feedback amount after being processed by an encoder (such as compression), and the encoder can be implemented using an AI model.

[0201] See also Figure 7a , Figure 7a , which is a schematic diagram of a channel information compression feedback method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Wherein, N channel information is recorded as {H1, H2, ..., H N}, compressing the N channel information can obtain N channel feedback quantities, denoted as {c1,c2,...,c N}, where the channel feedback amount c i Used to represent channel information H i .like Figure 7a As shown, N channel information is input into N encoders for processing respectively, and the corresponding N channel feedback quantities are obtained, such as channel information H i After the input encoder is processed, the channel feedback amount c is obtained i. Among them, the N encoders can be N implementations of the same AI model, or the N encoders are N different AI models, or the N encoders are P (P is less than N) AI models, some of which use the same AI model; the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0202] It can be understood that the N channel feedback amounts in the above compression feedback mode 1 represent N channel information respectively, and the compression process can be performed on the N channel information in parallel (such as Figure 7a As shown), it has low complexity and high parallelism, and is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N channel information is low. In one possible implementation, when the correlation between any two of the N channel information obtained by the second communication device is less than a preset threshold, the second communication device determines that the compression feedback mode of the N channel information is the predefined compression feedback mode 1.

[0203] It can be understood that the AI ​​model has a strong nonlinear feature extraction capability. The channel information compression feedback scheme using the AI ​​model can include more channel information in the feedback of the same scale compared to the traditional channel information compression feedback scheme, thereby reducing the information loss of the channel compression feedback and improving the accuracy of the channel recovery on the base station side; or, compared to the traditional channel information feedback scheme, it can use less feedback to represent the same scale of channel information, thereby further reducing the feedback overhead. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application uses the AI ​​model to compress the channel information, which can reduce the feedback overhead and improve the feedback accuracy.

[0204] (b) Predefined compressed feedback mode 2: One channel information corresponds to one channel feedback amount, but one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of one or more channel information. Exemplarily, N channel information corresponds to M channel feedback amounts, and one channel feedback amount is used to represent the content of a channel information subset. In other words, a channel information subset can obtain a channel feedback amount after being processed by an encoder (such as compression), and the encoder can be implemented using an AI model. A channel information subset includes one or more channel information among the N channel information, and the union of the M channel information subsets is the N channel information. The intersection of any two channel information subsets among the M channel information subsets is an empty set. Where M is a positive integer less than N.

[0205] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned channel information subset can be determined based on the correlation between the channel information. For example, a clustering algorithm (such as a K-means clustering algorithm, or a density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN), etc.) can be used to divide the N channel information obtained by the second communication device into M channel information subsets, wherein the distance between sample objects in the clustering algorithm is determined by the correlation between the channel information (such as the inner product between vectors), for example, the distance between sample objects is (1-correlation between channel information), or exp(-correlation between channels).

[0206] In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned channel information subset can also be determined based on a reference signal resource set. As mentioned above, one channel information corresponds to one reference signal resource, then N channel information corresponds to N reference signal resources, and these N reference signal resources can belong to multiple reference signal resource sets. Therefore, the channel information corresponding to the reference signal resources belonging to the same reference signal resource set can be divided into a channel information subset. In other words, the reference signal resources corresponding to all the channel information in a channel information subset belong to the same reference signal resource set. Of course, if these N reference signal resources belong to a reference signal resource set, the above-mentioned channel information subset can be determined based on the correlation between the channel information, instead of adopting the method of determining based on the reference signal resource set.

[0207] See also Figure 7b , Figure 7b , which is another schematic diagram of the channel information compression feedback method provided in the embodiment of the present application. N}, compressing the N channel information can obtain M channel feedback quantities, denoted as {c1,c2,...,c M}, where the channel feedback amount c i Used to represent a subset of channel information The union of M channel information subsets And any two channel information subsets among these M channel information subsets and The intersection of is an empty set. Figure 7b As shown, M channel information subsets are input into M encoders for processing respectively, and corresponding M channel feedback quantities are obtained, such as channel information subsets. After the input encoder is processed, the channel feedback amount c is obtained iThe M encoders may be M implementations of the same AI model, or the M encoders may be M different AI models, or the M encoders may be P (P is less than M) AI models, some of which use the same AI model; this embodiment of the present application does not limit this. Figure 7b As shown, assuming that the channel information subset Includes channel information H1 and H2, channel information subset Including channel information H3 and H4, channel information H1 and H2 are input into an encoder for processing to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c1, and channel information H3 and H4 are input into another encoder for processing to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c2.

[0208] It can be understood that the above-mentioned compression feedback mode 2 jointly compresses multiple channel information into one channel feedback amount (such as Figure 7b As shown), the similarity between multiple channel information can be fully utilized, the compression degree is high, and it is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N channel information is high. In a possible implementation, when the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information obtained by the second communication device is greater than a threshold value, and one channel information is selected from any two channel information subsets of the M channel information subsets obtained by clustering, and the correlation between the two channel information is lower than a threshold value, the second communication device determines that the compression feedback mode of the N channel information is the predefined compression feedback mode 2.

[0209] (c) Predefined compressed feedback mode 3: One channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback quantities. For example, assume that N channel information can be divided into M channel information subsets, and these N channel information correspond to (M+K) channel feedback quantities, and one channel feedback quantity among these K channel feedback quantities is used to represent the common information of at least two channel information subsets among these M channel information subsets. In other words, at least two channel information subsets can be processed by the first encoder (such as extracting common features and compressing, etc.) to obtain a channel feedback quantity s j , the first encoder can be implemented with an AI model. One of the M channel feedback quantities is used to represent specific information of a channel information subset. In other words, a channel information subset and the public information corresponding to the channel information subset can be processed by the second encoder (such as extracting specific features and compressing, etc.) to obtain a channel feedback quantity c i, the second encoder can be implemented with an AI model. A channel information subset includes one or more channel information of the N channel information, the union of the M channel information subsets is the N channel information, and the intersection of any two channel information subsets in the M channel information subsets may be an empty set or may not be an empty set. Among them, the first encoder and the second encoder are different. M and K are both positive integers less than N, and K is less than M.

[0210] In one possible implementation, the channel information subset may be determined based on the correlation between the channel information, as described above, which will not be described here. In another possible implementation, the channel information subset may also be determined based on a reference signal resource set, as described above, which will not be described here.

[0211] See also Figure 7c , Figure 7c , which is another schematic diagram of the channel information compression feedback method provided in the embodiment of the present application. N}, the N channel information is divided into M channel information subsets, and the union of these M channel information subsets And the intersection of any two channel information subsets among these M channel information subsets is an empty set. Figure 7c As shown, M channel information subsets are input into K first encoders for processing (such as extracting common features and compression), and K channel feedback quantities are obtained, which are recorded as {s1, s2, ..., s K}, the input of a first encoder is at least two channel information subsets; M channel information subsets and their corresponding public information (i.e. {s1, s2, ..., s K}) are input into M second encoders for processing (such as extracting specific features and compression), and the corresponding M channel feedback quantities are obtained, which are recorded as {c1, c2, ..., c M}, the input of a second encoder is a channel information subset and the public information corresponding to it. Among them, the first encoder and the second encoder are implemented using different AI models. The K first encoders can be K implementations of the same AI model, or the K first encoders are K different AI models, or the K first encoders are Q (Q is less than K) AI models, and some of the first encoders use the same AI model; the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. Similarly, the M second encoders can be M implementations of the same AI model, or the M second encoders are M different AI models, or the M second encoders are P (P is less than M) AI models, and some of the second encoders use the same AI model; the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0212] like Figure 7c As shown, the channel information subset and channel information subset Input encoder A extracts common features and compresses to obtain channel feedback s1, channel information subset and the corresponding public information (i.e., the channel feedback amount s1) are input into encoder B for processing to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c1, the channel information subset The corresponding public information (i.e., channel feedback amount s1) is input into encoder B for processing to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c2. Here, the channel feedback amount s1 can represent the channel information subset and channel information subset The channel feedback amount c1 can represent the channel information subset The channel feedback amount c2 can represent the channel information subset specific information.

[0213] It can be understood that the above-mentioned compression feedback mode 3 jointly compresses the common features of multiple channel information into a channel feedback amount (such as Figure 7c As shown), the similarity between multiple channel information can be fully utilized, the degree of compression is high, and the complexity is lower than that of the above-mentioned compression feedback mode 2, which is suitable for scenarios where the correlation between the N channel information is moderate. In one possible implementation, when the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information obtained by the second communication device is greater than a threshold value, and there are two channel subsets after clustering, one channel information is selected from each of the two channel information subsets, and the correlation between the two channel information is higher than a threshold value, the second communication device determines that the compression feedback mode of the N channel information is the predefined compression feedback mode 3. Among them, T2 may be the same as or different from the above-mentioned T1, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

[0214] It can be understood that from the above three compression feedback methods, the embodiment of the present application can flexibly select a suitable compression feedback method according to the similarity between the above N channel information, so as to achieve compression of N channel information with the lowest possible complexity and high compression ratio.

[0215] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application may also predefine more compression feedback modes, such as a combination of at least two of the above three compression feedback modes, which are not described in detail here. Figure 7d , Figure 7d This is yet another schematic diagram of the channel information compression feedback method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7d 2 shows a combination of the above-mentioned compression feedback mode 2 and the above-mentioned compression feedback mode 3. In which, the N channel information is recorded as {H1, H2, ..., HN}, the N channel information is divided into M channel information subsets, each channel information subset includes one or more channel information, the union of the M channel information subsets like Figure 7d As shown, assuming that M is equal to 3, the channel information subset Including channel information H1 and H2, the channel information subset Input encoder C is processed to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c1, channel information subset and channel information subset Input encoder A extracts common features and compresses to obtain channel feedback s2, channel information subset and the corresponding public information (i.e., channel feedback amount s2) are input into encoder B for processing to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c3, the channel information subset The corresponding public information (i.e., channel feedback amount s2) is input into encoder B for processing to obtain the corresponding channel feedback amount c4. Here, the channel feedback amount c1 can represent the channel information subset The channel feedback amount s2 can represent the channel information subset and channel information subset The channel feedback amount c3 can represent the channel information subset The channel feedback amount c4 can represent the channel information subset Specific information of the encoder. Among them, encoder A, encoder B and encoder C can be different.

[0216] In a possible implementation, after determining the compression feedback mode of the N channel information, the second communication device may send first information to the first communication device, where the first information may be used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N channel information.

[0217] In a possible implementation, a unique identifier can be set for a predefined compression feedback method, and the compression feedback method of the N channel information is determined by carrying the identifier of the compression feedback method in the first information. The correspondence between the compression feedback method and the identifier can be predefined, preconfigured, or determined through negotiation, etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, as long as the sender and receiver reach an agreement. Then, after the first communication device receives the first information, based on the identifier carried by the first information and the correspondence between the compression feedback method and the identifier, the compression feedback method of the N channel information can be known, so as to facilitate the subsequent recovery of the channel information based on the compression feedback method and the channel feedback amount sent by the second communication device.

[0218] For example, assuming that Figure 7a The compression feedback mode shown is identified by ID1. Figure 7bThe compression feedback mode shown is identified by ID2. Figure 7c The compression feedback mode shown is identified as ID3. Figure 7d The identifier of the compression feedback mode is ID4. Assume that the first information carries ID4, indicating that the compression feedback mode is as follows: Figure 7d As shown, the channel feedback amount c1 can represent the channel information subset (including the entire content of channel information H1 and H2), the channel feedback amount s2 can represent a subset of channel information and channel information subset The channel feedback amount c3 can represent the channel information subset The channel feedback amount c4 can represent the channel information subset Therefore, the UE uses 4 encoders to generate 4 channel feedback quantities.

[0219] In another possible implementation, the first information includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts corresponding to the N channel information, or the correspondence between each channel feedback amount and one or more channel information in the N channel information. It can be understood that the compression feedback mode can be characterized by the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between each channel feedback amount and the channel information. Therefore, the compression feedback mode of the N channel information can be determined by carrying the content representing the compression feedback mode in the first information. It can also be understood that when part of the content (such as the number of channel feedback amounts) used to represent the compression feedback mode is predefined, the first information can carry other part of the content (such as the correspondence between each channel feedback amount and one or more channel information in the N channel information) used to represent the compression feedback mode. Then, after the first communication device receives the first information, it can determine the compression feedback mode of the N channel information based on the content carried by the first information and the predefined content used to represent the compression feedback mode, so as to facilitate the subsequent recovery of the channel information based on the compression feedback mode and the channel feedback amount sent by the second communication device.

[0220] For example, N is equal to 4, and the first information indicates that the number of channel feedback amounts corresponding to the four channel information is 6, wherein the first channel feedback amount c1 corresponds to channel information H1, and is used to represent specific information of channel information H1; the second channel feedback amount c2 corresponds to channel information H2, and is used to represent specific information of channel information H2; the third channel feedback amount s3 corresponds to channel information H1 and H2, and is used to represent common information of channel information H1 and channel information H2; the fourth channel feedback amount c4 corresponds to channel information H3, and is used to represent specific information of channel information H3; the fifth channel feedback amount c5 corresponds to channel information H4, and is used to represent specific information of channel information H4; and the sixth channel feedback amount s6 corresponds to channel information H3 and H4, and is used to represent common information of channel information H3 and channel information H4. Therefore, the UE can determine 6 encoders, which are used to generate these 6 feedback amounts respectively, where encoder 1 is used to generate c1, and the input of encoder 1 includes channel information H1 and channel feedback amount s3; encoder 2 is used to generate c2, and the input of encoder 2 includes channel information H2 and channel feedback amount s3; encoder 3 is used to generate s3, and the input of encoder 3 includes channel information H1 and H2; encoder 4 is used to generate c4, and the input of encoder 4 includes channel information H3 and channel feedback amount s6; encoder 5 is used to generate c5, and the input of encoder 5 includes channel information H4 and channel feedback amount s6; encoder 6 is used to generate s6, and the input of encoder 6 includes channel information H3 and H4.

[0221] In a possible implementation, a 0 / 1 matrix may be used to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amounts and the N channel information. For the example in the previous paragraph, the 0 / 1 matrix may be:

[0222]

[0223] The rows of the 0 / 1 matrix represent channel information, and the columns represent channel feedback amounts. The element in the i-th row and j-th column is 1, indicating that the j-th channel feedback amount corresponds to the i-th channel information, or that the j-th channel feedback amount is obtained based on the i-th channel information, or that the j-th channel feedback amount contains all or part of the features of the i-th channel information. The element in the i-th row and j-th column is 0, indicating that there is no corresponding relationship between the j-th channel feedback amount and the i-th channel information, or that the j-th channel feedback amount does not contain any features of the i-th channel information.

[0224] In another possible implementation, a 0 / 1 matrix may be used to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amounts and the N channel information. For the 0 / 1 matrix in the previous section, it can be expressed as the following Table 1.

[0225] Table 1

[0226] Channel Feedback Channel Information <![CDATA[c1]]> <![CDATA[H1]]> <![CDATA[c2]]> <![CDATA[H1]]> <![CDATA[s3]]> <![CDATA[H1 and H2]]> <![CDATA[c4]]> <![CDATA[H3]]> <![CDATA[c5]]> <![CDATA[H4]]> <![CDATA[s6]]> <![CDATA[H3 and H4]]>

[0227] A row in Table 1 represents a channel feedback amount and its corresponding channel information, and the number of rows in Table 1 is the number of channel feedback amounts. The first column in Table 1 represents the channel feedback amount, and the second column represents the channel information corresponding to the channel feedback amount in the first column.

[0228] It can be understood that the present application does not limit the specific form of expression of the first information, or in other words, the present application does not limit the signaling form of the first information. Any signaling indication method that can express the content of the above-mentioned first information is within the protection scope of the present application. In one possible implementation, through the indication of the above-mentioned first information, the first communication device and the second communication device can reach an agreement on the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. However, the first communication device and the second communication device can also reach an agreement on the AI ​​model used by the encoder that generates each channel feedback amount. One implementation is that the first communication device determines the identifier of the AI ​​model used by the encoder that generates each channel feedback amount and indicates it to the second communication device. Another implementation is that the second communication device determines the identifier of the AI ​​model used by the encoder that generates each channel feedback amount and indicates it to the first communication device. Another implementation is that the first communication device indicates a candidate AI model set, and the second communication device determines the identifier of the AI ​​model used by the encoder that generates each channel feedback amount from the candidate AI model set and indicates it to the first communication device. It is understandable that in the same compression feedback mode, multiple encoders can use the same AI model. Of course, these multiple encoders can also use different AI models, or some of these multiple encoders reuse the same AI model; this embodiment of the application does not limit this. In different compression feedback modes, some encoders can also use the same AI model, which is not limited in the embodiment of the application.

[0229] The embodiment of the present application provides a variety of compression feedback methods for channel information, and indicates which compression feedback method is used specifically through the first information, which can improve the flexibility of channel information feedback. In the compression feedback method, the embodiment of the present application uses an AI model to compress channel information, which can improve feedback accuracy while reducing feedback overhead. In addition, for multi-station and multi-frequency scenarios, the embodiment of the present application does not need to design compression feedback methods separately, and can achieve the unification of channel compression feedback methods.

[0230] In a possible implementation, after the above step S104, Figure 6 The communication method may further include:

[0231] S106, the second communication device (such as UE) sends third information to the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station), where the third information includes the channel feedback amount of the above N channel information after being processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the above first information.

[0232] Correspondingly, the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) receives the third information.

[0233] S107: The first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) restores one or more channel information based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information.

[0234] In a possible implementation, after the above step S104, the second communication device may process (e.g., compress) the N channel information obtained in the above step S103 using the compression feedback method indicated by the first information in the above step S104 to obtain multiple channel feedback amounts. The second communication device may then feedback the multiple channel feedback amounts to the first communication device, such as the second communication device sending the third information to the first communication device, and the third information includes the multiple channel feedback amounts. It can be understood that in a multi-station scenario (such as multi-station multi-frequency or multi-station single-frequency), the second communication device may send the third information to multiple first communication devices participating in multi-station cooperative transmission (the multiple first communication devices here may refer to all or part of the multi-station cooperative transmission), so that each first communication device can restore its own channel information based on the third information. Of course, the second communication device may also send the third information to a first communication device (such as a master station, or any base station) participating in the multi-station cooperative transmission, so that the first communication device can restore one or more channel information based on the third information.

[0235] Exemplarily, the third information may be a CSI report (CSI report), and the second communication device may feed back the multiple channel feedback quantities to the first communication device via one or more CSI reports.

[0236] It can be understood that the number of channel feedback amounts after the N channel information is processed by the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is related to the compression feedback mode. For example, if the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the compression feedback mode 1, the N channel information is processed by the compression feedback mode 1 to obtain N compression feedback amounts; if the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the compression feedback mode 2, the N channel information is processed by the compression feedback mode 2 to obtain M (M is less than N) compression feedback amounts; if the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the compression feedback mode 3, the N channel information is processed by the compression feedback mode 3 to obtain (M+K) compression feedback amounts.

[0237] In a possible implementation, after the first communication device obtains the third information, it can restore one or more channel information based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information. In a single-station multi-frequency scenario, the first communication device can restore N channel information based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and all channel feedback amounts included in the third information. In a multi-station single-frequency scenario, the first communication device can restore one channel information of itself based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and the partial channel feedback amount included in the third information. In a multi-station multi-frequency scenario, the first communication device (assuming there are N2 frequency bands) can restore its N2 channel information based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and the partial channel feedback amount included in the third information. It can be understood that in order for the first communication device to know which channel feedback amounts are related to itself, the third information may include, in addition to the multiple channel feedback amounts, a reference signal resource indication corresponding to each channel feedback amount (such as a reference signal resource ID or information about a reference signal antenna port or information about a port group); then after receiving the third information, the first communication device may determine the channel feedback amount related to itself according to the reference signal resource indication corresponding to each channel feedback amount (such as a reference signal resource ID or information about a reference signal antenna port or information about a port group); and then restore one or more channel information of itself based on the compressed feedback mode indicated by the first information and one or more channel feedback amounts related to itself in the third information. Because one channel feedback amount corresponds to one or more channel information, and one channel information corresponds to one reference signal resource, one channel feedback amount may correspond to one or more reference signal resources, and the reference signal resource may be configured by the first communication device, so the first communication device may know which reference signal resources belong to itself, and the corresponding channel feedback amounts corresponding to these reference signal resources are related to the first communication device, and are used for the first communication device to restore the channel information.

[0238] In a possible implementation, the process of recovering the channel information by the first communication device is the reverse process of compressing the channel information by the second communication device. The following discusses the methods of recovering the channel information under different compression feedback methods in different cases. It can be understood that the channel information obtained by the second communication device in the aforementioned step S103 is not completely the same as the channel information recovered by the first communication device in step S107, but the two are similar. When the accuracy of the channel feedback amount is higher, the channel information recovered in step S107 is more similar to the channel information obtained in step S103. For the convenience of description below, the channel information obtained in the aforementioned step S103 is recorded as H i The channel information recovered in step S107 is recorded as H i ′.

[0239] (1) The compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the aforementioned compression feedback mode 1

[0240] See also Figure 8a , Figure 8a is a schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8a It can be understood as the aforementioned Figure 7a The reverse process of FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of channel information recovery when the channel information is compressed using compression feedback mode 1. When the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the aforementioned compression feedback mode 1, the third information includes N channel feedback quantities, recorded as {c1, c2, ..., c N}, where the channel feedback amount c i Used to represent channel information H i .like Figure 8a As shown, the N channel feedback quantities are respectively input into N decoders for processing to recover N channel information, which is recorded as {H1′,H2′,...,H N ′}. Of course, a more complex decoder can also be used to jointly process the N channel feedback quantities, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. Among them, the N decoders can be N implementations of the same AI model, or the N decoders are N different AI models, or the N decoders are P (P is less than N) AI models, some of which use the same AI model; the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0241] (2) The compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the aforementioned compression feedback mode 2

[0242] See also Figure 8b , Figure 8b is another schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8b It can be understood as the aforementioned Figure 7b The reverse process of FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of channel information recovery when the channel information is compressed using compression feedback mode 2. When the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the aforementioned compression feedback mode 2, the third information includes M channel feedback quantities, recorded as {c1, c2, ..., c M}, where the channel feedback amount c i Used to represent a subset of channel information like Figure 8b As shown, the M channel feedback quantities are respectively input into M decoders for processing to recover M channel information subsets. The union of these M channel information subsets is N channel information, denoted as {H1′,H2′,...,H N '},Right now And the intersection of any two of the M channel information subsets is an empty set. Of course, a more complex decoder can also be used to jointly process the M channel feedback quantities, and this embodiment of the present application is not limited. Among them, the M decoders can be M implementations of the same AI model, or the M decoders are M different AI models, or the M decoders are P (P is less than M) AI models, some of which use the same AI model; this embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0243] For example, if Figure 8b As shown, the channel feedback amount c1 is input into the decoder for processing to obtain the channel information subset The channel information subset Including channel information H1′ and H2′; the channel feedback amount c2 is input into another decoder for processing to obtain a channel information subset The channel information subset Includes channel information H3' and H4'.

[0244] (3) The compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the aforementioned compression feedback mode 3

[0245] See also Figure 8c , Figure 8c This is another schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8c It can be understood as the aforementioned Figure 7c The reverse process of FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the recovery of channel information when the channel information is compressed using compression feedback mode 3. When the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information is the compression feedback mode 3, the third information includes (M+K) channel feedback quantities, which are recorded as {c1, c2, ..., c M ,s1,s2,...,s K}, where the channel feedback amount c i Used to represent a subset of channel information The specific information of the channel feedback s i represents the common information of at least two channel information subsets. Figure 8c As shown, the channel feedback amount related to each channel information subset is input into the decoder for processing to restore the channel information of each channel information subset. The channel feedback amount c of specific information i and are used to represent the channel information subset Channel feedback amount s of public information l The input decoder is processed to restore the corresponding channel information. Of course, a more complex decoder can also be used to jointly process the (M+K) channel feedback quantities, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 8cAs shown, a total of M decoders can be used to recover N channel information. The M decoders can be M implementations of the same AI model, or the M decoders are M different AI models, or the M decoders are P (P is less than M) AI models, among which some decoders use the same AI model; the embodiments of the present application do not impose any restrictions on this.

[0246] For example, if Figure 8c As shown, the channel feedback amount c1 and the channel feedback amount s1 are input into the decoder for processing to obtain the channel information subset The channel feedback amount c2 and the channel feedback amount s1 are input into another decoder for processing to obtain a channel information subset in, ={H1′,H2′,...,H N ′},H i ' represents the recovered channel information.

[0247] In a possible implementation, the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information may be a combination of at least two of the three compression feedback modes (compression feedback mode 1, compression feedback mode 2, and compression feedback mode 3). Figure 8d , Figure 8d This is another schematic diagram of channel information recovery provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8d It can be understood as the aforementioned Figure 7d The reverse process of FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the channel information recovery when the compression feedback mode used by the second communication device is a combination of compression feedback modes 2 and 3. Figure 8d As shown, the channel feedback amount c1 is input into decoder 1 for processing to obtain the channel information subset The channel information subset Including channel information H1′ and H2′; channel feedback amount s2 and channel feedback amount c3 are input to decoder 2 for processing to obtain a channel information subset The channel feedback amount s2 and the channel feedback amount c4 are input to the decoder 3 for processing to obtain the channel information subset It can be understood that the channel feedback amount c1 represents a subset of channel information The channel feedback amount s2 can represent the channel information subset and channel information subset The channel feedback amount c3 can represent the channel information subset The channel feedback amount c4 can represent the channel information subset Decoder 1 is different from decoder 2 and decoder 3, and decoder 2 and decoder 3 may be the same or different, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0248] In a possible implementation, the first information uses a 0 / 1 matrix to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amounts and the N channel information. Assume that the 0 / 1 matrix is:

[0249]

[0250] The rows of the 0 / 1 matrix represent channel information, and the columns represent channel feedback amounts. The element in the i-th row and j-th column is 1, indicating that the j-th channel feedback amount corresponds to the i-th channel information, or that the j-th channel feedback amount is obtained based on the i-th channel information, or that the j-th channel feedback amount contains all or part of the features of the i-th channel information. The element in the i-th row and j-th column is 0, indicating that there is no corresponding relationship between the j-th channel feedback amount and the i-th channel information, or that the j-th channel feedback amount does not contain any features of the i-th channel information. According to the 0 / 1 matrix, it can be known that the first channel feedback amount and the third channel feedback amount correspond to channel information H1, so the first channel feedback amount and the third channel feedback amount can be input into decoder 1 for processing to obtain channel information H1′; the second channel feedback amount and the third channel feedback amount correspond to channel information H2, so the second channel feedback amount and the third channel feedback amount can be input into decoder 2 for processing to obtain channel information H2′; the fourth channel feedback amount and the fourth channel feedback amount correspond to channel information H3, so the fourth channel feedback amount and the sixth channel feedback amount can be input into decoder 3 for processing to obtain channel information H3′; the fifth channel feedback amount and the sixth channel feedback amount correspond to channel information H4, so the fifth channel feedback amount and the sixth channel feedback amount can be input into decoder 4 for processing to obtain channel information H4′.

[0251] It can be understood that the first information uses a list to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amounts and the N channel information, which is similar to the use of a 0 / 1 matrix to indicate the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amounts and the N channel information. The processing at the receiving end is similar and will not be described in detail here.

[0252] The second communication device of the embodiment of the present application flexibly selects an appropriate compression feedback method according to the similarity between the channel information, which can reduce the complexity of the channel compression feedback and improve the compression ratio of the channel information; and then tells the first communication device the determined compression feedback method through the first information to align the understanding of both parties on the channel feedback amount, so as to facilitate the first communication device to restore the channel information. In addition, for multi-station and multi-frequency scenarios, the embodiment of the present application does not need to design compression feedback methods separately, and can achieve the unification of channel compression feedback methods.

[0253] See also Fig. 9 , Fig. 9It is another flow chart of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application. The method mainly introduces that the base station selects a suitable compression feedback mode and informs the UE through the indication information (i.e., the first information in the embodiment of the present application) so that the UE processes the channel information according to the compression feedback mode indicated by the base station and feeds back the processed compression feedback amount to the base station.

[0254] like Fig. 9 As shown, the communication method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0255] S201: A first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) sends one or more reference signals to a second communication device (such as a UE).

[0256] S202: A second communication device (such as a UE) receives N reference signals, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0257] S203: The second communication device (such as UE) performs channel measurement based on the N reference signals to obtain N channel information.

[0258] In a possible implementation, the implementation of steps S201 to S203 in the embodiment of the present application can refer to the aforementioned Figure 6 The implementation method of step 101 to step S103 in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0259] S204, the second communication device (such as UE) sends second information to the first communication device (such as the base station or a part of the base station), where the second information includes the correlation between at least two of the N channel information. The second information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the N channel information.

[0260] Correspondingly, the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) receives the second information.

[0261] S205: The first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) determines a compression feedback method of the N channel information based on the second information.

[0262] In a possible implementation, after the second communication device obtains the above-mentioned N channel information, it can calculate the correlation between at least two channel information in the N channel information. Exemplarily, the second communication device can calculate the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information to determine the similarity between the N channels corresponding to the N channel information. The second communication device can then send the second information to the first communication device, and the second information includes the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information. For example, the channel information is the eigenvector obtained after the channel response is subjected to singular value decomposition (SVD), and the inner product between the eigenvectors can be used to characterize the correlation between the channel information. For another example, the channel information is the channel response (expressed in the form of a matrix), and the channel response can be converted into a vector, and the correlation between the channel information can be characterized by the inner product between the vectors. For example, the larger the inner product value between the vectors, the higher the correlation between the channel information, which also means that the similarity between the channels is greater.

[0263] Exemplarily, the second communication device may carry the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information (such as the inner product value between the vectors) in the second information and send it to the first communication device. Alternatively, the second communication device quantizes or normalizes the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information (such as the inner product value between the vectors) and carries it in the second information to send it to the first communication device. In a possible implementation, the second communication device may convert the correlation between the two channel information in the N channel information (such as the inner product value between the vectors) into a vector or matrix form and carry it in the second information to send it to the first communication device.

[0264] It can be understood that in a multi-station scenario (such as multi-station multi-frequency or multi-station single frequency), the second communication device can send the second information to a first communication device (such as a master station, or any base station) participating in the multi-station cooperative transmission, so that the first communication device can determine the compression feedback method of the N channel information based on the content of the second information. Of course, the second communication device can also send the second information to multiple first communication devices participating in the multi-station cooperative transmission, but only the designated first communication device can reply to the first information, or the second communication device can only receive the first information replied by a first communication device.

[0265] In a possible implementation, after receiving the second information, the first communication device may determine the compression feedback mode of the N channel information based on the correlation between at least two channel information in the N channel information. The method for the first communication device to determine the compression feedback mode can refer to the aforementioned Figure 6 The method for the second communication device to determine the compression feedback mode in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0266] S206, the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) sends first information to the second communication device (such as a UE), where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. One channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0267] Correspondingly, the second communication device (such as UE) receives the first information. The second communication device (such as UE) may also determine a compression feedback mode of the N channel information based on the first information.

[0268] In a possible implementation, after the first communication device determines the compression feedback mode of the N channel information, it can send first information to the second communication device, and the first information can be used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N channel information. The compression feedback mode can be characterized by the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. Figure 6 The relevant description in the illustrated embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0269] In a possible implementation, through the indication of the first information, the first communication device and the second communication device can reach an agreement on the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information. However, the first communication device and the second communication device can also reach an agreement on the AI ​​model used by the encoder to generate each channel feedback amount. For specific implementation, see the aforementioned Figure 6 The relevant description in the illustrated embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0270] In a possible implementation, after the above step S206, Fig. 9 The communication method also includes:

[0271] S207, the second communication device (such as UE) sends third information to the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station), where the third information includes the channel feedback amount of the above N channel information after being processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the above first information.

[0272] Correspondingly, the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) receives the third information.

[0273] S208: The first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) restores one or more channel information based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information.

[0274] In a possible implementation, the implementation of step S207 and step S208 in the embodiment of the present application can refer to the aforementioned Figure 6 The implementation of step S106 and step S107 in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0275] The second communication device of the embodiment of the present application tells the first communication device the correlation between the channel information through the second information, and the first communication device flexibly selects the appropriate compression feedback method according to the correlation between the channel information, which can reduce the complexity of the channel compression feedback and improve the compression ratio of the channel information; and then tells the second communication device the determined compression feedback method through the first information to align the understanding of both parties on the channel feedback amount, so as to facilitate the second communication device to compress the channel information. In addition, for multi-station and multi-frequency scenarios, the embodiment of the present application does not need to design compression feedback methods separately, and can achieve the unification of channel compression feedback methods.

[0276] See also Fig.10 , Fig.10 It is another flow chart of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application. The method mainly introduces that the base station determines the compression feedback mode of the downlink channel information (i.e., the first channel information of the embodiment of the present application) based on the correlation between the uplink channel information (i.e., the second channel information of the embodiment of the present application), and informs the UE through the indication information (i.e., the first information in the embodiment of the present application), so that the UE processes the downlink channel information according to the compression feedback mode indicated by the base station, and feeds back the processed compression feedback amount to the base station. This method can be applied to the scenario where there is reciprocity between the uplink and downlink channels and the uplink channel aging is not serious.

[0277] like Fig.10 As shown, the communication method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0278] S301: A second communication device (such as UE) sends one or more second reference signals.

[0279] Accordingly, the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) receives one or more second reference signals, and performs channel measurement based on the received second reference signals to obtain one or more second channel information. One of the second reference signals is subjected to channel measurement to obtain a second channel information.

[0280] S302: A first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) obtains L second channel information, where the second channel information is determined based on the second reference signal. L is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0281] In one possible implementation, the second reference signal of the embodiment of the present application is an uplink reference signal, such as SRS or DMRS; correspondingly, the second channel information is uplink channel information, such as an uplink channel response, or an eigenvector or a eigenmatrix composed of multiple eigenvectors obtained after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the uplink channel response.

[0282] In a possible implementation, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a compressed feedback scenario of multiple channel information. Among them, "multiple channel information" can be understood as the channel information corresponding to a single frequency band of multiple base stations (referred to as multi-station single frequency), or the channel information corresponding to multiple frequency bands of a single base station (referred to as single-station multi-frequency), or the channel information corresponding to multiple frequency bands of multiple base stations (referred to as multi-station multi-frequency), or the channel information corresponding to multiple reference signals of a single frequency band of a single base station, etc. "Multi-frequency" can also be understood as multi-carrier.

[0283] In a possible implementation, the second communication device sends one or more second reference signals, and the first communication device can receive one or more of the second reference signals. For example, for a multi-station single-frequency scenario, the second communication device sends a second reference signal, and the first communication device receives the second reference signal. For a multi-station multi-frequency scenario, the second communication device sends multiple second reference signals, and the first communication device receives the multiple second reference signals. For a single-station multi-frequency scenario, the second communication device sends L second reference signals, and the first communication device receives the L second reference signals. In short, in a multi-station single-frequency scenario, a second reference signal sent by the second communication device can be fully received by the first communication device, and of course other communication devices can also receive the second reference signal. In a multi-station multi-frequency scenario, multiple second reference signals sent by the second communication device can all be received by the first communication device, and of course other communication devices can also receive the multiple second reference signals. In a single-station multi-frequency scenario, all L second reference signals sent by the second communication device are sent to the first communication device. Among them, the transmission frequency bands of the multiple second reference signals sent by the second communication device may be different, partially the same, or all the same, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0284] In another possible implementation, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to the channel information compression feedback scenario of a single base station single frequency band (single station single frequency for short). In the single station single frequency scenario, the second communication device can send L second reference signals (on one frequency band), and these L second reference signals can be sent at different times. Correspondingly, the first communication device can receive the L second reference signals.

[0285] In a possible implementation, after receiving the second reference signal, the first communication device may perform channel measurement based on the second reference signal to obtain second channel information. Exemplarily, the first communication device may perform a channel measurement once it receives a second reference signal; or after receiving multiple second reference signals, perform channel measurement on the multiple second reference signals respectively. Among them, performing channel measurement on a second reference signal can obtain a second channel information.

[0286] In one possible implementation, if the first communication device receives L second reference signals, channel measurement is performed based on the L second reference signals to obtain L second channel information. In another possible implementation, if the first communication device receives W (W is a positive integer less than L) second reference signals, channel measurement is performed based on the W second reference signals to obtain W second channel information; the remaining (LW) second channel information may come from other communication devices. In other words, the first communication device performs channel measurement based on the received second reference signal to obtain W second channel information, and the first communication device then receives the second channel information sent by other communication devices to obtain (LW) second channel information, so that the first communication device obtains L second channel information. Among them, the (LW) second channel information sent by other communication devices may be compressed feedback according to the traditional codebook, or may be feedback using the compressed feedback method provided in the present application (such as the aforementioned Figure 6 The compression feedback mode 1, or compression feedback mode 2, or compression feedback mode 3 in the illustrated embodiment is compression feedback; the embodiments of the present application do not impose any limitation on this.

[0287] S303: The first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) determines a compression feedback method for the N first channel information based on the correlation between at least two second channel information among the L second channel information.

[0288] In a possible implementation, after the first communication device obtains the above-mentioned L second channel information, it can calculate the correlation between at least two of the L second channel information. Exemplarily, the second communication device can calculate the correlation between the two second channel information in the L second channel information to determine the similarity between the L channels corresponding to the L second channel information. For example, the channel information is the eigenvector obtained after the channel response is subjected to singular value decomposition (SVD), and the inner product between the eigenvectors can be used to characterize the correlation between the channel information. For another example, the channel information is the channel response (expressed in the form of a matrix), and the channel response can be converted into a vector, and the correlation between the channel information can be characterized by the inner product between the vectors. For example, the larger the inner product value between the vectors, the higher the correlation between the channel information, which also means that the similarity between the channels is greater.

[0289] In a possible implementation, the first communication device may determine the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information based on the correlation between at least two second channel information in the L second channel information. The method for the first communication device to determine the compression feedback mode can refer to the aforementioned Figure 6 The method for the second communication device to determine the compression feedback mode in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0290] S304, a first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) sends first information to a second communication device (such as a UE), where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or a correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information. One of the first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0291] Correspondingly, the second communication device (such as UE) receives the first information. The second communication device (such as UE) may also determine a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information based on the first information.

[0292] In a possible implementation, after the first communication device determines the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, it can send first information to the second communication device, and the first information can be used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information. The compression feedback mode can be characterized by the number of channel feedback amounts and the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information. Figure 6 The relevant description in the illustrated embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0293] In a possible implementation, through the indication of the first information, the first communication device and the second communication device can reach an agreement on the number of channel feedback amounts and the correspondence between the channel feedback amounts and the first channel information. However, the first communication device and the second communication device can also reach an agreement on the AI ​​model used by the encoder to generate each channel feedback amount. For specific implementation, see the aforementioned Figure 6 The relevant description in the illustrated embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0294] In a possible implementation, after the above step S304, Fig.10 The communication method also includes:

[0295] S305: A first communication device (such as a base station or a part of a base station) sends one or more first reference signals to a second communication device (such as a UE).

[0296] S306: The second communication device (such as UE) receives N first reference signals, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0297] S307: The second communication device (such as UE) performs channel measurement based on the N first reference signals to obtain N first channel information.

[0298] In a possible implementation, the implementation of step S305 to step S307 in the embodiment of the present application can refer to the aforementioned Figure 6 The implementation method of step 101 to step S103 in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0299] In one possible implementation, the first reference signal of the embodiment of the present application is a downlink reference signal, such as CSI-RS, SSB, or DMRS; correspondingly, the first channel information is downlink channel information, such as a downlink channel response, or a eigenvector or a eigenmatrix composed of multiple eigenvectors obtained after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the downlink channel response.

[0300] S308, the second communication device (such as UE) sends third information to the first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station), where the third information includes the channel feedback amount of the N first channel information processed by the compressed feedback method indicated by the first information.

[0301] S309: The first communication device (such as a base station or a part of the base station) restores one or more first channel information based on the compression feedback mode indicated by the first information and at least one channel feedback amount included in the third information.

[0302] In a possible implementation, the implementation of step S308 and step S309 in the embodiment of the present application can refer to the aforementioned Figure 6 The implementation of step S106 and step S107 in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0303] The first communication device of the embodiment of the present application uses the correlation between the uplink channel information (i.e., the second channel information) to determine the compression feedback method of the downlink channel information (i.e., the first channel information), which can be applied to the scenario where there is reciprocity between the uplink and downlink channels, or the uplink channel is not severely aged; the first communication device also informs the second communication device which compression feedback method to use through the indication information (i.e., the first information), so that the second communication device processes the downlink channel information according to the compression feedback method indicated by the first communication device, and feeds back the processed compression feedback amount to the first communication device, which can improve the flexibility of channel information feedback, and improve feedback accuracy while reducing feedback overhead. In addition, for multi-station and multi-frequency scenarios, the embodiment of the present application does not need to design compression feedback methods separately, and can achieve the unification of channel compression feedback methods.

[0304] The above content elaborates on the method provided by the present application. In order to facilitate the implementation of the above scheme of the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application also provides corresponding devices or equipment.

[0305] The present application divides the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. Figures 11 to 13 The communication device according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail.

[0306] See also Fig.11 , Fig.11 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Fig.11 As shown, the communication device may include a transceiver unit 10 and a processing unit 20 .

[0307] In some embodiments of the present application, the communication device may be the first communication device shown above or a chip or circuit disposed in the first communication device, that is, the communication device may be used to execute the steps or functions executed by the first communication device in the above method embodiment.

[0308] In one design, a transceiver unit 10 is configured to receive first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of N channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or a corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; where one channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts; and a processing unit 20 is configured to determine the compression feedback mode based on the first information. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0309] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of the first information, the compression feedback method of the N channel information, etc. can refer to the above Figure 6 The introduction in the illustrated method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0310] It is understood that the specific description of the transceiver unit and the processing unit shown in the embodiment of the present application is only an example. For the specific functions or execution steps of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, reference can be made to the above Figure 6 The method embodiment shown is not described in detail here. In addition, the technical effects of the embodiment of the present application can be found in the aforementioned Figure 6 For the sake of brevity, the technical effects in the illustrated method embodiment are not described in detail here.

[0311] In another design, the processing unit 20 is used to determine a compression feedback mode of N first channel information; the transceiver unit 10 is used to send first information, where the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information; one of the first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0312] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 10 is also used to receive second information, where the second information includes a correlation between at least two first channel information among N first channel information, and the correlation between at least two first channel information among the N first channel information is used to determine a compression feedback method for the N first channel information.

[0313] Exemplarily, the first channel information is determined based on the first reference signal. The transceiver unit 10 is further used to receive one or more second reference signals, and the second reference signal is used to determine the second channel information; the processing unit 20 is used to obtain the correlation between at least two second channel information in the L second channel information, and the correlation between at least two second channel information in the L second channel information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information. L is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0314] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of the first information, the second information, the compression feedback method of the N first channel information, etc. can refer to the above Fig. 9 or Fig.10 The introduction in the illustrated method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0315] It is understood that the specific description of the transceiver unit and the processing unit shown in the embodiment of the present application is only an example. For the specific functions or execution steps of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, reference can be made to the above Fig. 9 or Fig.10 The method embodiment shown is not described in detail here. In addition, the technical effects of the embodiment of the present application can be found in the aforementioned Fig. 9 or Fig.10 For the sake of brevity, the technical effects in the illustrated method embodiment are not described in detail here.

[0316] Reuse Fig.11 In some other embodiments of the present application, the communication device may be the second communication device shown above or a chip or circuit disposed in the second communication device. That is, the communication device may be used to execute the steps or functions executed by the second communication device in the above method embodiment.

[0317] In one design, the processing unit 20 is used for N channel information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the transceiver unit 10 is used to send first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compressed feedback method for the N channel information, and the compressed feedback method includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; where one channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0318] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of the first information, the compression feedback method of the N channel information, etc. can refer to the above Figure 6 The introduction in the illustrated method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0319] It is understood that the specific description of the transceiver unit and the processing unit shown in the embodiment of the present application is only an example. For the specific functions or execution steps of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, reference can be made to the above Figure 6 The method embodiment shown is not described in detail here. In addition, the technical effects of the embodiment of the present application can be found in the aforementioned Figure 6 For the sake of brevity, the technical effects in the illustrated method embodiment are not described in detail here.

[0320] In another design, the processing unit 20 is used to obtain N first channel information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the transceiver unit 10 is used to receive the first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compressed feedback method of the N first channel information, and the compressed feedback method includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information, where one first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0321] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 10 is also used to send second information, where the second information includes a correlation between at least two of the N first channel information, and the correlation between at least two of the N first channel information is used to determine a compression feedback method for the N first channel information.

[0322] Exemplarily, the first channel information is determined based on the first reference signal received by the transceiver unit 10. The transceiver unit 10 is further configured to send one or more second reference signals, which are used to determine the second channel information, wherein the correlation between the second channel information is used to determine the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information.

[0323] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of the first information, the second information, the compression feedback method of the N first channel information, etc. can refer to the above Fig. 9 or Fig.10 The introduction in the illustrated method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0324] It is understood that the specific description of the transceiver unit and the processing unit shown in the embodiment of the present application is only an example. For the specific functions or execution steps of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, reference can be made to the above Fig. 9 or Fig.10 The method embodiment shown is not described in detail here. In addition, the technical effects of the embodiment of the present application can be found in the aforementioned Fig. 9 or Fig.10 For the sake of brevity, the technical effects in the illustrated method embodiment are not described in detail here.

[0325] The above describes the communication device of the embodiment of the present application, and the following describes possible product forms of the communication device. It should be understood that any device having the above Fig.11 Any form of product with the functions of the communication device described above falls within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. It should also be understood that the following description is only an example and does not limit the product form of the communication device of the embodiments of the present application to this.

[0326] In one possible implementation, Fig.11 In the communication device shown, the processing unit 20 may be one or more processing circuits, the transceiver unit 10 may be a transceiver circuit, or the transceiver unit 10 may also be a sending unit and a receiving unit, the sending unit may be a sending circuit, the receiving unit may be a receiving circuit, and the sending unit and the receiving unit are integrated into one device, such as a transceiver circuit. In the embodiment of the present application, the processing circuit and the transceiver circuit may be coupled, etc., and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the connection mode of the processing circuit and the transceiver circuit. In the process of executing the above method, the process of sending information in the above method can be understood as the process of outputting the above information by the processing circuit. When outputting the above information, the processing circuit outputs the above information to the transceiver circuit so that it is transmitted by the transceiver circuit. After the above information is output by the processing circuit, it may also need to be processed in other ways before it reaches the transceiver circuit. Similarly, the process of receiving information in the above method can be understood as the process of the processing circuit receiving the input information. When the processing circuit receives the input information, the transceiver circuit receives the above information and inputs it into the processing circuit. Furthermore, after the transceiver circuit receives the above information, the above information may need to be processed in other ways before being input into the processing circuit.

[0327] See also Fig.12 , Fig.12 is another structural diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application. Fig.12As shown, the communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application can be used to implement the method described in the above method embodiment, and reference can be made to the description in the above method embodiment. The communication device can be a first communication device, or a second communication device, or a chip therein. Exemplarily, the communication device includes one or more processing circuits 1001 and a transceiver circuit 1002. The communication device may further include a storage circuit 1003. In one implementation, the communication device also includes an input and output device (such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., which are mainly used to receive data input by a user and output data to a user, not shown in the figure).

[0328] The processing circuit 1001 is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, and to control the entire communication device, execute the software program, and process the data of the software program. The storage circuit 1003 is mainly used to store the software program and data. The transceiver circuit 1002 may include a control circuit and an antenna. The control circuit is mainly used to convert the baseband signal and the radio frequency signal and process the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves.

[0329] When the communication device is turned on, the processing circuit 1001 can read the software program in the storage circuit 1003, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processing circuit 1001 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then sends the radio frequency signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processing circuit 1001. The processing circuit 1001 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0330] In another implementation, the RF circuit and antenna may be arranged independently of the processing circuit for baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the RF circuit and antenna may be arranged remotely from the communication device.

[0331] The processing circuit 1001 , the transceiver circuit 1002 , and the storage circuit 1003 may be connected via a communication bus.

[0332] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Figure 6 When the first communication device performs the steps, methods or functions in the embodiment shown, the processing circuit 1001 can be used to perform Figure 6 Step S105 and step S107 in, and / or other processes for performing the technology described herein; the transceiver circuit 1002 can be used to perform Figure 6Step S101 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0333] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Figure 6 When the second communication device performs the steps, methods or functions in the embodiment shown, the processing circuit 1001 can be used to perform Figure 6 Step S102 and step S103 in, and / or other processes for performing the technology described herein; the transceiver circuit 1002 can be used to perform Figure 6 Steps S104 and S106 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0334] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Fig. 9 When the first communication device performs the steps, methods or functions in the embodiment shown, the processing circuit 1001 can be used to perform Fig. 9 Step S205 and step S208 in, and / or other processes for performing the technology described herein; the transceiver circuit 1002 may be used to perform Fig. 9 Steps S201 and S206 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0335] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Fig. 9 When the second communication device performs the steps, methods or functions in the embodiment shown, the processing circuit 1001 can be used to perform Fig. 9 Step S202 and step S203 in, and / or other processes for performing the technology described herein; the transceiver circuit 1002 may be used to perform Fig. 9 Steps S204 and S207 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0336] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Fig.10 When the first communication device performs the steps, methods or functions in the embodiment shown, the processing circuit 1001 can be used to perform Fig.10 Step S302, step S303 and step S309 in, and / or other processes for performing the technology described herein; the transceiver circuit 1002 can be used to perform Fig.10 Steps S304 and S305 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0337] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Fig.10 When the second communication device performs the steps, methods or functions in the embodiment shown, the processing circuit 1001 can be used to perform Fig.10Step S306 and step S307 in, and / or other processes for performing the technology described herein; the transceiver circuit 1002 may be used to perform Fig.10 Steps S301 and S308 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0338] In any of the above implementations, the transceiver circuit 1002 may include a transceiver or an interface circuit for implementing the receiving and sending functions. The transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit for implementing the receiving and sending functions may be separate or integrated. The above transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code / data, or the above transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or delivering signals.

[0339] In any of the above implementations, the processing circuit 1001 may be included in a processor, the processor may store instructions, the instructions may be computer programs, and the computer programs run on the processing circuit 1001, which may enable the communication device to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. The computer program may be fixed in the processing circuit 1001, in which case the processing circuit 1001 may be implemented by hardware.

[0340] The processing circuit and the transceiver circuit described in the present application may be included in a chip, such as an integrated circuit (IC), an analog IC, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), a mixed signal IC, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a printed circuit board (PCB), an electronic device, etc. The processing circuit and the transceiver circuit may also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), positive channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0341] It is understandable that the communication device shown in the embodiment of the present application may also have Fig.12The present application does not limit the number of components and the like. The method performed by the processing circuit and the transceiver circuit shown above is only an example, and the specific steps performed by the processing circuit and the transceiver circuit can refer to the introduction of the method embodiment above.

[0342] In another possible implementation, Fig.11 In the communication device shown, the processing unit 20 may be one or more logic circuits or processing circuits, and the transceiver unit 10 may be an input / output interface, or a communication interface, or an interface circuit, or an interface, etc. Alternatively, the transceiver unit 10 may be a sending unit and a receiving unit, the sending unit may be an output interface, the receiving unit may be an input interface, and the sending unit and the receiving unit may be integrated into one unit, such as an input / output interface. Fig.13 , Fig.13 is another structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Fig.13 As shown, Fig.13 The communication device shown includes a logic circuit 901 and an interface 902. That is, the processing unit 20 can be implemented by the logic circuit 901, and the transceiver unit 10 can be implemented by the interface 902. The logic circuit (or processing circuit) 901 can be a chip, such as an integrated circuit or a system on chip (SoC) chip, or a processing part in a chip, and the interface 902 can be a communication interface, an input / output interface, a pin, etc. For example, Fig.13 The above communication device is taken as an example of a chip, and the chip includes a logic circuit 901 (or a processing circuit) and an interface 902 .

[0343] In the embodiment of the present application, the logic circuit (or processing circuit) and the interface may also be coupled to each other. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific connection method between the logic circuit (or processing circuit) and the interface.

[0344] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the steps or methods or functions executed by the first communication device in the above method embodiment, the interface 902 is used to receive first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of N channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; one of the channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts; the logic circuit 901 is used to determine the compression feedback mode based on the first information. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0345] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the steps, methods or functions executed by the second communication device in the above method embodiment, the logic circuit 901 is used to obtain N channel information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the interface 902 is used to send first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; where one channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0346] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of the first information, the compression feedback method of the N channel information, etc. can refer to the above Figure 6 The description of the method embodiment shown in the figure will not be described in detail here. It is understood that the specific description of the logic circuit 901 and the interface 902 can also be referred to. Fig.11 The description of the processing unit and the transceiver unit shown will not be repeated here.

[0347] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the steps, methods or functions executed by the first communication device in the above method embodiment, the logic circuit 901 is used to determine the compression feedback mode of N first channel information; the interface 902 is used to send the first information, the first information is used to indicate the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information; one of the first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0348] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the steps, methods, or functions executed by the second communication device in the above method embodiment, the logic circuit (or processing circuit) 901 is used to obtain N first channel information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the interface 902 is used to receive first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, and the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information, where one first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

[0349] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of the first information, the second information, the compression feedback method of the N first channel information, etc. can refer to the above Fig. 9 or Fig.10 The description of the method embodiment shown in the figure will not be described in detail here. It is understood that the specific description of the logic circuit 901 and the interface 902 can also be referred to. Fig.11 The description of the processing unit and the transceiver unit shown will not be repeated here.

[0350] It can be understood that the communication device shown in the embodiment of the present application can implement the method provided in the embodiment of the present application in the form of hardware, or can implement the method provided in the embodiment of the present application in the form of software, etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0351] for Fig.13 The specific implementation methods of the various embodiments shown can also refer to the above embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0352] The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device and the second communication device can be used to perform any of the above method embodiments ( Figure 6 ,or Fig. 9 ,or Fig.10 ) in the method.

[0353] In addition, the present application also provides a computer program, which is used to implement the operations and / or processing performed by the first communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0354] The present application also provides a computer program, which is used to implement the operations and / or processing performed by the second communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0355] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer codes are stored. When the computer codes are executed on a computer, the computer executes the operations and / or processes performed by the first communication device in the method provided in the present application.

[0356] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer codes are stored. When the computer codes are executed on a computer, the computer executes the operations and / or processes performed by the second communication device in the method provided in the present application.

[0357] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer code or a computer program. When the computer code or the computer program runs on a computer, the operations and / or processing performed by the first communication device in the method provided by the present application are executed.

[0358] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer code or a computer program. When the computer code or the computer program runs on a computer, the operations and / or processing performed by the second communication device in the method provided by the present application are executed.

[0359] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, or it can be an electrical, mechanical or other form of connection.

[0360] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the technical effects of the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0361] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0362] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or partly contributed to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a readable storage medium, including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned readable storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

[0363] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Obtaining N channel information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; Sending first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the correspondence between the channel feedback amount and the channel information; where one channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

2. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of N channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or a correspondence between the channel feedback amounts and the channel information; one channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; The compression feedback mode is determined based on the first information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The compression feedback method of the N channel information includes: The N channel information corresponds to (M+K) channel feedback amounts, one channel feedback amount among the K channel feedback amounts is used to represent common information of at least two channel information subsets among the M channel information subsets, one channel information subset includes one or more channel information among the N channel information, and the union of the M channel information subsets is the N channel information; one channel feedback amount among the M channel feedback amounts is used to represent specific information of a channel information subset, and M and K are both positive integers less than N.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The M channel information subsets are determined based on correlations between the N channel information.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The reference signal resources corresponding to the channel information in a channel information subset belong to a reference signal resource set.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The first information includes an identifier of the compression feedback mode; Alternatively, the first information includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts corresponding to the N channel information, or a corresponding relationship between each channel feedback amount and one or more channel information in the N channel information.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The compression feedback mode of the N channel information is determined based on the correlation between at least two channel information among the N channel information.

8. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is performed by a first communication device or a chip used for the first communication device, and includes: Determining a compression feedback mode of N first channel information; Sending first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or a corresponding relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information; one of the first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that Before determining the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, the method further includes: Second information is received, where the second information includes a correlation between at least two first channel information among N first channel information, and the correlation between at least two first channel information among the N first channel information is used to determine a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information.

10. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first channel information is determined based on a first reference signal; Before determining the compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, the method further includes: receiving one or more second reference signals, wherein the second reference signals are used to determine second channel information; A correlation between at least two pieces of second channel information among L pieces of second channel information is obtained, wherein the correlation between at least two pieces of second channel information among the L pieces of second channel information is used to determine a compression feedback mode of the N pieces of first channel information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

11. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is performed by a second communication device or a chip for a second communication device, and includes: Obtaining N first channel information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; Receive first information, where the first information is used to indicate a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information, where the compression feedback mode includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts, or the relationship between the channel feedback amount and the first channel information, where one first channel information corresponds to one or more channel feedback amounts.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that After obtaining the N first channel information, the method further includes: Sending second information, where the second information includes a correlation between at least two of the N first channel information, and the correlation between at least two of the N first channel information is used to determine a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The first channel information is determined based on a received first reference signal; Before obtaining the N first channel information, the method further includes: One or more second reference signals are sent, where the second reference signals are used to determine second channel information, wherein correlation between the second channel information is used to determine a compression feedback mode of the N first channel information.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that The compression feedback mode of the N first channel information includes: The N first channel information corresponds to (M+K) channel feedback amounts, one channel feedback amount among the K channel feedback amounts is used to represent common information of at least two channel information subsets among the M channel information subsets, one channel information subset includes one or more first channel information among the N first channel information, and the union of the M channel information subsets is the N first channel information; one channel feedback amount among the M channel feedback amounts is used to represent specific information of a channel information subset, and M and K are both positive integers less than N.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The M channel information subsets are determined based on correlations between the N first channel information.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The reference signal resource corresponding to the first channel information in a channel information subset belongs to a reference signal resource set.

17. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 16, characterized in that The first information includes an identifier of the compression feedback mode; Alternatively, the first information includes one or more of the following: the number of channel feedback amounts corresponding to the N first channel information, or the corresponding relationship between each channel feedback amount and one or more first channel information among the N first channel information.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module or a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A communication device, characterized in that: It includes a processing circuit and a transceiver circuit, the transceiver circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processing circuit or send signals from the processing circuit to other communication devices, and the processing circuit is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

20. A communication system, characterized in that: include: An apparatus for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 7, and an apparatus for performing the method according to any one of claims 2 to 7; Alternatively, an apparatus for the method described in any one of claims 8 to 10 and 14 to 17, and an apparatus for executing the method described in any one of claims 11 to 13 and 14 to 17.

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