Communication method and related equipment
The reference signal is measured by the terminal device, and the finer granular weights are determined and indicated, which solves the problem of low channel measurement efficiency in MIMO communication, and achieves fast beam tracking and efficient communication.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202311611775.8
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2023-11-27
- Publication Date
- 2025-05-27
AI Technical Summary
In the communication process based on MIMO technology, how to effectively perform channel measurement is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.
By receiving the reference signal by the terminal device and performing measurements based on the signal, the terminal device can determine and indicate a finer granular weight, enabling the network device to communicate based on the weight, thereby reducing beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
In the case of large antenna array size, this method can effectively reduce beam scanning overhead, realize fast beam tracking, and improve communication efficiency.
Smart Images

Figure CN120050697A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related equipment. Background Art
[0002] As a key technology of wireless communication, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology can be used to meet the demand of high-speed transmission. However, in the communication process based on MIMO technology, how to measure the channel is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the invention
[0003] The present application provides a communication method and related equipment, which are used to obtain the measurement results of the channel between the network device and the terminal device based on the measurement information. In the case of a large antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate a finer-grained weight based on the measurement results of the reference signal, so that the network device can communicate based on the weight, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0004] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is executed by a terminal device, or the method is executed by some components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device. In the first aspect and its possible implementation, the communication method is described as being executed by a terminal device. In this method, the terminal device receives a reference signal, which is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; wherein the first digital port of the M digital ports includes N 1 Virtual ports, N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the terminal device sends measurement information, the measurement information including first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal sent by the first digital port; wherein the first information is based on N 1 The N 1 The channel information is respectively transmitted through the N 1 The first information is used to determine the N virtual ports in the first digital port. 1 The weight of a virtual port.
[0005] Based on the above technical solution, after the network device sends a reference signal, since the reference signal is transmitted through a wireless channel, the reference signal received by the terminal device can carry the channel information of the wireless channel; thereafter, the measurement information obtained by the terminal device by measuring the reference signal can reflect the channel information, and the subsequent manner in which the terminal device sends the measurement information can enable the network device to obtain the measurement result of the channel between the network device and the terminal device based on the measurement information.
[0006] In addition, the measurement information obtained by the terminal device by measuring based on the reference signal includes the first information corresponding to the first digital port, and the first information is used to determine the weights of N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port. In other words, the network device can determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port based on the first information. Compared with the manner in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N 1 virtual ports, the network device can determine finer-grained weights based on the first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate finer-grained weights based on the measurement result of the reference signal, enabling the network device to communicate based on the weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0007] Optionally, the reference signal involved in this application may include a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB, or S-SS / PSBCH block), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc.
[0008] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, and the first weight vector includes N 1 elements; wherein, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements, and the N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0009] Based on the above technical solution, the network device in the N 1The weights of the N virtual ports are obtained from the first weight vector, and the weights of the N 1 virtual ports are obtained from the first weight vector including N 1 elements. The N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets. In other words, by adjusting the phases of the antenna elements, the transmission of reference signals can be achieved at different virtual ports.
[0010] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained from the first weight vector, including: the weights of the N 1 virtual ports are obtained from the first weight vector and the second weight vector. The second weight vector includes N 1 sub-vectors. Among them, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector in the N 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets, and the value range of T is from 1 to N 1 . 1 .
[0011] Based on the above technical solution, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector in the N sub-vectors included in the first weight vector is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set in the N antenna element sets. In this way, the first weight vector can respectively correspond to the weights of each antenna element set in the N antenna element sets. 1 antenna element sets. 1 antenna element sets. 1 antenna element sets.
[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first information satisfies any one of the following:
[0013] The first information includes the quantization processing result of the first weight vector;
[0014] The first information includes one element among the N 1 elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and the quantization processing result corresponding to the difference between the N 1 elements corresponding to the other N 1 -1 virtual ports except the one virtual port and the N 1 elements corresponding to the one element; 1 -1 elements relative to the one element;
[0015] The first information includes a first index and a second index, and the first index and the second index are used to determine a first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in a codebook set; wherein, the first index is a codebook index in a first dimension, the second index is a codebook index in a second dimension, and among the one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set, each weight vector is determined by a weight in the first dimension and a weight in the second dimension;
[0016] The first information includes a third index, and the third index is used to determine a first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in a codebook set.
[0017] Based on the above technical solution, the first information can be implemented in any of the above ways to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.
[0018] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives second information, and the second information is used to determine the codebook set.
[0019] Optionally, the codebook set is determined by port information of virtual ports in one or more digital ports, and the port information of virtual ports in any digital port includes at least one of the following:
[0020] The number of virtual ports included in the digital port is N 1 ;
[0021] The number of virtual ports in the first dimension of the digital port is M 1 ;
[0022] The number of virtual ports in the second dimension of the digital port is M 2 ;
[0023] The oversampling factor in the first dimension of the digital port is O 1 ;
[0024] The oversampling factor in the second dimension of the digital port is O 2 。
[0025] Based on the above technical solution, when the first information includes indexes (such as the first index, the second index, the third index, etc.), the terminal device can further receive the second information, and determine the codebook set through the second information, and then can determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port based on the indexes indicated by the first information.
[0026] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second information satisfies at least one of the following;
[0027] The second information includes port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port;
[0028] The second information includes a fourth index, which is used to determine the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port from the port information of one or more preconfigured or predefined virtual ports;
[0029] The second information includes a fifth index, which is used to determine the codebook set from one or more preconfigured or predefined codebook sets;
[0030] The second information is used to indicate some items in the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port, and other items in the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port are determined by these items and the port information of one or more preconfigured virtual ports;
[0031] The second information is used to indicate the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port, and the port information of the virtual ports is used to determine the codebook set from one or more preconfigured or predefined codebook sets.
[0032] Based on the above technical solutions, the second information can be implemented in at least one of the above manners to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.
[0033] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information; wherein, the M pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port in the M digital ports; one of the M pieces of information is the first information; the K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of the digital ports included in each digital port group in K groups of digital ports, wherein each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports includes one or more digital ports in the M digital ports, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M; one of the K pieces of information is the first information.
[0034] Based on the above technical solutions, the measurement information sent by the terminal device can include the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information. In this way, the network device can determine the first weight vector of each digital port in the M digital ports through the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information.
[0035] Optionally, the measurement information satisfies any one of the following:
[0036] When the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the first condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information;
[0037] When the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the second condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information;
[0038] When the channel quality information CQI of the reference signal satisfies the third condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information;
[0039] When the CQI of the reference signal satisfies the fourth condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information.
[0040] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating that the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information. In this way, it is possible to enable the terminal device and the network device to clearly know the information content carried by the measurement information.
[0041] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which are not limited here.
[0042] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, among one or more digital ports included in each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same.
[0043] Based on the above technical solution, when the measurement information includes K pieces of information, the K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of the digital ports included in each digital port group in the K groups of digital ports, where each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports includes one or more digital ports among the M digital ports. And, among one or more digital ports included in each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same. In this way, the feedback process of the measurement information can be simplified, and the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0044] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first carrier, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first carrier, and the first carrier includes one or more carriers;
[0045] Or, the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first BWP, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first BWP, and the first BWP includes one or more BWPs;
[0046] Or the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first bandwidth, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first bandwidth, and the first bandwidth includes one or more sub-bands.
[0047] Based on the above technical solution, the measurement information can be used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to one or more carriers (or, one or more BWPs, or one or more subbands), so as to improve the flexibility of scheme implementation.
[0048] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the reference signal is respectively sent by L 1 first weights on L 1 time units, and L 1 is an integer greater than 1; the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and a third weight, and the L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the value range of i is from 1 to L 1 .
[0049] Based on the above technical solution, among the measurement information obtained by the terminal device based on the reference signal measurement, it may include the first information corresponding to the first digital port, and the first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port. Among them, the N 1 virtual ports correspond to L 1 second weights that are orthogonal on L 1 time units. In this way, after the terminal device measures the reference signal carried on L 1 time units to obtain a measurement result, the terminal device can determine the better (or optimal) weights of the virtual ports in the first digital port based on the measurement result, and indicate the weights through the first information. Subsequently, the network device can communicate with the terminal device based on the weights. Therefore, in the case of a large antenna array scale, the network device sends reference signals based on orthogonal second weights on different time units (generally, reference signals sent based on different weights can be understood as reference signals sent based on different beams). The terminal device can determine and indicate the better (or optimal) weights based on the measurement results of different time units, so that the network device can communicate based on the weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0050] Optionally, after the terminal device measures the reference signal carried on L 1 time units to obtain a measurement result, the terminal device can determine the better (or optimal) weights of the virtual ports in the first digital port based on the measurement result and a mathematical method. For example, the mathematical method may include power maximization criterion, capacity maximization criterion determination, etc.
[0051] In this application, on L 1time units (or the L mentioned later 2 time units), and each time unit can be one or more symbols, one or more mini-slots, one or more time slots, one or more sub-frames, etc.
[0052] Optionally, the L 1 time units are continuous in the time domain. Since the channel information of different time units that are continuous in the time domain has a strong correlation, in this way, it can be ensured that different measurement results corresponding to the reference signals of the L 1 time units can reflect the same or similar channel information as much as possible, so as to obtain more accurate measurement information.
[0053] Optionally, at least two of the L 1 time units are discontinuous in the time domain.
[0054] It should be understood that the reference signals are respectively transmitted through the L 1 time units by the L 1 first weights. It can be understood that the L 1 time units and the L 1 first weights are in one-to-one correspondence. For example, the weight of the reference signal in the i-th time unit among the L 1 time units is the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights.
[0055] Optionally, the reference signal on each time unit can be regarded as a reference signal, that is, the "reference signal carried on the L 1 time units" can be regarded as the L 1 reference signals. Correspondingly, the above method can be executed once or multiple times, that is, the transceiver processes of one or more L 1 reference signals are respectively implemented through one or more L 1 time units.
[0056] Alternatively, the reference signal on every L 1 time units can be regarded as a reference signal, that is, the "reference signal carried on the L 1 time units" can be regarded as 1 reference signal. Correspondingly, the above method can be executed once or multiple times, that is, the transceiver processes of one or more reference signals are respectively implemented through one or more L 1 time units.
[0057] It should be understood that the L 1 second weights are orthogonal. It can be understood that any two of the L 1 second weights are orthogonal to each other, or the L 1The different second weights among the second weights are pairwise orthogonal. It should be understood that the L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and the third weight. In other words, the L 1 first weights are obtained based on the L 1 second weights. Among them, the different weights among the L 1 first weights can be orthogonal or non-orthogonal, which is not limited here.
[0058] It should be noted that the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and the third weight, including: the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by multiplying the N 1 elements in the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights with the N 1 sub-vectors in the third weight respectively.
[0059] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the weight of the first digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the L 1 time units is the L 1 first weights; the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports, where N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
[0060] Optionally, when M>1, the weights of the reference signal sent by the M digital ports can be the same (for example, all are the L 1 first weights), or, the weights of the reference signal sent by the M digital ports can be different from each other (for example, the weight corresponding to the first digital port is the L 1 first weights, while the weights corresponding to other digital ports are different from the L 1 first weights), or, the weights of the reference signal sent by the M digital ports can be partially the same (for example, the weight corresponding to the first digital port is the L 1 first weights, while the weights corresponding to some of the other digital ports are different from the L 1 first weights, and the weights corresponding to another part of the other digital ports are the same as the L 1The first weights are the same).
[0061] It should be understood that the second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports. Among the L 1 second weights, the number of elements included in each second weight is N 1 . In other words, among the L 1 second weights, each second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports. As described above, different second weights can be orthogonal. Therefore, among the L 1 second weights, the N 1 elements included in different second weights are not completely the same. In this application, the virtual port can be replaced by other terms, such as analog port, virtual subarray, analog subarray, subarray, etc.
[0062] Based on the above technical solution, the reference signal is respectively transmitted through L 1 first weights on L 1 time units. The L 1 first weights can be the weights of the first digital port among the M digital ports. Among them, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports. The second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports, that is, the L 1 corresponding L 1 second weights of the virtual ports included in the first digital port on L
[0063] Optionally, L 1 is an integer multiple of N 1 . For example, N 1 is equal to L 1 .
[0064] Optionally, the N 1 virtual ports occupy the same frequency domain resources on different time units of the L 1 time units. In this way, the implementation complexity of the transceiver of the reference signal on different time units can be reduced as much as possible.
[0065] Optionally, the terminal device can also receive indication information indicating that the number of virtual ports included in the first digital port is N 1 , and / or, the terminal device can also receive indication information indicating that the number of time units of the reference signal is L 1The indication information. Among them, these two pieces of indication information can be carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or can be carried in other information / messages / signaling, which is not limited here.
[0066] Optionally, N 1 and L 1 are pre-configured information, which is not limited here.
[0067] It should be understood that a digital port includes one or more virtual ports (for example, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second digital port described later includes N 2 virtual ports, etc.). It can be understood that the signal of this digital port is transmitted and received through this one or more virtual ports. For example, during the signal transmission process, this digital port transmits the signal through this one or more virtual ports; for another example, during the signal reception process, the signal received by one or more virtual ports can be understood as the signal received by this digital port.
[0068] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, and each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements. The N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0069] Optionally, the N 1 virtual ports refer to the virtual ports for transmitting the reference signal (that is, the virtual ports of the network device). Correspondingly, the N 1 antenna element sets corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports are the antenna element sets for transmitting the reference signal (that is, the antenna element sets of the network device).
[0070] Optionally, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets. It can be understood that the N 1 virtual ports and the N 1 antenna element sets are in one-to-one correspondence, or the i-th virtual port among the N 1 virtual ports corresponds to the i-th antenna element set among the N 1 antenna element sets. Similarly, the N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets. It can be understood that the N 1 elements and the N 1 antenna element sets are in one-to-one correspondence, or the i-th element among the N 1 elements is used to adjust the N1 The phase of the \(i\)-th antenna element set in the set of antenna elements, where \(i\) ranges from 1 to \(N\). 1 .
[0071] Based on the above technical solution, the \(N\) 1 virtual ports included in the first digital port respectively correspond to \(N\) 1 antenna element sets, and the \(N\) 1 elements included in the second weight are respectively used to adjust the phases of the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets. Moreover, each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements. In other words, the \(N\) 1 elements included in the second weight are used to adjust the phases of the antenna elements corresponding to different virtual ports in the digital port, that is, the \(L\) 1 orthogonal second weights are used to achieve the orthogonality of the phases of the antenna elements corresponding to different virtual ports.
[0072] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the third weight includes \(N\) 1 sub-vectors, and the dimension of the \(P\)-th sub-vector in the \(N\) 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the \(P\)-th antenna element set in the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets, where \(P\) ranges from 1 to \(N\). 1 .
[0073] Based on the above technical solution, the dimension of the \(P\)-th sub-vector in the \(N\) 1 sub-vectors included in the third weight is the same as the number of antenna elements in the \(P\)-th antenna element set in the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets. In this way, the third weight can respectively correspond to the weights of each antenna element set in the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets.
[0074] Optionally, the \(N\) 1 elements included in the second weight are respectively used to adjust the phases of the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets. Correspondingly, the \(N\) 1 sub-vectors included in the third weight are also used to adjust the phases of the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets, and the first weight is also used to adjust the phases of the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets. In other words, the phases of the \(N\) 1 antenna element sets can be determined by the first weight based on the \(N\) 1 elements included in the second weight and the \(N\) 1 sub-vectors included in the third weight.
[0075] Optionally, the third weight may be determined based on other reference signals. For example, after the network device sends the other reference signal through different beams (or different weights), the terminal device may feedback multiple signal quality information based on the different beams. Correspondingly, the network device may determine the third weight based on the signal quality information with the best signal quality among the multiple signal quality information, or the network device may determine the third weight based on the signal quality information greater than a threshold among the multiple signal quality information, or the network device may determine the third weight based on the quality of one or more reference signals (e.g., RSRP) fed back by the terminal.
[0076] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first weight and the third weight have the same dimension.
[0077] Based on the above technical solution, the first weight and the third weight have the same dimension, that is, the first weight for transmitting the reference signal can determine the weights of each antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0078] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, M takes the value of 1.
[0079] Based on the above technical solution, when M takes the value of 1, the reference signal may be transmitted through one digital port (i.e., the first digital port), so that the solution is applicable to the scenario where the network device is configured with a single digital port, and the transmission and measurement of the reference signal of the virtual port included in the single digital port are realized.
[0080] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, M is greater than 1, where the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the following:
[0081] In the resources of the reference signal, the time domain resources and frequency domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and different digital ports among the M digital ports are code division multiplexed;
[0082] In the resources of the reference signal, the time domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and the frequency domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are different (optionally, there is no code division multiplexing among different digital ports among the M digital ports);
[0083] In the resources of the reference signal, the M digital ports belong to Q groups of digital ports, each group of digital ports includes one or more digital ports, and Q is a positive integer. Among them, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal of different groups of digital ports in the Q groups of digital ports are different, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal of one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports in the Q groups of digital ports are the same, and the one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports transmit in a code division multiplexing (CDM) manner. Optionally, the code division multiplexing type of the one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports is frequency-domain code division multiplexing.
[0084] It should be understood that the resources of the reference signal refer to the resources used to carry the reference signal, that is, the resources of the reference signal can be the resources for the network device to send the reference signal, or the resources of the reference signal can be the resources for the terminal device to receive the reference signal.
[0085] In this application, terms such as weight vector, weight, weighted value, and weighted vector can be replaced with each other. For example, the first weight vector can be replaced with "weight", such as the seventh weight. Another example is that the second weight vector described later can also be replaced with "weight", such as the eighth weight. Another example is that the "weight" in the first weight, the third weight, the fourth weight, and the sixth weight can also be replaced with an analog weight.
[0086] Based on the above technical solution, when M is greater than 1, the reference signal can be sent through two or more digital ports (i.e., the first digital port and other digital ports), so that the solution is applicable to the scenario where the network device is configured with two or more digital ports, and realizes the transmission and measurement of the reference signal of the virtual ports included in the two or more digital ports. And the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above, so as to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.
[0087] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above.
[0088] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which are not limited here.
[0089] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive indication information indicating that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above, so that the terminal device can clarify the resource configuration method of different digital ports among the M digital ports based on the indication information.
[0090] Optionally, the terminal device determines that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above through a pre-configuration method.
[0091] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the second digital port among the M digital ports includes N 2 virtual ports; wherein, the reference signal is respectively transmitted by L 2 fourth weights over L 2 time units, and L 2 is an integer greater than 1; the j-th fourth weight among the L 2 fourth weights is obtained by the j-th fifth weight among L 2 fifth weights and a sixth weight, and the L 2 fifth weights are orthogonal.
[0092] Based on the above technical solution, the reference signal received by the terminal device is respectively transmitted by L 2 fourth weights over L 2 time units, and moreover, the j-th fourth weight among the L 2 fourth weights is obtained by the j-th fifth weight among L 2 fifth weights and a sixth weight, and the L 2 fifth weights are orthogonal. In other words, the reference signal transmitted over L 2 time units is transmitted by L 2 mutually orthogonal fifth weights. In this way, the measurement of the reference signal carried on different time units by the terminal device is relatively independent, and thus L 1 relatively independent channel information is obtained to obtain measurement information with higher accuracy.
[0093] Optionally, among the M digital ports, when the weights for transmitting the reference signal in the first digital port and the second digital port are the same, the L 1 first weights and the L 2 fourth weights can be the same; when the weights for transmitting the reference signal in the first digital port and the second digital port are different, the L 1 first weights are different from the L 2 fourth weights.
[0094] Optionally, L 1 is equal to L 2 . Among them, the L 1 time units and the L 2 time units can be the same time units, that is, the time domain resources for transmitting the reference signal in the first digital port among the M digital ports and the time domain resources for transmitting the reference signal in the second digital port can be the same. In this way, the same time units can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce implementation complexity.
[0095] Optionally, N 1 is equal to N 2 . That is, the number of virtual ports included in the first digital port among the M digital ports may be the same as the number of virtual ports included in the second digital port. In this way, the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0096] It should be noted that the implementation process of the second digital port can refer to the implementation process of the first digital port in the previous text. For example, the correspondence between L 2 time units and L 2 fourth weights can refer to the correspondence between L 1 time units and L 1 first weights, and the correspondence between L 2 fourth weights and L 2 fifth weights can refer to the correspondence between L 1 first weights and L 1 second weights, etc.
[0097] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the resource of the reference signal, when the time-domain resources and frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and different digital ports are code-division multiplexed, the resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports each include the same M frequency-domain units in the frequency domain.
[0098] Based on the above technical solution, M is greater than 1. When the time-domain resources and frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and different digital ports are code-division multiplexed, the resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports each include the same M frequency-domain units in the frequency domain. In this way, different digital ports can transmit reference signals in a code-division multiplexing manner on the same frequency-domain units, and the same frequency-domain units can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce implementation complexity.
[0099] Optionally, among the M frequency-domain units, each frequency-domain unit may include one or more subcarriers / resource elements (REs).
[0100] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the resource of the reference signal, when the time-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are different, and different digital ports among the M digital ports are not code-division multiplexed (noCDM), the resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports include M different frequency-domain units that are mutually distinct in the frequency domain.
[0101] Based on the above technical solution, M is greater than 1. The frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports among the M digital ports are different. And when there is no code division multiplexing among different digital ports of the M digital ports, the resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports include M different frequency-domain units that are mutually exclusive in the frequency domain. In this way, without code division multiplexing, different digital ports can transmit reference signals on different frequency-domain resources, which can improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.
[0102] Optionally, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating the M different frequency-domain units, so that the terminal device can determine the resource positions of each frequency-domain unit based on the indication information. Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here.
[0103] A second aspect of this application provides a communication method. This method is executed by a network device, or by some components in the network device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or this method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device. In the second aspect and its possible implementation manners, the case where this communication method is executed by a network device is described as an example. In this method, the network device transmits a reference signal, and the reference signal is transmitted through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the network device receives measurement information, and the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring the reference signal transmitted based on the first digital port; among them, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals transmitted through the N 1 virtual ports.
[0104] Based on the above technical solution, after the network device transmits the reference signal, since the reference signal is transmitted through the wireless channel, the reference signal received by the terminal device can carry the channel information of the wireless channel; thereafter, the measurement information obtained by the terminal device measuring the reference signal can reflect the channel information, and the subsequent manner in which the terminal device transmits the measurement information can enable the network device to obtain the measurement result of the channel between the network device and the terminal device based on the measurement information.
[0105] In addition, among the measurement information obtained by the terminal device measuring based on the reference signal, it includes the first information corresponding to the first digital port, and the first information is used to determine N in the first digital port1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. In other words, based on this first information, the network device can determine the weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0106] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, and the first weight vector includes N elements; among them, the N virtual ports respectively correspond to N antenna element sets, each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements, and the N elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N antenna element sets. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0107] Based on the above technical solution, the weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port of the network device are obtained through a first weight vector, and moreover, the weights of the N virtual ports are obtained through a first weight vector including N elements, and the N elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N antenna element sets. In other words, by adjusting the phases of the antenna elements, it is possible to transmit reference signals at different virtual ports. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0108] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, including: the weights of the N virtual ports are obtained through the first weight vector and a second weight vector, and the second weight vector includes N sub-vectors; among them, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector in the N sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set in the N antenna element sets, and the value of T ranges from 1 to N 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking. 1 weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port. Compared with the method in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N virtual ports, it enables the network device to determine more fine-grained weights based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the terminal device can determine and indicate relatively fine-grained weights based on the measurement results of the reference signals, enabling the network device to communicate based on these weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0109] Based on the above technical solution, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector among the N sub-vectors included in the first weight vector is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set among the N antenna element sets. In this way, the first weight vector can respectively correspond to the weights of each antenna element set among the N antenna element sets. 1 Among the N 1 sub-vectors included in the first weight vector, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set among the N 1 antenna element sets. Through this method, the first weight vector can respectively correspond to the weights of each antenna element set among the N
[0110] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information satisfies any one of the following:
[0111] The first information includes the quantization processing result of the first weight vector;
[0112] The first information includes one element among the N elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and the quantization processing result corresponding to the difference between the N 1 -1 elements corresponding to the other N virtual ports except this one virtual port and this one element; 1 Among the N elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and the quantization processing result corresponding to the difference between the N 1 -1 elements corresponding to the other N virtual ports except this one virtual port and this one element; 1 Among the N elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and the quantization processing result corresponding to the difference between the N 1 -1 elements corresponding to the other N virtual ports except this one virtual port and this one element;
[0113] The first information includes a first index and a second index, which are used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set; wherein, the first index is the codebook index in the first dimension, and the second index is the codebook index in the second dimension. Among the one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set, each weight vector is determined by the weight in the first dimension and the weight in the second dimension;
[0114] The first information includes a third index, which is used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set.
[0115] Based on the above technical solution, the first information can be implemented in any of the above ways to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.
[0116] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives second information, which is used to determine the codebook set.
[0117] Optionally, the codebook set is determined by the port information of the virtual ports in one or more digital ports. The port information of the virtual ports in any digital port includes at least one of the following:
[0118] The number of virtual ports included in the digital port is N 1 ;
[0119] The number of virtual ports in the first dimension of the digital port is M 1 ;
[0120] The number of virtual ports in the second dimension of the digital port is M 2 ;
[0121] The oversampling factor in the first dimension of the digital port is O 1 ;
[0122] The oversampling factor in the second dimension of the digital port is O 2 .
[0123] Based on the above technical solution, when the first information includes an index (such as a first index, a second index, a third index, etc.), the terminal device can further receive second information, and determine a codebook set through the second information. Subsequently, the weights of the N virtual ports in the first digital port can be determined in the codebook set based on the index indicated by the first information 1 virtual ports
[0124] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second information satisfies at least one of the following;
[0125] The second information includes the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port;
[0126] The second information includes a fourth index, which is used to determine the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port in one or more pre-configured or pre-defined port information of virtual ports;
[0127] The second information includes a fifth index, which is used to determine the codebook set in one or more pre-configured or pre-defined codebook sets;
[0128] The second information is used to indicate some items in the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port, and other items in the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port are determined through the partial items and one or more pre-configured port information of virtual ports;
[0129] The second information is used to indicate the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port, and the port information of the virtual ports is used to determine the codebook set in one or more pre-configured or pre-defined codebook sets.
[0130] Based on the above technical solution, the second information can be implemented in at least one of the above manners to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.
[0131] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information; wherein, the M pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports; one of the M pieces of information is the first piece of information; the K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of the digital ports included in each digital port group among the K groups of digital ports, wherein each group of digital ports among the K groups of digital ports includes one or more digital ports among the M digital ports, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M; one of the K pieces of information is the first piece of information.
[0132] Based on the above technical solution, the measurement information sent by the terminal device may include the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information. In this way, the network device can determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports through the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information.
[0133] Optionally, the measurement information satisfies any one of the following:
[0134] When the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the first condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information;
[0135] When the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the second condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information;
[0136] When the channel quality indicator (CQI) of the reference signal satisfies the third condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information;
[0137] When the CQI of the reference signal satisfies the fourth condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information.
[0138] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating that the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information. In this way, the terminal device and the network device can clarify the information content carried by the measurement information.
[0139] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here.
[0140] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, among the one or more digital ports included in each group of digital ports among the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same.
[0141] Based on the above technical solution, when the measurement information includes K pieces of information, the K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of the digital ports included in each digital port group among K groups of digital ports, where each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports includes one or more digital ports among the M digital ports. Moreover, among the one or more digital ports included in each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same. In this way, the feedback process of the measurement information can be simplified, and the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0142] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to a first carrier, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first carrier, where the first carrier includes one or more carriers;
[0143] Or, the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to a first bandwidth part (BWP), and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first BWP, where the first BWP includes one or more BWPs;
[0144] Or the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to a first bandwidth, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first bandwidth, where the first bandwidth includes one or more sub-bands.
[0145] Based on the above technical solution, the measurement information can be used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among one or more carriers (or, one or more BWPs, or one or more sub-bands) corresponding to, so as to improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.
[0146] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the reference signal is respectively sent through L 1 time units by L 1 first weights, where L 1 is an integer greater than 1; the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and a third weight, and the L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the value of i ranges from 1 to L 1 .
[0147] Based on the above technical solution, in the measurement information obtained by the terminal device through measurement based on the reference signal, it may include the first information corresponding to the first digital port, and the first information is used to determine the weight of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port. Among them, N1 The virtual ports in L 1 corresponding L on a time unit 1 The second weights are orthogonal. In this way, after the terminal device measures the reference signals carried by L 1 time units to obtain a measurement result, the terminal device can determine the optimal (or the best) weights of the virtual ports in the first digital port based on the measurement result, and indicate the weights through the first information. Subsequently, the network device can communicate with the terminal device based on the weights. Thus, in the case of a large antenna array scale, the network device sends reference signals based on orthogonal second weights on different time units (generally, the reference signals sent based on different weights can be understood as the reference signals sent based on different beams). The terminal device can determine and indicate the optimal (or the best) weights based on the measurement results of different time units, so that the network device can communicate based on the weights, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and realizing fast beam tracking.
[0148] Optionally, after the terminal device measures the reference signals carried by L 1 time units to obtain a measurement result, the terminal device can determine the optimal (or the best) weights of the virtual ports in the first digital port based on the measurement result and a mathematical method. For example, the mathematical method may include power maximization criterion, capacity maximization criterion determination, etc.
[0149] In this application, in L 1 time units (or the L 2 time units mentioned later), each time unit can be one or more symbols, one or more mini-slots, one or more time slots, one or more sub-frames, etc.
[0150] Optionally, L 1 time units are continuous in the time domain. Since the channel information of different time units that are continuous in the time domain is strongly correlated, in this way, it can be ensured that the different measurement results corresponding to the reference signals of the L 1 time units can reflect the same or similar channel information as much as possible, so as to obtain more accurate measurement information.
[0151] Optionally, at least two of the L 1 time units are discontinuous in the time domain.
[0152] It should be understood that the reference signals are respectively sent through L 1 first weights on L 1 time units. It can be understood that L 1 time units and L 1corresponds to a first weight one by one. For example, the weight of the reference signal in the i-th time unit among L 1 time units is the i-th first weight among L 1 first weights.
[0153] Optionally, the reference signal on each time unit can be regarded as a reference signal, that is, the "reference signal carried on L 1 time units" can be regarded as L 1 reference signals. Correspondingly, the above method can be executed once or multiple times, that is, through one or more L 1 time units, the transceiver processes of one or more L 1 reference signals are respectively implemented.
[0154] Alternatively, the reference signal on every L 1 time units can be regarded as a reference signal, that is, the "reference signal carried on L 1 time units" can be regarded as 1 reference signal. Correspondingly, the above method can be executed once or multiple times, that is, through one or more L 1 time units, the transceiver processes of one or more reference signals are respectively implemented.
[0155] It should be understood that the L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and the third weight. In other words, the L 1 first weights are obtained based on the L 1 second weights. Among them, the different weights among the L 1 first weights can be orthogonal or non-orthogonal, which is not limited here.
[0156] It should be noted that the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and the third weight, including: the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by multiplying the N 1 elements in the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights with the N 1 sub-vectors in the third weight respectively.
[0157] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the weight of the first digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the L 1 time units is the L1 a first weight value; the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second weight value includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
[0158] In this application, the virtual port can be replaced by other terms, such as an analog port, a virtual subarray, an analog subarray, a subarray, etc.
[0159] Based on the above technical solution, the reference signal is respectively transmitted through L 1 time units by L 1 first weight values, and the L 1 first weight values can be the weight values of the first digital port among the M digital ports. Among them, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second weight value includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports, that is, the L 1 corresponding L 1 second weight values of the virtual ports included in the first digital port in L
[0160] time units are orthogonal. In this way, the weight values of the virtual ports included in the same digital port in different time units are orthogonal. 1 is an integer multiple of N 1 . For example, N 1 is equal to L 1 .
[0161] Optionally, the N 1 virtual ports occupy the same frequency domain resources in different time units among the L 1 time units. In this way, the implementation complexity of the transceiver of the reference signal in different time units can be reduced as much as possible.
[0162] Optionally, the terminal device can also receive indication information indicating that the number of virtual ports included in the first digital port is N 1 , and / or, the terminal device can also receive indication information indicating that the number of time units of the reference signal is L 1 . Among them, these two indication information can be carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or can be carried in other information / messages / signals, which is not limited here.
[0163] Optionally, N 1 and L 1 are pre-configured information, which is not limited here.
[0164] It should be understood that a digital port includes one or more virtual ports (for example, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second digital port described later includes N 2 virtual ports, etc.). It can be understood that the signals of this digital port are transmitted and received through this one or more virtual ports. For example, during signal transmission, this digital port transmits signals through this one or more virtual ports; also, during signal reception, the signals received by one or more virtual ports can be understood as the signals received by this digital port.
[0165] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements, and the N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0166] Based on the above technical solution, the N 1 virtual ports included in the first digital port respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, and the N 1 elements included in the second weight are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets. Moreover, each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements. In other words, the N 1 elements included in the second weight are used to adjust the phases of the antenna elements corresponding to different virtual ports in the digital port, that is, the L 1 orthogonal second weights are used to achieve the orthogonality of the phases of the antenna elements corresponding to different virtual ports.
[0167] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the third weight includes N 1 sub-vectors, and the dimension of the P-th sub-vector in the N 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the P-th antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets, where the value range of P is from 1 to N 1 .
[0168] Based on the above technical solution, the dimension of the P-th sub-vector in the N 1 sub-vectors included in the third weight is the same as the number of antenna elements in the P-th antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets. In this way, the third weight can respectively correspond to the weights of each antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0169] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first weight has the same dimension as the third weight.
[0170] Based on the above technical solution, the first weight and the third weight have the same dimension, that is, the first weight for transmitting the reference signal can determine the weights of each antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0171] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, M takes the value of 1.
[0172] Based on the above technical solution, when M takes the value of 1, the reference signal can be transmitted through a single digital port (i.e., the first digital port), so that the solution is applicable to the scenario where the network device is configured with a single digital port, and the transmission and measurement of the reference signal of the virtual port included in the single digital port can be realized.
[0173] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, M is greater than 1, and the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the following:
[0174] In the resources of the reference signal, the time-domain resources and frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and different digital ports among the M digital ports are code-division multiplexed;
[0175] In the resources of the reference signal, the time-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are different, and different digital ports among the M digital ports are not code-division multiplexed;
[0176] In the resources of the reference signal, the M digital ports belong to Q groups of digital ports, each group of digital ports includes one or more digital ports, and Q is a positive integer; among them, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different groups of digital ports among the Q groups of digital ports are different, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports among the Q groups of digital ports are the same, and one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports are code-division multiplexed (code division multiplexing, CDM). Optionally, the code-division multiplexing type of one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports is frequency-domain code-division multiplexing.
[0177] Based on the above technical solution, when M is greater than 1, the reference signal can be transmitted through two or more digital ports (i.e., the first digital port and other digital ports), so that the solution is applicable to the scenario where the network device is configured with two or more digital ports, and realizes the transmission and measurement of the reference signal of the virtual ports included in the two or more digital ports. Moreover, the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above, so as to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.
[0178] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends indication information indicating that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above.
[0179] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here.
[0180] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send indication information indicating that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above, so that the terminal device can clarify the resource configuration methods of different digital ports among the M digital ports based on the indication information.
[0181] Optionally, the terminal device / network device determines that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above through pre-configuration.
[0182] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second digital port among the M digital ports includes N 2 virtual ports; wherein, the reference signal is respectively sent through L 2 fourth weights on L 2 time units, and L 2 is an integer greater than 1; the jth fourth weight among the L 2 fourth weights is obtained by the jth fifth weight among the L 2 fifth weights and the sixth weight, and the L 2 fifth weights are orthogonal.
[0183] Based on the above technical solution, the reference signal received by the terminal device is respectively sent through L 2 fourth weights on L 2 time units, and, the jth fourth weight among the L 2 fourth weights is obtained by the jth fifth weight among the L 2 fifth weights and the sixth weight, and the L 2 fifth weights are orthogonal. In other words, the reference signal transmitted on the L 2 time units is transmitted through mutually orthogonal L 2sent by the fifth weight. In this way, the measurement of the reference signals carried on different time units by the terminal device is relatively independent, and then L 1 relatively independent channel information is obtained to obtain more accurate measurement information.
[0184] Optionally, L 1 is equal to L 2 . Among them, L 1 time units and L 2 time units can be the same time unit, that is, the time domain resources for the first digital port among the M digital ports to send the reference signal and the time domain resources for the second digital port to send the reference signal can be the same. In this way, the same time unit can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce the implementation complexity.
[0185] Optionally, N 1 is equal to N 2 . That is, the number of virtual ports included in the first digital port among the M digital ports and the number of virtual ports included in the second digital port can be the same. In this way, the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0186] It should be noted that the implementation process of the second digital port can refer to the implementation process of the first digital port in the previous text. For example, the correspondence between L 2 time units and L 2 the fourth weights can refer to the correspondence between L 1 time units and L 1 the first weights, and the correspondence between L 2 the fourth weights and L 2 the fifth weights can refer to the correspondence between L 1 the first weights and L 1 the second weights, etc.
[0187] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the resources of the reference signal, when the time domain resources and frequency domain resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal are the same, and different digital ports are code-division multiplexed, the resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal all include the same M frequency domain units in the frequency domain.
[0188] Based on the above technical solution, when M is greater than 1, the time-domain resources and frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and when different digital ports are code-division multiplexed, the resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports all include the same M frequency-domain units in the frequency domain. In this way, it is possible to enable different digital ports to transmit the reference signal in a code-division multiplexing manner on the same frequency-domain units, and the same frequency-domain units can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce implementation complexity.
[0189] Optionally, among the M frequency-domain units, each frequency-domain unit may include one or more subcarriers / resource elements (REs).
[0190] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the resources of the reference signal, the time-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports among the M digital ports are different, and when there is no code-division multiplexing (noCDM) among different digital ports among the M digital ports, the resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports among the M digital ports include M different frequency-domain units that are mutually distinct in the frequency domain.
[0191] Based on the above technical solution, when M is greater than 1, the frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports among the M digital ports are different, and when there is no code-division multiplexing among different digital ports among the M digital ports, the resources for transmitting the reference signal on different digital ports include M different frequency-domain units that are mutually distinct in the frequency domain. In this way, it is possible to enable different digital ports to transmit the reference signal on different frequency-domain resources without code-division multiplexing, which can improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.
[0192] Optionally, the method further includes: the network device sends indication information indicating the M different frequency-domain units, so that the terminal device can clarify the resource positions of each frequency-domain unit based on the indication information. Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here.
[0193] A third aspect of this application provides a communication device, which is a terminal device, or a part of the components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device. In the third aspect and its possible implementation manners, the case where the communication device is a terminal device is described as an example.
[0194] The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the transceiver unit is configured to receive a reference signal, which is transmitted through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port of the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, where N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the processing unit is configured to determine measurement information, and the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit the measurement information, where the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal transmitted through the first digital port; among them, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals transmitted through the N 1 virtual ports, and the first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port.
[0195] In the third aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to execute the steps performed in each possible implementation manner of the first aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. Specifically, reference can be made to the first aspect for details and will not be elaborated here.
[0196] In the fourth aspect of this application, a communication device is provided. The device is a network device, or the device is a part of the components in the network device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the network device. In the fourth aspect and its possible implementation manners, taking the communication device as a network device for execution as an example for description.
[0197] The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the processing unit is configured to determine a reference signal, and the transceiver unit is configured to transmit the reference signal, which is transmitted through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port of the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, where N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the transceiver unit is further configured to receive measurement information, where the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal transmitted through the first digital port; among them, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals transmitted through the N 1 virtual ports.
[0198] In the fourth aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to execute the steps performed in each possible implementation manner of the second aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. Specifically, reference can be made to the second aspect for details and will not be elaborated here.
[0199] The fifth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processor, and the at least one processor is coupled to a memory; the memory is used to store programs or instructions; the at least one processor is used to execute the programs or instructions so that the device implements the method described in any possible implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to second aspect.
[0200] The sixth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, including at least one logic circuit and an input-output interface; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any possible implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to second aspect.
[0201] The seventh aspect of the present application provides a communication system, and the communication system includes the foregoing first communication device and a second communication device.
[0202] The eighth aspect of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, and the storage medium is used to store one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to second aspect.
[0203] The ninth aspect of the present application provides a computer program product (or a computer program). When the computer program in the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to second aspect.
[0204] The tenth aspect of the present application provides a chip system, and the chip system includes at least one processor, which is used to support a communication device to implement the method described in any possible implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to second aspect.
[0205] In a possible design, the chip system may further include a memory, and the memory is used to store necessary program instructions and data of the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit, and the interface circuit provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor.
[0206] Among them, for the technical effects brought by any one of the design manners of the third aspect to the tenth aspect, reference may be made to the technical effects brought by different design manners of the foregoing first aspect to second aspect, which will not be elaborated herein. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0207] Figure 1a It is a schematic diagram of a signal transmission manner related to the present application;
[0208] Figure 1bAnother schematic diagram of the signal transmission method involved in this application;
[0209] Figure 1c Another schematic diagram of the signal transmission method involved in this application;
[0210] Figure 1d A schematic diagram of the signal transmission process involved in this application;
[0211] Figure 1e Another schematic diagram of the signal transmission process involved in this application;
[0212] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the communication system involved in this application;
[0213] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application;
[0214] Figure 4a A schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0215] Figure 4b Another schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0216] Figure 5 Another schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0217] Figure 6 Another schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0218] Figure 7 Another schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0219] Figure 8 Another schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0220] Figure 9 Another schematic diagram of the reference signal transmission provided by this application;
[0221] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application;
[0222] Figure 11 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application;
[0223] Figure 12 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application;
[0224] Figure 13 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application. Detailed implementation manners
[0225] First, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.
[0226] (1) Configuration and pre-configuration: In the present application, both configuration and pre-configuration are used. Configuration means that network devices such as base stations or servers send configuration information of some parameters or the values of the parameters to the terminal through messages or signaling, so that the terminal can determine communication parameters or resources during transmission according to these values or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration. It can be a way for network devices such as base stations or servers to send parameter information or values to the terminal through a communication link or carrier wave; it can also be a way to give the definition of corresponding parameters or parameter values in the standard, or to set relevant parameters or values into the terminal device in advance. The present application does not limit this. Further, these values and parameters can be changed or updated.
[0227] (2) In the present application, "for indicating" may include direct indication and indirect indication. When it is described that a certain indication information is for indicating A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.
[0228] In the present application, the information indicated by the indication information is called the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated. For example, it can be achieved through direct indication, such as indicating through the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. It can also be achieved through the way of indirectly indicating by indicating other information, where there is an association relationship between the other information and the information to be indicated. It can also only indicate a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or pre-agreed. For example, it can also rely on the pre-agreed (such as protocol-defined) arrangement order of each information to achieve the indication of specific information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent.
[0229] The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub - information and sent separately. Moreover, the transmission periods and / or transmission timings of these sub - information can be the same or different. The specific transmission method is not limited in this application. Among them, the transmission periods and / or transmission timings of these sub - information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. Among them, the configuration information can, for example but not limited to, include one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control (MAC) layer signaling, and physical layer signaling. Among them, MAC layer signaling, for example, includes MAC control element (CE); physical layer signaling, for example, includes downlink control information (DCI).
[0230] (3) Reference signal (RS), also known as pilot signal. In a communication system, in order to transmit and receive data, obtain system synchronization, and feedback channel information, it is necessary to estimate the uplink channel or the downlink channel. Channel estimation refers to the process of reconstructing or restoring the received signal in order to compensate for signal distortion caused by channel fading and noise - induced fading. It uses a reference signal known to the transmitter and receiver to track the time - domain and frequency - domain changes of the channel. The above - mentioned reference signal is also called a reference signal, and they are distributed on different resource elements (RE) in the time - frequency two - dimensional space within an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and have known amplitudes and phases.
[0231] At the physical layer, uplink communication may include the transmission of uplink physical channels and uplink signals. Among them, the uplink physical channels include the physical random access channel (PRACH), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), etc., and the uplink signals include the sounding reference signal (SRS), the PUCCH de-modulation reference signal (PUCCH-DMRS), the PUSCH de-modulation reference signal (PUSCH-DMRS), the phase noise tracking reference signal (PTRS), the uplink positioning RS, etc.
[0232] At the physical layer, downlink communication may include the transmission of downlink physical channels and downlink signals. Among them, the downlink physical channels include the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc., and the downlink signals include the primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the PDCCH de-modulation reference signal (PDCCH-DMRS), the PDSCH de-modulation reference signal (PDSCH-DMRS), the phase noise tracking signal PTRS, the channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), the cell reference signal (CRS) (not available in NR), the time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS) (not available in LTE), the LTE / NR positioning signal (positioning RS), etc.
[0233] (4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone, where A and B may be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after. "At least one of the following" or a similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. Also, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority, or importance of multiple objects.
[0234] (5) The "transmission" and "reception" in the embodiments of this application indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "transmitting information to device X" can be understood as the destination of the information being device X, which may include directly transmitting through the air interface or indirectly transmitting through other units or modules via the air interface. "Receiving information from device Y" can be understood as the source of the information being device Y, which may include directly receiving from device Y through the air interface or indirectly receiving from device Y through other units or modules via the air interface. "Transmission" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "reception" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.
[0235] Exemplarily, taking the communication process between entity A and entity B as an example. In this application, when entity A transmits information to entity B, it can be that A directly transmits to B, or A indirectly transmits to B through other entities. Similarly, when entity B receives information from entity A, it can be that entity B directly receives the information transmitted by entity A, or entity B indirectly receives the information transmitted by entity A through other entities. Here, entity A and B can be radio access network (RAN) nodes or terminals, or modules within the RAN nodes or terminals. The transmission and reception of information can be the information interaction between the RAN node and the terminal. For example, the information interaction between the base station and the terminal; the transmission and reception of information can also be the information interaction between two RAN nodes. For example, the information interaction between the central unit (CU) and the distributed unit (DU); the transmission and reception of information can also be the information interaction between different modules within a device. For example, the information interaction between the terminal chip and other modules of the terminal, or the information interaction between the base station chip and other modules in the base station.
[0236] (6) Precoding technology: The transmitting end can, under the condition of knowing the channel state, process the signal to be transmitted with the help of a precoding matrix matching the channel and then transmit it, so that the precoded transmitted signal is adapted to the channel. Thus, compared with the process of the receiving end receiving the transmitted signal without precoding and eliminating the influence between channels, the complexity of the process of the receiving end receiving the precoded transmitted signal and eliminating the influence between channels is reduced. Therefore, through the precoding process of the signal to be transmitted, the quality of the received signal (such as signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) is improved. By using precoding technology, it is also possible to achieve the transmission of the transmitting end and multiple receiving ends on the same time-frequency resource, that is, to achieve multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO).
[0237] Optionally, the sending end may be a network device, and the receiving end may be a terminal device; or, the sending end may be a terminal device, and the receiving end may be a terminal device.
[0238] In one implementation, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology is used to increase system capacity and improve throughput. The mathematical expression is y=Hx+n, where y is the received signal, H is the channel information of the MIMO channel, x is the transmitted signal, and n is the noise. In a communication system with multiple antennas, the signals of multiple transmitting antennas will be superimposed on any receiving antenna. Therefore, the method of transmitting signals at the transmitting end affects the performance of the system, and it is often complicated to restore the transmitted signal at the receiving end. In this context, precoding is used to reduce system overhead and maximize the system capacity of MIMO on the one hand, and to reduce the complexity of the receiver to eliminate the impact between channels on the other hand. At this time, the mathematical expression is y=HPx+n, and P is the precoding matrix (or vector). In order to simplify the implementation complexity, P can be selected from a predefined set of matrices (or vectors), which is called a codebook. The method is also called a codebook-based transmission method. If the transmitter can obtain all the information of H, then P can be obtained by itself at the transmitter. This method is also called a non-codebook transmission method (NCB).
[0239] It should be understood that the relevant description of the precoding technology is only for ease of understanding and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application. In the specific implementation process, the transmitting end can also perform precoding in other ways. For example, when channel information (such as but not limited to the channel matrix) cannot be obtained, a pre-set precoding matrix or a weighted processing method is used for precoding. For the sake of brevity, the specific content is not repeated herein.
[0240] (7) Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI): can be used to indicate the precoding matrix. The precoding matrix can be, for example, a precoding matrix determined by the terminal device based on a channel matrix of a frequency domain unit. The channel matrix can be determined by the terminal device through channel estimation or based on channel reciprocity. However, it should be understood that the specific method for the terminal device to determine the precoding matrix is not limited to the above description. The specific implementation method can be referred to in relevant literature. For the sake of brevity, it is not listed here one by one.
[0241] For example, the precoding matrix can be obtained by performing singular value decomposition (SVD) on the channel matrix or the covariance matrix of the channel matrix. Alternatively, it can also be obtained by performing eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) on the covariance matrix of the channel matrix. It should be understood that the methods for determining the precoding matrix listed above are only examples and should not impose any limitation on this application.
[0242] It should be noted that for the method provided by the embodiments of this application, the network device can determine the channel state information (CSI) RS ports, frequency-domain discrete Fourier transform (DFT) vectors, and the combining coefficients of the spatial-frequency vectors for constructing the precoding vectors based on the feedback of the terminal device, and then determine the precoding matrix corresponding to each frequency-domain unit. This precoding matrix can be directly used for downlink data transmission; or it can go through some beamforming methods, such as zero forcing (ZF), regularized zero-forcing (RZF), minimum mean-squared error (MMSE), signal-to-leakage-and-noise ratio maximization (SLNR), etc., to obtain the final precoding matrix for downlink data transmission. This application does not make any limitation in this regard. Unless otherwise specified, the precoding matrices involved hereinafter can all refer to the precoding matrices determined based on the method provided by this application.
[0243] It can be understood that the precoding matrix determined by the terminal device can be regarded as the precoding matrix to be fed back. The terminal device can indicate the precoding matrix to be fed back through a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), so that the network device can recover this precoding matrix based on the PMI. It can be understood that the precoding matrix recovered by the network device based on the PMI can be the same as or similar to the above-mentioned precoding matrix to be fed back.
[0244] In downlink channel measurement, the higher the degree of approximation between the precoding matrix determined by the network device according to the PMI and the precoding matrix determined by the terminal device, the more adaptable the precoding matrix determined for data transmission is to the channel state, and thus the reception quality of the signal can be improved.
[0245] (8) Antenna port: Can be abbreviated as port. It can be understood as the transmitting antenna recognized by the receiving end, or the transmitting antennas that can be distinguished in space. For each virtual antenna, an antenna port can be pre-configured. Each virtual antenna can be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas. Each antenna port can correspond to a reference signal. Therefore, each antenna port can be called a port of a reference signal. For example, CSI-RS port, demodulation reference signal (DMRS), SRS port, etc.
[0246] Among them, the antenna port is a logical concept, and there is generally no direct correspondence between an antenna port and a physical antenna. The antenna port is usually associated with a reference signal, and its meaning can be understood as a transceiver interface on the channel that the reference signal experiences. For low frequencies, an antenna port may correspond to one or more antenna elements, and these elements jointly transmit the reference signal. The receiving end can regard them as a whole without distinguishing these elements. For high-frequency systems, the antenna port may correspond to a beam. Similarly, the receiving end only needs to regard this beam as an interface without distinguishing each element.
[0247] In addition, a port group can refer to the set corresponding to multiple antenna ports. In one way, multiple digital ports of a network device are grouped to form multiple port groups. In another way (especially in the hybrid digital analog beam architecture), a port group can be multiple digital ports corresponding to the same analog beam, also abbreviated as a port group, or a digital-analog port group. Or, a port group can be a set of digital ports corresponding to multiple analog beams, also abbreviated as a port group, or a digital-analog port group. Or, multiple digital ports of the same analog beam are divided into multiple subsets, and each subset is called a port group, or a digital-analog port group.
[0248] (9) Channel State Information (CSI) Report: In a wireless communication system, information reported by a receiving end (such as a terminal device) to a transmitting end (such as a network device) for describing the channel attributes of a communication link. The CSI report may include, for example, but is not limited to, Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), Rank Indicator (RI), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI), and Layer Indicator (LI), etc. It should be understood that the specific content of CSI listed above is only for illustrative purposes and should not constitute any limitation to this application. The CSI may include one or more of the above-listed items, or may include other information for characterizing CSI other than the above-listed ones, and this application does not make any limitation thereto.
[0249] (10) Beam. Among them, beams and beam pair links (BPLs) are introduced into the communication system. A beam is a communication resource. Beams can be divided into transmit beams and receive beams. The technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technical means. Beamforming includes transmit beamforming and receive beamforming.
[0250] Among them, a beam is a communication resource. A beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other types of beams. The technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technical means. The beamforming technology can specifically be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology. Different beams can be considered as different resources. The same information or different information can be sent through different beams. Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be regarded as one beam. One beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and sounding signals, etc. For example, a transmit beam can refer to the signal intensity distribution formed in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna, and a receive beam can refer to the signal intensity distribution of the wireless signal received by the antenna in different directions in space. It can be understood that one or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be regarded as an antenna port set. The manifestation of a beam in the protocol can still be a spatial filter.
[0251] Transmit Beam: The transmitting end device sends a signal with a certain beamforming weight value, so that the transmitted signal forms a spatially directed beam. Among them, in the uplink direction, the transmitting end device can be a terminal; in the downlink direction, the transmitting end device can be a network device.
[0252] Receiving beam: The receiving-end device receives signals with certain beamforming weight values, so that the received signals form a spatially directional beam. Among them, in the uplink direction, the receiving-end device can be a network device; in the downlink direction, the receiving-end device can be a terminal.
[0253] Transmit beamforming: When a transmitting-end device with an antenna array transmits signals, a specific amplitude and phase are set on each antenna element of the antenna array, so that the transmitted signals have a certain spatial directivity, that is, the signal power is high in some directions and low in some directions, and the direction with the highest signal power is the direction of the transmit beam. The antenna array includes multiple antenna elements, and the attached specific amplitude and phase are the beamforming weight values.
[0254] Receiving beamforming: When a receiving-end device with an antenna array receives signals, a specific amplitude and phase are set on each antenna element of the antenna array, so that the power gain of the received signals is directional, that is, the power gain is high when receiving signals in some directions and low when receiving signals in some directions, and the direction with the highest power gain when receiving signals is the direction of the receiving beam. The antenna array includes multiple antenna elements, and the attached specific amplitude and phase are the beamforming weight values.
[0255] Optionally, transmitting signals using a certain transmit beam can be understood as transmitting signals using a certain beamforming weight value.
[0256] Optionally, receiving signals using a receiving beam can be understood as receiving signals using a certain beamforming weight value.
[0257] Generally, different beams can be regarded as different resources. The same information or different information can be transmitted using (or through) different beams. A beam pair is based on the concept of a beam. A beam pair usually includes a transmit beam of a transmitting-end device and a receive beam of a receiving-end device.
[0258] Below, taking the network device as a base station as an example, combined with Figures 1a to 1c the implementation content shown, an exemplary description of the implementation process of the beam will be given. Generally, in a communication system with a relatively high frequency band, base stations (and terminals in some frequency bands) usually use large-scale array antennas (for example, antenna elements ranging from 500 to more than 1000), and use a relatively high array gain to counter the path loss caused by the increase in the frequency band and improve the coverage ability. From the perspective of the implementation method of the base station, although they are all large arrays, different frequency bands and different array scales use different array weighting methods (that is, different beamforming methods). According to the implementation scheme of beamforming, they can be roughly divided into the following three categories.
[0259] One implementation is digital beamforming (DBF), and its basic structure is as follows Figure 1a shown. Each individual or group of antenna elements is directly connected to a digital channel. This structure is typical of large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (massive MIMO) in the low-frequency band. Since each antenna signal is directly converted to the digital domain and subsequent array weighting is performed in the digital domain, it is called digital beamforming. The digital domain signal processing has the highest degree of freedom and can support very complex signal processing methods. Therefore, under the same array scale, the performance of the DBF architecture is also the best. On the other hand, due to the relatively high power consumption and cost of digital-to-analog converters (DACs) / analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) (especially under large bandwidth conditions). Generally, under the condition of the same array scale, the cost of DBF is also the highest.
[0260] Another implementation is analog beamforming (ABF), and its structure is as follows Figure 1b shown. Each individual or group of antenna elements is connected to an analog phase shifter, and then multiple antenna elements are combined in the analog domain and passed through a digital-to-analog / analog-to-digital converter. Compared with DBF, the entire array of ABF corresponds to only one digital-to-analog / analog-to-digital converter. Therefore, the greatest advantage of the ABF architecture lies in its low cost and power consumption. The bottleneck of ABF is also obvious. The setting of the analog phase shifter in the analog domain determines the beam direction after beamforming. Since the signals are directly combined in the analog domain and cannot use digital signal processing weighting like DBF, ABF needs to pre-configure the phase shifter settings during transmission and reception (i.e., direct the analog beam towards the target terminal). This process needs to be completed through beam scanning during the link establishment phase, resulting in additional latency. Generally, once the analog beam is blocked or moved and becomes misaligned, the link quality of the system will rapidly deteriorate or even terminate. Therefore, the communication reliability of ABF is also inferior to that of DBF.
[0261] Another implementation is hybrid beamforming (HBF), and its structure is as follows Figure 1c shown. It is an intermediate form between ABF and DBF. The figure shows an example of an HBF architecture with 3 channels, each channel corresponding to 2 analog phase shifters. On the one hand, HBF has a certain number of digital ports to support digital beamforming. At the same time, each digital port drives an ABF sub-array. Compared with ABF, under the same array scale, the scale of the analog sub-array driven by each digital channel is smaller ( Figure 1c 4 in Figure 1bAmong the 6 ones), so the beam is wider, the reliability is better, and the beam scanning overhead is smaller. Generally, the ratio of HBF digital ports to analog phase shifters is configured inconsistently according to different frequencies and system design requirements. For example, in the high-frequency band, the number of digital ports is very small (4 - 16), and the number of analog phase shifters corresponding to a single digital channel is relatively large (16 - 32), which is closer to ABF. While in the low-frequency band system, the number of digital ports is relatively large (32 - 128), and the number of analog phase shifters for a single digital channel is less (such as 2 - 10).
[0262] Generally, both the HBF and ABF architectures have analog beams. When the beam is aligned with the communication target, the signal quality will be improved. The direction of the analog beam (determined by the beam weights) needs to be configured before transmission and reception. For a certain terminal, the process of the base station selecting an analog beam is called beam training or beam scanning. Beam scanning usually involves the base station sending reference signals using different analog beam weights, and the terminal measures the reference signals respectively and feeds back its measurement results to assist the base station in judging which beam has the best quality.
[0263] (11) CSI-RS pilot mapping: The pilot pattern refers to the mapping method of pilot ports in time-frequency resources, including the arrangement methods of port time division and port frequency division, as well as the corresponding scrambling information. Among them, the configuration information of the pilot includes at least one of the following: configuration parameter index, number of ports, density (indicating that a group of pilots is mapped in every 1 / ρ RB), code division multiplexing type (CDM type), time-frequency information of the CDM group, CDM group index, frequency domain resource index information within the CDM group, frequency domain resource index information within the CDM group, time domain resource index information within the CDM group.
[0264] Optionally, the code division multiplexing type includes:
[0265] noCDM (no code division multiplexing).
[0266] Frequency domain code division, denoted as -FD#, or fd-CDM#, where # is a number indicating that there are # ports in a CDM group code-divided in the frequency domain.
[0267] Time domain code division, denoted as -TD#, or td-CDM#, where # is a number indicating that there are # ports in a CDM group code-divided in the time domain.
[0268] The above code division types can be combined, for example, cdm4-FD2-TD2 means that there are 4 ports in a CDM group, which are multiplexed in 2 frequency division dimensions and 2 time division dimensions. Taking the 8-port configuration of Row=8 as an example, there are two CDM groups in this configuration (as can be seen from the CDM index of Row=8), each with 4 ports (cdm4-FD2-TD2), and the CDM type defined in the protocol is 'cdm4-FD2-TD2'. The orthogonal codes of the 4 ports in the group are shown in the four rows of information with index numbers 0-3 in Table 1.
[0269] Table 1
[0270] Index <![CDATA[[w f (0) w f (1)]]]> <![CDATA[[w t (0) w t (1)]]]> 0 [+1 +1] [+1 +1] 1 [+1 -1] [+1 +1] 2 [+1 +1] [+1 -1] 3 [+1 -1] [+1 -1]
[0271] w f represents frequency domain code division, w t Indicates time domain code division, two groups of orthogonal codes each. Among them, the frequency domain codes of port 0 and port 1 are orthogonal, the time domain codes of port 0 and port 2 are orthogonal, and the time and frequency codes of port 0 and port 3 are orthogonal. 0~3, 4~7 belong to two code division multiplexing groups respectively (physical meaning: the same time and frequency resources are occupied in the group, the ports are distinguished by code division, and the resources between code groups are orthogonal).
[0272] (12) Codebook-based feedback. The correlation between channels will cause interference between channels, resulting in capacity loss. Before the data enters the wireless channel for transmission, the data on each antenna port is weighted (which can be understood as the digital beamforming mentioned above), which is equivalent to simplifying the channel matrix of the multi-antenna system and eliminating the correlation between channels as much as possible, thereby improving the data transmission performance and capacity of the MIMO system.
[0273] like Figure 1d As shown, the network device uses port 1 and port 2 to send a reference signal to the terminal device. The terminal device can estimate the channel information Hi,j (i,j = {1,2}) between the transmitting port 1,2 and the receiving port 1,2 respectively based on the received reference signal. Based on the channel information, the terminal device can estimate the precoding matrix V of the transmitter. The method for obtaining the matrix V belongs to the algorithm implementation of the terminal device itself. A classic implementation method is SVD decomposition. Assuming that the channel matrix H received by the receiving end can be decomposed into:
[0274]
[0275] Among them, U and V are both unitary matrices, and D is a diagonal matrix. The terminal device can feed back the matrix V (or the column vector of V, depending on the number of streams to be transmitted) to the transmitter as a precoding matrix. The received signal after precoding is:
[0276] y = HVx = UAV H Vx = UDx;
[0277] The terminal device can use the decomposed U matrix to process the received data and obtain
[0278] U H y = U H UDx = Dx;
[0279] Since D is a diagonal matrix, the x signal can be directly recovered.
[0280] For the method by which the above network device obtains V, there are two cases:
[0281] Method 1: The network device estimates the downlink channel matrix H based on the measurement of the uplink SRS and the reciprocity of the uplink and downlink channels, and then obtains V. This method can be applied in a time division duplexing (TDD) system. Method 1 is also called SRS-based precoding.
[0282] Method 2: The terminal estimates the channel matrix H based on the measurement of the downlink reference signal, and then obtains V, and then feeds back V to the network device side. Method 2 is also called PMI-based precoding.
[0283] For the second method, in order to reduce the feedback overhead, a protocol definition of limited quantization feedback is made for the precoding matrix V. These limited optional precoding quantization value matrices are also called codebooks, and the precoding matrices in the codebook are numbered. The terminal can feed back the relevant numbers or parameters of these codebooks. Exemplarily, the implementation process will be described in three steps below.
[0284] The first step: The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device. The configuration information includes the horizontal and vertical port numbers and the DFT oversampling ratio. For example, the configuration information can include one or more of the CSI-RS port number, N1, N2, O1, and O2.
[0285] Among them, N1 represents the number of logical antenna ports in a certain direction of the same polarization, generally referring to the horizontal direction; N2 represents the number of logical antenna ports in another direction of the same polarization, generally referring to the vertical direction; O1 represents the DFT oversampling ratio in the direction where N1 is located (horizontal direction); O2 represents the DFT oversampling ratio in the direction where N2 is located (vertical direction).
[0286] The second step: The terminal device determines the codebook set.
[0287] Exemplarily, taking the case of 16 CSI-RS ports as an example, in this case, based on the configuration information or pre-configured information, the terminal device can determine that the value of N1 is 4 and the value of N2 is 2, or the value of N1 is 8 and the value of N2 is 1. Taking the case where the value of N1 is 4 and the value of N2 is 2 as an example, the physical meanings of N1 and N2 are that when performing beamforming, a total of N1*N2 weight vectors can be formed with N1 in the horizontal dimension and N2 in the vertical dimension, and these weight vectors are orthogonal to each other, that is, there is no interference between the beams formed by weighting with these weight vectors. The physical meanings of O1 and O2 are that the number of weight vectors is increased in the horizontal and vertical directions through DFT oversampling, so more weight vectors can be generated. The values of O1 and O2 also determine the beam density in the horizontal and vertical directions when the antenna pattern is fixed, that is, when N1 and N2 are determined. The larger the values of O1 and O2, the smaller the step size of the beam during beam scanning, and the higher the accuracy, but the cost is that the weight vectors are no longer orthogonal to each other, that is, there is interference between the beams. N1*O1 determines the number of weight vectors in the horizontal direction in the beam set, and N2*O2 determines the number of weight vectors in the vertical direction in the beam set.
[0288] As Figure 1e shown in the example, N1 and N2 are (4, 2) respectively, and O1 and O2 are (4, 4) respectively. When no oversampling is performed, the DFT codebook set consists of the dark blue codebooks.
[0289] Specifically, the weight vectors in the horizontal and vertical directions are:
[0290]
[0291]
[0292] X1 is the weight vector in the horizontal direction, and the length of the vector is N1. The specific number of vectors is determined by the number of values of l, that is, l also represents which group of weights is selected in the horizontal direction.
[0293] X2 is the weight vector in the vertical direction, and the length of the vector is N2. The specific number of vectors is determined by the number of values of k, that is, k also represents which group of weights is selected in the vertical direction.
[0294] The codebook set W satisfies:
[0295]
[0296] Among them, represents the Kronecker Product. That is, the result represented by the Kronecker product of X1 and X2 may be the weight result on one group of polarized antennas, which is generally in a diagonal block form with the other group of polarized antennas.
[0297] Step 3: The terminal device measures the pilot signal (in this application, the pilot signal and the reference signal can be interchangeable) and feeds back the codebook. Exemplarily, the terminal measures the pilot signal and determines an optimal codebook feedback. For the determined l and m, the Kronecker product of X1 and X2 also determines a beam in a specific direction on the same polarized antenna. For codebook feedback, taking Type I Single-Panel Codebook as an example, the terminal device needs to feed back two parameters i 1 and i 2 , and i 1 Contains multiple parameters, the number of parameters is determined by the number of layers.
[0298]
[0299] i 2 : represents the polarization phase quantization index.
[0300] i 1,1 : Indicates the vertical dimension beam index.
[0301] i 1,2 : represents the horizontal beam index.
[0302] i 1,3 : represents the selection of horizontal and vertical rotation factors, which is mainly related to the shape and number of ports of the antenna array.
[0303] See also Figure 2 , is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 As shown, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (such as Figure 2 110a and 110b in the figure, collectively referred to as 110), and may also include at least one terminal (such as Figure 2 RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment ( Figure 2(not shown in the figure). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 wirelessly, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 wirelessly or wired. The core network devices in the core network 200 and the RAN nodes 110 in the RAN 100 can be independent different physical devices, or the same physical device integrating the logical functions of the core network devices and the logical functions of the RAN nodes. Terminals can be connected to each other, and RAN nodes can be connected to each other, either wirelessly or wired.
[0304] The RAN 100 can be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a new radio (NR) system, and a future radio access system defined in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). The RAN 100 can also include two or more different radio access systems mentioned above. The RAN 100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN).
[0305] The RAN node, also known as a radio access network device, a RAN entity, or an access node, is used to help terminals access the communication system wirelessly. In one application scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation NodeB in the 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. The RAN node can be a macro base station (such as Figure 2 110a in the figure), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as Figure 2 110b in the figure), or a relay node or a donor node.
[0306] In another application scenario, the wireless access of a terminal can be assisted by the cooperation of multiple RAN nodes, and different RAN nodes respectively implement partial functions of a base station. For example, the RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). Here, the CU completes the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also complete the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also complete partial or all functions of the physical layer. For the specific descriptions of the above various protocol layers, reference can be made to the relevant technical specifications of 3GPP. The RU can be used to implement the functions of transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals. The CU and the DU can be two independent RAN nodes, or can be integrated in the same RAN node, for example, integrated in the baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in the radio frequency device, for example, included in the remote radio unit (RRU) or the active antenna unit (AAU). The CU can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes: CU-control plane and CU-user plane.
[0307] In different systems, the RAN nodes may have different names. For example, in the open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN) system, the CU can also be called O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be called O-DU, the CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, in this application, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU are taken as examples for description. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.
[0308] The communication between the access network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer may include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer, media access control (MAC) layer, or physical (PHY) layer, etc. The user plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, or physical layer, etc.
[0309] For the correspondence between network elements in the ORAN system and their realizable protocol layer functions, refer to Table 2 below.
[0310] Table 2
[0311] ORAN Network Element 3GPP Protocol Layer Function O-CU-CP RRC + PCDP - Control Plane (PDCP-C) O-CU-UP SDAP + PCDP - User Plane (PDCP-U) O-DU RLC + MAC + PHY-high O-RU PHY-low
[0312] For ease of description, in the following text, the base station is used as an example of a RAN node for description.
[0313] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver functions that can send signals to the base station or receive signals from the base station. A terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, remote medical treatment, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver functions, a wearable device, a vehicle, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a robotic arm, a smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies and specific device forms adopted by the terminal.
[0314] The base station and the terminal can be fixed in position or movable. The base station and the terminal can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons, and artificial satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of the base station and the terminal.
[0315] The roles of the base station and the terminal can be relative. For example, Figure 2 the helicopter or drone 120i in can be configured as a mobile base station. For the terminals 120j that access the radio access network 100 through 120i, the terminal 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, that is, the communication between 110a and 120i is through the radio air interface protocol. Of course, the communication between 110a and 120i can also be through the interface protocol between base stations. At this time, relative to 110a, 120i is also a base station. Therefore, both the base station and the terminal can be uniformly referred to as communication devices. Figure 2 the 110a and 110b in can be referred to as communication devices with base station functions. Figure 2 the 120a - 120j in can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functions.
[0316] The communication between the base station and the terminal, between the base station and the base station, and between the terminal and the terminal can be carried out through licensed spectrum, or through unlicensed spectrum, or through both licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum at the same time; it can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), or through spectrum above 6 GHz, or use both spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz at the same time. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.
[0317] In the embodiments of this application, the functions of the base station can also be executed by modules (such as chips) in the base station, or by a control subsystem containing base station functions. The control subsystem containing base station functions here can be a control center in the above application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal can also be executed by modules (such as chips or modems) in the terminal, or by a device containing terminal functions.
[0318] In a wireless communication system (such as Figure 2In the communication system shown, as a key technology for wireless communication, MIMO technology can be used to meet the high-rate transmission requirements. In one implementation example, in order to send data to a terminal device, a network device can perform precoding on a digital port and select appropriate coding and modulation orders at the same time. For example, the role of precoding is to make the antenna (or beam) better match the channel, so as to ensure better signal quality and less interference when the transmitted data reaches the terminal side, and better modulation order and code rate can ensure maximizing the channel transmission capacity under the condition of reliable data transmission. The settings of precoding and modulation coding scheme (MCS) need to be determined according to the channel quality and channel response. In other words, the network device can achieve the transmission quality of data transmission based on the measurement results of channel measurement.
[0319] However, in the communication process based on MIMO technology, how to implement channel measurement is a technical problem to be solved urgently.
[0320] To solve the above problems, this application provides a communication method and related devices. The following will be introduced in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0321] Please refer to Figure 3 , which is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application. The method includes the following steps.
[0322] It should be noted that this application takes the network device and the terminal device as the execution subjects of the interaction schematic to illustrate the method provided by this application, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interaction schematic. For example, the method executed by the network device can also be executed by a module of the network device (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the network device. The method executed by the terminal device can also be executed by a module of the terminal device (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device.
[0323] Figure 3 The method shown includes steps S301 to S302, and each step will be introduced separately below.
[0324] S301. The network device sends a reference signal. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the reference signal. Among them, the reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
[0325] It should be understood that before step S301, the network device may send the configuration information of the reference signal. Thereafter, the network device sends the reference signal based on the configuration information in step S301. Correspondingly, for the terminal device, the terminal device may receive the configuration information of the reference signal and receive the reference signal based on the configuration information in step S301. Generally, the configuration information may include the time-domain resource configuration information, frequency-domain resource configuration information, etc. of the reference signal.
[0326] It should be understood that after the terminal device receives the reference signal in step S301, the terminal device may perform measurements on the received reference signal to obtain measurement information and then execute step S302.
[0327] S302. The terminal device sends the measurement information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the measurement information. The measurement information is obtained by measuring based on the reference signal. The measurement information includes the first information obtained by measuring the reference signal sent based on the first digital port. The first information is determined based on N 1 channel information. The N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports. The first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port.
[0328] Based on Figure 3 the technical solution shown, after the network device sends the reference signal in step S301, due to the transmission of the reference signal through the wireless channel, the reference signal received by the terminal device can carry the channel information of the wireless channel. Thereafter, the measurement information obtained by the terminal device measuring the reference signal can reflect the channel information. Subsequently, the manner in which the terminal device sends the measurement information in step S302 can enable the network device to obtain the measurement result of the channel between the network device and the terminal device based on the measurement information.
[0329] In addition, among the measurement information obtained by the terminal device measuring based on the reference signal, it includes the first information corresponding to the first digital port, and the first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port. In other words, the network device can determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port based on the first information. Compared with the manner in which the network device obtains the weights of the digital ports based on the measurement information fed back by the terminal device, since the first digital port includes the N 1a virtual port, enabling the network device to determine a finer-grained weight based on this first information. Thus, in the case of a large antenna array scale, the terminal device can determine and indicate a finer-grained weight based on the measurement result of the reference signal, enabling the network device to communicate based on this weight, thereby reducing the beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0330] Taking Figure 2 the communication process between the network device and the terminal device shown as an example, to obtain the channel information between the network device and the terminal device, a commonly used method is for the network device to send a downlink reference signal, and the terminal device feeds back the corresponding channel state information according to the downlink reference signal, including precoding information, the number of transmission streams supported by the channel (i.e., RI), and CQI (used to feedback the MCS recommended by the terminal under the current channel quality). This process is called channel state information feedback (CSI feedback). Generally, for different beams, the network device will independently send reference signals for each beam, and the terminal device measures the reference signals corresponding to each beam and feeds back the measurement results of each beam. Specifically, the network device will configure multiple resources for the terminal, each resource corresponding to a transmission beam of the network device, and the terminal device feeds back the beam measurement results.
[0331] With the development of communication technology, in order to improve the coverage ability of communication signals (such as millimeter-wave signals), the scale of the antenna array for transmitting and receiving communication signals becomes larger, and the number of beams will also increase accordingly. On the one hand, the number of symbols for beam scanning increases, resulting in an increase in beam scanning overhead; on the other hand, the increase in the array causes the beam to become narrower, posing a greater challenge to terminal mobility.
[0332] To solve this problem, in Figure 3 the technical solution shown, the reference signal received by the terminal device in step S301 can be sent through L 1 time units respectively by L 1 first weights. The i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained from the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and a third weight. The L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the value of i ranges from 1 to L 1 . In other words, the reference signal is sent through orthogonal weights at different times. Therefore, the terminal device can obtain the beam channel of the subarray by taking the inverse, and then obtain the weight of the optimal virtual port by calculating a certain criterion (such as power maximization criterion, capacity maximization criterion, etc.). Thereafter, the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302 can be used to determine this weight. In this way, in the case of a large antenna array scale, the beam scanning overhead can be reduced, and fast beam tracking can be achieved.
[0333] Exemplarily, assume that the first digital port includes two (i.e., N 1 = 2) virtual ports, and the two virtual ports respectively correspond to antenna element set 0 and antenna element set 1 in the network device. Assume that the foregoing third weight corresponds to two sub-vectors w 0 and w 1 , w 0 and w 1 are both column vectors, and the composed vector is the foregoing third weight. Also assume that the channel information between antenna element set 0 and antenna element set 1 and the terminal device is respectively represented as H 0 and H 1 ; in the above step S301, the network device can send reference signals based on 2 (i.e., L 1 = 2) time units on 2 virtual ports. Hereinafter, taking these 2 time units as time unit 0 and time unit 1 respectively as an example for description.
[0334] For time unit 0, phase adjustments are respectively performed on virtual port 0 and virtual port 1 with s 00 and s 10 . s 00 and s 10 can form one of the second weights among L 1 second weights. Then one of the first weights among L 1 first weights can be expressed as The signal G 0 received by the terminal device at this time unit 0 satisfies:
[0335]
[0336] For time unit 1, phase adjustments are respectively performed on virtual port 0 and virtual port 1 with s 01 and s 11 . s 01 and s 11 can form another second weight among L 1 second weights. Then another first weight among L 1 first weights can be expressed as The signal G 1 received by the terminal at this time unit 1 satisfies:
[0337]
[0338] Combining G 0 and G 1 results in:
[0339]
[0340] Since the phase modulation matrix is composed of L 1 orthogonal first weights, it is invertible. Then, based on the received signals of L 1 time units and L 1 orthogonal first weights, the terminal can obtain:
[0341]
[0342] Taking the power maximization criterion as an example (similarly, the capacity maximization criterion or other criteria can refer to the following implementation), if the terminal device wants to maximize the signal power obtained, the optimal second weight can be obtained according to the following principle:
[0343]
[0344] For the above principle, one implementation method can obtain the optimal second weight through SVD decomposition:
[0345] First, calculate the covariance matrix R of [H 0 w 0 H 1 w 1 that satisfies:
[0346] R = [H 0 w 0 H 1 w 1 H [H 0 w 0 H 1 w 1 ;
[0347] Then perform SVD decomposition on R, take the right singular vector v corresponding to the largest singular value, and further obtain α:
[0348]
[0349] Through the above implementation process, if the terminal sends α or [H 0 w 0 H 1 w 1 to the network device, then the network device can obtain a 0 corresponding to the antenna element set 0, and a 1 corresponding to the antenna element set 1. Further, when performing data transmission (such as data sending or data receiving), the analog weights of the antenna element set 0 and the antenna element set 1 in the network device can be α 0 w 0 and α 1 w 1 . In this way, compared with the implementation process in which the network device obtains the weights of each antenna element set during the data transmission process through multiple beam scanning processes with different precisions, since the network device can obtain the analog weights of different antenna element sets without going through multiple beam scanning processes with different precisions, the beam scanning overhead can be reduced, and the delay of beam scanning can be reduced to achieve fast beam tracking.
[0350] In other words, the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302 can be used to determine the analog weights of the antenna element sets in the network device (such as α 0 w 0 and α 1 w 1 ). The specific implementation process of the measurement information will be described below.
[0351] In a possible implementation manner, the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302 includes first information obtained by measuring the reference signal sent based on the first digital port; wherein, the first information is N 1 channel information, that is, the channel information of N 1 virtual ports. It can be understood that, as described above, after the terminal device receives the reference signal, the terminal device can determine the N 1 channel information determined by the reference signals sent by the N 1 virtual ports.
[0352] As an implementation example of the N 1 channel information, as shown in the example above, when the terminal device receives the signal G 0 at the time unit 0 and the terminal device receives the signal G 1 at the time unit 1, the signal G 0 and the signal G 1 satisfy:
[0353]
[0354] Correspondingly, the N 1 channel information corresponding to the 2 (i.e., N 1 = 2) virtual ports can be expressed as the channel information H 0 w 0 of virtual port 0 (i.e., antenna element set 0), and the channel information H 1 w 1 of virtual port 1 (i.e., antenna element set 1). Among them, when the first information includes N 1 channel information, the first information can include N 1 channel information (i.e., [H 0 w 0 H1 w 1 ) quantization feedback value, or, the first information may include based on N 1 channel information (i.e., [H 0 w 0 H 1 w 1 ) obtained PMI. In this possible implementation, optionally, the network device may, according to the N 1 channel information corresponding to each of the N 1 virtual ports received, and criteria such as power maximization criterion and capacity maximization criterion, determine α, and thus determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports.
[0355] In another possible implementation, the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302 includes the first information obtained by measuring the reference signal sent based on the first digital port; wherein, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports, and the first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port. In this way, after the terminal device measures the reference signals carried by L 1 time units to obtain a measurement result, the terminal device can determine the optimal (or optimal) weights of the virtual ports in the first digital port based on the measurement result, and indicate the weights through the first information. Subsequently, the network device can communicate with the terminal device based on the weights.
[0356] Thus, in the case of a large antenna array scale, the network device sends reference signals based on orthogonal second weights in different time units (generally, reference signals sent based on different weights can be understood as reference signals sent based on different beams). The terminal device can determine and indicate the optimal (or optimal) weights based on the measurement results of different time units, enabling the network device to communicate based on the weights, thereby reducing beam scanning overhead and achieving fast beam tracking.
[0357] Optionally, after the terminal device measures the reference signals carried by L 1 time units to obtain a measurement result, the terminal device can determine the optimal (or optimal) weights of the virtual ports in the first digital port based on the measurement result and mathematical methods. For example, the mathematical methods may include power maximization criterion, capacity maximization criterion determination, etc. For example, when the network device sends data, if it transmits data with reference to the foregoing reference signal, then N 1The weights of the virtual ports can be determined using the first information fed back by the terminal device.
[0358] In a possible implementation, the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, and the first weight vector includes N 1 elements; among them, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, each antenna element set contains one or more antenna elements, and the N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets. In other words, by adjusting the phases of the antenna elements, the transmission of reference signals can be achieved on different virtual ports.
[0359] It can be understood that the first weight vector contains N 1 elements, and the second weight described above contains N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports. Among them, the implementation process of the first weight vector can refer to the implementation process of the second weight described later.
[0360] In a possible implementation, the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through the first weight vector, including: the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through the first weight vector and the second weight vector, and the second weight vector includes N 1 sub-vectors; among them, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector in the N 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets, and the value of T ranges from 1 to N 1 . In this way, the first weight vector can respectively correspond to the weights of each antenna element set in the N 1 antenna element sets.
[0361] It can be understood that the second weight vector contains N 1 sub-vectors, and the third weight described above includes N 1 sub-vectors. Among them, the implementation process of the second weight vector can refer to the implementation process of the third weight described later.
[0362] As an implementation example of the N 1 virtual ports, as described above, when N 1 = 2, the virtual weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the network device (or N1 The weight of a virtual port can be expressed as α 0 w 0 and α 1 w 1 . Correspondingly, in this example, the N elements included in the first weight vector are α 1 and α 0 , and the N sub-vectors included in the second weight vector are w 1 and w 1 respectively. 0 and w 1 .
[0363] In a possible implementation, the first information satisfies any one of the following methods A to D.
[0364] Method A: In the first information included in the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302, it includes the quantization processing result of the first weight vector. In other words, after the terminal device determines the first weight vector, the terminal device directly quantizes the first weight vector and feeds it back. For example, if the first weight vector includes N 1 elements, the terminal device quantizes the phases of the N 1 elements and feeds back the quantization results of the N 1 elements.
[0365] As an implementation example of Method A, when the feedback phase range is 0 to 2π and the quantization accuracy is 0.1π, then there are 21 possible values for the feedback phase (i.e., 0, 0.1π, 0.2π... 2π, a total of 21 values). Correspondingly, among the N 1 elements, the feedback value of each element can occupy A (A is a positive integer) bits, and the feedback of the phases of the N 1 elements occupies N 1 *A bits. For example, A takes a value of (representing rounding up log 2 21), or A takes a value of 21, or A takes other values determined based on 21, which is not limited here.
[0366] Optionally, the network device configures the quantization accuracy of the phases corresponding to the elements in the first weight vector. For example, it is configured through the configuration information of the reference signal, or through other information / messages / signals.
[0367] Method B: In the first information included in the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302, it includes one element among the N 1 elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and, in addition to this one virtual port, the other N 1 elements, and, in addition to this one virtual port, the other N 1-N corresponding to one virtual port 1 of the N 1 elements, and the quantization processing result corresponding to the difference between the N - 1 elements and this one element.
[0368] As an implementation example of Mode A, the range of the feedback phase is 0 to 2π, the quantization accuracy of the first element is 0.1π, so there are 21 possible values for the feedback phase, and then A bits are required for the feedback of the first element; the remaining elements feedback the difference from the first element, the quantization accuracy of the elements is 0.2π, and for the feedback of the remaining elements, there are 11 possible values for the feedback phase and B bits are required for each element. In other words, 1 a total of A + (N 1 - 1)B bits are feedback for the N elements. For example, A takes the value of and B takes the value of Or, A takes the value of 21 and B takes the value of 11, or, A takes other values determined based on 21 and B takes other values determined based on 11, which are not limited here.
[0369] Mode C: In the first information included in the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302, it includes a first index and a second index, and the first index and the second index are used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set. Among them, the first index is the codebook index in the first dimension, the second index is the codebook index in the second dimension, and among the one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set, each weight vector is determined by the weight in the first dimension and the weight in the second dimension.
[0370] Mode D: In the first information included in the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302, it includes a third index, and the third index is used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set.
[0371] It should be noted that the codebook sets involved in Mode C and Mode D can be determined in multiple ways, and some implementation examples will be described below.
[0372] Determination method 1 of the codebook set: Determine the codebook set based on the port information of the virtual ports included in the digital port.
[0373] Specifically, the port information of the virtual ports in any digital port includes at least one of the following information A to information F:
[0374] Information A. Index of the port information combination. For example, the index value corresponding to each combination, and each index value represents a combination of virtual port splitting method, oversampling factor, and number of virtual ports. The network device can indicate this index value, and the terminal device can then determine the virtual port splitting method, oversampling factor, number of virtual ports, etc. The values corresponding to the "Index" shown in Table 3 below. The virtual port splitting method can be understood as the number of virtual ports in the first dimension and the number of virtual ports in the second dimension. The oversampling factor can be understood as the oversampling factor in the first dimension and the oversampling factor in the second dimension.
[0375] Information B. The number of virtual ports included in the digital port is N 1 . For example, the number of virtual ports N for each digital port, which is used to indicate that the network device splits the array into N sub-arrays in total (taking the first digital port including N 1 virtual ports as an example, splitting the array of the first digital port results in N 1 sub-arrays, where these N 1 sub-arrays are the N 1 antenna element sets corresponding to N 1 virtual ports, that is, each of the N 1 sub-arrays contains one or more antenna elements). Generally, N = M 1 *M 2 .
[0376] Information C. The number of virtual ports in the first dimension of the digital port is M 1 . For example, the horizontal number of virtual ports M for each digital port 1 , which is used to indicate that the network device splits the array horizontally into M 1 sub-arrays. It can also be understood that the first dimension of each digital port includes M 1 virtual ports.
[0377] Information D. The number of virtual ports in the second dimension of the digital port is M 2 . For example, the vertical number of virtual ports M for each digital port 2 , which is used to indicate that the network device splits the array vertically into M 2 sub-arrays. It can also be understood that the second dimension of each digital port includes M 2 virtual ports.
[0378] Information E. The oversampling factor in the first dimension of the digital port is O 1 . For example, the oversampling factor O in the horizontal dimension of each digital port 1 , which can also be understood as the oversampling factor in the first dimension of each digital port.
[0379] Information F. The oversampling factor on the second dimension of the digital port is O 2 . For example, the oversampling factor O on the vertical dimension of each digital port 2 , which can also be understood as the oversampling factor on the second dimension of each digital port.
[0380] Optionally, the above information C can be determined by information B and information D, that is, M 2 = N 1 / M 1 , N 1 is divisible by M 1 ; alternatively, the above information D can be determined by information B and information C, that is, M 1 = N 1 / M 2 , N 1 is divisible by M 2 .
[0381] Exemplarily, the above different combinations can be represented by the parameters in different rows of Table 3 below.
[0382] Table 3
[0383] Index Number of Virtual Ports (N) <![CDATA[(M 1 ,M 2 )]]> <![CDATA[(O 1 ,O 2 )]]> 0 2 (2,1) (4,1) 1 4 (4,1) (4,1) 2 4 (2,2) (4,4) 3 8 (4,2) (4,4) 4 8 (8,1) (4,1) … … … …
[0384] Optionally, for the virtual port numbers (M 1 , M 2 ) = (N, 1) and (1, N) on the first dimension and the second dimension, the terminal device does not need to perceive and can use the same index value. For example, in the above Table 3, the codebook sets corresponding to (M 1 , M 2 ) = (2, 1) or (1, 2) indicated by index = 0 are the same, so there is no need to distinguish.
[0385] Thus, according to the port information of the virtual ports in any of the above digital ports, an analog codebook set can be determined between the terminal device and the network device. Specifically, according to the number of virtual ports on the first dimension being M 1 and the oversampling factor on the first dimension being O 1 , it can be determined that there are M 1 O 1 codebooks on the first dimension, where v l represents the l-th codebook (a vector of length M 1 ), and the value range of l is All the codebooks on the first dimension (i.e., all v l ) are denoted as Y 1 ; according to the number of virtual ports on the second dimension being M 2 and the oversampling factor on the second dimension being O 2 , it can be determined that there are M 2O 2 Codebook,u m Represents the mth codebook (length M 2 The value range of m is All codebooks of the second dimension (i.e., all u m ) is denoted as Y 2 , and finally determine the codebook set to be Y.
[0386]
[0387]
[0388]
[0389] As an implementation example, before step S302, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, and the second information may be used to determine the port information of the virtual port included in the first digital port, and then determine the codebook set used in mode C or mode D based on the port information.
[0390] For example, the second information may include port information of the virtual port included in the first digital port (eg, at least one item of the above information A to information F). Taking Table 3 as an example, the second information may include one or more parameters of one row in Table 3.
[0391] For another example, the second information may include a fourth index, and the fourth index is used to determine the port information of the virtual port included in the first digital port in the port information of one or more preconfigured or predefined virtual ports, wherein the port information of each virtual port may include at least one item of the above information A to information F. Figure 3 For example, the fourth index included in the second information may be one of the indexes in Table 3, so that the network device determines one row of parameters in Table 3 based on the index. Optionally, before the network device sends the fourth index to the terminal device, the network device sends port information of one or more virtual ports and corresponding indexes, as shown in Table 3.
[0392] For another example, the second information may include some items in information A to information F, and other items in information A to information F are determined by the partial items and port information of one or more preconfigured or predefined virtual ports. Figure 3 For example, the second information may indicate “(M 1 ,M 2 )=(4,1)”, accordingly, the network device can determine, based on the second information, that the indication corresponds to the row where the index “1” in the table is located, and further determine that “N=4” and “(O 1 ,O 2 )=(4,1)”.
[0393] For another example, the second information may include some items among information A to information F, and the other items among information A to information F are determined by the some items. For example, the second information includes information B and information D, and information C can be determined by information B and information D, that is, M 2 = N 1 / M 1 , N 1 is divisible by M 1 ; or, the second information includes information B and information C, and the above information D can be determined by information B and information C, that is, M 1 = N 1 / M 2 , N 1 is divisible by M 2 ; or, the second information includes information C and information D, and the above information B can be determined by information C and information D, that is, N 1 = M 1 *M 2 .
[0394] Optionally, the first digital port is one of the M digital ports. When M>1, different digital ports can configure or stipulate the port information of the corresponding virtual port in any one or more of the following ways or protocols:
[0395] ① Configure or stipulate the port information of the corresponding virtual port for each digital port independently.
[0396] ② Multiple digital ports correspond to the port information of one virtual port. Specifically, each digital port adopts the same virtual port splitting method (the same number of virtual ports in the same first dimension, the same number of virtual ports in the same second dimension), the same oversampling factor (the same oversampling factor in the same first dimension, the same oversampling factor in the same second dimension), and the same number of virtual ports.
[0397] As an example of method ①, the network device configures or dynamically indicates the port information of the virtual port of each digital port (that is, at least one item among the above information A to information F) for the terminal device. For example, the network device configures the measurement resources of one or more digital ports, and each digital port includes one or more virtual ports. The network device configures or dynamically indicates the port information of the virtual port of each digital port for the terminal device. The measurement resources may be SSB, CSI-RS, etc., which are not limited here.
[0398] As another example of method ①, the network device configures or dynamically indicates some items among information A to information F of each digital port for the terminal device, and the other items among information A to information F are determined by the some items and / or the port information of one or more pre-configured or predefined virtual ports.
[0399] As another example of Method ①, the network device directly configures or indicates the fourth index corresponding to each digital port for the terminal through signaling. This signaling can be one or more of RRC signaling, MAC CE signaling, DCI signaling, etc., and can also be other signaling, which is not limited here.
[0400] As an example of Method ②, the network device configures or the protocol stipulates one or more digital port groups, each digital port group contains one or more digital ports, and one digital port group corresponds to the port information of the same virtual port. The network device configures the port information of one type of virtual port for each digital port group, and each digital port within the digital port group has the port information of the same virtual port.
[0401] As another example of Method ②, the network configuration or the protocol stipulates the port information of one or more virtual ports, and the protocol stipulates that every k digital ports adopt the port information of one type of virtual port. For example, the network configuration or the protocol stipulates the port information of two types of virtual ports, and there are a total of 8 digital ports. Then the protocol stipulates that ports 0 to 3 adopt the port information of the first type of virtual port, and ports 4 to 7 adopt the port information of the second type of virtual port. Of course, it can also be that ports 0, 2, 4, 6 adopt the first type, and ports 1, 3, 5, 7 adopt the second type. Similar to this default rule.
[0402] For example, the network device configures or indicates M 1 , M 2 , O 1 , O 2 to be 2, 2, 2, 1 respectively. Then there are a total of 4 (M 1 *M 2 = N 1 = 4) virtual ports, and the number of codebooks in the corresponding analog codebook set is 8 = M 1 *M 2 *O 1 *O 2 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 1.
[0403] Among them, there are 4 codebooks for the horizontal direction (for example, the first dimension), satisfying:
[0404]
[0405] In other words, the 4 horizontal codebooks are respectively represented as:
[0406] v 0 =
[11] T ;
[0407] v 1 = [1j] T ;
[0408] v 2 = [1 - 1] T ;
[0409] v 3 = [1 - j] T ;
[0410] Define Y 1 including the codebooks in these four horizontal directions, which can be expressed as:
[0411]
[0412] For the codebooks in the vertical direction (e.g., the second dimension), there are 2, satisfying:
[0413]
[0414] In other words, the 2 codebooks in the vertical direction are respectively expressed as:
[0415] u 0 = [1 1] T ;
[0416] u 1 = [1 - 1] T ;
[0417] Define Y 2 including the 2 codebooks in these vertical directions, which can be expressed as:
[0418]
[0419] That is, the codebook set can be expressed as:
[0420]
[0421] Among them, the 4 rows of the matrix represent four virtual ports, and the columns represent 8 codebooks (i.e., 8 weight vectors).
[0422] As an example, if the terminal device performs feedback through measurement in mode C, assuming that the terminal device determines and feeds back the first index and the second index as 2 and 1 respectively based on the power maximization criterion or the capacity maximization criterion, correspondingly, the network device can determine the 6th weight vector as the first weight vector of the first digital port among the above 8 codebooks based on the index values "2, 1" carried by the first information. In other words, the horizontal and vertical weight vectors corresponding to the index values "2, 1" are respectively:
[0423] v 2 = [1 - 1] T .
[0424] u 1 = [1 - 1] T。
[0425] Then the network device determines the final codebook as the first weight vector:
[0426]
[0427] In the above example, among the first weight vectors corresponding to 4 (i.e., M 1 *M 2 =N 1 =4) virtual ports, the 4 elements a 0 , a 1 , a 2 , a 3 satisfy:
[0428] a 0 =1, a 1 =-1, a 2 =-1, a 3 =1;
[0429] In addition, when the 4 (i.e., M 1 *M 2 =N 1 =4) virtual ports' corresponding second weight vectors' 4 sub-vectors are respectively represented as w 0 , w 1 , w 2 , w 3 , the simulated weights W of these 4 virtual ports during data transmission can be respectively represented as:
[0430]
[0431] As another example, if the terminal device performs feedback after measurement according to method D, feeds back the third index, and the third index corresponds to one of the 8 codebooks. Suppose the terminal device determines and feeds back the third index as 3 based on the power maximization criterion or the capacity maximization criterion (the 4th weight vector of the above 8 codebooks is the first weight vector of the first digital port), then the network device determines the final codebook as the first weight vector:
[0432] Y = [1 - 1j - j] T 。
[0433] In the above example, among the first weight vectors corresponding to 4 (i.e., M 1 *M 2 =N 1 =4) virtual ports, the 4 elements a 0 , a 1 , a 2 , a 3 satisfy:
[0434] a0 =1, a 1 =-1, a 2 =j, a 3 =-j;
[0435] In addition, the 4 (ie, M 1 *M 2 =N 1 =4) virtual ports, the second weight vector corresponding to the virtual ports includes four word vectors represented as w 0 、w 1 、w 2 、w 3 In the case of , the analog weights W of the four virtual ports during data transmission can be expressed as:
[0436]
[0437] A second method for determining a codebook set is to determine a codebook set used in method C or method D from one or more codebook sets based on an instruction from a network device.
[0438] As an implementation example, before step S302, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information may be used to determine a codebook set used in mode C or mode D from one or more codebook sets.
[0439] For example, the second information may include a fifth index, where the fifth index is used to determine the codebook set in one or more preconfigured or predefined codebook sets.
[0440] For another example, it can be seen from the above example that in the process of determining the codebook set, it is associated with one or more items of information A to information F, and accordingly, the mapping relationship between "one or more items of information A to information F" and "one or more codebook sets" can be preconfigured or predefined. Accordingly, the third information sent by the network device may indicate one or more items of information A to information F (for example, in Table 3), and the subsequent terminal device may determine one of the codebook sets in the one or more codebook sets as the codebook set used in mode C or mode D based on one or more items of information A to information F and the "mapping relationship".
[0441] Optionally, the terminal device may determine the one or more codebook sets in a preconfigured or predefined manner.
[0442] Optionally, the terminal device may receive signaling from the network device, and determine the one or more codebook sets through the signaling. For example, the signaling may include one or more of RRC signaling, MAC CE signaling, DCI signaling, etc.
[0443] It should be noted that the network device can indicate the codebook set used in Mode C or Mode D in the one or more codebook sets in various ways.
[0444] As can be seen from the foregoing implementation process, the first digital port is one of the M digital ports. When M is greater than 1, the measurement information sent by the terminal device in step S302 can be used to determine the weights of the virtual ports included in each digital port (i.e., the weights for data transmission). More implementation examples will be described below.
[0445] In a possible implementation manner, the measurement information includes any one of the following Examples A to C:
[0446] Example A: M pieces of information.
[0447] Example B: K pieces of information.
[0448] Example C: M pieces of information and K pieces of information.
[0449] Among them, the M pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of each of the M digital ports (for example, the i-th (i ranges from 1 to M) piece of information among the M pieces of information is used to determine the first weight vector of the i-th digital port among the M digital ports; alternatively, the M pieces of information correspond one-to-one to the M digital ports); one of the M pieces of information is the first information; the K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port group in the K groups of digital ports (for example, the i-th (i ranges from 1 to K) piece of information among the K pieces of information is used to determine the first weight vector of the digital ports included in the i-th digital port group among the K digital port groups; alternatively, the K pieces of information correspond one-to-one to the K digital port groups), where each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports includes one or more of the M digital ports, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M; one of the K pieces of information is the first information.
[0450] Specifically, the measurement information sent by the terminal device may include M pieces of information and / or K pieces of information. In this way, the network device can determine the first weight vector of each of the M digital ports through the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information.
[0451] As an implementation example, in Example B and Example C, among the one or more digital ports included in each group of the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same. Specifically, when the measurement information includes K pieces of information, the K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the first weight vector of the digital ports included in each digital port group of the K groups of digital ports, where each group of the K groups of digital ports includes one or more digital ports among the M digital ports. And among the one or more digital ports included in each group of the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same. In this way, the feedback process of the measurement information can be simplified, and the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0452] In Example A, when the measurement information includes M pieces of information, different digital ports independently feedback the first weight vector.
[0453] The network device configures the terminal device so that each digital port independently feedbacks the first weight vector. Optionally, the network device configures the order in which the first weight vectors of different digital ports are feedback. It can also be agreed upon in a certain order, such as from smallest to largest or from largest to smallest according to the digital port index; it can also be in the order of horizontal digital ports first and then vertical digital ports or vertical first and then horizontal, etc.
[0454] As an implementation example, in Example B, when the measurement information includes K pieces of information, multiple digital ports feedback the same first weight vector.
[0455] For example, the network device configures the number of groups of digital ports (that is, configures the value of K). In other words, the network device configures one or more groups of digital ports, each group of digital ports includes one or more digital ports, and the network device configures each group of digital ports to feedback the same first weight vector.
[0456] Another example is that the network device configures the number of first weight vectors to be feedback (that is, configures the number of digital ports included in each group of the K groups of digital ports). In other words, the terminal device can feedback the same first weight vector for every c (c is a positive integer, for example, c = M / K) digital ports.
[0457] Exemplarily, for the 8 digital ports (i.e., digital ports 0 to 7) included in the network device, the network device configures the number of groups of digital ports to be 2 (i.e., the value of K is configured to be 2), or the network device configures the number of first weight vectors to be fed back to be 2 (i.e., the number of digital ports included in each of the K groups of digital ports is 4). Then, a first weight vector can be fed back by digital ports 0 to 3, and a first weight vector can be fed back by digital ports 4 to 7. Generally, if two digital ports correspond to different polarizations of an array face and feed back the same first weight vector, the terminal device does not perceive the polarization method but only perceives the digital ports.
[0458] Correspondingly, the terminal device feeds back the same first weight vector according to the digital ports with the same virtual port splitting method.
[0459] As an implementation example, in Example C, the terminal device feeds back the first weight vector of each digital port separately and also feeds back the same first weight vector corresponding to multiple digital ports.
[0460] Optionally, the measurement information satisfies any one of the following:
[0461] When the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the first condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information;
[0462] When the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the second condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information;
[0463] When the channel quality information CQI of the reference signal satisfies the third condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information;
[0464] When the CQI of the reference signal satisfies the fourth condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information.
[0465] As an implementation example, when the network device configures different Rank numbers, different digital ports in the terminal device feed back the same or different first weight vectors. Since the rank number is related to the rank of the channel, when the Rank number is large, it means that the multipath of the channel is relatively rich, so different beams can be used to cover different directions, and different digital ports can feed back different first weight vectors. Conversely, when the Rank number is small, it means that there are few channel paths, and the same first weight vector can be fed back by different digital ports. For example, the terminal device can feed back a first weight vector for different digital ports, which can save overhead.
[0466] As an implementation example, the network device configures or the protocol stipulates that when the rank number of the channel information fed back by the terminal is 1, the terminal feeds back the same first weight vector for all digital ports, that is, the terminal only needs to feed back one first weight vector for different digital ports.
[0467] As an implementation example, the network device configuration or protocol specifies that when the number of ranks is configured as N, the terminal feeds back N first weight vectors. Optionally, the terminal device feeds back the digital port index corresponding to each of the N first weight vectors.
[0468] As an implementation example, the network device configures or the protocol specifies a rank threshold. When the rank is greater than the threshold, the terminal device independently feeds back the first weight vector for each digital port; when the rank is less than the threshold, the terminal device feeds back the same first weight vector for different digital ports, that is, the terminal only needs to feed back one first weight vector for different digital ports.
[0469] As an implementation example, the network device configures or the protocol specifies a CQI threshold. When the CQI of the feedback channel information is greater than the threshold, the first weight vector is fed back for each port. When the CQI of the feedback channel information is less than the threshold, the terminal device feeds back the same first weight vector for different digital ports. CQI mainly reflects the quality of the channel. When the CQI is relatively large, it indicates that the channel quality is good, and each digital port can independently measure and determine the first weight vector; when the CQI is relatively small, it indicates that the channel quality is poor, and multiple digital ports need to jointly estimate the first weight vector, so multiple digital ports feed back one first weight vector.
[0470] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating that the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information. In this way, it can be ensured that the terminal device and the network device are clear about the information content carried by the measurement information.
[0471] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here.
[0472] In a possible implementation manner, the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first carrier, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port in the M digital ports corresponding to the first carrier. The first carrier includes one or more carriers (optionally, in the case where the first carrier includes multiple carriers, it can also be understood that the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to multiple carriers (such as the second carrier, the third carrier, etc.));
[0473] Or, the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first BWP, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port in the M digital ports corresponding to the first BWP. The first BWP includes one or more BWPs (optionally, in the case where the first BWP includes multiple BWPs, it can also be understood that the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to multiple BWPs (such as the second BWP, the third BWP, etc.));
[0474] Or the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first bandwidth, and the measurement information is used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to the first bandwidth. The first bandwidth includes one or more sub-bands (optionally, when the first bandwidth includes multiple sub-bands, it can also be understood that the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to multiple bandwidths (such as the second bandwidth, the third bandwidth, etc.)).
[0475] Specifically, the measurement information can be used to determine the first weight vector of each digital port among the M digital ports corresponding to one or more carriers (or, one or more BWPs, or one or more sub-bands), so as to improve the flexibility of scheme implementation.
[0476] Exemplarily, take the measurement information being the measurement information corresponding to the first carrier as an example.
[0477] When the first carrier includes one carrier, the terminal device can measure the channel information of the one carrier based on the reference signal in step S301, and the measurement information of the terminal device in step S302 is used to determine the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to the one carrier.
[0478] When the first carrier includes D (D>1) carriers, the terminal device can measure the channel information of the D carriers based on the reference signal in step S301, and the measurement information of the terminal device in step S302 is used to determine the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to the D carriers.
[0479] For example, the measurement information may include the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to one of the carriers (denoted as weight 1), and the weights of the M virtual ports corresponding to different carriers are the same, that is, the network device can determine that the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to the D carriers are all weight 1.
[0480] Another example is that the measurement information may include the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to D carriers (denoted as weight 1...weight D), and the network device can determine the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to the D carriers based on weight 1...weight D respectively.
[0481] Similarly, when the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first bandwidth (or the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to the first bandwidth), the implementation example of the measurement information being the measurement information corresponding to the first carrier can be referred to.
[0482] The above describes various implementation manners of the measurement information in step S302. As described above, in step S301, the reference signal can be at L 1 time units respectively through L1 sent by a first weight. For the convenience of understanding the solution, the following will give an exemplary description of step S301 and its related processes.
[0483] Optionally, in step S301, the L 1 time units for sending reference signals are continuous in the time domain. Since the channel information of different time units that are continuous in the time domain is strongly correlated, in this way, it can be made that the different measurement results corresponding to the reference signals of the L 1 time units can reflect the same or similar channel information as much as possible, so as to obtain measurement information with higher accuracy.
[0484] Optionally, in step S301, at least two of the L 1 time units for sending reference signals are discontinuous in the time domain.
[0485] It should be understood that in step S301, the reference signals are respectively sent through L 1 time units by L 1 first weights. It can be understood that the L 1 time units correspond one by one to the L 1 first weights. For example, the weight of the reference signal in the i-th time unit among the L 1 time units is the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights, and i ranges from 1 to L 1 .
[0486] Optionally, the reference signal on each time unit can be regarded as a reference signal, that is, the "reference signal carried on L 1 time units" can be regarded as L 1 reference signals. Correspondingly, the above method can be executed once or multiple times, that is, through one or more L 1 time units, the transceiver processes of one or more L 1 reference signals are respectively realized.
[0487] Or, the reference signals on every L 1 time units can be regarded as a reference signal, that is, the "reference signal carried on L 1 time units" can be regarded as 1 reference signal. Correspondingly, the above method can be executed once or multiple times, that is, through one or more L 1 time units, the transceiver processes of one or more reference signals are respectively realized.
[0488] It should be understood that the L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the L 1The i-th first weight among the first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among L 1 second weights and the third weight. In other words, L 1 first weights are based on L 1 second weights. Among them, different weights among the L 1 first weights can be orthogonal or non-orthogonal, which is not limited here.
[0489] It should be noted that the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among L 1 second weights and the third weight, including: the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is the product of the N 1 elements in the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and the N 1 sub-vectors in the third weight respectively.
[0490] Optionally, the product of the N 1 elements in the i-th second weight and the N 1 sub-vectors in the third weight can be the product of one element and one sub-vector. For example, when the N 1 elements are a 0 , a 1 (i.e., N 1 = 2), if f 0 , f 1 are two row vectors, then the obtained second weight is [a 0 f 0 , a 1 f 1 ; if f 0 , f 1 are two column vectors, then the obtained second weight is
[0491] Optionally, the product of the N 1 elements in the i-th second weight and the N 1 sub-vectors in the third weight can be that the N 1 sub-vectors form a diagonal matrix and then perform matrix multiplication with the vector composed of the N 1 elements. Taking N 1 as 2 for example, the N 1 sub-vectors included in the third weight are f 0 , f 1 , when f 0 , f 1 are two row vectors, and the N 1The elements are respectively a 0 , a 1 , and satisfy:
[0492]
[0493] When f 0 , f 1 are two row vectors, the N 1 elements included in the second weight are respectively a 0 , a 1 , and satisfy:
[0494]
[0495] In a possible implementation, in step S301, the reference signal sent by the network device is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports has a weight of the L 1 time units corresponding to the L 1 first weights; the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Specifically, the reference signal is respectively sent through L 1 time units by L 1 first weights, and the L 1 first weights can be the weights of the first digital port among the M digital ports. Among them, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports, that is, the L 1 time units corresponding to the virtual ports included in the first digital port have L 1 orthogonal second weights. In this way, the weights of the virtual ports included in the same digital port at different time units are orthogonal.
[0496] In this application, the virtual port can be replaced by other terms, such as analog port, virtual subarray, analog subarray, subarray, etc.
[0497] Optionally, L 1 is an integer multiple of N 1 . For example, N 1 and L 1 are equal.
[0498] Optionally, the N 1 virtual ports at the L 1The frequency domain resources occupied on different time units of a time unit are the same. In this way, the implementation complexity of transmitting and receiving reference signals on different time units can be reduced as much as possible.
[0499] Optionally, the terminal device may further receive an indication that the number of virtual ports included in the first digital port is N 1 of indication information, and / or, the terminal device may further receive an indication that the number of time units of the reference signal is L 1 of indication information. Among them, these two pieces of indication information may be carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or may be carried in other information / messages / signaling, which is not limited here.
[0500] Optionally, N 1 and L 1 are pre-configured information, which is not limited here.
[0501] It should be understood that a digital port includes one or more virtual ports (for example, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the second digital port described later includes N 2 virtual ports, etc.). It can be understood that the signal of this digital port is transmitted and received through this one or more virtual ports. For example, during signal transmission, the digital port transmits signals through this one or more virtual ports; for another example, during signal reception, the signals received by one or more virtual ports can be understood as the signals received by this digital port.
[0502] As can be seen from the description of step S301 above, the reference signal is respectively transmitted through L 1 first weights on L 1 time units, and these L 1 first weights are determined by the second weight and the third weight. The implementation processes of the second weight and the third weight will be described exemplarily below.
[0503] In a possible implementation manner, the second weight includes N 1 elements corresponding to the N 1 virtual ports. Among them, the N 1 virtual ports included in the first digital port of M digital ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, each antenna element set includes one or more antenna elements, and these N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets. Specifically, the N 1 virtual ports included in the first digital port respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, and the N 1 elements included in the second weight are respectively used to adjust the N1 The phase of a set of antenna elements. Moreover, each set of antenna elements includes one or more antenna elements. In other words, the N 1 elements included in the second weight are used to adjust the phases of the antenna elements corresponding to different virtual ports in the digital port, that is, L 1 orthogonal second weights are used to achieve orthogonality of the phases of the sets of antenna elements corresponding to different virtual ports.
[0504] In a possible implementation, the third weight includes N 1 sub-vectors. The dimension of the P-th sub-vector among the N 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the P-th set of antenna elements among the N 1 sets of antenna elements, where P ranges from 1 to N 1 . Specifically, the dimension of the P-th sub-vector among the N 1 sub-vectors included in the third weight is the same as the number of antenna elements in the P-th set of antenna elements among the N 1 sets of antenna elements. In this way, the third weight can correspond to the weights of each set of antenna elements among the N 1 sets of antenna elements respectively.
[0505] In a possible implementation, the third weight is determined by the network device according to the beam measurement results fed back by the terminal device (for example, reference signal received power, RSRP). When the network device sends a reference signal for beam management, different analog weights are used for weighting. After the terminal measures, it feeds back the corresponding measurement results. The third weight can be the transmission analog weight corresponding to the reference signal with the maximum RSRP in the feedback results, or the transmission analog weight corresponding to a certain reference signal in the feedback results. Exemplarily, the third weight can be determined by other reference signals. For example, after the network device sends the other reference signal through different beams (or different weights), the terminal device can feed back multiple signal quality information based on the different beams. Correspondingly, the network device can determine the third weight based on the signal quality information with the best signal quality among the multiple signal quality information, or the network device can determine the third weight based on the signal quality information greater than the threshold among the multiple signal quality information, or the network device can determine the third weight based on the quality (such as RSRP) of one or more reference signals fed back by the terminal.
[0506] Optionally, the dimension of the first weight is the same as that of the third weight, that is, the first weight used to send the reference signal can determine the weights of each set of antenna elements among the N 1 sets of antenna elements.
[0507] Exemplarily, taking the N virtual ports included in the first digital port as an example. 1 In the k-th time unit among L 1 (L 1 = N 1 ) time units, the k-th second weight w′ of the L 1 second weights can be expressed as: k can be expressed as:
[0508] w′ k = [w 1,k w 2,k … w N,k ′;
[0509] Wherein, w′ k is an N 1 × 1 vector, corresponding to the phase information of the N 1 virtual sub-arrays at the k-th time unit. As mentioned above, the reference signal transmitted by the first digital port can be carried on L 1 (L 1 = N 1 ) time units, then the L 1 time units correspond to N 1 second weights and can be expressed as:
[0510]
[0511] Wherein, respectively represent the L 1 second weights on the L 1 (L 1 = N 1 ) time units, and the L 1 (L 1 = N 1 ) second weights are orthogonal to each other.
[0512] Exemplarily, the matrix W can be a DFT matrix or a Hadamard matrix. For example, the columns of the matrix W represent different time units (i.e., the matrix W includes L 1 columns), and the rows represent the different virtual ports included in one digital port (i.e., the matrix W includes N 1 rows). Taking the DFT matrix as an example, the matrix W satisfies:
[0513]
[0514] Wherein, each element w x , y represents the phase information of the virtual sub-array y at symbol x (i.e., x is the column index of the matrix and y is the row index of the matrix), where e is the natural constant, j is the imaginary symbol, and N 1 is the number of virtual ports.
[0515] Of course, it can also be a Hadamard matrix. For example, the first-order Hadamard matrix can be expressed as H 1 = [1].
[0516] The second-order Hadamard matrix can be expressed as
[0517] The fourth-order Hadamard matrix can be expressed as .
[0518] The n-order Hadamard matrix is where n is 2 to the power of z and z is a positive integer.
[0519] For example Figure 4a , as an application example, assume that the first digital port is split into 2 virtual ports, that is, the first digital port includes 2 (i.e., N 1 = 2) virtual ports, then it needs to be sent in 2 (i.e., L 1 = N 1 = 2) time units. Then the second weights of the two virtual ports in these 2 time units are [+1 +1] and [+1 -1] respectively. As follows Figure 5 shown:
[0520] In time domain unit 1, the second weights of the 2 virtual ports are +1 and +1 respectively.
[0521] In time domain unit 2, the second weights of the 2 virtual ports are +1 and -1 respectively.
[0522] For example Figure 4b , as another application example, assume that the first digital port is split into 4 virtual ports, that is, the first digital port includes 4 (i.e., N 1 = 4) virtual ports, then it needs to be sent in 4 (i.e., L 1 = N 1 = 4) time units. Then the second weights of the 4 virtual ports in these 4 time units can be [+1 +1 +1 +1], [+1 -1 +1 -1], [+1 +1 -1 -1], [+1 -1 -1 +1] respectively; or they can be [+1 +1 +1 +1], [+1 -j +1 +j], [-1 +1 -1 +1], [+1 -j -1 +j] respectively.
[0523] Taking the Hadamard matrix as an example,
[0524] In time domain unit 1, the second weights of the 4 virtual ports are +1, +1, +1, +1 respectively.
[0525] In time domain unit 2, the second weights of the 4 virtual ports are +1, -1, +1, -1 respectively.
[0526] In time domain unit 3, the second weights of the 4 virtual ports are +1, +1, -1, -1 respectively.
[0527] In time domain unit 4, the second weights of the 4 virtual ports are +1, -1, -1, +1 respectively.
[0528] It should be understood that the L 1 second weights are orthogonal. It can be understood that any two of the L 1 second weights are orthogonal to each other, or different second weights among the L 1 second weights are pairwise orthogonal. For example, in the above Figure 4a , the L 1 second weights include the second weights "+1, +1" on time domain unit 1 and the second weights "+1, -1" on time domain unit 2, and these 2 (i.e., L 1 = 2) second weights are orthogonal to each other. Another example, in the above Hadamard matrix, the L 1 second weights include the second weights "+1, +1, +1, +1" on time domain unit 1, the second weights "+1, -1, +1, -1" on time domain unit 2, the second weights "+1, +1, -1, -1" on time domain unit 3, and the second weights "+1, -1, -1, +1" on time domain unit 4, and these 4 (i.e., L 1 = 4) second weights are pairwise orthogonal.
[0529] Optionally, if M is greater than 1, the phase information of each virtual port included in each digital port among the M digital ports can be configured independently, or the phase information of the virtual sub-arrays with the same configuration among the M digital ports can be configured.
[0530] Based on the above technical solution, the reference signals received by the terminal device in step S301 are respectively transmitted through the L 1 first weights on L 1 time units, and the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among the L 1 second weights and the third weight. The L 1 second weights are orthogonal. In other words, the reference signals transmitted on the L 1 time units are transmitted through the mutually orthogonal L 1sent by a second weight value. In this way, the measurement of the reference signals carried on different time units by the terminal device is relatively independent, and then L 1 relatively independent channel information is obtained to obtain more accurate measurement information.
[0531] As can be seen from the above implementation process, in step S301, the reference signal can be sent through M digital ports, and M can have multiple value-taking methods, which will be introduced below in combination with some implementation examples.
[0532] Example 1, M takes the value of 1.
[0533] In Example 1, when M takes the value of 1, the reference signal can be sent through a digital port (i.e., the first digital port), so that the solution is applicable to the scenario where the network device configures a single digital port, and the transmission and measurement of the reference signal of the virtual port included in the single digital port are realized.
[0534] As described above, when M takes the value of 1, the M digital ports are the first digital port. And, the first digital port includes N 1 virtual ports, and the reference signal sent by the first digital port is respectively sent through L 1 weight values on L 1 time units. For example, N 1 is equal to L 1 .
[0535] Optionally, the L 1 time units are continuous in the time domain.
[0536] Optionally, when the L 1 time units are L 1 symbols, the specific time domain symbol positions occupied by the L 1 symbols in a time slot can be configured by the network device (such as the configuration information of the reference signal described above), for example, configuring the start position of the L 1 symbols, configuring the value of L 1 , etc.
[0537] Optionally, on the L 1 time units, the number of frequency domain resources occupied by different time units can be the same.
[0538] As an implementation example of Example 1, as Figure 5 shown, taking the first digital port including 2 (i.e., N 1 = 2) virtual ports as an example, the resources for sending the reference signal through the first digital port can include Figure 5 2 REs in. In other words, the 2 REs include 2 (i.e., L1 = 2) symbols, including one sub - carrier in the frequency domain. In Figure 5 In the example shown, the reference signal is sent through the first digital port over 2 symbols. It should be understood that Figure 5 the code sequence encodings on the first symbol and the second symbol in
[0539] As another implementation example of Example 1, as shown in Figure 6 taking the first digital port including 4 (i.e., N 1 = 4) virtual ports as an example, the resources for sending the reference signal through this first digital port may include Figure 6 the 4 REs in 1 = 4) symbols, including one sub - carrier in the frequency domain. In Figure 6 In the example shown, the reference signal is sent through the first digital port over 4 symbols. It should be understood that in Figure 6 among the 4 symbols, the code sequence encodings on different symbols may all be “+1” and are sent through the code sequence encoding of all 1s, that is, there is no code - division multiplexing of digital ports.
[0540] Optionally, multiple time units for sending the reference signal through this first digital port may be in the same time slot. For example, Figure 5 the 2 symbols in Figure 5 and the 4 symbols in Figure 5 the 2 REs in Figure 5 and the 4 REs in
[0541] Optionally, multiple time units for sending the reference signal through this first digital port, and / or, multiple resources for sending the reference signal through this first digital port, may be sent through the configuration information of the network device. For example, it may be configured by the configuration of the reference signal sent by the network device.
[0542] Example 2, M takes a value greater than 1.
[0543] In Example 2, when M is greater than 1, the reference signal can be transmitted through two or more digital ports (i.e., the first digital port and other digital ports), enabling the solution to be applicable to scenarios where the network device is configured with two or more digital ports, and realizing the transmission and measurement of the reference signal of the virtual ports included in the two or more digital ports.
[0544] In Example 2, in addition to the first digital port, the M digital ports may further include other digital ports, such as the second digital port. Among them, the second digital port includes N 2 virtual ports; among them, the reference signal is respectively transmitted through L 2 time units by L 2 fourth weights, where L 2 is an integer greater than 1; the j-th fourth weight among the L 2 fourth weights is obtained by the j-th fifth weight among the L 2 fifth weights and the sixth weight, and the L 2 fifth weights are orthogonal. In other words, the reference signals transmitted in the L 2 time units are transmitted by L 2 mutually orthogonal fifth weights. In this way, the measurement of the reference signals carried on different time units by the terminal device is relatively independent, and then L 1 relatively independent channel information is obtained to obtain more accurate measurement information.
[0545] Optionally, L 1 is equal to L 2 . Among them, the L 1 time units and the L 2 time units may be the same time units, that is, the time domain resources for the first digital port in the M digital ports to transmit the reference signal and the time domain resources for the second digital port to transmit the reference signal may be the same. In this way, the same time units can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce the implementation complexity.
[0546] Optionally, L 1 is equal to L 2 . Among them, the L 1 time units and the L 2 time units may be the same frequency domain units, that is, the frequency domain resources for the first digital port in the M digital ports to transmit the reference signal and the frequency domain resources for the second digital port to transmit the reference signal may be the same. In this way, the same frequency domain units can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce the implementation complexity.
[0547] Optionally, N1 Equal to N 2 That is, the number of virtual ports included in the first digital port among the M digital ports can be the same as the number of virtual ports included in the second digital port. In this way, the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0548] It should be noted that the implementation process of the second digital port can refer to the implementation process of the first digital port in the previous text. For example, L 2 The correspondence between L 2 time units and L 1 time units and L 1 the first weights can be referred to, and the correspondence between L 2 the fourth weights and L 2 the fifth weights can be referred to the correspondence between L 1 the first weights and L 1 the second weights, etc.
[0549] In addition, in the second example, when M is greater than 1, there are multiple implementation methods for the resources of the reference signal. For example, the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the following Method 1 to Method 3, and these methods will be described exemplarily below.
[0550] Method 1: In the resources of the reference signal, the time-domain resources and frequency-domain resources for transmitting the reference signal by different digital ports among the M digital ports are the same, and different digital ports among the M digital ports are code-division multiplexed, and the digital ports are distinguished by orthogonal codes. In other words, in Method 1, the M digital ports can share time-frequency resources, and the M digital ports use frequency-domain code division (i.e., FD-CDM#M), and it can be expressed that there are M digital ports in a CDM group.
[0551] Optionally, for any one of the M digital ports, the number of virtual ports included in the any one digital port can be equal to the number of time units occupied by the any one digital port (for example, L 1 is equal to N 1 and L 2 is equal to N 2 and they are equal).
[0552] As an implementation example of Method 1, as Figure 7 shown, taking the first digital port and the second digital port both including 4 (i.e., N 1 = N 2 = 4) virtual ports as an example, the resources for transmitting the reference signal through the first digital port can include Figure 7 the 8 REs corresponding to "Digital Port 0" inFigure 7 Eight REs corresponding to "Digital Port 1" in Figure 7 . In other words, these eight REs include 4 (i.e., L 1 = 4) symbols in the time domain and two subcarriers in the frequency domain. In Figure 7 the example shown in Figure 7 , for the four symbols, the orthogonal cover code (OCC) codes encoded by the code sequences corresponding to Digital Port 0 are "+1" and "-1", and the OCC codes encoded by the code sequences corresponding to Digital Port 1 are "+1" and "+1". That is, through two OCCs, two digital ports are corresponding. Since it is the orthogonal OCC code of 2 REs in the frequency domain, this type of code division multiplexing is called FD-CDM2.
[0553] It can be understood that the implementation process of the orthogonal codes between different digital ports can refer to the description in Table 1 and related implementation examples in the previous text.
[0554] Method 2: In the resources of the reference signal, the time domain resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal are the same, the frequency domain resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal are different, and there is no code division multiplexing (no-CDM) among different digital ports among the M digital ports. In other words, among the M digital ports, the resources of different digital ports are frequency division, and the digital ports are distinguished by frequency division.
[0555] In a possible implementation of Method 2, in the resources of the reference signal, the resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal include M different frequency domain units in the frequency domain. Specifically, M is greater than 1. When the frequency domain resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal are different and there is no code division multiplexing among different digital ports among the M digital ports, the resources for different digital ports to send the reference signal include M different frequency domain units in the frequency domain. In this way, without code division multiplexing, different digital ports can send reference signals on different frequency domain resources, which can improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation. The frequency domain unit may include one or more subcarriers or REs.
[0556] Optionally, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating the M different frequency domain units, so that the terminal device can clarify the resource positions of each frequency domain unit based on the indication information. Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here. For example, the configuration information can configure the starting RE position of the frequency domain of each digital port, and different digital ports can occupy different frequency domain resources.
[0557] As an implementation example of Method 2, such as Figure 8As shown, taking the four digital ports including digital port 0, digital port 1, digital port 2, and digital port 3 in the figure as an example for the M digital ports, the first digital port and the second digital port can be any two different digital ports among the four digital ports. In this example, assuming that each digital port contains two virtual port numbers, and assuming that the number of time domain units is the same as the number of virtual port numbers, then each digital port occupies two REs in the time domain. Additionally, assuming that each digital port occupies 1 RE in the frequency domain, then each digital port occupies a total of 2 REs. The 4 digital ports can sequentially occupy the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th frequency domain REs in a resource block (RB). In Figure 8 In the example shown, there is no code division multiplexing (no-CDM) (or rather, code division multiplexing is not adopted) among different digital ports in the M digital ports.
[0558] Optionally, for the same digital port, the frequency domain resources occupied by several virtual ports included in the same digital port are the same in different time units. In this way, the implementation complexity can be reduced.
[0559] Optionally, for different digital ports among the M digital ports, the number of virtual ports of the different digital ports can be the same.
[0560] Method 3: In the resources of the reference signal, the M digital ports belong to Q groups of digital ports, each group of digital ports includes one or more digital ports, and Q is a positive integer; among them, the frequency domain resources for different groups of digital ports in the Q groups of digital ports to send the reference signal are different, the frequency domain resources for one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports in the Q groups of digital ports to send the reference signal are the same, and one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports send in a code division multiplexing (CDM) manner. Optionally, the code division multiplexing type for one or more digital ports included in the same group of digital ports is frequency domain code division multiplexing.
[0561] In a possible implementation manner of Method 3, in the resources of the reference signal, the resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal all include the same M frequency domain units in the frequency domain. Specifically, when M is greater than 1, in the case where the time domain resources and frequency domain resources for different digital ports among the M digital ports to send the reference signal are the same, and different digital ports are code division multiplexed, the resources for different digital ports to send the reference signal all include the same M frequency domain units in the frequency domain. In this way, it can be enabled that different digital ports send reference signals in a code division multiplexing manner on the same frequency domain units, and the same frequency domain units can be reused as much as possible to save communication resources and reduce the implementation complexity.
[0562] As an implementation example of Method 3, for example Figure 9 shown, taking the M digital ports including the digital port 0, digital port 1, digital port 2, and digital port 3 in the figure as an example, the first digital port and the second digital port can be any two different digital ports among these four digital ports. In this example, the M digital ports are first mapped to the measurement resources in ascending order of the OCC sequence index within the CDM group, and then in ascending order of the CDM group index. Assume that 2 CDM groups are configured, and each CDM group includes M / 2 digital ports. That is, digital ports 0 to M / 2 - 1 belong to the first CDM group (i.e., CDM group 0 including digital port 0 and digital port 1 shown in the figure), and digital ports M / 2 to M belong to the second CDM group (i.e., CDM group 1 including digital port 2 and digital port 3 shown in the figure).
[0563] Moreover, in this example, digital port 0 and digital port 1 occupy the same time-frequency resource, belong to CDM group 0, and the two digital ports are frequency-domain code division multiplexed FD-CDM2; digital port 2 and digital port 3 occupy the same time-frequency resource, belong to CDM group 1, and the two digital ports are frequency-domain code division multiplexed FD-CDM2; there is frequency division resource between digital port 0 and digital port 1 and digital port 2 and digital port 3, that is, they occupy different frequency-domain resources. Each digital port includes two virtual ports, occupies two time-domain symbols, and each digital port occupies two REs in the frequency domain.
[0564] It can be understood that in Figure 9 the example shown, on 2 symbols, different digital ports within the same CDM group can be code division multiplexed on the same symbol. For example, on the first symbol, in CDM 0, the OCC codes encoded by the code sequences corresponding to digital port 0 are “+1” and “-1”, and the OCC codes encoded by the code sequences corresponding to digital port 1 are “+1” and “+1”; in CDM 1, the OCC codes encoded by the code sequences corresponding to digital port 2 are “+1” and “-1”, and the OCC codes encoded by the code sequences corresponding to digital port 3 are “+1” and “+1”.
[0565] Optionally, in Example 2, when M is greater than 1, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information indicating that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above Method 1 to Method 3. In this way, the terminal device can clarify the resource configuration method of different digital ports among the M digital ports based on the indication information.
[0566] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the configuration information of the reference signal, or other messages / information / signaling, etc., which is not limited here. Or, the terminal device determines that the resources of the reference signal satisfy one of the above Method 1 to Method 3 through pre-configuration.
[0567] Please refer to Figure 10 , an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 1000. The communication device 1000 can implement the functions of the terminal device (or network device) in the above method embodiment, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiment. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 1000 can be a terminal device (or network device), or an integrated circuit or component inside the terminal device (or network device), such as a chip. The following embodiments will be described by taking the communication device 1000 as a terminal device or a network device as an example.
[0568] In a possible implementation manner, when the device 1000 is used to execute the method performed by the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, the device 1000 includes a processing unit 1001 and a transceiver unit 1002; the transceiver unit 1002 is used to receive a reference signal, and the reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the processing unit 1001 is used to determine measurement information, and the transceiver unit 1002 is further used to send the measurement information, and the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal sent through the first digital port; among them, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports, and the first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port.
[0569] In a possible implementation manner, when the device 1000 is used to execute the method performed by the network device in the foregoing embodiment, the device 1000 includes a processing unit 1001 and a transceiver unit 1002; the processing unit 1001 is used to determine a reference signal, and the transceiver unit is used to send the reference signal, and the reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the transceiver unit 1002 is further used to receive measurement information, and the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal sent through the first digital port; among them, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports.
[0570] It should be noted that for the information execution process and other contents of the units of the communication device 1000 described above, please refer to the description in the method embodiments shown above in this application, and details are not elaborated here.
[0571] Please refer to Figure 11 , which is another schematic structural diagram of the communication device 1100 provided in this application. The communication device 1100 includes a logic circuit 1101 and an input / output interface 1102. Among them, the communication device 1100 can be a chip or an integrated circuit.
[0572] Among them, Figure 10 the shown transceiver unit 1002 can be a communication interface, and this communication interface can be Figure 11 the input / output interface 1102 in
[0573] Optionally, the input / output interface 1102 is used to receive a reference signal, and this reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the logic circuit 1101 is used to determine measurement information, and the input / output interface 1102 is also used to send the measurement information, and this measurement information includes the first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal sent through the first digital port; among them, this first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports, and this first information is used to determine the weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port. Among them, the logic circuit 1101 and the input / output interface 1102 can also execute other steps performed by the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, and details are not elaborated here.
[0574] Optionally, the logic circuit 1101 is used to determine a reference signal, and the transceiver unit is used to send the reference signal, and this reference signal is sent through M digital ports, where M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port among the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the input / output interface 1102 is also used to receive measurement information, and this measurement information includes the first information obtained by measuring based on the reference signal sent through the first digital port; among them, this first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1The channel information is respectively determined by the reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports. Among them, the logic circuit 1101 and the input / output interface 1102 can also perform the other steps performed by the network device in the foregoing embodiments and achieve the corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be elaborated here.
[0575] In a possible implementation manner, Figure 10 the processing unit 1001 shown may be Figure 11 the logic circuit 1101 in.
[0576] Optionally, the logic circuit 1101 may be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device may be implemented partially or entirely by software. Among them, the functions of the processing device may be implemented partially or entirely by software.
[0577] Optionally, the processing device may include a memory and a processor. Among them, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding processing and / or steps in any method embodiment.
[0578] Optionally, the processing device may only include a processor. The memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory through a circuit / wire to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. Among them, the memory and the processor may be integrated together, or may also be physically independent of each other.
[0579] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system on chips (SoCs), central processor units (CPUs), network processors (NPs), digital signal processing circuits (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors, etc.
[0580] Please refer to Figure 12, the communication device 1200 involved in the above embodiments provided for the embodiments of the present application. The communication device 1200 may specifically be the communication device acting as a terminal device in the above embodiments. Figure 12 The example shown is implemented by a terminal device (or a component in the terminal device).
[0581] Among them, a possible schematic logical structure diagram of the communication device 1200. The communication device 1200 may include but is not limited to at least one processor 1201 and a communication port 1202.
[0582] Further optionally, the device may further include at least one of a memory 1203 and a bus 1204. In the embodiments of the present application, the at least one processor 1201 is used to control and process the actions of the communication device 1200.
[0583] In addition, the processor 1201 may be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array, or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of the present application. The processor may also be a combination that realizes computing functions, such as a combination including one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and so on. Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and conciseness of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be elaborated herein.
[0584] It should be noted that Figure 12 the communication device 1200 shown may specifically be used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. Figure 12 For the specific implementation manners of the communication device shown, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, and details will not be repeated here.
[0585] Please refer to Figure 13 , a schematic structural diagram of the communication device 1300 involved in the above embodiments provided for the embodiments of the present application. The communication device 1300 may specifically be the communication device acting as a network device in the above embodiments. Figure 13 The example shown is implemented by a network device (or a component in the network device). Among them, the structure of the communication device may refer to Figure 13 the structure shown.
[0586] The communication device 1300 includes at least one processor 1311 and at least one network interface 1314. Further optionally, the communication device further includes at least one memory 1312, at least one transceiver 1313, and one or more antennas 1315. The processor 1311, the memory 1312, the transceiver 1313, and the network interface 1314 are connected, for example, through a bus. In the embodiments of the present application, this connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this. The antenna 1315 is connected to the transceiver 1313. The network interface 1314 is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 1314 may include a network interface between the communication device and a core network device, such as an S1 interface. The network interface may include a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.
[0587] The processor 1311 is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, and to control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process the data of software programs. For example, it is used to support the communication device to perform the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processor. The baseband processor is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor is mainly used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process the data of software programs. Figure 13 The processor 1311 in [description] may integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processor. Those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processor may also be independent processors, interconnected through technologies such as a bus. Those skilled in the art can understand that the terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network modes, the terminal device may include multiple central processors to enhance its processing ability, and various components of the terminal device may be connected through various buses. The baseband processor may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processor may also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data may be built into the processor or stored in the memory in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to implement the baseband processing function.
[0588] The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The memory 1312 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 1311. Optionally, the memory 1312 may be integrated with the processor 1311, for example, integrated within a single chip. Among them, the memory 1312 can store the program code for implementing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 1311 to execute. Various computer program codes that are executed can also be regarded as the driver programs of the processor 1311.
[0589] Figure 13 Only one memory and one processor are shown. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, and the embodiments of the present application do not make any limitations thereto.
[0590] The transceiver 1313 may be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the communication device and the terminal. The transceiver 1313 may be connected to the antenna 1315. The transceiver 1313 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 1315 may receive radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1313 is used to receive the radio frequency signals from the antenna, convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provide the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to the processor 1311 so that the processor 1311 can further process the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, such as demodulation processing and decoding processing. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 1313 is also used to receive the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals from the processor 1311, convert the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals into radio frequency signals, and transmit the radio frequency signals through one or more antennas 1315. Specifically, the receiver Rx may selectively perform one-stage or multi-stage down-conversion processing and analog-to-digital conversion processing on the radio frequency signals to obtain digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and the order of the down-conversion processing and the analog-to-digital conversion processing is adjustable. The transmitter Tx may selectively perform one-stage or multi-stage up-conversion processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing on the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain radio frequency signals, and the order of the up-conversion processing and the digital-to-analog conversion processing is adjustable. The digital baseband signals and the digital intermediate frequency signals may be collectively referred to as digital signals.
[0591] The transceiver 1313 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the devices used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver unit may be regarded as a receiving unit, and the devices used to implement the sending function in the transceiver unit may be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a sending unit. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.
[0592] It should be noted that Figure 13 The shown communication device 1300 may specifically be used to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. Figure 13 For the specific implementation manners of the shown communication device 1300, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.
[0593] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in the possible implementation manners of the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the foregoing embodiments.
[0594] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product (or a computer program). When the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method of the possible implementation manners of the foregoing communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).
[0595] The embodiments of the present application further provide a chip system. The chip system includes at least one processor for supporting the communication device to implement the functions involved in the possible implementation manners of the foregoing communication device. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit, and the interface circuit provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor. In a possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing the necessary program instructions and data of the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices, where the communication device may specifically be the terminal device or the network device in the foregoing method embodiments.
[0596] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system. The network system architecture includes the terminal device and the network device in any of the foregoing embodiments.
[0597] In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the displayed or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection to each other may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of the device or unit may be in an electrical, mechanical, or other form.
[0598] 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 may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.
[0599] In addition, each functional unit in various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, 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 a software functional unit. If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that makes a contribution, or all or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memories (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memories (RAM, Random Access Memory), magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.
Claims
1. A communication method, characterized in that, comprising: Receive a reference signal, where the reference signal is transmitted through M digital ports, and M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port of the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; Send measurement information, where the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring based on a reference signal sent through the first digital port; wherein, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by reference signals sent through the N 1 virtual ports, and the first information is used to determine weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port.
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, and the first weight vector includes N 1 elements; Among them, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, each of the antenna element sets includes one or more antenna elements, and the N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets.
3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, including: The weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained by the first weight vector and the second weight vector, and the second weight vector includes N 1 sub-vectors; wherein, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector in the N 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set among the N 1 antenna element sets, and the value range of T is from 1 to N 1 .
4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, the first information satisfies any one of the following: the first information includes a quantization processing result of the first weight vector; The first information includes one of the N 1 elements corresponding to one of the N 1 virtual ports, and, in addition to the one virtual port, the quantization processing results corresponding to the differences between the N 1 -1 elements corresponding to the other N 1 -1 virtual ports and the one 1 element; the first information includes a first index and a second index, and the first index and the second index are used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set; wherein, the first index is a codebook index in the first dimension, the second index is a codebook index in the second dimension, and among the one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set, each weight vector is determined by a weight in the first dimension and a weight in the second dimension; the first information includes a third index, and the third index is used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set.
5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, the method further comprises: receiving second information, the second information is used to determine the codebook set, the codebook set is determined by port information of virtual ports in one or more digital ports, and the port information of virtual ports in any digital port includes at least one of the following: The number of virtual ports included in the digital port is N 1 ; The number of virtual ports on the first dimension of the digital port is M 1 ; The number of virtual ports on the second dimension of the digital port is M 2 ; The oversampling factor on the first dimension of the digital port is O 1 ; The oversampling factor on the second dimension of the digital port is O 2 .
6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, the second information satisfies at least one of the following; the second information includes port information of virtual ports included in the first digital port; the second information includes a fourth index, and the fourth index is used to determine port information of virtual ports included in the first digital port among port information of one or more pre-configured or predefined virtual ports; the second information includes a fifth index, and the fifth index is used to determine the codebook set among one or more pre-configured or predefined codebook sets; the second information is used to indicate partial items in the port information of virtual ports included in the first digital port, and other items in the port information of virtual ports included in the first digital port are determined by the partial items and port information of one or more pre-configured virtual ports; the second information is used to indicate the port information of virtual ports included in the first digital port, and the port information of the virtual ports is used to determine the codebook set among one or more pre-configured or predefined codebook sets.
7. The method according to claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information; the M pieces of information are respectively used to determine the weights of virtual ports in the M digital ports; and one of the M pieces of information is the first information; The K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the weights of the virtual ports in K groups of digital ports, where each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports includes one or more digital ports among the M digital ports, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M; one of the K pieces of information is the first information.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein, the measurement information satisfies any one of the following: when the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the first condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information; when the rank number of the reference signal satisfies the second condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information; when the channel quality information CQI of the reference signal satisfies the third condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information; when the CQI of the reference signal satisfies the fourth condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information.
9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein, the method further includes: receiving indication information indicating that the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information.
10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein, among the one or more digital ports included in each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same.
11. A communication method, wherein, includes: Transmit a reference signal, where the reference signal is transmitted through M digital ports, and M is a positive integer; among them, the first digital port of the M digital ports includes N 1 virtual ports, and N 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1; Receive measurement information, where the measurement information includes first information obtained by measuring based on a reference signal transmitted through the first digital port; wherein, the first information is determined based on N 1 channel information, and the N 1 channel information is respectively determined by reference signals transmitted through the N 1 virtual ports.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, and the first weight vector includes N 1 elements; Among them, the N 1 virtual ports respectively correspond to N 1 antenna element sets, each of the antenna element sets includes one or more antenna elements, and the N 1 elements are respectively used to adjust the phases of the N 1 antenna element sets.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, The weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained through a first weight vector, including: The weights of the N 1 virtual ports in the first digital port are obtained by the first weight vector and the second weight vector, and the second weight vector includes N 1 sub-vectors; wherein, the dimension of the T-th sub-vector in the N 1 sub-vectors is the same as the number of antenna elements in the T-th antenna element set among the N 1 antenna element sets, and the value range of T is from 1 to N 1 .
14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein, the first information satisfies any one of the following: the first information includes the quantization processing result of the first weight vector; The first information includes one of the N 1 elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and, except for the one virtual port, the quantization processing results corresponding to the differences between the N 1 elements corresponding to the other N-1 virtual ports and the one element; 1 The first information includes one of the N 1 elements corresponding to one of the N virtual ports, and, except for the one virtual port, the quantization processing results corresponding to the differences between the N 1 elements corresponding to the other N-1 virtual ports and the one element; the first information includes a first index and a second index, and the first index and the second index are used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set; wherein, the first index is the codebook index in the first dimension, and the second index is the codebook index in the second dimension. Among the one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set, each weight vector is determined by the weight in the first dimension and the weight in the second dimension; the first information includes a third index, and the third index is used to determine the first weight vector of the first digital port among one or more weight vectors included in the codebook set.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, the method further includes: sending second information, where the second information is used to determine the codebook set, and the codebook set is determined by the port information of the virtual ports in one or more digital ports. The port information of the virtual ports in any digital port includes at least one of the following: The number of virtual ports included in the digital port is N 1 ; The number of virtual ports on the first dimension of the digital port is M 1 ; The number of virtual ports on the second dimension of the digital port is M 2 ; The oversampling factor on the first dimension of the digital port is O 1 ; The oversampling factor on the second dimension of the digital port is O 2 .
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein, the second information satisfies at least one of the following; the second information includes the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port; The second information includes a fourth index, which is used to determine the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port from the port information of one or more pre-configured or pre-defined virtual ports; The second information includes a fifth index, which is used to determine the codebook set from one or more pre-configured or pre-defined codebook sets; The second information is used to indicate partial items in the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port, and other items in the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port are determined by the partial items and the port information of one or more pre-configured virtual ports; The second information is used to indicate the port information of the virtual ports included in the first digital port, and the port information of the virtual ports is used to determine the codebook set from one or more pre-configured or pre-defined codebook sets.
17. The method according to claims 11 to 16, wherein, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information The M pieces of information are respectively used to determine the weights of the virtual ports in the M digital ports; one of the M pieces of information is the first information; The K pieces of information are respectively used to determine the weights of the virtual ports in K groups of digital ports, where each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports includes one or more of the M digital ports, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M; one of the K pieces of information is the first information.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein, the measurement information satisfies any one of the following: when the rank number of the reference signal satisfies a first condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information; when the rank number of the reference signal satisfies a second condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information; when the channel quality information CQI of the reference signal satisfies a third condition, the measurement information includes the M pieces of information; when the CQI of the reference signal satisfies a fourth condition, the measurement information includes the K pieces of information.
19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein, the method further includes: sending indication information indicating that the measurement information includes the M pieces of information and / or the K pieces of information.
20. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein, in one or more digital ports included in each group of digital ports in the K groups of digital ports, the port information of the virtual ports of different digital ports is the same.
21. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein, the measurement information satisfies at least one of the following: the measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to a first carrier, and the measurement information is used to determine the weights of the virtual ports of the M digital ports corresponding to the first carrier, and the first carrier includes one or more carriers; The measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to a first bandwidth part (BWP), and the measurement information is used to determine the weights of the virtual ports of M digital ports corresponding to the first BWP. The first BWP includes one or more BWPs. The measurement information is the measurement information corresponding to a first bandwidth, and the measurement information is used to determine the weights of the virtual ports of M digital ports corresponding to the first bandwidth. The first bandwidth includes one or more sub-bands.
22. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 21, characterized in that The reference signal is respectively transmitted by L 1 first weights over L 1 time units, where L 1 is an integer greater than 1; the i-th first weight among the L 1 first weights is obtained by the i-th second weight among L 1 second weights and a third weight, and the L 1 second weights are orthogonal, and the value range of i is from 1 to L 1 .
23. A communication device, characterized in that it includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.
24. A communication device, characterized in that it includes at least one processor, and the at least one processor is coupled to a memory; the at least one processor is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.
25. The communication device according to claim 24, characterized in that the communication device is a chip or a chip system.
26. A readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed by a communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22 is implemented.