Communication method and device

Abstract

A communication method and device relate to the technical field of communication. The method comprises the following steps: receiving first information used for indicating M groups of first components and second information used for indicating R first coefficients, and obtaining a weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients; any group of first components in the M groups of first components comprises at least one first component, each first component comprises the same element number, and the element number of one first component is greater than or equal to 2. In the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements of each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix, and the sum (hereinafter denoted as Z) of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements of each group of first components is smaller than the number of elements of the weight matrix. In the process, the first information can indicate Z numerical values, and as Z is smaller than the element number of the weight matrix, compared with a mode of indicating each element of the weight matrix, the network overhead can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to communication methods and devices. Background Art

[0002] In an area with poor signal coverage of a network device, when the signal transmitted through the line of sight (LOS) path from the network device to the terminal is blocked by an object, the signal sent by the network device needs to be transmitted to the terminal through a non-line of sight (NLOS) path. Among them, the LOS path transmission is, for example, a direct line-of-sight transmission without obstruction between the network device and the terminal. Since the energy of the signal will be weakened after being transmitted through the NLOS path, the signal strength is weaker than that of the signal transmitted through the LOS path, which is not conducive to the terminal receiving and processing. In the above scenario, the amplitude and phase of the signal received by the network device can be adjusted. For example, the transmission path of the signal can be changed so as to reflect the signal to the desired receiving direction of the terminal.

[0003] One solution is that the network device sends phase information to the nodes in the network, so that the nodes in the network adjust the phase of the signal from the network device, and the signal is reflected to the desired receiving direction of the terminal. Among them, the phase information includes the phases corresponding to the array elements included in the node. Since the signaling overhead for indicating the phase information of the nodes in the network is related to the scale of the antenna array elements of the nodes in the network, and the scale of the antenna array elements is generally large, when the network device uses the above method to indicate the phase information to the nodes in the network, the signaling overhead of the network device is large. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The communication methods and devices provided in this application can reduce the signaling overhead of the network device.

[0005] To achieve the above object, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, and this method can be executed by a node in the network. The node in the network here can refer to the node itself in the network, or can refer to a processor, module, logical node, chip, or chip system, etc. in the node in the network that implements this method. Exemplarily, the node in the network is a terminal or an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS).

[0007] The method includes: receiving first information for indicating M groups of first components and second information for indicating R first coefficients, and obtaining a weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients. Wherein, R is an integer greater than or equal to 1; any one of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component; in any one group of first components, each first component includes the same number of elements; the number of elements of a first component is greater than or equal to 2; among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements of each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix; and the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements of each group of first components is less than the number of elements of the weight matrix.

[0008] Based on the method provided in the above first aspect, a node in the network can receive first information for indicating M groups of first components and second information for indicating R first coefficients to obtain a weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients. In the above process, the first information can indicate Z values, where Z is equal to the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements of each group of first components. Since Z is less than the number of elements of the weight matrix, compared with the way of indicating each element of the weight matrix, the method provided in the first aspect can reduce the signaling overhead of network devices. It can be understood that the product of the number of each group of first components and the number of elements of each group of first components is equal to the number of elements of the M groups of first components (such as the sum of the number of elements of each first component in the M groups of first components).

[0009] In a possible implementation manner, obtaining a weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients includes: selecting M first components from the M groups of first components respectively for component operations multiple times, multiplying the result of each component operation by the corresponding first coefficient and then adding them together to obtain the weight matrix, and each first component included in each group of first components participates in the component operation.

[0010] Based on the above possible implementation manner, a node in the network can fit out the weight matrix by performing component operations on the first components multiple times.

[0011] In a possible implementation manner, the component operation makes the product of the number of elements of each group of first components equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix.

[0012] Based on the above possible implementation manner, for the M groups of first components, when the product of the number of elements of each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix, it is easier to satisfy that the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements of each group of first components is less than the number of elements of the weight matrix (that is, the product of the number of elements of each group of first components).

[0013] In a possible implementation manner, at least two groups of first components among the M groups of first components include different numbers of first components.

[0014] Based on the above possible implementation manners, it is convenient to provide M groups of first components and R first coefficients with more possibilities for the nodes in the network, so that the nodes in the network can fit out the weight matrix.

[0015] In a possible implementation manner, at least two groups of the M groups of first components include the same number of first components.

[0016] Based on the above possible implementation manners, at least two groups of the M groups of first components include the same number of first components, which can enable the nodes in the network to simplify the computational complexity.

[0017] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: M or the number of first components included in any group of first components or the number of elements of the first components included in any group of first components.

[0018] Based on the above possible implementation manners, if the first indication information indicates M, the nodes in the network can determine the number of groups of first components; if the first indication information indicates the number of first components included in any group of first components or the number of elements of the first components included in any group of first components, the nodes in the network can determine the quantization bits corresponding to the elements of each first component when the number of elements of each first component is the same.

[0019] In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information further indicates the quantization manner of the elements of the M groups of first components.

[0020] Based on the above possible implementation manners, the nodes in the network dequantize the quantization bits according to the quantization manner and the quantization bits corresponding to each element included in each first component of any of the above groups of first components, and the nodes in the network can obtain the content of each element before quantization.

[0021] In a possible implementation manner, the number of elements of the first component is preset.

[0022] Based on the above possible implementation manners, when presetting the number of elements of the first component for the nodes in the network, the data to be sent by the first indication information can be reduced, and the signaling overhead of the network device can be further reduced.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner, the sending period of the first information is the first period, and the sending period of the second information is the second period, and the first period is greater than the second period.

[0024] Based on the above possible implementation manners, when the first period is greater than the second period, the update frequency of the first information is lower than the update frequency of the second information, and the signaling overhead of the network device can be further reduced.

[0025] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device. Here, the network device can refer to the network device itself, or a processor, module, logical node, chip, or chip system in the network device that implements this method, etc.

[0026] The method includes: obtaining a weight matrix; sending a first piece of information and a second piece of information according to the weight matrix. Among them, the first piece of information is used to indicate M groups of first components, and the second piece of information is used to indicate R first coefficients. The M groups of first components and the R first coefficients are used to determine the weight matrix, where M and R are integers greater than or equal to 1; any one of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component; in any one of the first components, the number of elements included in each first component is the same; the number of elements in a first component is greater than or equal to 2; among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix; and the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix.

[0027] Based on the method provided in the above second aspect, the network device sends a first piece of information for indicating M groups of first components and a second piece of information for indicating R first coefficients, so that a device that receives the above information, such as a node in the network, can fit out the weight matrix according to the above information. In the above process, the network device can indicate Z values, where Z is equal to the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components among the M groups of first components, and Z is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix. Therefore, compared with the way that the network device indicates each element of the weight matrix, this method can reduce the signaling overhead of the network device.

[0028] In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: sending a first indication message, where the first indication message is used to indicate at least one of the following: M, the number of first components included in any one group of first components, or the number of elements included in any one group of first components.

[0029] Based on the above possible implementation manner, if the first indication message indicates M, it can enable a device that receives the first indication message, such as a node in the network, to determine the number of groups of first components; if the first indication message indicates the number of first components included in any one group of first components or the number of elements included in any one group of first components, it can enable a device that receives the first indication message to determine the quantization bits corresponding to the elements of each first component when the number of elements in each first component is the same.

[0030] In a possible implementation manner, the first indication message further indicates the quantization method of the elements of the M groups of first components.

[0031] Based on the above possible implementation manners, the device that receives the first indication information can dequantize the quantization bits according to the quantization method and the quantization bits corresponding to each element included in each first component in any one of the above groups of first components, and then obtain the content of each element before quantization.

[0032] In a possible implementation manner, in any one of the groups of first components, the number of elements in at least two first components is different.

[0033] Based on the above possible implementation manners, when the number of elements in at least two first components is different in any one of the groups of first components, the diversity of the values of the first components can be increased, which helps to improve the accuracy of fitting the weight matrix through M groups of first components.

[0034] In a possible implementation manner, the number of elements of the first component is preset.

[0035] Based on the above possible implementation manners, if the network device presets the number of elements of the first component, the data to be sent in the first indication information can be reduced, and further the signaling overhead of the network device can be reduced.

[0036] In a possible implementation manner, the reception period of the first information is the first period, and the reception period of the second information is the second period, and the first period is greater than the second period.

[0037] Based on the above possible implementation manners, when the first period is greater than the second period, the update frequency of the first information is lower than the update frequency of the second information, and the signaling overhead of the network device can be further reduced.

[0038] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the above method. The communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means for implementing the above method. The module, unit, or means can be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

[0039] Combined with the above third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication device may include a processing module and an interface module. The processing module can be used to implement the processing functions in any one of the above aspects and any of its possible implementation manners. The processing module can be, for example, a processor. The interface module, which can also be referred to as an interface unit, is used to implement the sending and / or receiving functions in any one of the above aspects and any of its possible implementation manners. The interface module can be composed of an interface circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0040] Combined with the above third aspect, in a possible implementation, the interface module includes a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any of their possible implementation manners.

[0041] Fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a processor; the processor is used to be coupled with a memory, and after reading the instructions in the memory, execute the method described in any of the above aspects according to the instructions.

[0042] Combined with the above fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory, which is used to store program instructions and data. Optionally, the memory is integrated with the above processor; or, the memory is independent of the processor.

[0043] Combined with the above fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the communication device is a chip or a chip system. Optionally, when the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips, or can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0044] Fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a processor and an interface circuit; the interface circuit is used to receive a computer program or instructions and transmit them to the processor; the processor is used to execute the computer program or instructions, so that the communication device executes the method described in any of the above aspects.

[0045] Combined with the above fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the communication device is a chip or a chip system. Optionally, when the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips, or can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0046] Sixth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which instructions are stored, and when it runs on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the method described in any of the above aspects.

[0047] Seventh aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, and when it runs on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the method described in any of the above aspects.

[0048] Eighth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes nodes in a network for executing the method described in the first aspect above, and network devices for executing the method described in the second aspect above.

[0049] Among them, the technical effects brought by any possible implementation manner in the third aspect to the eighth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by any of the first aspect to the second aspect or any different possible implementation manners in any aspect, which will not be elaborated here.

[0050] It is understandable that, on the premise that the solutions do not conflict, the solutions in the above aspects can be combined. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the communication system provided by the present application Figure 1 ;

[0052] Figure 2A Second schematic diagram of the communication system provided by the present application;

[0053] Figure 2B Schematic diagram of the communication system provided by the present application Figure 3 ;

[0054] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the communication device provided by the present application;

[0055] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the flowchart of the communication method provided by the present application;

[0056] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0057] Before introducing the technical solutions of the present application, relevant technical terms involved in the present application are explained. It is understandable that these explanations are for the purpose of making the present application easier to understand and should not be regarded as a limitation on the protection scope required by the present application.

[0058] 1. Terminal

[0059] The terminal in this application is a device with wireless transceiver functions. The terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors, outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on water (such as ships, etc.); it can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons, satellites, etc.). The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, and the terminal device can be a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), etc., or a device used to provide voice or data connectivity to users. Among them, the UE includes handheld devices with wireless communication functions, vehicle-mounted devices (such as cars, bicycles, electric vehicles, airplanes, ships, trains, high-speed rails, etc.), wearable devices (such as smart watches, smart bracelets, pedometers, etc.) or computing devices. Exemplarily, the UE can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a palm computer, a mobile internet device (MID), a satellite terminal or a computer with wireless transceiver functions. The UE can also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless modem, a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a smart robot, a robotic arm, workshop equipment, smart home equipment (such as refrigerators, TVs, air conditioners, electricity meters, etc.), a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a road side unit (RSU) with terminal functions, or a flying device (such as a smart robot, a hot air balloon, a drone, an airplane), and so on. The terminal can also be other devices with terminal functions. For example, the terminal can also be a device that serves as a terminal function in device-to-device (D2D) communication.

[0060] By way of example and not limitation, in the present application, the terminal may be a wearable device. A wearable device, also known as a wearable intelligent device, is a general term for devices developed by applying wearable technologies to the intelligent design of daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is either directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. For example, a wearable device is not just a hardware device, but also a device that realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable intelligent devices include devices with complete functions and large sizes that can realize complete or partial functions without relying on a smart phone, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as devices that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for physical sign monitoring.

[0061] In the present application, the terminal may be a terminal in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. The IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technologies, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection. The terminal in the present application may be a terminal in machine type communication (MTC). The terminal of the present application may be an in-vehicle module, in-vehicle module group, in-vehicle component, in-vehicle chip, or in-vehicle unit built into a vehicle as one or more components or units. The vehicle can implement the method of the present application through the built-in in-vehicle module, in-vehicle module group, in-vehicle component, in-vehicle chip, or in-vehicle unit. The terminal of the present application may be a means of transportation, such as a vehicle. Therefore, the present application can be applied to vehicle networking, such as vehicle to everything (V2X), long term evolution vehicle (LTE-V), vehicle to vehicle (V2V), etc.

[0062] In the present application, the form of the terminal is not limited. The device for realizing the function of the terminal may be the terminal; or it may be a device capable of supporting the terminal to realize this function, such as a chip system. This device may be installed in the terminal or used in matching with the terminal.

[0063] 2. Network device

[0064] The network device in this application can be a device with wireless transceiver functions, which can help terminals achieve wireless access. The network device in this application can also be referred to as a node in a radio access network (RAN), a RAN node, an access network device, etc. The network device includes but is not limited to: an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in Long Term Evolution (LTE), an evolved base station (next generation eNB, ng-eNB) in the next generation of LTE, a base station (gNodeB or gNB) in New Radio (NR), a transmitting point (TP) or a transmission receiving point / transmission reception point (TRP), a base station evolved from the subsequent evolution of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), a next generation base station (next generation NodeB, gNB), a next generation base station in the 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in future mobile communication systems, a satellite, an access node in a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a network device in a mobile switching center non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system, that is, it can be deployed on a high-altitude platform or a satellite, etc. The base station can be: a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a small station, a relay station, or a balloon station, etc. Multiple base stations can support the network of the same technology mentioned above, or can also support the networks of different technologies mentioned above. The base station can include one or more co-located or non-co-located TRPs. The network device can also be a device that serves as a base station function in D2D communication, vehicle-to-everything communication, unmanned aerial vehicle communication, and machine communication. The network device can also be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario.The network device can also be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), a radio unit (RU), a road side unit (RSU) with base station functions, a wired access gateway, or a core network element, etc. The network device can also be a server, a wearable device, a machine communication device, or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the network device in V2X technology can be an RSU. Hereinafter, the network device is taken as a base station for illustration. The multiple network devices can be base stations of the same type or different types. The base station can communicate with the terminal or communicate with the terminal through a relay station. The terminal can communicate with multiple base stations of different technologies. For example, the terminal can communicate with a base station supporting the LTE network, can also communicate with a base station supporting the fifth generation (5G) network, and can also support dual connection with a base station of the LTE network and a base station of the 5G network.

[0065] In this application, the CU and the DU can be set separately or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). It can be understood that the CU can be classified as a network device in the access network or the CU can be classified as a network device in the core network, which is not limited herein.

[0066] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), the DU, or the RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, the CU can also be called an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be called an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be called an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be called an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be called an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU are taken as examples in this application. 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.

[0067] It can be understood that in some scenarios, the roles of network devices and terminals are relative. For example, a helicopter or a drone that is usually configured as a terminal can also be configured as a mobile base station, and the device accessing the RAN through the helicopter or the drone is configured as a terminal.

[0068] In this application, the form of the network device is not limited. The device for implementing the functions of the network device can be the network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement this function, such as a chip system. This device can be installed in the network device or used in matching with the network device.

[0069] 3. Nodes in the network

[0070] In this application, the nodes in the network can be devices or terminals with the function of reflecting wireless signals. Among them, the terminal includes a terminal deployed with an antenna array. Specifically, reference can be made to the previous introduction to the terminal. It can be understood that when the node in the network is a device with the function of reflecting wireless signals, the node in the network can reflect the signal from the network device to the desired receiving direction of the terminal, facilitating the terminal to receive and process the signal. When the node in the network is a terminal, the node in the network can perform other processes such as demodulating the signal after adjusting the phase of the signal from the network device.

[0071] An example of the above device with the function of reflecting wireless signals is IRS. IRS is an array surface composed of multiple phase-adjustable passive reflection elements, and moreover, IRS can also integrate modules for receiving and processing network device signaling. Through this device, it receives the signaling from the network device, controls the phase of the IRS elements according to this signaling, so as to adjust the direction of the wireless signal reflected by IRS.

[0072] Specifically, the role of IRS is mainly reflected in: after deploying IRS, the network device can reasonably adjust the IRS phase to construct a stronger signal transmission path in the signal transmission direction of network device - IRS - terminal. IRS can then reflect the wireless signal from the network device to the desired receiving direction of the terminal, thereby realizing increasing the rank of the channel matrix and / or enhancing the channel for wireless signal transmission in areas with weak wireless signal coverage.

[0073] In addition, due to the passive characteristics of the elements on IRS, the power consumption and manufacturing cost required by IRS are low. This application takes IRS as an example to illustrate the role of the device with the function of reflecting wireless signals. It can be understood that the device with the function of reflecting wireless signals includes but is not limited to IRS, without limitation.

[0074] 4. Condition number of the matrix and channel rank increase

[0075] It can be understood that for matrix A, the condition number of the matrix refers to ||A||2 ||A -1 || 2 The value of ||A||, where 2 ||A|| represents the second norm of matrix A, and ||A -1 || 2 represents the second norm of the inverse matrix of matrix A. The second norm refers to the square root of the largest eigenvalue of matrix A. The rank of a matrix is the maximum number of linearly independent rows or columns in the matrix. T In wireless communication, matrices are usually used as mathematical models to represent the correlation between the receiving end and the transmitting end. For example, the channel matrix. It can be understood that taking multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission as an example, when the signal quality differences of multiple MIMO channels (i.e., transmission layers) are relatively large, for example, when the difference in signal reception power between different transmission layers is greater than 10 dB, the condition number of the channel matrix will be relatively large.

[0076] It can be understood that taking the channel from the network device to the terminal as matrix H

[0077] 1 , and the channel matrix of the network device - IRS - terminal as H 2 as an example, adjusting the condition number of the channel matrix (H 1 +H 2 ) to be less than H 1 can achieve the effect of increasing the rank of the channel, thereby realizing the enhancement of the channel and the improvement of the channel environment. For example, nodes in the network can adjust the phase of the signals from the network device to change H 2 so that the condition number of the channel matrix (H 1 +H 2 ) is adjusted to be less than H 1 .

[0078] 5. Outer product

[0079] The operator of the outer product can be represented by . Taking two column vectors a and b, vector a = [a 1 , a 2 , …, a M T , vector b = [b 1 , b 2 , …, b K T as an example, the outer product of a and b can be as shown in (1).

[0080]

[0081] 6. Kronecker product (KP)​​

[0082] The operator of the Kronecker product can be represented by . The Kronecker product can be used between vectors or between matrices.

[0083] Taking two vectors a and b as an example, vector a = [a 1 , a 2 , …, a M T , and vector b = [b 1 , b 2 , …, b K T , the Kronecker product of a and b can be as shown in formula (2):

[0084]

[0085] Taking two matrices A and B as an example, matrix Matrix The Kronecker product of matrix A and matrix B can be as shown in formula (3):

[0086]

[0087] The above outer product or Kronecker product is a vector operation between vectors or between matrices. The vector operations in this application include other vector operations in addition to the outer product or Kronecker product, without limitation.

[0088] 7. Tensor

[0089] It can be understood that a tensor is an extension of a vector or a matrix. Taking matrix A as an example below, the tensor expansion process is introduced. In this example, A can represent that the tensor expansion order of A is P. If the expansion form of the p-th order of A is denoted as [A] p , then If p is equal to 3, [A] 3 can be represented as After expansion, it can be as shown in formula (4):

[0090]

[0091] It can be understood that for a matrix, φ x,y,z can represent the corresponding element in the 3rd-order tensor Φ at the three-dimensional space position (x, y, z).

[0092] 8. Antenna weight

[0093] ​​Antenna weights can be parameters that support an antenna array in generating a specific beam. For example, they are used for beamforming in multi-antenna systems. Among them, the specific beam can be a beam in a specific direction, a beam with a specific shape, or a beam with specific power or energy.

[0094] It can be understood that antenna weights can also be referred to as a beamforming matrix or a weight matrix (referred to as a weight matrix in this application). Moreover, each element in the weight matrix is a weight, and the weight is used for vector multiplication with the wireless signal received or transmitted by the antenna, which is the so-called "weighting the antenna". In addition, the weights can be replaced by other parameters for implementing beamforming, such as a steering vector, a precoding matrix, the signal amplitude and phase of an antenna port, etc., without limitation.

[0095] The network device can control the amplitude and / or phase of the antenna array of nodes (devices such as devices with the function of reflecting wireless signals or terminals) in the network by sending down antenna weights. Taking the node in the network as an IRS and the network device controlling the antenna weights of the IRS array elements as an example, the antenna weights are described below.

[0096] It can be understood that according to formulas (5), (6), and (7), the antenna weight w of the IRS array element can be obtained:

[0097]

[0098]

[0099]

[0100] Among them, u is the phase vector of w in the horizontal direction, and v is the phase vector of w in the vertical direction. M 1 is the number of horizontal array elements of the IRS array plane, and M 2 is the number of vertical array elements of the IRS array plane. The total number of array elements included in the array plane is M 1 M 2 . O 1 is the oversampling factor in the horizontal direction of the IRS array plane, and O 2 is the oversampling factor in the vertical direction of the IRS array plane. For an IRS array plane, since the weights change with the change of index i or k, the number of different values of the antenna weights is M 1 M 2 O 1 O 2 .

[0101] The oversampling factor is positively correlated with the angular resolution. Specifically, the antenna weight of each horizontal array element is whose phase is So in M 1When remaining unchanged, O 1 The larger it is, the larger the angular resolution, where i is the index of array elements at different positions on an IRS array surface.

[0102] Currently, an IRS can reflect signals of a single beam or multiple beams.

[0103] When the IRS reflects a single-beam signal, that is, the antenna weights corresponding to all array elements of the IRS are the same. When the network device sends down the antenna weights, M 1 、M 2 、O 1 and O 2 are all determined values. The network device determines one antenna weight from the M 1 M 2 O 1 O 2 antenna weights and indicates it to the IRS. Therefore, the network device can send the indices i and k of the antenna weights, without having to send one by one all the antenna weights required by receiving devices such as the IRS or the terminal.

[0104] When the IRS reflects a multi-beam signal, that is, each array element of the IRS can correspond to different antenna weights, and the network device respectively indicates the phases of all array elements to the IRS. Specifically, when the network device sends the antenna weights to the IRS, the network device sends θ 1 ,θ 2 ,…θ N .

[0105] Since the IRS reflects a single-beam signal and controls the IRS to reflect and enhance the signal from the network device in a certain direction through the antenna weights, it is impossible to achieve the function of the IRS reflecting the signal from the network device in multiple directions, resulting in limited channel rank enhancement ability of the IRS.

[0106] For the method of the IRS reflecting a single-beam signal, its advantage lies in the simple process, but it also has its limitations. Since it controls the terminal to align the receiving or transmitting direction to a certain direction through the antenna weights, it is impossible to achieve the enhancement of multi-layer transmission or reception of signals, so it cannot meet more application scenarios.

[0107] For the IRS reflection multi-beam signal method, its advantage is that the IRS can be used to increase the channel rank. The network device needs to perform relatively fine control on the phases of the IRS array elements, so that the IRS can reflect the signals from the network device in multiple different directions, which can better meet the requirements of different scenarios. Also, whether in downlink or uplink transmission, by finely adjusting the antenna weights of the antenna arrays of the nodes in the network, signals with more transmission layers and higher signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) can be achieved. Among them, when applied to scenarios where signals with more layers need to be transmitted, the transmission rate of the signals can be improved.

[0108] Its disadvantage is that since the network device will send the phases corresponding to all the IRS array elements to the IRS, when the scale of the IRS array elements is the same, compared with the method of IRS reflecting single-beam signals, the signaling overhead of this method for the network device is relatively large. Table 1 shows that when the transmitted signal of the network device uses QPSK modulation and the code rate is 3 / 4 (that is, among all the bits of the signal, the bits corresponding to the information to be transmitted, that is, the useful data, account for 3 / 4, and the remaining 1 / 4 bits are redundant bits, including coding check bits, etc.), and each antenna weight uses 4-bit coding, some examples of the wireless resource overhead required for the network device to transmit the antenna weights of the IRS array surface and the number of IRS array elements are listed.

[0109] Table 1

[0110] Number of IRS elements 128 256 512 1024 Wireless resource overhead 342 683 1366 2731

[0111] Among them, the unit of the wireless resource overhead is the number of radio elements (RE) required to transmit the antenna weights corresponding to the number of array elements. It can be seen from Table 1 that the wireless resource overhead is in a proportional relationship with the number of IRS array elements. Thus, it can be seen that when the scale of the IRS array elements is larger, the signaling overhead of the network device is larger. Therefore, when the antenna weights of the IRS are sent by the network device, how the network device sends the antenna weights to the IRS with lower overhead becomes the key to achieving the above goal. Additionally, for similar reasons, there is also a problem of relatively large signaling overhead when the network device sends the antenna weights to the terminal.

[0112] To solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method, which can be used in various communication systems. For example, the communication system can be an LTE system, a 5G communication system, a WiFi system, a 3GPP-related communication system, a future evolved communication system (such as: the sixth generation (6G) communication system, etc.), or a system integrating multiple systems, etc., without limitation. Among them, 5G can also be referred to as NR. The following takes Figure 1 the shown communication system 10 as an example to describe the method provided by the present application. Figure 1It is only a schematic diagram and does not constitute a limitation on the applicable scenarios of the technical solution provided by this application.

[0113] Figure 1 The illustrated communication system 10 includes at least one network device 102 ( Figure 1 only 1 is shown), and a node 101 in the network that is communicatively connected to the network device 102 (for ease of description, the nodes in the network are hereinafter simply referred to as nodes). For the introduction of the network device 102, reference can be made to the description of the network device above and will not be elaborated here.

[0114] In Figure 1 , the node 101 is a terminal or a device with the function of reflecting radio signals. When the node 101 is a terminal, the node 101 can receive signals from the network device 102. When the node 101 is a device with the function of reflecting radio signals (such as an IRS), the node 101 can receive signals from the network device 102, reflect the signals to the desired receiving direction of the terminal, facilitating the terminal to receive and process the signals.

[0115] In some embodiments, Figure 1 the illustrated communication system can be applied to Figure 2A the illustrated communication scenario. For example, the network device 102 can be Figure 2A the base station 2102 in Figure 2A , and the node 101 can be Figure 2A the IRS 2101 in

[0116] In Figure 1 Figure 2B Figure 2B the LOS path between the terminal 2103 and the network device 2102 is blocked, and the network device 2102 cannot send signals to the terminal 2103 through the LOS path between the terminal 2103 and the network device 2102. Therefore, the network device 2102 can send signals to the IRS 2101. After receiving the signals sent by the network device 2102, the IRS 2101 can reflect the signals to the desired receiving direction of the terminal 2103, enabling the terminal 2103 to receive and process the signals, thus realizing communication between the network device 2102 and the terminal 2103.

[0116] In some other embodiments, Figure 1 the illustrated communication system can be applied to Figure 2B the illustrated communication scenario. For example, the network device 102 can be Figure 2B the base station 2202 in Figure 2B the IRS 2201 in Figure 2BAmong them, the LOS path between the terminal 2203 and the network device 2202 is unobstructed. However, in the LOS transmission path from the network device 2202 directly to the terminal 2203, the condition number of the channel matrix corresponding to the channel is relatively large, and this channel is a low-rank channel. At this time, the network device 2202 can send a signal to the IRS 2201. After receiving the signal sent by the network device 2202, the IRS 2201 can forward the signal to the terminal 2203, so that the terminal 2203 receives and processes the signal. By adjusting the rank of the channel matrix on the transmission path of the network device 2202 - IRS 2201 - terminal 2203, the network device can increase the rank of the channel matrix between the network device 2202 and the terminal 2203.

[0117] Figure 1 The communication system 10 shown is only for illustration and is not used to limit the technical solutions of this application. Those skilled in the art should understand that in the specific implementation process, the communication system 10 may further include other devices, and at the same time, the number of network devices and terminals can also be determined according to specific needs, without limitation.

[0118] Optionally, in this application Figure 1 Each network element or device (such as node 101 or network device 102) can also be referred to as a communication device, which can be a general device or a dedicated device, and this application does not make specific limitations in this regard.

[0119] Optionally, in this application Figure 1 The related functions of each network element or device (such as node 101 or network device 102) can be implemented by one device, can also be implemented by multiple devices together, or can be implemented by one or more functional modules in one device. This application does not make specific limitations in this regard. It can be understood that the above functions can be either network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or a combination of hardware and software, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform).

[0120] In the specific implementation Figure 1 Each network element or device (such as node 101 or network device 102) shown can adopt Figure 3 the shown composition structure, or include Figure 3 the shown components. Figure 3 The figure shows a schematic hardware structure diagram of a communication device applicable to this application. The communication device 30 includes at least one processor 301 and at least one communication interface 304, and is used to implement the method provided by this application. The communication device 30 may further include a communication line 302 and a memory 303.

[0121] The processor 301 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the solution of the present application.

[0122] The communication line 302 may include a path for transmitting information between the above components, such as a bus.

[0123] The communication interface 304 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. The communication interface 304 may be any device such as a transceiver, such as an Ethernet interface, a radio access network (RAN) interface, a wireless local area networks (WLAN) interface, a transceiver, a pin, a bus, an interface circuit, or a transceiver circuit, etc.

[0124] The memory 303 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or may also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory may exist independently and be coupled to the processor 301 through the communication line 302. The memory 303 may also be integrated with the processor 301. The memory provided in the present application generally has non-volatility.

[0125] Among them, the memory 303 is used to store the computer execution instructions involved in executing the solution provided by this application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 301. The processor 301 is used to execute the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 303, so as to implement the method provided by this application. Alternatively, optionally, in this application, the processor 301 may also perform the processing-related functions in the method provided below in this application, and the communication interface 304 is responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0126] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the present application.

[0127] The coupling in this application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units or modules.

[0128] As an embodiment, the processor 301 may include one or more CPUs, such as Figure 3 CPU0 and CPU1 in.

[0129] As an embodiment, the communication device 30 may include multiple processors, such as Figure 3 301 and processor 307 in the embodiment of the present invention. Each of these processors may be a single-CPU processor or a multi-CPU processor. The processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0130] As an embodiment, the communication device 30 may further include an output device 305 and / or an input device 306. The output device 305 is coupled to the processor 301 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 305 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 306 is coupled to the processor 301 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 306 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0131] Understandably, Figure 3 The structure shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the communication device, except Figure 3 In addition to the components shown, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0132] The method provided by this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Each network element in the following embodiments may have the Figure 3 components shown, which will not be elaborated.

[0133] It can be understood that the message names between each network element or the names of each parameter in the message in the following embodiments of this application are only examples, and in specific implementations, they can also be other names. This application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0134] It can be understood that in this application, "sending information to... (such as a node in the network)" can be understood as the destination of the information being a node in the network. It can include directly or indirectly sending information to a node in the network. "Receiving information from... (such as a network device)" can be understood as the source of the information being a network device, and it can include directly or indirectly receiving information from a network device. Necessary processing may be performed on the information between the source and destination of the information transmission, such as format conversion, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be elaborated here.

[0135] It can be understood that in this application, " / " can indicate that the objects associated before and after are an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" can be used to describe three relationships of associated objects. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. Here, A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, expressions similar to "at least one of A, B, and C" or "at least one of A, B, or C" are usually used to represent any one of the following: A exists alone; B exists alone; C exists alone; A and B exist simultaneously; A and C exist simultaneously; B and C exist simultaneously; A, B, and C exist simultaneously. The above uses A, B, and C as three elements for example to illustrate the selectable items of this item. When there are more elements in the expression, the meaning of this expression can be obtained according to the foregoing rules.

[0136] To facilitate the description of the technical solution of this application, in this application, terms such as "first" and "second" can be used to distinguish technical features with the same or similar functions. These terms such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and these terms such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit being different. In this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to represent examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design solution described as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being more preferred or having more advantages than other embodiments or design solutions. Using words such as "exemplary" or "for example" aims to present relevant concepts in a specific manner for easy understanding.

[0137] It can be understood that the "embodiments" mentioned throughout the specification mean that specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiments are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the embodiments throughout the specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It can be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the magnitude of the serial numbers of the various processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the various processes should be determined by their functions and internal logics, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the present application.

[0138] It can be understood that in the present application, "for indicating" can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. When it is described that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and does not mean that A must be carried in the indication information. The information indicated by a certain information (such as the first indication information described below) 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, but not limited to, it can directly indicate the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated, etc. It can also indirectly indicate the information to be indicated 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 arrangement order of each information pre-agreed (such as protocol regulations) to implement the indication of specific information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent.

[0139] It can be understood that in the present application, "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that corresponding processing will be performed under a certain objective situation, not a time limit, and it is not required that there must be a judgment action during implementation, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0140] The "simultaneously" in the present application can be understood as at the same time point, can also be understood as within a period of time, and can also be understood as within the same cycle.

[0141] It can be understood that some optional features in the present application, in some scenarios, can be implemented independently without relying on other features, such as the current solution they are based on, to solve the corresponding technical problems and achieve the corresponding effects. In some scenarios, they can also be combined with other features according to requirements. Correspondingly, the devices given in the present application can also implement these features or functions accordingly, which will not be elaborated here.

[0142] It can be understood that in the present application, the same step, or steps or technical features with the same function, can be mutually referred to and learned from among different embodiments.

[0143] It can be understood that in the present application, a network device, and / or a node in the network, can execute some or all of the steps in the present application. These steps are only examples, and the present application can also execute other steps or various variations of the steps. In addition, the various steps can be executed in different orders presented in the present application, and it is possible not to execute all of the steps in the present application.

[0144] It can be understood that in the method provided below in the present application, the network device and the node are used as an example of the execution entity for this interaction schematic to illustrate the method, but the present application does not limit the execution entity of this interaction schematic. For example, the network device in the method provided in the following embodiments of the present application can also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the network device to implement this method, and can also be a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device; the node in the method provided below in the present application can also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the node to implement this method, and can also be a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the node.

[0145] As Figure 4 shown, a communication method provided by the present application may include the following steps:

[0146] S401: The network device obtains a weight matrix.

[0147] In the present application, the network device may be Figure 1 the network device 102 in the communication system 10 shown.

[0148] In the present application, the weight matrix may represent the antenna weights of the node. In other words, by representing the antenna weights of the node in the form of a matrix or a vector, the weight matrix can be obtained. Therefore, the weight matrix can indicate the antenna weight information of the antenna array of the node. Among them, the node may be Figure 1 the node 101 in the communication system 10 shown.

[0149] Exemplarily, a possible weight matrix is shown in Formula (8). The weight matrix in Formula (8) includes 6 elements, and the amplitude value corresponding to each element is 1. According to the first row to the second row of the weight matrix, and for each row in the order from left to right, each element is θ 1 , θ 2 , θ 3 , θ 4 , θ 5 , θ 6. It can be understood that each element corresponds to an element of the antenna array of the node. For example, each element can indicate the phase of the corresponding element.

[0150]

[0151] The weight matrix obtained by the network device can be indicated to the node, facilitating the node to receive the signal sent by the network device according to the weight matrix indicated by the network device.

[0152] S402: The network device sends the first information and the second information. Correspondingly, the node receives the first information and the second information from the network device.

[0153] In this application, the first information is used to indicate M groups of first components. The second information is used to indicate R first coefficients. Wherein, R is an integer greater than or equal to 1. It can be understood that the network device can expand the weight matrix into multiple components and indicate these components to the node so that the node can perform component operations on these components to fit out the weight matrix. For example, the network device obtains M groups of first components and R first coefficients according to the weight matrix, and sends the first information and the second information to the node to indicate M groups of first components and R first coefficients to the node, so that the node can fit out the weight matrix according to M groups of first components and R first coefficients. The process of the network device obtaining M groups of first components and R first coefficients will be specifically elaborated below.

[0154] A possible implementation manner is that the network device performs tensor expansion on the weight matrix to obtain M groups of first components and R first coefficients. Wherein, M is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Any group of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component.

[0155] Exemplarily, the network device expands the weight matrix Θ into any one of the forms in formulas (9) to (10).

[0156]

[0157]

[0158] Optionally, formula (9) can also be replaced by formula (11).

[0159]

[0160] The difference between formula (9) and formula (11) is that in formula (9), do an outer product between; in formula (11), do a Kronecker product between. It can be understood that in formulas (9) and (11), taking do an outer product or a Kronecker product between as an example for introduction. In specific applications, Other component operations can also be performed in between without restriction.

[0161] A possible design, for formula (9) or formula (11), λ l (l∈(1,K)) is the first coefficient, which is used to adjust the amplitude corresponding to the array element. For example, one first coefficient corresponds to a row of the weight matrix. Wherein, L is the number of rows in the weight matrix. In this example, L is equal to R. Formula (9) or formula (11) corresponds to P groups of first components, where P is a positive integer greater than 1, indicating the order of component expansion. Each group of first components includes at least one first component. For example, each column vector (such as ) is a first component, for example, (Right now ) is a set of first components, (Right now ) is a set of first components, ..., (Right now ) is a set of first components. In this example, P is equal to M.

[0162] In a possible design, in any group of first components, each first component includes the same number of elements, and the number of elements included in the first components of different groups of first components may be the same or different. The number of elements in a first component is greater than or equal to 2. For example, for the first group of first components Each first component can be expressed as (a 1 ,…,a x ), x is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and x can represent the number of elements of a first component in the first group of first components. Each first component can be expressed as (a 1 ,…,a y ), y is also an integer greater than or equal to 2, and y can represent the number of elements of a first component in the second group of first components. Each first component can be expressed as (a 1 ,…,a z ), z is also an integer greater than or equal to 2, and z can represent the number of elements of a first component in the Lth group of first components. Among them, at least two of z, x or y are different, or z, x and y are the same. The same applies to the first components of other groups.

[0163] It can be understood that, in order for a node to receive a signal sent by a network device, the network device can indicate a weight matrix to the node. To reduce the signaling overhead of the network device, it can be considered to reduce the number of elements corresponding to the weight matrix indicated by the network device to the node. For example, for M groups of first components, the sum of the product of the number of each group of first components and the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements of the weight matrix. Specifically, reference can be made to formula (12).

[0164] L(N 1 +N 2 +…+N P )<N=N 1 N 2 ...N P (12)

[0165] Among them, N 1 、N 2 、…、N P are respectively the number of elements included in each group of first components. N is the number of elements of the weight matrix Θ. Taking the weight matrix Θ shown in formula (8) as an example, N = 6. In addition, the number of elements N of the weight matrix is equal to the product of the number of elements included in M groups of first components. In other words, among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix. For example, N = N 1 N 2 …N P , so that the relationship between L, N 1 ~N p and N can satisfy formula (12).

[0166] Exemplarily, taking the total number of elements of the weight matrix N = 1024, P = 5, M = 4, L = 3, N 1 ,N 2 ,N 3 ,N 4 ,and N 5 being equal to 4 respectively, the number of elements indicated by the network device to the node is 60 (3×(4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4) = 60). In the prior art, all elements of the weight matrix are indicated to the node, and 1024 elements need to be indicated in this example. Since 60 is less than 1024, when using the method shown in Figure 4 , the number of elements of the weight matrix indicated by the network device to the node is less than the number of elements of the weight matrix that the network device needs to indicate to the node in the prior art.

[0167] Optionally, formula (10) can also be replaced by formula (13).

[0168]

[0169] The difference between formula (10) and formula (13) is that in formula (10), perform an outer product between; in formula (13), perform a Kronecker product between. It can be understood that in formula (10) and formula (13), taking performing an outer product or a Kronecker product between as an example for introduction, in specific applications, other component operations can also be performed between, without limitation.

[0170] A possible design, for formula (10) or formula (13), is the first coefficient, can be a diagonal matrix, used to adjust the amplitude corresponding to the array elements. For example, one first coefficient corresponds to P first components. Formula (10) or formula (13) corresponds to P groups of first components. Wherein, P is a positive integer greater than 1, representing the order of component expansion. Each group of first components includes at least one first component. For example, the P groups of first components successively include L 1 first components, L 2 first components,..., L P first components. Wherein, each column vector (such as ) is a first component. Specifically, (that is, ) is a group of first components, (that is, ) is a group of first components,..., is a group of first components. It can be understood that in this example, P is equal to M, and R is the product of the number of each group of first components. For example, R = L 1 L 2 ...L P .

[0171] A possible design, in any group of first components, the number of elements included in each first component is the same, and the number of elements included in the first components in different groups of first components can be the same or different. Wherein, the number of elements of a first component is greater than or equal to 2. For example, for the first group of first components where each first component can be expressed as (a 1 ,…,a x ), x is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and x can represent the number of elements of a first component in the first group of first components. For the second group of first components where each first component can be expressed as (a 1 ,…,ay ), y is also an integer greater than or equal to 2, and y can represent the number of elements of a first component in the second group of first components. Each first component can be expressed as (a 1 ,…,a z ), z is also an integer greater than or equal to 2, and z can represent the number of elements of a first component in the Lth group of first components. Among them, at least two of z, x or y are different, or z, x and y are the same. The same applies to the first components of other groups.

[0172] It can be understood that in order to enable the node to receive the signal sent by the network device, the network device can indicate the weight matrix to the node. In order to reduce the signaling overhead of the network device, it is possible to consider reducing the number of elements corresponding to the weight matrix indicated by the network device to the node. For example, for M groups of first components, the sum of the number of first components in each group and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix. For details, please refer to formula (14). In addition, the number of elements N in the weight matrix is ​​equal to the product of the number of elements included in the M groups of first components. In other words, in the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix. For example, N=N 1 N 2 …N P , so that L 1 ~L p 、N 1 ~N P , and N can satisfy formula (14).

[0173] L 1 N 1 +…+L P N P <N=N 1 N 2 ...N P (14)

[0174] For example, the total number of elements in the weight matrix is ​​N=1024, P=5, M=4, L 1 =2,L 2 =3,L 3 =3,N 1 =4,N 2 =16,N 3 =16 as an example, the number of elements indicated by the network device to the node is 104 (2×4+3×16+3×16=104). The prior art indicates all elements of the weight matrix to the node, which in this example requires indicating 1024 elements. Since 104 is less than 1024, Figure 4In the method shown, the number of elements of the weight matrix indicated by the network device to the node is less than the number of elements of the weight matrix that the network device needs to indicate to the node in the prior art.

[0175] Optionally, at least two of the M groups of first components include the same number of first components, which can simplify the calculation complexity of the node. Taking formula (9) as an example, the first group of first components includes L first components, and the second group of first components includes L first components, and the number of first components included in the remaining groups of first components is not equal to L, or each group of first components includes L first components.

[0176] Optionally, at least two of the M groups of first components include different numbers of first components, so as to provide the node with more possible M groups of first components and R first coefficients for the nodes in the network to fit out the weight matrix. Taking formula (10) as an example, the first group of first components includes L 1 first components, the second group of first components includes L 2 first components,..., the Pth group of first components includes L P first components, and at least two of L 1 to L P are different.

[0177] It can be understood that formula (9) is a special form of formula (10) when L 1 = L 2 =... = L P = L, and formula (11) is a special form of formula (13) when L 1 = L 2 =... = L P = L. In addition, when L 1 = L 2 =... = L P = L, formula (12) is simplified to the form of formula (14).

[0178] To sum up, if the weight matrix is expanded into the form of formula (9) or formula (11), the relationship between L, N 1 to N P , N can satisfy formula (12). If the weight matrix is expanded into the form of formula (10) or formula (13), L 1 to L p , N 1 to N PThe relationship between

[0179] Optionally, the number of elements in the first component is preset or can be set as needed.

[0180] Optionally, the modulus of the first component is 1 to simplify the complexity of the network device and the node. For example, taking the first component as (a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) as an example, the elements of the first component satisfy

[0181] It can be understood that the above expansion of the weight matrix is to approximately fit the weight matrix through multiple components. To reduce the error in the fitting process of the weight matrix and make the weight matrix obtained by fitting closer to the actual weight matrix, the error requirement can be set as needed, so that the network device can determine M groups of first components and R first coefficients that meet the corresponding error requirements. Taking formula (9) as an example, the relationship between M groups of first components, R first coefficients, Θ, and the error requirement can satisfy formula (15). Among them, the error threshold can be set as needed. It can be understood that the larger the error threshold, the greater the difference between the weight matrix obtained by fitting and the actual weight matrix, and the smaller the error threshold, the more similar the weight matrix obtained by fitting is to the actual weight matrix.

[0182]

[0183] It can be understood that for formula (10), formula (11), or formula (13), the relationship between M groups of first components, R first coefficients, Θ, and the error requirement is similar to formula (15), which will not be elaborated here.

[0184] It can be understood that to reduce the overhead of the network device indicating the weight matrix to the node, the network device can quantize M groups of first components and R first coefficients respectively to obtain the first information and the second information. Subsequently, the network device can send the first information and the second information to the node.

[0185] Optionally, the network device can quantize M groups of first components to obtain the first information by using uniform quantization or non-uniform quantization. Similarly, the network device can quantize R first coefficients by using uniform quantization or non-uniform quantization to obtain the second information.

[0186] To better understand the method provided in this application, the following takes Formula (9) and Formula (10) as examples to introduce the specific process in which the network device obtains M groups of first components and R first coefficients according to the weight matrix, and quantifies the M groups of first components and R first coefficients to obtain the first information and the second information.

[0187] First, take Formula (9) as an example for introduction. Specifically, the following Method 1 can be referred to.

[0188] Method 1: When the network device expands the weight matrix Θ in the form of Formula (9), it can first determine the values of each element included in Formula (9), as well as the values of L first coefficients λ (l = 1, 2,..., L), where l = 1, 2,..., L. Specifically, the following process can be referred to: l (l = 1, 2,..., L). Specifically, the following process can be referred to:

[0189] 1. On the premise that the modulus of each component (such as ) is 1, the network device randomly generates a value for each element included in the component as the initial value.

[0190] 2. The network device performs a P-order tensor expansion on the weight matrix Θ according to Formula (9), and represents it as Formula (16).

[0191]

[0192] Among them, is the operator of the outer product, λ is a matrix composed of L first coefficients, which is used to control the amplitude corresponding to the array elements of the node. diag(λ) represents a diagonal matrix formed by the elements of λ, that is

[0193]

[0194] If the expansion form of the p-th mode of the weight matrix Θ is denoted as then the optimal solution Λ of diag(λ) can be Formula (17) when A 1 , …, A p-1 , A p+1 , …, A P are all fixed values.

[0195]

[0196] Among them, the symbol + represents the pseudo-inverse matrix of the matrix within the square brackets. It can be understood that if ABA = A and BAB = B, then matrix A and matrix B are pseudo-inverse matrices of each other. To simplify the computational complexity, let A P , A p+1, A p-1 , A 1 If the modulus of A is 1, formula (17) can be simplified to the following formula (18).

[0197]

[0198] Wherein, represents the intermediate value obtained by the intermediate processing of λ = [λ 1 , λ 2 , …, λ L T This is not the final result and further processing is required. represents the second norm of the component , which is the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of the component .

[0199] A in formula (17) p can be further expressed in the form of formula (19).

[0200]

[0201] Wherein, represents the intermediate value obtained by the above processing of "A p ". This is not the final result and further processing is required to obtain the final result of "A p ".

[0202] 3. Substitute formula (17) and formula (19) into formula (16), and iterate according to the initial value of each first component until formula (15) is satisfied or the maximum number of iterations is reached, then stop the iteration to obtain M groups of first components where l = 1, 2, …, L, and R first coefficients. Among them, the first coefficient can be expressed as λ l (l = 1, 2, …, L).

[0203] 4. The network device quantizes the R first coefficients λ l and the M groups of first components .

[0204] In a possible implementation, the network device can quantize the amplitude and phase of the R first coefficients respectively to obtain R second coefficients, and the R second coefficients can be included in the second information. For example, the network device can quantize the amplitude of the R first coefficients in the interval (0, 1] and the phase of the R first coefficients in the interval [0, 2π) to obtain R second coefficients (R is L).

[0205] ​Exemplarily, the network device may quantize the magnitudes of the R first coefficients in the interval (0, 1] and quantize the phases of the R first coefficients in the interval [0, 2π). Taking the magnitude normalization method as an example, each first coefficient can be divided by the magnitude of the first coefficient with the largest value among the R first coefficients to obtain the corresponding second coefficient. For example, for any first coefficient λ l , its corresponding second coefficient can be equal to λ l / λ max , where λ max is the magnitude of the first coefficient with the largest value. Optionally, the network device may also take the absolute value of the result of dividing each first coefficient by the first coefficient with the largest value among the R first coefficients and use the result of taking the absolute value as the corresponding second coefficient.

[0206] It can be understood that since the modulus of each component (such as ) is 1, the magnitudes of the M first components may not be quantized, and only the phases of the M first components need to be quantized. For example, the network device may quantize the M first components in the interval [0, 2π) to obtain the first information. It can be understood that the first information includes the quantized values corresponding to each first component. For example, the first information includes the values of each element of. Among them, is the quantized value, is the quantized value,..., is the quantized value.

[0207] Optionally, the above quantization method may be uniform quantization or non-uniform quantization. Uniform quantization can be understood as quantization with equally spaced division of the value range. For example, 3-bit uniform quantization means quantizing each element into 3 bits. Non-uniform quantization can be understood as quantization with unequally spaced division of the value range. For example, when the probability of small-amplitude signals appearing is much greater than that of large-amplitude signals, more quantization levels (i.e., smaller quantization steps) are provided in the small-signal range, and fewer quantization levels (i.e., larger quantization steps) are provided in the large-signal range.

[0208] When the total number of elements N of the weight matrix is 1024, the number of layers L of the weight matrix is 3, and the tensor expansion order P is 5,, N 1 , …, N PWhen = 4, two examples of non-uniform quantization methods are given below. Table 2 and Table 3 correspond to the 3-bit non-uniform quantization method (that is, after non-uniform quantization of any element, a quantization value including 3 bits can be obtained). Table 4 corresponds to the 4-bit non-uniform quantization method (that is, after non-uniform quantization of any element, a quantization value including 4 bits can be obtained).

[0209] Table 2

[0210]

[0211] Table 3

[0212]

[0213] Table 4

[0214]

[0215] Specifically, Calculate Sort the L in ascending order respectively, divide them into multiple intervals, and query Table 2, Table 3 or Table 4 according to the intervals to find the quantization value corresponding to the index in the corresponding table. It can be understood that for 3-bit non-uniform quantization, the corresponding quantization value is found according to Table 2 and Table 3; for 4-bit non-uniform quantization, the corresponding quantization value is found according to Table 4. For example, a group of λ l are 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 10 respectively. Since there are more data less than 1, non-uniform quantization is suitable. Taking the 4-bit non-uniform quantization of this group of data as an example, first calculate which are respectively: 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.06, 0.08, 0.09, 0.1, 1. The above data is the result after sorting in ascending order. The interval from 0 to 1 can be divided into the following 8 intervals: (0, 0015], (0.015, 0.025], (0.025, 0.035], (0.035, 0.045], (0.045, 0.055] (0.055, 0.075], (0.075, 1], (1, 10], which correspond to indexes 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 respectively. Then the above λ l : 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 10 are respectively quantized into: 1.

[0216] Optionally, before quantization, the network device may also determine at least one of the quantization bits corresponding to each element in the first component or the total number of bits after quantization of the M groups of first components, so that the network device performs quantization according to the determined information to obtain the first information.

[0217] In a possible implementation, the network device determines the quantization bits corresponding to each element in the first component according to the R first coefficients. It can be understood that, by way of example, on the premise of ensuring that each element is at least quantized by 1 bit, the quantization bits corresponding to each group of first components may be the same or different.

[0218] As an example, for each first coefficient λ l (l = 1, 2, …, L), according to determine the quantization bits corresponding to the first component corresponding to each first coefficient. By way of example, a weight matrix corresponds to three first coefficients, and the ratios of these three first coefficients are 2:2:1 respectively. If the quantization method is uniform quantization, then a group of first components corresponding to the three first coefficients can be allocated 40 bits, 40 bits, and 20 bits respectively. Taking the example that a group of first components corresponding to the first first coefficient is allocated 40 bits, if this group of first components includes 5 first components and each first component includes 2 elements, then each element can be allocated 4 bits, and the quantization method can be 4-bit uniform quantization.

[0219] In a possible implementation, the network device determines the quantization bits corresponding to each element in the first component according to the number of elements included in the M groups of first components.

[0220] By way of example, taking M equal to 2, the network device expects to quantize the two groups of first components into 100 bits. Each group of first components includes 5 first components, each first component includes 2 elements, and the quantization method is uniform quantization as an example, the network device can allocate 5 bits to each element.

[0221] In a possible implementation, the network device determines the quantization bits corresponding to a group of first components corresponding to the largest first coefficient among the R first coefficients, and determines the total number of bits after quantization of the M groups of first components according to this number of bits.

[0222] By way of example, taking the quantization bits corresponding to a group of first components corresponding to the largest first coefficient determined by the network device as as an example, if each element uses 4-bit uniform quantization, then N p is the number of elements included in a group of first components corresponding to the largest first coefficient, then the total number of bits after quantization of the M groups of first components is

[0223] It can be understood that the number of quantization bits of a set of first components corresponding to first coefficients other than the largest first coefficient is where lp 是 is the number of first components included in a set of first components corresponding to any first coefficient. It can be understood that when is not an integer, an integer can be obtained by methods such as rounding, ceiling, or floor, which is not limited in this application.

[0224] Exemplarily, when the weight matrix includes two sets of first components, the first set of first components includes 3 elements, the second set of first components includes 7 elements, and the corresponding of the first set, to ensure that each element is quantized using at least 1 bit, the quantized number of bits corresponding to the first set should be rounded down, and the second set of first components corresponds to 7 bits.

[0225] It can be understood that if operations such as rounding, ceiling, or floor are performed, the total number of bits after quantization of M sets of first components will change. Therefore, the network device can also update the total number of bits after quantization of M sets of first components. For example, the network device can update the total number of bits after quantization of M sets of first components according to the number of quantization bits corresponding to a set of first components corresponding to the largest first coefficient and the number of quantization bits of a set of first components corresponding to first coefficients other than the largest first coefficient. For example, where N′ is the updated total number of bits.

[0226] Optionally, the network device can simulate the process of the node dequantizing the first information to avoid a large error between the M sets of first components obtained by the node through dequantization and the M sets of first components obtained by the network device through tensor expansion. For example, the network device can determine the number of bits corresponding to each element in the M sets of first components according to the first information, and verify whether the number of bits is the same as the number of bits used by the network device to quantize the M sets of first components. If they are not the same, the network device can adjust the parameters when quantizing the M sets of first components, such as the number of bits corresponding to each element, or the quantization method, or the total number of bits after quantization of the M sets of first components, etc., to make the two as close as possible. It can be understood that if after multiple verifications (the number of verification times can be configured), the two numbers of bits are still not the same, the network device can send the first information with the optimal dequantization result to the node.

[0227] Secondly, taking formula (10) as an example, the specific process of the network device obtaining M sets of first components and R first coefficients according to the weight matrix, and quantizing the M sets of first components and R first coefficients to obtain the first information and the second information is introduced. Specifically, refer to the following method 2.

[0228] Method 2: The network device may expand the weight matrix Θ in the form of formula (10) to determine M groups of first components and R first coefficients. Specifically, the network device may determine M groups of first components and R first coefficients using a method similar to method 1, and quantize the M groups of first components and R first coefficients respectively to obtain first information and second information. The differences are as follows:

[0229] 1. In method 1, the network device determines the value in formula (9) Includes the values ​​of each element, and the L first coefficients λ l (l=1,2,…,L), in method 2, the network device determines the R first coefficients and the first component of group M Where l = 1, 2,…, L.

[0230] 2. The relationship between the M groups of first components, the R first coefficients, θ and the error requirement used in method 2 is different from that in method 1. For example, the relationship between the M groups of first components, the R first coefficients, θ and the error requirement in method 2 can satisfy formula (20). It can be understood that the error threshold in formula (20) can be the same as or different from the error threshold in formula (15).

[0231]

[0232] It can be understood that in addition to the method of determining M groups of first components and R first coefficients shown in Method 1, the network device can also use other methods, such as high order singular value decomposition (HOSVD) method to perform tensor decomposition to determine M groups of first components and R first coefficients.

[0233] It can be understood that the network device can use a method similar to method 1 to expand the weight matrix into the form of formula (11), and then determine M groups of first components and R first coefficients, and quantize the M groups of first components and R first coefficients respectively to obtain first information and second information, which will not be repeated. Similarly, the network device can use a method similar to method 2 to expand the weight matrix into the form of formula (13), and then determine M groups of first components and R first coefficients, and quantize the M groups of first components and R first coefficients respectively to obtain first information and second information, which will not be repeated.

[0234] Optionally, the network device sends first indication information to the node. Correspondingly, the node receives the first indication information from the network device. The first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of first components included in M or any group of first components, or the number of elements of the first components included in any group of first components. Optionally, the first indication information further indicates the quantization method of the elements of the M groups of first components. The quantization method of the elements of the M groups of first components may indicate the number of quantization bits of each element in the M groups of first components. In this way, the node can perform inverse quantization on the first information according to the first indication information. It should be understood that the above information may also be preset, without limitation.

[0235] It can be understood that in this application, the information sent by the network device to the node, such as the first information, the second information, and each information indicated by the first indication information, may be included in one message or in different messages. For example, the network device sends message 1 to the node, and message 1 includes the first information and the number of first components included in any group of first components. The network device also sends message 2 to the node, and message 2 includes the second information. Another example is that the network device sends message 1 to the node, and message 1 includes the first information, the second information, and each information indicated by the first indication information.

[0236] Optionally, the transmission period of the first information is the first period, and the transmission period of the second information is the second period, and the first period is greater than the second period. In this way, the update frequency of the first information is lower than that of the second information, and the overhead of the network device for sending weight matrix-related information can be further reduced. Of course, in a specific application, the first period may also be less than or equal to the second period, without limitation.

[0237] It can be understood that after receiving the first information and the second information, the node can determine M groups of first components according to the first information and obtain R first coefficients according to the second information.

[0238] In a possible implementation, the node obtains the bits corresponding to each element in the first information according to the first information and the number of quantization bits of each element in the M groups of first components, and performs inverse quantization on these bits to obtain the M groups of first components. Here, inverse quantization refers to the inverse operation of the node quantifying the first information to obtain the information before quantization.

[0239] In a possible implementation, the node can perform inverse quantization on the R second coefficients included in the second information to obtain R first coefficients.

[0240] It can be understood that after the node obtains the R first coefficients, the R first coefficients can be arranged in ascending order. Starting from the smallest first coefficient, calculate the corresponding This value is used as a group of first components corresponding to the first coefficient The number of bits corresponding to the first information. It can be understood that when it is not an integer, an integer can be obtained by rounding, ceiling or floor, etc., without limitation.

[0241] It can be understood that after the node determines the number of bits corresponding to a group of first components corresponding to each first coefficient in the first information, it can combine the number of first components included in M groups of first components (which are l 1 , l 2 , …, l P ), and the number of elements of the first components in each group (which are N 1 , …, N P ) to obtain the bits corresponding to each element of each first component, and obtain M groups of first components after decoding the bits corresponding to all elements respectively.

[0242] This application does not limit the order in which the node performs inverse quantization on the first information and the second information. For example, the node can perform inverse quantization on the first information and the second information simultaneously, or the node can first perform inverse quantization on the first information and then perform inverse quantization on the second information, or the node can first perform inverse quantization on the second information and then perform inverse quantization on the first information.

[0243] S403: The node obtains a weight matrix according to M groups of first components and R first coefficients.

[0244] A possible implementation is that the node repeatedly selects M first components from M groups of first components to perform component operations, multiplies the result of each component operation by the corresponding first coefficient and then adds them to obtain the weight matrix. Each first component included in each group of first components participates in the above-mentioned component operation. It can be understood that the purpose of the component operation is to make the product of the number of elements of each group of first components equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix, so as to reduce the number of elements corresponding to the weight matrix indicated by the network device to the node. Therefore, any component operation that can achieve this purpose is included in the scope of the method shown in this application. This application describes it by taking the component operation including the outer product or Kronecker product as an example.

[0245] It is understandable that the process by which the node obtains the weight matrix is essentially to fit the weight matrix through M groups of first components and R first coefficients. Therefore, the node can fit the weight matrix in a manner corresponding to the expansion of the weight matrix by the network device. For example, if the network device expands the weight matrix using formula (9), the node uses formula (9) to fit the weight matrix; if the network device expands the weight matrix using formula (10), the node uses formula (10) to fit the weight matrix; if the network device expands the weight matrix using formula (11), the node uses formula (11) to fit the weight matrix; if the network device expands the weight matrix using formula (13), the node uses formula (13) to fit the weight matrix. Below, a specific explanation is given with M equal to 3.

[0246] Example 1: Taking the first group of first components as the second group of first components as the third group of first components as and the three first coefficients being λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , and taking the fitting method as formula (9) as an example, the node takes out one first component from each group of first components each time, performs an outer product on the three taken-out first components, and adds the obtained results in this way to fit the weight matrix, as shown in formula (21).

[0247]

[0248] Example 2: Taking the first group of first components as the second group of first components as the third group of first components as and the three first coefficients being λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , and taking the fitting method as formula (11) as an example, the node takes out one first component from each group of first components each time, performs a Kronecker product on the three taken-out first components, and adds the obtained results in this way to fit the weight matrix, as shown in formula (22).

[0249]

[0250] Example 3: Taking the first group of first components as the second group of first components as the third group of first components as and the R first coefficients being Λ 1,1,1 , Λ 1,1,2 , Λ 1,2,1 , Λ 1,2,2 , Λ 2,1,1 , Λ 2,1,2 , Λ 2,2,1 , Λ2,2,2 , taking the fitting method in Formula (10) as an example, each time a node takes out a first component from a group of first components, and performs an outer product on the three taken-out first components. All the first components included in each group of first components participate in the outer product operation. By operating in this way and adding up the obtained results, the weight matrix is fitted, as shown in Formula (23).

[0251]

[0252] Example 4: Taking the first group of first components as The second group of first components is The third group of first components is And the R first coefficients are Λ 1,1,1 , Λ 1,1,2 , Λ 1,2,1 , Λ 1,2,2 , Λ 2,1,1 , Λ 2,1,2 , Λ 2,2,1 , Λ 2,2,2 , taking the fitting method in Formula (13) as an example, each time a node takes out a first component from a group of first components, and performs a Kronecker product on the three taken-out first components. All the first components included in each group of first components participate in the Kronecker product operation. By operating in this way and adding up the obtained results, the weight matrix is fitted, as shown in Formula (24).

[0253]

[0254] Optionally, the network device can indicate to the node the method adopted by the network device when expanding the weight matrix, such as any one of the forms in Formula (9), Formula (10), Formula (11) or Formula (13), or a form including other component operations, so that the node fits the weight matrix according to the indication of the network device.

[0255] It can be understood that after obtaining the weight matrix, the node can receive the signal of the network device according to the weight matrix. If the node is an IRS, the node can also forward the signal from the network device to the terminal.

[0256] Based on Figure 4In the method shown, the network device can expand the weight matrix to obtain M groups of first components and R first coefficients, quantize the M groups of first components to obtain first information, quantize the R first coefficients to obtain second information, and send the first information and the second information to the node. Therefore, after receiving the first information and the second information, the node can dequantize the first information to obtain M groups of first components, dequantize the second information to obtain R first coefficients, and then fit the weight matrix based on the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients. In the above process, the network device can indicate Z values to the node, where Z is equal to the sum of the products of the number of each group of first components and the number of elements in each group of first components in the M groups of first components, and Z is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix Θ. Therefore, the overhead of the network device can be effectively reduced.

[0257] Exemplarily, when the total number of elements N of the weight matrix = 1024, P = 5, M = 4, L 1 = L 2 = L 3 = L 4 = L 5 = L = 3, N 1 , …, N 5 = 4, when 4-bit uniform quantization is adopted, in this solution, the number of bits after quantization is 240 (4×3×(4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4) = 240). In the prior art, all elements of the weight matrix are directly quantized and sent to the node. Similarly, under the condition of 4-bit uniform quantization, the number of bits after quantization is 4096 (1024×4 = 4096). It can be seen that this solution can effectively reduce the overhead caused by sending the weight matrix information.

[0258] The above mainly introduces the solution provided in this application from the perspective of the interaction between the node and the network device. Correspondingly, this application also provides a communication device. The communication device can be the node in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above node, or a component applicable to the node; or, the communication device can be the network device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above network device, or a component applicable to the network device. It can be understood that in order to implement the above functions, the above node or network device includes the corresponding hardware structure and / or software module for executing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, combined with the units and algorithm operations of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this article, this application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is executed in the way of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of this application.

[0259] This application can divide the nodes and network devices into functional modules according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module. It can be understood that the division of modules in this application is illustrative, only a logical function division, and there can be other division methods in actual implementation.

[0260] For example, in the case of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner, Figure 5 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 50. The communication device 50 includes an interface module 501 and a processing module 502. The interface module 501, which can also be referred to as an interface unit, is used to perform transceiver operations. For example, it can be an interface circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface, etc. The processing module 502, which can also be referred to as a processing unit, is used to perform operations other than transceiver operations. For example, it can be a processing circuit or a processor, etc.

[0261] In some embodiments, the communication device 50 may further include a storage module ( Figure 5 not shown in the figure), which is used to store program instructions and data.

[0262] Exemplarily, the communication device 50 is used to implement the functions of a node. The communication device 50 is, for example, Figure 4 the node of the embodiment shown in the figure.

[0263] Among them, the interface module 501 is used to receive the first information and the second information. Among them, the first information is used to indicate M groups of first components, and the second information is used to indicate R first coefficients, where R is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Any one of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component; in any one of the first components, the number of elements included in each first component is the same; the number of elements in a first component is greater than or equal to 2; among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix; and the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix. For example, the interface module 501 can be used to execute S402.

[0264] The processing module 502 is used to obtain the weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients. For example, the processing module 502 can be used to execute S403.

[0265] In a possible implementation, the processing module 502 is specifically configured to perform component operations by separately selecting M first components from M groups of first components multiple times, multiplying the result of each component operation by a corresponding first coefficient, and then adding them together to obtain a weight matrix. All the first components included in each group of first components participate in the component operation.

[0266] In a possible implementation, the component operation makes the product of the number of elements in each group of first components equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix.

[0267] In a possible implementation, the number of first components included in at least two groups of the M groups of first components is different.

[0268] In a possible implementation, the number of first components included in at least two groups of the M groups of first components is the same.

[0269] In a possible implementation, the interface module 501 is further configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: M, or the number of first components included in any group of first components, or the number of elements of the first components included in any group of first components.

[0270] In a possible implementation, the first indication information further indicates the quantization method of the elements of the M groups of first components.

[0271] In a possible implementation, the number of elements of the first component is preset.

[0272] In a possible implementation, the transmission period of the first information is the first period, and the transmission period of the second information is the second period, and the first period is greater than the second period.

[0273] When used to implement the functions of the node, for other functions that the communication device 50 can implement, reference can be made to Figure 4 the relevant introduction of the embodiments shown, which will not be elaborated here.

[0274] Alternatively, by way of example, the communication device 50 is used to implement the functions of a network device. The communication device 50 is, for example, Figure 4 the network device in the embodiments shown.

[0275] Among them, the processing module 502 is used to obtain the weight matrix; for example, the processing module 502 can be used to execute S401.

[0276] The processing module 502 is further configured to control the interface module 501 to send a first piece of information and a second piece of information according to a weight matrix. The first piece of information is used to indicate M groups of first components, and the second piece of information is used to indicate R first coefficients. The M groups of first components and the R first coefficients are used to determine the weight matrix, where M and R are integers greater than or equal to 1. Any one of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component; in any one of the groups of first components, each first component includes the same number of elements; the number of elements in a first component is greater than or equal to 2; among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix; and the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix. For example, the processing module 502 may be configured to execute S402.

[0277] In a possible implementation manner, the interface module 501 is further configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: M, the number of first components included in any one of the groups of first components, or the number of elements included in any one of the groups of first components.

[0278] In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information further indicates the quantization method of the elements of the M groups of first components.

[0279] In a possible implementation manner, in any one of the groups of first components, the number of elements in at least two first components is different.

[0280] In a possible implementation manner, the number of elements in the first component is preset.

[0281] In a possible implementation manner, the reception period of the first piece of information is a first period, and the reception period of the second piece of information is a second period, where the first period is greater than the second period.

[0282] When used to implement the functions of a network device, for other functions that the communication device 50 can implement, reference may be made to Figure 4 the relevant introduction of the embodiments shown, which will not be elaborated here.

[0283] In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art can conceive that the communication device 50 may adopt Figure 3 the form shown. For example, Figure 3 the processor 301 in can call the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303 to cause the communication device 50 to execute the methods in the above embodiments.

[0284] Exemplarily, Figure 5 the functions / implementation processes of the interface module 501 and the processing module 502 in can be implemented through Figure 3The processor 301 in [it] calls the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303 to implement. Or, Figure 5 The function / implementation process of the processing module 502 in [it] can be Figure 3 implemented by the processor 301 in [it] calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303, Figure 5 The function / implementation process of the interface module 501 in [it] can be Figure 3 implemented by the communication interface 304 in [it].

[0285] It can be understood that one or more of the above modules or units can be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of both. When any of the above modules or units is implemented by software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions and is stored in the memory. The processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flow. The processor can be built into a SoC (System on Chip) or ASIC, or it can be an independent semiconductor chip. In addition to the core in the processor for executing software instructions for arithmetic or processing, it can further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a logic circuit for implementing dedicated logical operations.

[0286] When the above modules or units are implemented by hardware, the hardware can be any one or any combination of a CPU, a microprocessor, a digital signal processing (DSP) chip, a microcontroller unit (MCU), an artificial intelligence processor, an ASIC, a SoC, an FPGA, a PLD, a dedicated digital circuit, a hardware accelerator, or a non-integrated discrete device, which can run the necessary software or execute the above method flow without relying on software.

[0287] Optionally, the present application further provides a chip system, including: at least one processor and an interface. The at least one processor is coupled to the memory through the interface. When the at least one processor executes the computer program or instructions in the memory, the method in any of the above method embodiments is executed. In a possible implementation manner, the chip system further includes a memory. Optionally, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. The present application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0288] Optionally, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be completed by a computer program instructing relevant hardware. This program can be stored in the above computer-readable storage medium. When this program is executed, it can include the processes of the above method embodiments. The computer-readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the communication device in any of the foregoing embodiments, such as the hard disk or memory of the communication device. The above computer-readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the above communication device, such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart media card (SMC), a secure digital (SD) card, a flash card, etc., equipped on the above communication device. Further, the above computer-readable storage medium can also include both the internal storage unit of the above communication device and the external storage device. The above computer-readable storage medium is used to store the above computer program and other programs and data required by the above communication device. The above computer-readable storage medium can also be used to temporarily store the data that has been output or will be output.

[0289] Optionally, the present application further provides a computer program product. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be completed by a computer program instructing relevant hardware. This program can be stored in the above computer program product. When this program is executed, it can include the processes of the above method embodiments.

[0290] Optionally, the present application further provides a computer instruction. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be completed by a computer instruction instructing relevant hardware (such as a computer, a processor, a node, or a network device, etc.). This program can be stored in the above computer-readable storage medium or the above computer program product.

[0291] Optionally, the present application further provides a communication system, including: the node and the network device in the above embodiments.

[0292] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, only the above division of each functional module is used as an example. In actual applications, the above functions can be allocated to different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0293] In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of modules or units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the displayed or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other can be through some interfaces. The indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units can be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0294] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components displayed as units may be one physical unit or multiple physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or they can be distributed to multiple different places. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0295] In addition, in each embodiment of the present application, each functional unit can be integrated in a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0296] The above is only the specific implementation manner of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, the method includes: receiving first information and second information, where the first information is used to indicate M groups of first components, and the second information is used to indicate R first coefficients, and R is an integer greater than or equal to 1; any one of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component; in any one of the groups of first components, each first component includes the same number of elements; the number of elements in one first component is greater than or equal to 2; among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix; and the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix; obtaining the weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the obtaining the weight matrix according to the M groups of first components and the R first coefficients includes: selecting M first components from the M groups of first components respectively for component operations multiple times, multiplying the result of each component operation by the corresponding first coefficient and then adding them together to obtain the weight matrix, and each first component included in each group of first components participates in the component operation.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, the component operation makes the product of the number of elements in each group of first components equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, at least two groups of first components among the M groups of first components include different numbers of first components.

5. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, at least two groups of first components among the M groups of first components include the same number of first components.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, the method further includes: receiving first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of first components included in M or any one of the groups of first components or the number of elements in the first components included in any one of the groups of first components.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, the first indication information further indicates the quantization method of the elements in the M groups of first components.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, the number of elements in the first component is preset.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, the transmission period of the first information is a first period, the transmission period of the second information is a second period, and the first period is greater than the second period.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, the method includes: obtaining a weight matrix; Send a first message and a second message according to the weight matrix, where the first message is used to indicate M groups of first components, and the second message is used to indicate R first coefficients. The M groups of first components and the R first coefficients are used to determine the weight matrix, and M and R are integers greater than or equal to 1. Among them, any one of the M groups of first components includes at least one first component; in any one of the groups of first components, the number of elements included in each first component is the same; the number of elements in one first component is greater than or equal to 2; among the M groups of first components, the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is equal to the number of elements included in the weight matrix; and the sum of the number of each group of first components and the product of the number of elements in each group of first components is less than the number of elements in the weight matrix.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, the method further includes: sending first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: M, the number of first components included in any one group of first components, or the number of elements in the first components included in any one group of first components.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, the first indication information further indicates the quantization method of the elements of the M groups of first components.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10-12, wherein, in any one of the groups of first components, the number of elements in at least two first components is different.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10-13, wherein, the number of elements in the first component is preset.

15. The method according to any one of claims 10-14, wherein, the reception period of the first message is a first period, and the reception period of the second message is a second period, and the first period is greater than the second period.

16. A communication device, wherein, includes a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or includes a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

17. A communication device, wherein, includes: a processor, the processor is coupled with a memory, and the memory is used to store programs or instructions. When the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or executes the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, on which computer programs or instructions are stored, wherein, when the computer programs or instructions are executed, the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

19. A computer program product, which includes computer program code, wherein, when the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or implements the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

20. A communication system, characterized in that, it comprises: means for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, and / or means for performing the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

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