Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and a communication device are provided. A network device can sort N channel sets according to a preset rule to determine M channel sets, and then indicate these M channel sets to a terminal device. The terminal device can determine the channel information of the corresponding M reference channels based on these M channel sets, and then use this reference channel information to assist communication, thereby reducing the air interface overhead caused by reference signals. The preset rule can be related to the dispersion of terminal devices within the region corresponding to each channel set, the similarity of channels, etc., thus ensuring that the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to each channel set is more representative.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly to a communication method and a communication device. Background Technology

[0002] In Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology, a large number of antennas can be used to improve wireless capacity and coverage. Channel estimation becomes increasingly important for transmitting and receiving data, acquiring system synchronization, and providing feedback channel state information. Channel estimation refers to the process of reconstructing or recovering the received signal to compensate for signal distortion caused by channel fading and noise fading. It uses a reference signal known at both the transmitting and receiving ends to track the time and frequency domain changes of the channel. This reference signal is also called the reference signal (RS) or pilot. Commonly used reference signals include the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for measuring the downlink channel and the sounding reference signal (SRS) for measuring the uplink channel, among others.

[0003] However, with the development of multi-antenna technology, the number of antenna ports has increased dramatically, and the reference signal may lead to higher overhead of air interface resources. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method and a communication device to reduce air interface overhead.

[0005] Firstly, a communication method is provided, applicable to a terminal device. For example, it can be executed by the terminal device itself, or by a component configured within the terminal device (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system-on-chip (SoC) or system-in-package (SIP) chip containing a modem core, etc.); or it can be implemented by a logic module or software capable of realizing some or all of the functions of the terminal device, etc., and this application does not limit this. Alternatively, the method can be executed by a first communication device, which can be a terminal device, a component configured within the terminal device (such as a modem chip, or a SoC or SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.), or a logic module or software capable of realizing some or all of the functions of the terminal device, etc., and this application does not limit this. For ease of explanation, the method of the first aspect will be described below using a terminal device as an example.

[0006] For example, the method includes: receiving first information, the first information indicating M channel sets, the M channel sets being obtained by sorting N channel sets based on preset rules, where N and M are both positive integers; and obtaining channel information of M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0007] Optionally, the preset rule is related to one of the following: the dispersion of terminal devices within the region corresponding to each of the N channel sets, and the similarity between the multiple channels included in each of the N channel sets.

[0008] Based on the above scheme, network devices can sort N channel sets according to preset rules to determine M channel sets. Since the preset rules can be defined and adjusted according to requirements, the determination of the M channel sets is more reasonable. For example, the preset rule could be to sort the channels according to the increasing dispersion of terminal devices within the corresponding regions of the channel sets. Alternatively, the preset rule could be to sort the channels within a channel set according to the decreasing similarity between multiple channels. Channel sets determined based on these preset rules tend to have more concentrated terminal devices, resulting in better representativeness of the reference channel information; or, multiple channels within a channel set may have higher similarity, thus exhibiting similar channel environments and being more suitable for being grouped into a single channel set. Because the division of channel sets changes, the channel information of the corresponding reference channels (also referred to as reference channel information) also changes. Terminal devices determine the reference channel information for each of the M channel sets and then use the updated reference channel information to assist in communication. In this way, when different terminal devices use different channels in the same channel set to transmit data with network devices, they can all use the same reference channel information to assist communication. For example, they can send or receive data based on the same reference channel information, without necessarily requiring the network device to send a reference signal for each terminal device to obtain a channel estimate. This reduces the air interface overhead caused by reference signals.

[0009] Furthermore, due to the high mobility of terminal devices, the allocation of channel sets is not fixed. Network devices can update the channel sets in real time according to preset rules and indicate the updated channel sets to the terminal devices. Therefore, the allocation of channel sets can be adapted to the distribution of terminal devices within the current cell. In other words, the allocation of channel sets is more accurate, which helps terminal devices obtain more accurate channel information to assist communication and improves spectrum efficiency.

[0010] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some possible implementations of the first aspect, obtaining the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets includes: determining the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0011] Secondly, a communication method is provided. This method can be applied to a network device, for example, it can be executed by the network device itself, or by a component configured in the network device (such as a modem chip, or a SoC or SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.); or it can be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device, etc., and this application does not limit this. Alternatively, the method can be executed by a second communication device, which can be a network device, a component configured in the network device (such as a modem chip, or a SoC or SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device, etc., and this application does not limit this. For ease of explanation, the method of the second aspect will be described below using a network device as an example.

[0012] For example, the method includes: sorting N channel sets according to preset rules to obtain M channel sets, where N and M are both positive integers; and sending first information, which is used to indicate the M channel sets.

[0013] Optionally, the preset rule is related to one of the following: the dispersion of terminal devices within the region corresponding to each of the N channel sets, and the similarity between the multiple channels included in each of the N channel sets.

[0014] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: determining channel information for M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0015] It should be understood that the technical solution of the second aspect corresponds to the technical solution of the first aspect. For some possible implementation methods and beneficial effects of the second aspect, please refer to the relevant description of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0016] Combining the first or second aspect, in some possible implementations, N is greater than M.

[0017] N is greater than M, meaning that by updating the N channel sets, the number of channel sets is reduced.

[0018] Optionally, the M channel sets are the top M channel sets obtained by sorting the N channel sets based on the preset rules.

[0019] Accordingly, the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the top M channel sets.

[0020] By retaining the top M channels, that is, by retaining the reference channel information of the top M channels, the terminal device can directly obtain the reference channel information of the M channels from the reference channel information of the N channels without performing additional calculations. Therefore, determining the reference channel information of these M channels is relatively simple and saves computational resources.

[0021] Optionally, the M channel sets include the top (M-1) channel sets obtained by sorting the N channel sets according to the preset rules, and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets.

[0022] Accordingly, the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the (M-1) reference channels corresponding to the (M-1) channel sets and the channel information of the (N-M+1) reference channels corresponding to the (N-M+1) channel sets.

[0023] On the one hand, the top (M-1) channel sets are retained, meaning the reference channel information of the top (M-1) channel sets is preserved. This allows the reference channel information of the more representative (M-1) channel sets to be retained, saving the computational overhead of determining the reference channel information. On the other hand, the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets are merged, meaning the reference channel information of the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets is combined, for example, through weighted averaging or algebraic averaging. This allows the reference channel information of the less representative (N-M+1) channel sets to be combined, making the reference channel information more comprehensively reflect the channel set.

[0024] Combining the first or second aspect, in some possible implementations, N is less than M.

[0025] N is less than M, meaning that by updating the N channel sets, the number of channel sets increases.

[0026] Optionally, the M channel sets are obtained by splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets, and each split channel set is the last channel set ranked according to the preset rule among the multiple channel sets obtained in the previous update.

[0027] Accordingly, the N channel sets are updated from the N' channel sets, where N' is a positive integer greater than M and less than or equal to L; the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the N' reference channels corresponding to the N' channel sets, where N' is a positive integer greater than N and less than or equal to L.

[0028] Therefore, the reference channel information of the M channel sets obtained by splitting can be determined based on prior information, thereby supporting the splitting of the channel sets and enabling the updating of the channel sets to increase or decrease the number as needed, rather than being limited to merging.

[0029] Thirdly, a communication apparatus is provided for performing the methods of the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, or the methods of the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof. Specifically, the apparatus may include units and / or modules for performing the methods of either the first or second aspect and any possible implementation thereof, such as processing units and / or communication units. These units and / or modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software implementations.

[0030] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device). When the device is a communication device, the communication unit can be a transceiver or an input / output interface; the processing unit can be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0031] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, circuit, or communication module for communication equipment (such as terminal equipment or network equipment). When the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment, the communication unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0032] Fourthly, a communication device is provided, the device comprising: at least one processor configured to cause the device to perform the methods of the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, or to cause the device to perform the methods of the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0033] Optionally, the at least one processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions to perform the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, or to perform the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0034] Optionally, the device further includes a memory for storing the computer program or instructions.

[0035] Optionally, the at least one processor is coupled to a memory for storing the computer program or instructions. The memory may be located externally to the device.

[0036] Optionally, the device also includes a communication interface through which the processor reads instructions from memory. This can be understood as the communication interface being coupled to the processor and used to input computer programs or instructions to the processor, or to output information from the processor.

[0037] Unless otherwise specified, or if the transmission and acquisition / reception operations involved do not contradict their actual function or internal logic in the relevant description, they can be understood as output, input, or other operations, or as transmission and reception operations performed by radio frequency circuits and antennas. This application does not limit them in this regard.

[0038] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0039] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, circuit, or communication module for communication devices (such as terminal devices or network devices). Optionally, the chip is a modem chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core.

[0040] Fifthly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided that stores a computer program (e.g., program code) or instructions, which, when executed, cause the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof to be performed, or cause the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0041] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising computer program code or instructions, which, when executed, cause the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof to be executed, or cause the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof to be executed.

[0042] A seventh aspect provides a communication system, comprising: a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device is used to execute the method of the first aspect and any implementation thereof, and the network device is used to execute the method of the second aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0043] The third to seventh aspects of this application correspond to the technical solutions of the first to second aspects of this application. The beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation are similar, and will not be repeated here. Attached Figure Description

[0044] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0045] Figure 2 This is another schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the methods provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0046] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of an access network device applicable to embodiments of this application;

[0047] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the reference channel and the target channel;

[0048] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of multiple channel sets;

[0049] Figure 6 This is a schematic flowchart of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0050] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship between the reference channel and the projection matrix provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0051] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the nested relationship between the numbering of the L channel sets provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0052] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the transmission pattern of the reference signal determined based on the projection matrix, provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0053] Figure 10 and Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0054] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the chip system provided in the embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0055] The technical solution provided in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0056] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the following points will be explained first:

[0057] First, in this application, the indication includes explicit indication (also known as direct indication) and implicit indication (also known as indirect indication). Explicit indication information A means including information A; implicit indication information A means indicating information A through the correspondence between information A and information B, and direct indication information B. The correspondence between information A and information B can be predefined, pre-stored, pre-burned, or pre-configured; or it can refer to indicating information A through information B and preset rules.

[0058] Second, in this application, information C is used to determine information D, which includes both determining information D based solely on information C and determining it based on information C and other information. Furthermore, information C can also be used to determine information D indirectly, for example, in the case where information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0059] Third, in this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between the preceding and following related objects, but it does not exclude the possibility of indicating an "and" relationship; the specific meaning can be understood in context. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Here, a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0060] Fourth, in this application, the use of prefixes such as "first" and "second" is merely for the purpose of distinguishing and describing different things belonging to the same category, and does not constrain the order, size, or quantity of things. For example, "first information" and "second information" are simply different pieces of information, and there is no temporal sequence, size, or priority relationship between them.

[0061] Fifth, in this application, "send" and "receive" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "send information to the terminal" can be understood as the destination of the information being the terminal, which may include direct transmission via the air interface or indirect transmission via the air interface by other units or modules. "Receive information from a network device" can be understood as the source of the information being the network device, which may include direct reception from the network device via the air interface or indirect reception from the network device via the air interface by other units or modules. "Send" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receive" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0062] In other words, sending and receiving can occur between devices, such as between a terminal and a network device; or they can occur within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules, or hardware modules within a device via a bus, wiring, or interface.

[0063] Sixth, in the embodiments of this application, "when," "if," and "if" all refer to the device making corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, and are not limited to a time, nor do they require the device to make a judgment action when it is implemented, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0064] Seventh, in this application, the words "example," "exemplarily," "for example," or "such as" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design described as "example," "exemplarily," "for example," or "such as" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the words "example," "exemplarily," "for example," or "such as" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0065] Eighth, the numbers involved in this application, such as p, i, etc., can start from 1, start from 0, or start from any other value. This application does not limit the range of values ​​for each number.

[0066] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, time division duplex (TDD) systems, wireless local area network (WLAN) systems, satellite communication systems, future communication systems, or integrated systems of multiple systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems.

[0067] In a communication system, a device can send signals to or receive signals from another device. These signals can include information, signaling, or data. The device can also be replaced by an entity, network entity, communication equipment, communication module, node, communication node, etc.; this disclosure uses a device as an example. For instance, a communication system can include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device can send downlink signals to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send uplink signals to the network device. It is understood that the terminal device in this disclosure can be replaced by a first communication device, and the network device can be replaced by a second communication device, both performing the corresponding communication methods described in this disclosure.

[0068] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the communication method provided in this application. Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a possible, non-limiting system architecture is shown. (e.g.) Figure 1 As shown, the communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. Optionally, the communication system 10 also includes an Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., Figure 1 110a and 110b (collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (such as Figure 1 RAN 100, denoted as RAN 120a-120j, is collectively referred to as RAN 120. RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment. Figure 1 (Not shown in the image). Terminal device 120 is connected to RAN node 110 wirelessly. RAN node 110 is connected to core network 200 wirelessly or via wired connection. The core network equipment in core network 200 and RAN node 110 in RAN 100 can be different physical devices, or they can be the same physical device integrating core network logical functions and radio access network logical functions.

[0069] RAN 100 can be used for cellular systems related to the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), such as 4G (4G4). th RAN 100 can be a generation (4G), 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system. It can also be an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system. RAN 100 can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0070] RAN node 110, sometimes also referred to as access network equipment, RAN entity, or access node, is part of the communication system and helps terminals achieve wireless access. Multiple RAN nodes 110 in communication system 10 can be of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of RAN node 110 and terminal device 120 are relative, for example... Figure 1 Network element 120i can be a helicopter or a drone, and it can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminal devices 120j that access RAN 100 through network element 120i, network element 120i is a base station; however, for base station 110a, network element 120i is a terminal. RAN node 110 and terminal devices 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices, for example... Figure 1 Network elements 110a and 110b can be understood as communication devices with base station functions, while network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0071] In one possible scenario, a RAN node can be a base station (BS). A base station can broadly encompass, or be replaced by, various names including: network equipment, access network equipment, NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next-generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master station, auxiliary station, motor slide retainer (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), radio unit (RU), positioning node, etc. A base station can also be a macro base station (e.g., Figure 1 110a), micro base stations or indoor stations (such as Figure 1 The term "base station" can refer to 110b), relay nodes, donor nodes, or similar entities, or combinations thereof. A base station can also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip installed within the aforementioned equipment or apparatus. A base station can also be a mobile switching center, a device performing base station functions in D2D, V2X, and M2M communications, or a device performing base station functions in future communication systems. A base station can support networks using the same or different access technologies. Optionally, a RAN node can also be a server, wearable device, vehicle, or in-vehicle equipment. For example, the access network equipment in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology can be a roadside unit (RSU). The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or equipment forms used in the network equipment.

[0072] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes each implementing a portion of the base station's functions. For example, RAN nodes can be central units (CUs), distributed units (DUs), CUs (control planes, CPs), CUs (user planes, UPs), or RUs, etc. CUs and DUs can be set up separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RUs can be included in radio frequency equipment or radio frequency units, such as remote radio units (RRUs), active antenna units (AAUs), or remote radio heads (RRHs).

[0073] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, in an ORAN system, CU can also be called an open CU (O-CU), DU can also be called an open DU (O-DU), CU-CP can also be called an open CU-CP (open-CU-CP, O-CU-CP), CU-UP can also be called an open CU-UP (open-CU-UP, O-CU-UP), and RU can also be called an open RU (open-RU, O-RU). For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0074] In this embodiment, the apparatus for implementing the functions of a network device can be a network device itself; it can also be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device in implementing those functions, such as a chip system, hardware circuit, software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module. This apparatus can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device. In this embodiment, the example of a network device being used to implement the functions of a network device is provided only and does not constitute a limitation on the solutions described in this embodiment.

[0075] Terminal equipment can also be called a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. A terminal device can be a device that provides voice and / or data, such as a handheld device with wireless connectivity, an in-vehicle device, etc. Currently, examples of terminals include: mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks, or future public land mobile communication networks. Terminal devices in a network (PLMN), Wi-Fi stations (STAs), etc. This application does not limit this to specific examples.

[0076] Terminal devices can also be terminal devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) system, also known as IoT nodes. IoT is an important component of future information technology development. Its main technical characteristic is connecting objects to networks through communication technologies, thereby realizing an intelligent network that enables human-machine interaction and machine-to-machine interaction. Connections can be made using broadband or narrowband technologies. IoT technology, for example, can achieve massive connectivity, deep coverage, and low power consumption at the terminal through narrowband (NB) technology.

[0077] In addition, terminal devices may also include sensors such as smart printers, train detectors, and gas stations. Their main functions include collecting data (for some terminal devices), receiving control information and downlink data from network devices, and sending electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to network devices.

[0078] Terminal devices can also be wearable devices. Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for devices that utilize wearable technology to intelligently design and develop everyday wearables, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices that are worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not just hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are feature-rich, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on a smartphone, such as smartwatches or smart glasses, as well as those that focus on a specific application function and require the use of other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0079] In this embodiment, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or it can be any device capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing those functions, such as a chip system. This device can be installed in or used in conjunction with the terminal device. In this embodiment, the chip system can be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete components. This embodiment only uses the terminal device as an example to illustrate the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device, and does not constitute a limitation on the solution of this embodiment.

[0080] This application does not limit the specific form of the terminal device and network device. The terminal device and network device can be hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or software functions running on general-purpose hardware. They can also be virtualized devices, for example, implemented through general-purpose hardware and instantiated virtualization functions, or dedicated hardware and instantiated virtualization functions. Among them, general-purpose hardware can be servers, such as cloud servers.

[0081] Figure 2 This is another schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the methods provided in the embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 2 As shown, the RAN devices in this communication system (e.g., eNB, gNB, or next-generation access network devices) have a distributed architecture, including CU, DU, and RU. RAN devices can communicate with core network (CN) devices via backhaul links and with terminals via air interfaces.

[0082] For example, the BBU in the RAN device communicates with the core network device via a backhaul link; the RU in the RAN device can communicate with at least one terminal device via an air interface. The BBU communicates with at least one RU via a fronthaul link; the BBU and RU may or may not be co-located. In some deployments, the BBU may include at least one CU and at least one DU, and the CU and DU can communicate with each other via a midhaul link. The RU can communicate with one or more UEs via a radio link. The DU and RU may or may not be co-located. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs.

[0083] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of an access network device applicable to embodiments of this application. Figure 3 The diagram shows the network element function division and protocol layer structure of the O-RAN equipment. Figure 3 The access network equipment shown includes CU, DU, and RU. The CU is a logical node that carries the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and other control functions of the access network equipment. The CU can connect to network nodes such as the core network through interfaces, such as the E2 interface. The CU may have some core network functions. The CU (e.g., the PDCP layer and / or higher) connects to the DU (e.g., the radio link control (RLC) layer and lower layers of the DU) through interfaces, such as the F1 interface. Optionally, the F1 interface can provide control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane) functions (e.g., interface management, system information management, UE context management, RRC message transmission, etc.). F1AP is the application protocol for the F1 interface, defining the signaling procedures for F1 in some examples. The F1 interface supports control plane F1-C and user plane F1-U.

[0084] As an example, a CU can include CU-CP and CU-UP. CU-CP is a logical node carrying the control plane (PDCP-C) layer, which carries the RRC layer and the Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer, and is used to implement the CU's control plane functions. CU-CP can interact with network elements in the core network used to implement control plane functions. These network elements in the core network can be access and mobility function (AMF) network elements, such as the access and mobility management function (AMF) in a 5G system. The AMF network element is responsible for mobility management in the mobile network, such as terminal device location updates, terminal device registration with the network, and terminal device handover. CU-UP is a logical node carrying the user plane (PDCP-U) layer, which carries the SDAP layer and the Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer, and is used to implement the CU's user plane functions. CU-UP can interact with network elements in the core network used to implement user plane functions. These network elements in the core network, such as the user plane function (UPF) in a 5G system, are responsible for data forwarding and receiving in terminal devices. The above CU and DU configurations are merely examples. In practical applications, the functions of the CU and DU can be configured as needed. For instance, the CU or DU can be configured to have more protocol layer functions, or to have only some protocol layer processing functions. For example, some RLC layer functions and protocol layer functions above the RLC layer can be placed in the CU, while the remaining RLC layer functions and protocol layer functions below the RLC layer can be placed in the DU. Furthermore, the functions of the CU or DU can be divided according to service type or other system requirements. For example, based on latency, functions that require low latency can be placed in the DU, while functions that do not require low latency can be placed in the CU.

[0085] A DU (Distributed Unit) is a logical node that carries the RLC (Real-Time Control) layer, the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, the Higher Physical Layer (Higher PHY) layer, and other functions. In some examples, a DU can control at least one RU (Real-Time Root). The DU connects to the RU through interfaces, which can be fronthaul interfaces. In some examples, the Higher PHY layer includes the PHY layer processing, such as forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, and demodulation.

[0086] The RU (Runner Root) is a logical node that carries both lower physical layer (PHY) and radio frequency (RF) processing. In some examples, the RU can be a 3GPP transmission reception point (TRP), a remote radio head (RRH), or other similar entities. In some examples, the Lower PHY includes PHY processing functions such as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT), digital beamforming, and filtering. The RU communicates with one or more UEs via a radio link.

[0087] The DU and RU can be co-located or not. The DU and RU exchange control plane and user plane information via a fronthaul link through a lower-layer split CUS-plane (LLS-CUS) interface. The LLS-CUS may include a lower-layer split control (LLS-C) interface providing the control plane (C-Plane) and a lower-layer split user (LLS-U) interface, respectively. In some examples, the control plane (C-Plane) refers to real-time control between the DU and RU. The DU and RU exchange management information via an LLS-M interface on the fronthaul link; the management plane (M-Plane) refers to non-real-time management operations between the DU and RU.

[0088] DU and RU can cooperate to implement the functions of the PHY layer. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of DU and RU can be configured in various ways depending on the design. For example, a DU can be configured to implement baseband functions, and an RU can be configured to implement mid-RF functions. Another example is that a DU can be configured to implement higher-level functions in the PHY layer, and an RU can be configured to implement lower-level functions in the PHY layer, or to implement both lower-level and RF functions. Higher-level functions in the physical layer can include a portion of the physical layer's functions that are closer to the MAC layer, while lower-level functions in the physical layer can include another portion of the physical layer's functions that are closer to the mid-RF side.

[0089] The above Figures 1 to 3 For illustrative purposes only, this application should not be construed as limiting the communication systems to which the methods provided herein are applicable.

[0090] To better understand the methods provided in the embodiments of this application, the terms involved in this application will be briefly explained below.

[0091] 1. Reference Channel and Target Channel: The reference channel is relative to the target channel. The target channel, also called the channel or MIMO channel, can represent the channel carrying the data during transmission, or the channel where the terminal device is located, or the channel where the data resides, or the data transmission resource. The reference channel can represent a channel similar to the target channel. When the terminal device uses the target channel for data transmission, because the reference channel and the target channel have certain similarities, the terminal device can perform some operations based on the reference channel, such as CSI acquisition, auxiliary demodulation of data, etc. For example, the reference channel H1 and the target channel H2 can satisfy at least one of the following: two channels that are similar in space (or spatial domain), two channels that are similar in time domain, or two channels that are similar in frequency domain.

[0092] In one possible design, the reference channel can be determined based on a channel knowledge map (or channel spectrum, radio frequency map, RF map). For example, this channel knowledge map can be used to reconstruct the environment based on sensing data (including but not limited to sensing data acquired from multiple sources such as wireless sensing, cameras, and LiDAR), historical measurement data, etc., to describe the physical world. The channel knowledge map stores channel feature information based on location information. Based on different channel features, a physical cell can be divided into multiple grids (or regions, grids, etc.) based on a two-dimensional grid. Each grid has a similar channel environment and can correspond to a reference channel. The channel feature information can be used to indicate channel characteristics, which can include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: channel statistical covariance matrix, angular spectrum, time delay spectrum, or path loss, space-frequency basis, spatial basis, frequency basis, time domain (or Doppler domain) basis, and combinations of the above basises.

[0093] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the reference channel and the target channel. As shown in the figure, assume H1 is the reference channel and H2 is the target channel. When the terminal device uses the target channel H2 for data transmission, since the reference channel H1 and the target channel H2 have certain similarities, the terminal device can obtain channel state information (CSI), multipath component (MPC), modulation and coding scheme (MCS), etc., based on the reference channel H1.

[0094] For example, CSI includes, but is not limited to, channel quality indication (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), etc.

[0095] For example, MPC includes, but is not limited to, delay, angle, power, phase, and order (number of bounces of the path). Angle may include, for example, at least one of the following: horizontal angle of arrival (AOA), horizontal angle of departure (AOD), vertical angle of arrival (ZOA), and vertical angle of departure (ZOD). AOA and ZOA refer to the horizontal and vertical angles of arrival of the signal via the wireless channel to the receiving antenna, respectively, while AOD and ZOD refer to the horizontal and vertical angles of departure of the signal transmitted via the transmitting antenna, respectively.

[0096] It should be understood that the reference channel and target channel are names given for ease of distinction and understanding only, and should not constitute any limitation on this application.

[0097] 2. Centroid Channel: Also known as the group centroid channel or the clustering centroid channel. Taking the centroid channel of one or more channels (e.g., P channels, where P is a positive integer) as an example, the centroid channel is determined under the condition of spatial consistency. Given a set of channels, a channel (i.e., the centroid channel) is selected such that the average similarity between the determined centroid channel and one or more channels in the aforementioned channel set satisfies a preset condition. For example, in a given set of channels, the centroid channel has the highest average similarity with the P channels (i.e., an example of the preset condition). The similarity metric can be, for example, similarity or distance. As an example, the centroid channel satisfies:

[0098]

[0099] Among them, H centroid This represents the centroid channel, and argmax represents the parameters that must be satisfied to reach their maximum value; f(H, H p ) represents the measurement of channel H and Hp The similarity between channels can be a function, such as similarity or distance. Here, channel H belongs to the channel set {H... a H b , ...};H p This represents the p-th channel out of P channels.

[0100] In one possible implementation, the reference channel for the aforementioned channel set can be the centroid channel of the channel set. In this embodiment, each channel set may correspond to a reference channel, which can be the centroid channel of the channel set, or a channel determined by other means. This application does not impose any limitations on this.

[0101] 3. Channel Set: This refers to the partitioning of multiple channels based on the similarity of a specific quantity. This specific quantity can be, for example, the location of each terminal device within the cell, the initial measurement results of the multipath component (MPC) of each terminal device within the cell, and the channel characteristics of each terminal device within the cell, including frequency domain channels and channel delay power spectra. The functions used to partition the channel set include, but are not limited to, the following: Kuhl-Becker divergence (KL divergence), Jensen-Shannon divergence (JS divergence), cosine similarity, Euclidean distance (also known as L2 norm), F-norm (Frobenius norm), and the distances corresponding to these terms. The partitioning of the channel set can be performed offline or online, without limitation.

[0102] A channel set can also be viewed as a collection of multiple channels with spatial consistency. Each channel set can correspond to a reference channel, that is, channel information corresponding to a reference channel (hereinafter referred to as reference channel information), such as a channel matrix corresponding to the same reference channel. Therefore, terminal devices that use channels in the same channel set for communication can use the same reference channel information to assist in communication.

[0103] It should be understood that "division" is introduced for ease of understanding and explanation only, and does not mean that network devices or terminal devices will necessarily perform the division operation. Dividing multiple channels according to a specific amount of similarity aims to express that multiple channels identified as belonging to a channel set have spatial consistency; that is, multiple channels with spatial consistency are grouped into one channel set. Multiple channels in this channel set can correspond to the same reference channel, can use the same pattern to transmit reference signals, etc., without emphasizing that a division operation has been performed.

[0104] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of multiple channel sets. (For example...) Figure 5 As shown, the network device communicates with the terminal devices within its coverage area. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 use spatially consistent channels; therefore, the channels used by Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 belong to the same channel set and can use the same reference channel (reference channel H shown in the figure). A1 The channels used by terminals 3 and 4 are spatially consistent; therefore, the channels used by terminals 3 and 4 belong to another channel set and can use the same reference channel (reference channel H as shown in the figure). B1 ( ) to assist communication. Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, Terminal 4 use significantly different channels and do not belong to the same channel set.

[0105] It should be understood that "channel set" is merely one possible name and should not be construed as limiting this application. For example, "channel set" can also be called "channel group," "terminal device set," "terminal device group," "cluster," etc. This application includes, but is not limited to, these terms.

[0106] It should also be understood that the channel set shown in the figure represents an area within the coverage of the network equipment, but this should not constitute any limitation on this application. The channel set mentioned in this application is related to the division of geographical space and regions, but it is not entirely determined by the division of geographical space and regions. In addition to geographical space and regions, the division of the channel set also needs to consider the similarity of the channel environment, and whether the channel environment is similar can be determined by comparing the aforementioned specific quantities. Therefore, it can be said that a channel set corresponds to a region, and terminal devices within the region corresponding to the channel set can use the channels within that channel set for data transmission. Therefore, a channel set can correspond to the terminal devices within its corresponding region.

[0107] 4. Pattern: Used to indicate the resources of the reference signal, also known as the resource pattern of the reference signal (RS). The resources of the reference signal may include one or more of the following dimensions: time domain resources, frequency domain resources, antenna ports, etc.

[0108] 5. Reference Signal: Also known as reference sequence, pilot, pilot signal, etc. It can be used for channel measurement, channel estimation, or beam quality monitoring. Uplink reference signals can include, for example, sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), positioning reference signal (PRS), etc. Downlink reference signals can include, for example, synchronization signal block (SSB), DMRS, PTRS, channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), cell-specific reference signal (CRS) (or common reference signal), tracking reference signal (TRS), PRS, etc.

[0109] The reference signal in this application may also be a reference signal other than those listed above, which will not be listed here.

[0110] To reduce the air interface overhead caused by reference signals, this application provides a communication method that introduces a preset rule to sort N sets of channels to be updated, thereby determining M sets of channels. Terminal devices can determine the channel information of the corresponding M reference channels based on these M sets of channels, and then use this reference channel information to assist communication, thus helping to reduce the air interface overhead caused by reference signals. Furthermore, the preset rule can be related to the dispersion of terminal devices within the region corresponding to each channel set, the similarity of channels, etc., resulting in more representative channel information for the M reference channels corresponding to each of the determined M channel sets.

[0111] The method provided in this application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the embodiments provided below can be applied to the scenarios shown in the above figures and are not intended to limit the scope. Furthermore, the terminology used below will be referenced in the above description and will not be repeated hereafter.

[0112] As an example, Figure 6This is a schematic flowchart of the communication method 600 provided in an embodiment of this application. It should be understood that, for ease of description, the method provided in this application is described below using the interaction between a first terminal device and a network device as an example. However, this should not constitute any limitation on this application. The first terminal device can also be replaced by circuitry or chips internal to the first terminal device (such as a modem chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.); it can also be replaced by logic modules or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the first terminal device, etc. Similarly, the network device can also be replaced by circuitry or chips internal to the network device (such as a modem chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.); it can also be replaced by logic modules or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device, etc. This application does not limit this. Furthermore, the steps described below as being performed by a single execution entity can also be divided into steps performed by multiple execution entities, which can be logically and / or physically separated.

[0113] To facilitate understanding and explanation, the parameters involved in method 600 below will be briefly explained below:

[0114] L: The number of channel sets in the network device based on the smallest granularity partition, where L is a positive integer greater than 1;

[0115] N': The number of channel sets in the prior information on which the network device bases its channel set splitting. N' is a positive integer less than or equal to L and greater than N.

[0116] N: The number of channel sets determined by the first terminal device in the last time, where N is a positive integer less than L and less than N';

[0117] M: The number of channel sets determined by the network device based on preset rules by sorting N channel sets. M is a positive integer less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N'.

[0118] As shown in the figure, method 600 may include steps 601 to 603. Optionally, it may also include one or more steps 604 to 615. The various steps in method 600 are described in detail below.

[0119] In step 601, the network device sorts the N channel sets according to preset rules to obtain M channel sets.

[0120] These N channel sets can be considered as the channel sets to be updated. Due to the high mobility of terminal devices, the number of terminal devices in the area corresponding to each channel set may change within the coverage area of ​​the network device, and the density of terminal devices in the area corresponding to each channel set may also change. The network device can update the currently known N channel sets when there is a channel measurement requirement, such as when it needs to send data to a terminal device, or when a terminal device needs to send data.

[0121] For example, the N channel sets can be L channel sets divided by the network device based on the smallest granularity (i.e., N equals L), or multiple channel sets obtained by updating the L channel sets once or multiple times (i.e., N is less than L). The smallest granularity can be understood as follows: during the process of updating the channel sets based on the L channel sets, after one or more updates, the number of channel sets is less than or equal to L, but not greater than L.

[0122] In this embodiment, the network device can sort N channel sets based on preset rules to obtain M channel sets. These preset rules may be related to one of the following: the dispersion of terminal devices within the corresponding area of ​​each channel set in the N channel sets, the similarity between the multiple channels included in each channel set in the N channel sets, etc.

[0123] Similarity is used to measure the degree of similarity between two or more objects. In this embodiment, it can be used to measure the degree of similarity between two or more channels. Similarity can be represented, for example, by cosine similarity. Cosine similarity evaluates the similarity between two vectors using the cosine of the angle between them. The degree of similarity between two or more channels can be represented by the similarity (e.g., cosine similarity) between the channel matrices obtained by measuring the channels from two or more terminal devices. Higher similarity indicates greater similarity; lower similarity indicates greater difference.

[0124] Dispersion is used to describe the degree of dispersion or scattering of values ​​in a dataset. In this embodiment, it can be used to describe the degree of dispersion or scattering of terminal devices within a region corresponding to a channel set. Dispersion can be represented, for example, by the sum of squared deviations of the data. The sum of squared deviations is the sum of the squares of the deviations of all data points (e.g., the location of the terminal devices), used to quantify the degree of dispersion of the data points. Deviation refers to the difference between each data point and the mean of the dataset. The larger the sum of squared deviations, the more dispersed the data points are from the mean, i.e., the higher the dispersion; the smaller the sum of squared deviations, the more concentrated the data points are from the mean, i.e., the lower the dispersion.

[0125] Updating N channel sets to obtain M channel sets can result in two scenarios: either the updated channel set has more channels than the original channel set (N > M), or the updated channel set has fewer channels than the original channel set (N < M). These two scenarios will be explained below.

[0126] Case 1: N is greater than M.

[0127] Since network devices can determine the transmission resources for reference signals based on the target channel set reported by each terminal device (see steps 607 to 613 below), if multiple terminal devices are located within the same area corresponding to the same channel set, they can use the same transmission resources to send reference signals so that each terminal device can perform channel measurements. That is, these multiple terminal devices can share the reference signals transmitted on the same transmission resources for channel measurements. To save air interface overhead, network devices can reduce the number of channel sets by updating the channel sets.

[0128] The N channel set can be the aforementioned L channel set, or it can be the channel set obtained after updating the L channel set once or multiple times, without limitation.

[0129] One possible design is that the M channel sets are the top M channels obtained by sorting the N channel sets based on the preset rule. For ease of distinction and explanation, this will be referred to as Design 1 below.

[0130] Another possible design is that the M channel sets include: the top (M-1) channel sets obtained by sorting the N channel sets according to a preset rule, and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets. For ease of distinction and explanation, this will be referred to as Design 2 below.

[0131] For example, the preset rule could be to sort the terminal devices within the region corresponding to each of the N channel sets in ascending order of dispersion. Specifically, the dispersion of terminal devices within the region corresponding to a channel set can be represented by the sum of squared deviations calculated based on the location information of each terminal device within that region.

[0132] Step 601 may specifically include: the network device sorting the N channel sets in ascending order based on the dispersion of terminal devices in the area corresponding to each channel set in the N channel sets to determine M channel sets.

[0133] In one possible implementation, the network device can calculate the sum of squared deviations for each of the N channel sets, obtaining N values. These N values ​​are then sorted in ascending order among the corresponding N channel sets, resulting in a sorted list of the N channel sets based on a preset rule. The network device can then determine M channel sets based on the degree of dispersion of these N channel sets.

[0134] Optionally, corresponding to Design 1, the network device can determine the top M channel sets from the N channel sets sorted according to preset rules as the updated M channel sets, while the (NM) channel sets ranked lower in the N channel sets can be discarded.

[0135] Optionally, corresponding to Design 2, the network device can determine the top (M-1) channel sets among the N channel sets as the (M-1) channel sets among the updated M channel sets, and the other channel set among the M channel sets can be obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets among the N channel sets.

[0136] Another example is that the preset rule could be to sort the channels in the N channel sets in descending order of their similarity function values. The similarity function value for each channel set can be determined by a predefined function. For example, the predefined function could be the average similarity between any two channels in a channel set; or it could be the average similarity between any two channels in a channel set and a reference channel of that channel set, and so on, without limitation. The channels in each channel set can be obtained by measurements taken by the terminal device, for example, from historical measurements.

[0137] Step 601 may specifically include: the network device sorting the N channel sets in descending order based on the similarity function value of each channel set in the N channel sets to determine M channel sets. Corresponding to Design 1, these M channel sets may be the top M channel sets; corresponding to Design 2, these M channel sets may include the top (M-1) channel sets and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets.

[0138] It should be understood that the preset rules exemplified above are merely examples. Those skilled in the art can make simple transformations or substitutions based on the same concept to obtain more possible implementation methods. For example, the preset rules can also be sorted in descending order of the dispersion of terminal devices in the regions corresponding to the N channel sets. Or, for example, the preset rules can also be sorted in ascending order of the similarity function values ​​corresponding to the N channel sets. Corresponding to Design 1, the M channel sets can be the M channel sets ranked last M. Corresponding to Design 2, the M channel sets can include: a channel set obtained by merging the (N-M+1) channel sets ranked first (N+M-1) and the (M-1) channel sets ranked last (M-1).

[0139] Case 2: N is less than M.

[0140] In some cases, inappropriate partitioning of the channel set may result in insufficient estimation accuracy. For example, when the target channel measured by a terminal device differs significantly from the reference channel, more channel sets can be obtained by partitioning one or more channel sets.

[0141] Network devices update to obtain a larger number of channel sets based on N channel sets, mainly by splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets (MN) times. Each split channel set is the last-ranked channel set among the multiple channel sets obtained in the previous update, sorted according to a preset rule.

[0142] The previously updated multiple channel sets can be understood as follows: these N channel sets can be multiple channel sets obtained based on one or more updates to L channel sets, such as those obtained through one or more merging processes. If this split is the first update to these N channel sets, then the multiple channel sets obtained from the previous update are the N channel sets, which can be split into (N+1) channel sets. If this split is not the first update to these N channel sets, then the object of this split is the (N+1) channel sets obtained from the previous split, that is, the multiple channel sets obtained from the previous update are the (N+1) channel sets obtained from the previous split.

[0143] Since the channel sets after each split are sorted according to a preset rule, the last-ranked channel set may be one of the N channel sets, or it may be a channel set obtained after splitting. Therefore, it can be said that the M channel sets are obtained by splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets.

[0144] For example, the N channel sets are obtained by updating N' channel sets, such as by merging N' channel sets once or multiple times. The N' channel sets can be, for example, L channel sets, or multiple channel sets obtained by updating L channel sets once or multiple times. This application does not limit this. It is understood that the N' channel sets were updated before the N channel sets. Splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets is like a rollback process from updating N' channel sets to N channel sets, only the rollback needs to be to M channel sets, not necessarily to N' channel sets. Therefore, the preset rules based on the process of updating M channel sets from N channel sets are the same as the preset rules based on the process of updating N channel sets from N' channel sets to N channel sets.

[0145] For example, the preset rule could be to sort the terminal devices within the region corresponding to each of the N channel sets in ascending order of dispersion. Specifically, the dispersion of terminal devices within the region corresponding to a channel set can be represented by the sum of squared deviations calculated based on the location information of each terminal device within that region.

[0146] Step 601 may specifically include: the network device sorting the N channel sets in ascending order based on the dispersion of terminal devices in the area corresponding to each channel set in the N channel sets to determine M channel sets.

[0147] In one possible implementation, the network device can calculate the sum of squared deviations for each of the N channel sets, obtaining N values. These N values ​​are then sorted in ascending order across the corresponding N channel sets, resulting in a sorted list of the N channel sets based on a preset rule. The network device can further split the last-ranked channel set into (N+1) channel sets, including the top (N-1) channel sets and the two split channel sets. For each of these (N+1) channel sets, the network device can calculate the sum of squared deviations for each, obtaining (N+1) values. These (N+1) values ​​are then sorted in ascending order across the corresponding (N+1) channel sets, resulting in a sorted list of (N+1) channel sets based on a preset rule. The network device can then split the last-ranked channel set into (N+2) channel sets; this process is repeated until M channel sets are obtained.

[0148] Another example is that the preset rule could be to sort the channels in descending order of their similarity function values ​​among the N channel sets. The explanation of the similarity function values ​​for each channel set can be found above and will not be repeated here.

[0149] Step 601 may specifically include: the network device sorting the N channel sets in descending order based on the similarity function value of each channel set in the N channel sets to determine M channel sets.

[0150] In one possible implementation, the network device can calculate the similarity function value for each of the N channel sets, obtaining N function values. These N function values ​​are then sorted in descending order across the corresponding N channel sets, resulting in a sorted list of the N channel sets based on a preset rule. The network device can split the last-ranked channel set into (N+1) channel sets, including the top (N-1) channel sets and the two split channel sets. For each of these (N+1) channel sets, the network device can calculate the similarity function value, obtaining (N+1) function values. These (N+1) function values ​​are then sorted in ascending order across the corresponding (N+1) channel sets, resulting in a sorted list of (N+1) channel sets based on a preset rule. The network device can then split the last-ranked channel set into (N+2) channel sets; this process is repeated until M channel sets are obtained.

[0151] It should be understood that the preset rules exemplified above are merely examples. Those skilled in the art can make simple transformations or substitutions based on the same concept to obtain more possible implementations. For example, the preset rules could also be sorted in descending order of the dispersion of terminal devices within the regions corresponding to the N channel sets. Alternatively, the preset rules could be sorted in ascending order of the similarity function values ​​corresponding to the N channel sets, with the channel set ranked first being prioritized for splitting.

[0152] It is easy to see that in the two cases illustrated above, the channels corresponding to the N channel sets include the channels corresponding to the M channel sets. Here, the channels corresponding to the channel sets mainly refer to the channel environment corresponding to the channel sets. The channel environment refers to the medium and conditions of signal transmission in wireless communication, including the physical transmission medium and environmental factors of signal propagation. The channel environment has a significant impact on communication quality. The physical transmission medium can be radio waves, optical fibers, coaxial cables, etc. The environmental factors of signal propagation refer to the various environmental factors that affect the signal during propagation, such as multipath effects, fading, and interference.

[0153] The relationship between the N channel sets and the M channel sets can be understood through the following example.

[0154] Assume there are N channel sets, which are 4 channel sets, each containing 2 channels, i.e., 4 channel sets containing 8 channels, numbered from channel #1 to channel #8. Updating these N channel sets yields M channel sets. These M channel sets can include: some channels from channel #1 to channel #8, and channels obtained by merging another portion of channels from channel #1 to channel #8, such as channels #1 to channel #6, and channels obtained by merging channels #7 and #8 (corresponding to Design 2 in Case 1 above); or they can include some channels from channel #1 to channel #8, such as channels #1 to channel #7 (corresponding to Design 1 in Case 1 above).

[0155] Assume that the N channel sets are further divided into 4 channel sets, each containing 2 channels, meaning the 4 channel sets contain 8 channels, numbered from channel #1 to channel #8. Updating the N channel sets yields M channel sets, which may include channels #1 to #7, as well as channels #9 and #10 (corresponding to case two above).

[0156] Although the channels included in the M channel set are different from those included in the N channel set, the channel environment corresponding to the M channel set is the same as or similar to that corresponding to the N channel set. Therefore, it can be said that the channels corresponding to the N channel set include the channels corresponding to the M channel set.

[0157] In step 602, the network device sends first information to the first terminal device, the first information indicating M channel sets. Correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0158] The first terminal device can be any terminal device within the coverage area of ​​the network device, and it can be a terminal device that has a communication connection with the network device. For example, the first terminal device is a service terminal of the network device.

[0159] It should be understood that this application does not limit the specific method by which the network device indicates the set of M channels through the first information.

[0160] In step 603, the first terminal device obtains the channel information of the reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0161] In response to the received first information, the first terminal device can obtain the channel information of the reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets. For ease of explanation, the channel information of the reference channels corresponding to the channel sets will be referred to as the reference channel information of the channel sets.

[0162] There are several ways for the first terminal device to obtain the reference channel information of the M channel sets. For example, the first terminal device can determine the reference channel information of the M channel sets itself; or, for another example, the first terminal device can receive the reference channel information of the M channel sets from the network device. In other words, the reference channel information of the M channel sets can be determined by the network device and then sent to the first terminal device.

[0163] The following details the process by which the first terminal device determines the reference channel information for the M channel sets. As mentioned earlier, M may be greater than N or less than N. The method for determining the reference channel information for the M channel sets may also differ depending on the specific circumstances.

[0164] Case 1: N is greater than M.

[0165] Corresponding to Design 1, the M channel sets can be the top M channel sets among N channel sets sorted according to a preset rule. The reference channel information for these M channel sets can be directly reused; that is, the reference channel information for the M channel sets can be directly obtained from the reference channel information of the N channel sets. Let the reference channel information of these N channel sets, sorted according to the preset rule, be denoted as: {h1, ..., h...} N}, then the reference channel information of the M channel sets are the first M items of the reference channel information of the N channel sets, that is: {h1, ..., h M}

[0166] Corresponding to Design 2, the M channel sets may include: the top (M-1) channel sets ranked according to a preset rule, and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets. The reference channel information for these M channel sets may include: the reference channel information of the aforementioned (M-1) channel sets (e.g., denoted as reference channel information #1 to #M-1), and the reference channel information determined by the reference channel information of the aforementioned (N-M+1) channel sets (e.g., denoted as reference channel information #M). That is, reference channel information #1 to #M-1 can be directly obtained from the reference channel information of the N channel sets, and reference channel information #M can be determined based on the reference channel information of the (N-M+1) channel sets.

[0167] Assume the reference channel information of the N channel sets sorted according to a preset rule is denoted as: {h1, ..., h...} N}, then the reference channel information of the M channel sets is a function of the first M-1 terms of the reference channel information of the N channel sets and the reference channel information of the last (N-M+1) channel sets, that is: {h1, ..., h M-1 ,f(h M, ..., h N )}.

[0168] There are several ways to determine the reference channel information #M from the reference channel information of the (N-M+1) channel set. For example, the reference channel information #M can be the algebraic average (or arithmetic average) of the reference channel information of the (N-M+1) channel set, that is, For example, the reference channel information #M can be a weighted average of the reference channel information of the (N-M+1) channel set, that is, Where, α i The channel matrix h of the reference channel for the i-th channel set i The weighting coefficients, or in other words, the weighting coefficients of the reference channel information for the i-th channel set, 0 ≤ α i ≤1, M≤i≤N.

[0169] Furthermore, the weighting coefficients of the reference channel information for each channel set can be predefined, such as by the protocol. Alternatively, the weighting coefficients of the reference channel information for each channel set can be determined based on one or more of the following: the distribution density of terminal devices within the area corresponding to each channel set, the area of ​​the area corresponding to each channel set, and the distance between the centroid position of each channel set and the centroid position of the updated channel set (i.e., channel set #M). Comparatively, if the distribution density of terminal devices within the area corresponding to a channel set before the update is large, or the area of ​​the area corresponding to a channel set before the update is large, or the distance between the centroid position of the channel set before the update and the centroid position of the updated channel set is small, then the reference channel information of the channel set before the update can be given a larger weight; if the distribution area of ​​terminal devices within the area corresponding to a channel set before the update is small, or the area of ​​the area corresponding to a channel set before the update is small, or the distance between the centroid position of the channel set before the update and the centroid position of the updated channel set is large, then the reference channel information of the channel set before the update can be given a smaller weight.

[0170] It should be understood that the method of determining the reference channel information of M channel sets based on the reference channel information of N channel sets described above is only an example, and this application includes but is not limited to it.

[0171] Case 2: N is less than M.

[0172] As mentioned earlier, a network device can split one or more of the N channel sets to obtain M channel sets. These N channel sets are obtained based on one or more updates to the L channel sets. Therefore, the network device can determine the reference channel information for the M channel sets based on prior information.

[0173] For example, the N channel sets are updated based on N' channel sets. Splitting one or more of the N channel sets to obtain M channel sets is analogous to a fallback process from updating N' channel sets to M channel sets. Therefore, the first terminal device can determine the reference channel information of the M channel sets determined (or updated) during the process of updating from N' channel sets to M channel sets as the reference channel information corresponding to the M channel sets updated from N channel sets in this embodiment. The reference channel information of the M channel sets determined during the process of updating from N' channel sets to M channel sets is determined based on the reference channel information of the N' channel sets. Therefore, it can also be said that the reference channel information of the M channel sets updated from N channel sets in this embodiment is determined based on the reference channel information of the N channel sets.

[0174] Optionally, the method further includes step 604: the network device determines the channel information of the reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0175] The network device can determine the reference channel information corresponding to each of the M channel sets determined in step 601. The specific process by which the network device determines the reference channel information for the M channel sets can be found in the description of step 603 above, which combines cases one and two, and will not be repeated here.

[0176] Based on the above process, both the network device and the first terminal device have completed one update of the channel set and the reference channel information of each channel set. Afterwards, the network device and the first terminal device can assist in communication based on the updated channel set and the reference channel information of each channel set.

[0177] It should be understood that the specific method for determining the reference channel information of the M channel sets exemplified above is merely an example and should not constitute any limitation on this application. This application does not limit the specific implementation method of the reference channel information of the M channel sets.

[0178] Based on the above scheme, network devices can sort N channel sets according to preset rules to determine M channel sets. Since the preset rules can be defined and adjusted according to requirements, the determination of the M channel sets is more reasonable. For example, the preset rules could be sorting the terminal devices within the corresponding regions of the channel sets in ascending order of dispersion. Alternatively, the preset rules could be sorting the channels within a channel set in descending order of similarity. Channel sets determined based on these preset rules tend to have more concentrated terminal devices, resulting in better representativeness of the reference channel information; or, the channels within a channel set may have higher similarity, thus exhibiting similar channel environments and being more suitable for being grouped into a single channel set. As the division of channel sets changes, the corresponding reference channel information also changes. The first terminal device determines the reference channel information for each of the M channel sets and then uses the updated reference channel information to assist communication. In this way, when different terminal devices use different channels in the same channel set to transmit data with network devices, they can all use the same reference channel information to assist communication. For example, they can send or receive data based on the same reference channel information, without necessarily requiring the network device to send a reference signal for each terminal device to obtain a channel estimate. This reduces the air interface overhead caused by reference signals.

[0179] Furthermore, due to the high mobility of terminal devices, the allocation of channel sets is not fixed. Network devices can update the channel sets in real time according to preset rules and indicate the updated channel sets to the terminal devices. Therefore, the allocation of channel sets can be adapted to the distribution of terminal devices within the current cell. In other words, the allocation of channel sets is more accurate, which helps the first terminal device obtain more accurate channel information to assist communication and improves spectrum efficiency.

[0180] Optionally, prior to step 601, the method further includes:

[0181] Step 605: The network device determines the channel information of L channel sets and their corresponding reference channels; and

[0182] In step 606, the network device sends second information to the first terminal device, which indicates the channel information of L channel sets and their corresponding reference channels. Correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the second information from the network device.

[0183] In step 605, the network device may determine L channel sets within its network coverage area, such as within a cell. These L channel sets can be obtained by the network device dividing multiple channels within its network coverage area according to a specific amount of similarity. A more detailed explanation of the division of these L channel sets can be found in the detailed description of channel sets in the terminology explanation above, and will not be repeated here.

[0184] For example, a network device can determine L channel sets based on the cell divisions based on channel characteristics in a channel knowledge map (or channel map). For instance, these L channel sets can be obtained by performing the finest-grained cell division based on channel characteristics. These L channel sets can also be determined using other methods. For example, channels with high correlation can be grouped into a single channel set based on their correlation with each other. This application does not limit the method used to determine the L channel sets.

[0185] For each channel set, the network device can determine the corresponding reference channel information. One possible approach is to determine the centroid channel of the channel set as the reference channel. Reference channel information can be used to represent this reference channel. For example, the reference channel information may include the channel matrix of the reference channel, and optionally, it may also include the projection matrix, precoding, etc., of the reference channel. The projection matrix and precoding of the reference channel can be determined by the channel matrix of the reference channel. The relationship between the channel matrix and precoding of the reference channel can be found in existing technologies and will not be elaborated further. The relationship between the channel matrix and projection matrix of the reference channel can be found in the following text. Figure 7 The description. For example, reference channel information may include the MPC of the reference channel.

[0186] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship between the reference channel and the projection matrix provided in an embodiment of this application. The reference channel can be represented by a channel matrix. Figure 7 The channel matrix H passing through the centroid channel (i.e., an example of the reference channel) centroid Let U be the projection matrix of the centroid channel (or reference channel). Matrix H is the projection matrix of the centroid channel. centroid The dimension is x×y, where x represents the dimension related to the spatial frequency domain (e.g., the number of transmit antenna ports, the number of frequency domain elements, etc.), which can be equal to the number of transmit antenna ports × the number of frequency domain elements; y represents the dimension related to the spatial domain, time domain, etc. (e.g., the number of receive antenna ports, the number of time domain elements, etc.), which can be equal to the number of receive antenna ports × the number of time domain elements.

[0187] For H centroid Singular value decomposition (SVD) yields:

[0188] H centroid =U H ×S H ×(V H ) H .

[0189] The superscript H indicates the conjugate transpose. H U is an x×x dimensional unitary matrix. H The column vectors of V can be called left singular vectors. H ) H V is a unitary matrix of y×y dimensions. H The column vectors of S can be called right singular vectors. H For an x×y dimensional matrix, the elements on the diagonal can be called singular values.

[0190] For matrix U H Taking the first r columns, we can form a matrix U, i.e., U = U H [:,1,r], representing the matrix U H Taking columns 1 to r from the given matrix U, we obtain matrix U as an x×r dimensional matrix, where r is a positive integer less than x. Using this matrix U as the projection matrix, we can obtain the centroid channel H. centroid Its corresponding projection matrix U satisfies:

[0191] H centroid =U×C.

[0192] Wherein, the column number r of the projection matrix U represents the centroid channel H centroid The dimension of the projection onto the subspace, which can be used to determine the transmission resources of the reference signal. Matrix C is an r×y dimensional matrix consisting of r×y coefficients.

[0193] In step 606, the network device can indicate the L channel sets and the reference channel information corresponding to each channel set to the first terminal device through the second information. The first terminal device can then determine the L channel sets and the reference channel information corresponding to each channel set based on the second information. Subsequently, the first terminal device can synchronously update the reference channel information corresponding to each channel set according to the updates to the channel sets.

[0194] In one possible design, the network device can configure basic clustering parameters through second information, which may include one or more of the following: the number of channel sets (i.e., L), the number (or identifier, index) of each channel set in the L channel sets, the specific quantity of each channel set in the L channel sets, the resource pattern corresponding to each channel set in the L channel sets, and the channel estimation auxiliary information for each channel set in the L channel sets.

[0195] The number of each channel set can be used to indicate a channel set.

[0196] In one possible design, the L channel sets are nested. Specifically, the L channel sets can be merged into (L-1) channel sets; (L-1) channel sets can be merged into (L-2) channel sets, and so on. Each merge combines the two most similar channel sets from the previously determined set into one channel set. That is, each update step is one channel set, ultimately resulting in one merged channel set. Conversely, one channel set can be split into two channel sets, two channel sets can be split into three channel sets, and so on. Each split split divides one channel set from the previously determined set into two channel sets. That is, each update step is one channel set, ultimately resulting in L channel sets.

[0197] Accordingly, the numbering of these L channel sets can also be nested. For example, the numbering of each channel set can be represented in the form of xx. When a channel set is split into two channel sets, ".x" can be added to the end of the channel set's number to identify the two split channel sets. When two channel sets are merged into one channel set, the ".x" can be removed from the end of the two channel set numbers to identify the merged single channel set.

[0198] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the nested relationship between the numbering of the L channel sets provided in this application embodiment. For example... Figure 8 As shown in (a), the x-axis and y-axis represent unit length in different directions. Different regions in the figure (shown by curves of different gray levels) correspond to different sets of channels. Figure 8 (b) shows the division based on different criteria. Figure 8 The regions shown in (a) are the channel set numbers when they are divided into regions corresponding to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 channel sets, respectively. The 5-channel-set division is based on the smallest granularity; that is, the 5-channel-set is an example of L-channel-sets. Figure 8As shown in (b), when the region corresponds to 1 channel set, it is numbered "2"; if the region corresponds to 2 channel sets, that is, the 1 channel set of the previous layer is split, the numbers can be "2.1" and "2.2"; if the region corresponds to 3 channel sets, that is, the 2 channel sets of the previous layer are split, the numbers can be "2.1", "2.2.1" and "2.2.2"; if the region corresponds to 4 channel sets, that is, the 3 channel sets of the previous layer are split, the numbers can be "2.1.1", "2.1.2", "2.2.1" and "2.2.2"; if the region corresponds to 5 channel sets, that is, the 4 channel sets of the previous layer are split, the numbers can be "2.1.1", "2.1.2", "2.2.1.1", "2.2.1.2" and "2.2.2". As can be seen, channel sets "2.2.1.1" and "2.2.1.2" can be obtained by splitting channel set "2.2.2", or in other words, channel set "2.2.2" can be obtained by merging channel sets "2.2.1.1" and "2.2.1.2"; channel sets "2.2.1" and "2.2.2" can be obtained by splitting channel set "2.2", or in other words, channel set "2.2" can be obtained by splitting channel set "2.2". The channel set “2.1.1” and “2.1.2” can be obtained by merging the channel set “2.1” and “2.1.2”; the channel set “2.1” can be obtained by splitting the channel set “2.1”, or in other words, the channel set “2.1” can be obtained by merging the channel sets “2.1.1” and “2.1.2”; the channel set “2.1” and “2.2” can be obtained by splitting the channel set “2”, or in other words, the channel set “2” can be obtained by merging the channel sets “2.1” and “2.2”.

[0199] It should be understood that the above text, in combination with... Figure 8 The numbering of the nested channel sets illustrated is merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this application. The numbering of channel sets can also be defined in other ways, and this application does not impose any limitations on this.

[0200] It should also be understood that the above text, in combination with... Figure 8 The examples provided are merely illustrative to facilitate understanding of the nested relationships between the channel set numbers. This application does not limit the update step size of each channel set. In other words, the update step size of the channel set update based on the scheme provided in this application can be one or more channel sets.

[0201] Specific quantities for each channel set may include, for example, one or more of the following: the MPC of the reference channel (e.g., centroid MPC), the centroid position (or the coordinate / location / position of the centroid channel), the channel matrix of the centroid channel (or the reference channel), the precoding matrix indicator (PMI) corresponding to the centroid channel (or the reference channel), and the projection matrix corresponding to the centroid channel (or the reference channel), etc.

[0202] Each channel set can correspond to a resource pattern. The resource pattern indicates the transmission resources for a reference signal; therefore, terminal devices using channels within the same channel set for data transmission can receive the reference signal based on the same resource pattern. In other words, the resource pattern is common within the channel set.

[0203] It should be noted that in the example scenario above, if the M channel sets are the top M channels determined by sorting the N channel sets according to preset rules, then a small number of terminal devices may not fall within the regions corresponding to these M channel sets. For example, the first terminal device may not fall within the region corresponding to the M channel sets. In this case, the nearest reference channel can be selected based on the first terminal device's channel measurement results, and its corresponding reference channel information can be used to assist communication. The nearest reference channel can be determined by the distance between the measured channel matrix and the channel matrices of the reference channels corresponding to each channel set, the distance between the measured MPC and the MPC corresponding to each channel set, and so on, without limitation.

[0204] Channel estimation auxiliary information can be used to assist terminal devices in channel estimation, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of channel estimation. The channel estimation auxiliary information can also be public within the channel set. As an example, channel estimation auxiliary information may include, but is not limited to, channel estimation methods (e.g., minimum mean square error estimation (MMSE), maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), etc.), filtering for channel estimation (e.g., Wiener filter), and interpolation coefficients, etc., which are included but not limited to in this application.

[0205] Understandably, if L is 1, meaning the number of channel sets within the network device's coverage area is 1, the aforementioned resource pattern is a common resource pattern within the cell; in other words, this resource pattern is a cell-level resource pattern. Correspondingly, reference channel information, channel estimation auxiliary information, etc., are also cell-level.

[0206] If the number of terminal devices in the region corresponding to a channel set is 1, that is, the resource pattern corresponding to that channel set is a UE-level resource pattern, or a UE-specific resource pattern. Accordingly, reference channel information, channel estimation auxiliary information, etc., are also UE-level.

[0207] For example, the second information mentioned above can be carried in higher-layer signaling, such as radio resource control (RRC) messages or medium access control (MAC) control elements (CE).

[0208] Although each channel set can correspond to the same reference channel information, the reference channel information may not accurately reflect the CSI, MPC, and other information between the terminal device and the network device. The reference channel information only roughly reflects the channel environment between the terminal device and the network device. Therefore, in some cases, the network device can also obtain feedback from the terminal device on the channel measurement results by sending reference signals, such as CSI-RS, to obtain a more accurate CSI of the target channel. In this embodiment, the network device can determine the transmission resources of the reference signal based on the channel set corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, and then send the reference signal on the determined transmission resources.

[0209] Optionally, the method further includes step 607, in which the first terminal device determines the target channel set.

[0210] In this embodiment, the target channel set can refer to the channel set corresponding to the region to which the location of the first terminal device belongs. As mentioned above, a channel set can also be understood as a set of terminal devices or a group of terminal devices. Therefore, when the first terminal device determines the target channel set, it can also be said that the first terminal device determines the set of terminal devices or the group of terminal devices to which it belongs. A channel set can also be called a cluster. Therefore, when the first terminal device determines the target channel set, it can also be said that the first terminal device determines the cluster to which it belongs.

[0211] In one possible implementation, the first terminal device can determine the target channel set based on historical measurement results. For example, after configuring L channel sets using second information, the network device can transmit reference signals, such as SSBs, based on these L channel sets. Transmitting reference signals based on the L channel sets can mean determining resource patterns based on the reference channel information of the L channel sets, and then transmitting reference signals on the resource patterns determined by the reference channel information of the L channel sets respectively. In other words, the L channel sets correspond one-to-one with L resource patterns. Therefore, the reference signals received by the first terminal device on different resources correspond to different channel sets. The first terminal device can determine the channel set with the highest RSRQ or RSRP from the L channel sets based on the reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) or reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of the reference signals transmitted on different resources. Since the L channel sets may have been updated once or multiple times, resulting in M ​​channel sets, the terminal device can determine the target channel set as the channel set corresponding to the highest RSRQ or RSRP among the M channel sets.

[0212] In another possible implementation, the first terminal device can determine the target channel set based on the reference channel information of the M channel sets and its own corresponding quantity. For example, the first terminal device can determine the target channel set based on the M channel sets' MPC (Mean Differential Concordance) and the channel set with the highest similarity or smallest distance to the MPC measured by the first terminal device. Alternatively, the first terminal device can determine the target channel set based on the centroid positions of the M channel sets and the channel set with the smallest distance between its centroid position and its own position. Yet another example is that the first terminal device can determine the target channel set based on the centroid channels of the M channel sets and the channel set with the highest similarity or smallest distance to its target channel.

[0213] It is easy to understand that, based on the above implementation method, the channel environment corresponding to the target channel set determined by the first terminal device is relatively close to the channel environment of the first terminal device. The first terminal device can use the reference channel information of the target channel set to assist communication, for example, to perform data demodulation based on the reference channel information of the target channel set, etc., without limitation.

[0214] The foregoing provides examples of various possible implementations for the first terminal device to determine the target channel set. These examples are provided for ease of understanding only and should not be construed as limiting this application. Based on the same concept, those skilled in the art can also conceive of more ways for the first terminal device to determine the target channel set, and this application includes, but is not limited to, these methods.

[0215] Optionally, the method further includes step 608, in which the first terminal device sends third information to the network device, the third information being used to indicate a target channel set. Accordingly, the network device receives the third information from the first terminal device.

[0216] In one possible implementation, the third information can indicate the target channel set using a bitmap. For example, the bitmap can include M indicator bits, each corresponding to one of the M channel sets, where each indicator bit can indicate whether the corresponding channel set is the target channel set. In this case, the third information can indicate the target channel set using an overhead of M bits. For example, if M is 4, and the target channel set is the 4th channel set among the M channel sets, then the target channel set can be indicated using the bitmap "0001". The order of the M channel sets can be determined according to a preset rule, for example, according to the above... Figure 8 The numbering method shown in (b) determines the M channel sets, thus indicating that they correspond to... Figure 8 In the layer with 4 channel sets in (b), the 4 indicator bits correspond one-to-one with the 4 channel sets in the order from left to right. The 4th channel set in the M channel sets can be the channel set numbered "2.2.2".

[0217] In another possible implementation, the third information can indicate the target channel set through its number or the information corresponding to that number. For example, if M is 3 and the target channel set is the second of the three channel sets, it can be indicated through the number of that second channel set or the information corresponding to that number. The numbers corresponding to the M channel sets can be determined by combining the above... Figure 8The numbering method shown in (b) determines that the second channel set in the M channel sets can be indicated by the number "2.2.1". Alternatively, the network device and the first terminal device can also correspond the multiple numbers to multiple identifiers according to pre-negotiated rules to obtain the correspondence between the multiple numbers and multiple identifiers, and then indicate the target channel set by the identifier corresponding to the number of the target channel set. For example, in order from top to bottom and from left to right, the correspondence between the multiple numbers and multiple identifiers is as follows: number "2" corresponds to "0001", number "2.1" corresponds to "0010", number "2.2" corresponds to "0011", number "2.2.1" corresponds to "0100", number "2.2.2" corresponds to "0101", number "2.1.1" corresponds to "0110", number "2.1.2" corresponds to "0111", number "2.2.1.1" corresponds to "1000", and number "2.2.1.2" corresponds to "1001".

[0218] It should be understood that the indication of the target channel set exemplified above is merely an example and should not constitute any limitation on this application. This application includes, but is not limited to, this.

[0219] Optionally, the method further includes step 609: the first terminal device determines the transmission resources of the reference signal based on the target channel set.

[0220] The first terminal device can determine the transmission resources of the reference signal based on the reference channels of the target channel set. For example, the first terminal device can determine the projection matrix corresponding to the target channel set from the reference channels of the target channel set, and then determine the resource pattern of the reference signal from the projection matrix, that is, determine the transmission resources of the reference signal.

[0221] The process of determining the projection matrix from the reference channels of the target channel set can be found in the above text. Figure 7 To understand this from the description, after matrix decomposition, the channel matrix of the reference channel (e.g., the centroid channel H mentioned above) can be obtained. centroid The resource map is decomposed into a projection matrix U and a coefficient matrix C. The process of determining the resource map based on the projection and the reference signal can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 9 .like Figure 9 As shown, a projection matrix U of dimension x×r can be decomposed to obtain r principal components of the projection matrix U, such as... Figure 9The r principal components are shown by the thick black solid line in the diagram. Their positions in the projection matrix U can be considered as a resource pattern for the reference signal, which can be used to determine the transmission resources of the reference signal. As mentioned earlier, the dimension x of the projection matrix U is equal to the number of transmit antenna ports × the number of frequency domain elements. That is, the x rows correspond to x combinations of transmit antenna ports and frequency domain elements. Therefore, the transmit antenna ports and frequency domain elements of the reference signal can be determined by the row numbers of the r principal components in the projection matrix U.

[0222] It can be understood that by performing matrix decomposition on the projection matrix U, r principal components are obtained, thereby achieving dimensionality reduction of the projection matrix U. Here, r is much smaller than x (i.e., r << x), and the transmission resources of the reference signal determined by this are sparse, thus reducing the resource overhead of the reference signal.

[0223] Optionally, the method further includes step 610: the network device determines the transmission resources of the reference signal based on the target channel set indicated by the third information.

[0224] Network devices can determine the target channel set based on third-party information, and then determine the transmission resources of the reference signal based on the reference channel information of the target channel set. The specific process by which the network device determines the transmission resources of the reference signal based on the reference channel information of the target channel set can be found in the detailed explanation of step 609 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0225] Optionally, the method further includes step 611: the network device sends a reference signal. Accordingly, the first terminal device receives the reference signal.

[0226] For example, the network device may transmit a reference signal, such as CSI-RS, on the transmission resources of the reference signal determined in step 610. The first terminal device may receive the reference signal on the transmission resources of the reference signal determined in step 609.

[0227] Optionally, the method further includes step 612: the first terminal device performs channel measurement based on the reference signal to obtain the measurement result.

[0228] The specific implementation of the first terminal device performing channel measurement based on the reference channel can be found in existing technologies and will not be detailed here. For example, assuming the first terminal device is the k-th terminal device among multiple terminal devices communicating with the network device, and the determined target channel set is the j-th channel set among M channel sets, the measurement result includes one or more of the following: the channel matrix h measured by the first terminal device. j，k The coefficient c corresponding to the channel matrix j，kThe corresponding values ​​for the target channel include RI, PMI, RSRP, RSRQ, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR).

[0229] Among them, h j，k This represents the channel matrix obtained by measuring the reference signal transmitted by the k-th terminal device based on the reference channel information of the j-th channel set; the measured channel matrix h j，k Channel matrix H of the target channel k The following conditions must be met between H: k =U j ×θ j -1 ×h j，k U j θ represents the projection matrix corresponding to the reference channel of the target channel set. j This represents the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the target channel set.

[0230] coefficient c j，k Satisfy: c j，k =θ j -1 ×h j，k That is, the coefficients can be obtained by measuring the channel matrix h from the reference signal transmitted by the k-th terminal device based on the reference channel information of the j-th channel set. j，k Calculated. Coefficient c j，k Channel matrix H of the target channel k The following conditions must be met between H: k =U j ×c j，k .

[0231] The PMI corresponding to the target channel can be determined by the channel matrix of the target channel. For specific determination methods, please refer to existing technologies, which will not be detailed here.

[0232] Optionally, the method further includes step 613: the first terminal device sends the measurement result to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the measurement result from the first terminal device.

[0233] The first terminal device can use CSI to feed back the measurement result to the network device.

[0234] Based on this measurement result, the network device can perform corresponding operations as needed. For example, the network device can perform operations based on the channel matrix h obtained from the measurement fed back by the first terminal device. j，k or coefficient c j，k Determine the channel matrix H of the target channel. kAnd can be based on the channel matrix H of the target channel. k This involves determining information such as precoding and MPC. For example, network devices can determine precoding based on the PMI of the target channel fed back by the first terminal device.

[0235] It should be understood that the operations performed by the network device based on the measurement results are part of the network device's internal implementation, and this application does not limit this.

[0236] It should also be understood that although only one update of the channel set and its reference channel information is shown in this embodiment, this should not constitute any limitation on this application. The network device and the first terminal device can update the channel set and its reference channel information once or multiple times based on the methods provided in steps 601 to 604; they can also perform target channel measurement and feedback based on the updated reference channel information, etc., based on the methods provided in steps 607 to 613. In other words, after steps 605 and 606, steps 601 to 604 and steps 607 to 613 can be repeated. Each update of the channel set can be based on the channel set obtained in the previous update, each acquisition of updated reference channel information can be determined based on the previously updated reference channel information, and each measurement and feedback of the target channel can be performed based on the updated reference channel information. For simplicity, further details are omitted here.

[0237] Based on the above scheme, the network device determines the transmission resources of the reference signal according to the target channel set, and then transmits the reference signal on the transmission resources. The first terminal device can perform channel measurements based on the reference channel received on the transmission resources. Since the transmission resources of the reference signal are determined according to the reference channel information of the target channel set, the determination of these transmission resources takes into account the channel environment between the terminal device and the network device. For example, it can be the principal components of the projection matrix. This means that the transmission resources are selected from a variety of combinations of transmit antenna ports and frequency domain resource elements, which are the more important r resource elements. This achieves both cost reduction and preservation of important features. Therefore, it is beneficial for the terminal device to obtain more accurate measurement results of the target channel and helps to improve spectrum efficiency.

[0238] Furthermore, since multiple terminal devices may exist within the area corresponding to this channel set, all of these terminal devices can receive the reference signal and perform channel measurements based on it. Thus, network devices do not need to send a reference signal to each terminal device; terminal devices corresponding to the same channel set can perform channel measurements based on the same reference signal, further reducing the air interface overhead caused by the reference signal.

[0239] It should be understood that in the embodiments shown above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the sequence number of each step does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each step should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0240] The above, combined with Figures 6 to 9 The methods provided in the embodiments of this application are described in detail below. Figures 10 to 12 The apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application is described in detail. It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments. Therefore, for content not described in detail, please refer to the method embodiments above. For the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated.

[0241] As an example, Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication device 1000 includes a transceiver unit 1010 and a processing unit 1020. The transceiver unit 1010 can be used to implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 1010 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit. The processing unit 1020 can be used to perform processing.

[0242] Optionally, the device 1000 may further include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing unit 1020 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit to enable the device to implement the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0243] In one possible design, the device 1000 could be Figure 6 The first terminal device in method 600 shown can be used to implement the steps or processes executed by the first terminal device in the corresponding method embodiments above. The transceiver unit 1010 can be used to perform operations related to transmission and reception in the method embodiments above, such as... Figure 6 Step 602 in the process can optionally also be used to perform Figure 6 Steps 606, 608, 611, and 613 in the above process can be performed. Processing unit 1020 can be used to perform processing-related operations in the above method embodiments, or operations other than sending and receiving, such as... Figure 6 Step 603 in the process can optionally also be used to perform Figure 6 One or more of steps 607, 609, and 612 in the process.

[0244] For example, the transceiver unit 1010 can be used to receive first information, which indicates M channel sets. The M channel sets are obtained by sorting N channel sets based on preset rules, where N and M are both positive integers. The processing unit 1020 can be used to obtain channel information of M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0245] Optionally, the processing unit 1020 may be used to determine the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0246] In another possible design, the device 1000 could be Figure 6 The network device in method 600 shown can be used to implement the steps or processes executed by the network device in the corresponding method embodiments above. The transceiver unit 1010 can be used to perform operations related to transmission and reception in the method embodiments above, such as... Figure 6 Step 602 in the process can optionally also be used to perform Figure 6 Steps 606, 608, 611, and 613 in the above process can be used to perform one or more of the processing-related operations in the method embodiments described above, or operations other than sending and receiving, such as... Figure 6 Step 601 in the process can optionally also be used to perform Figure 6 One or more of steps 604, 605, and 610 in the process.

[0247] For example, the processing unit 1020 can be used to sort N channel sets based on preset rules to obtain M channel sets; M and N are both positive integers; the transceiver unit 1010 can be used to send first information, which is used to indicate the M channel sets.

[0248] Optionally, the processing unit 1020 may be used to determine the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

[0249] In either of the two possible designs mentioned above, N may be greater than M.

[0250] For example, the M channel sets are the top M channels obtained by sorting the N channel sets based on the preset rules. Correspondingly, the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the top M channel sets.

[0251] For example, the M channel sets include: the top (M-1) channel sets obtained by sorting the N channel sets according to the preset rules, and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets. Accordingly, the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the (M-1) reference channels corresponding to the (M-1) channel sets, and the channel information of the (N-M+1) reference channels corresponding to the (N-M+1) channel sets.

[0252] In either of the two possible designs mentioned above, N may be less than M.

[0253] For example, the M channel sets are obtained by splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets, and each split channel set is the last channel set ranked according to the preset rule from the multiple channel sets obtained in the previous update.

[0254] Accordingly, the N channel sets are updated from the N' channel sets, where N' is a positive integer greater than M and less than or equal to L; the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the N' reference channels corresponding to the N' channel sets, where N' is a positive integer greater than N and less than or equal to L.

[0255] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the above-mentioned corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0256] It should also be understood that the device 1000 here is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" here can refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuitry, a processor (e.g., a shared processor, a proprietary processor, or a group processor, etc.) and memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other suitable components supporting the described functions. In an alternative example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 1000 can be specifically the communication device in the above embodiments, and can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the communication device in the above method embodiments; to avoid repetition, these will not be described again here.

[0257] The apparatus 1000 of each of the above-described schemes has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the first terminal device or network device in the above-described methods. The function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (e.g., the sending unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as processing units, can be replaced by processors, each executing the transceiver operations and related processing operations in each method embodiment.

[0258] In addition, the transceiver unit 1010 may also be a transceiver circuit (for example, it may include a receiving circuit and a transmitting circuit), and the processing unit 1020 may be a processing circuit.

[0259] It should be pointed out that, Figure 10The device mentioned can be the communication equipment (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the foregoing embodiments, or it can be a circuit, chip, or chip system, such as a SoC or SIP system. The transceiver unit can be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; the processing unit is a processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip. No limitations are imposed here.

[0260] As an example, Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of another communication device 1100 provided in an embodiment of this application. The device 1100 includes a processor 1110, which is coupled to a memory 1120. The memory 1120 is used to store computer programs or instructions and / or data. The processor 1110 is used to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 1120, or to read the data stored in the memory 1120, in order to perform the methods in the above method embodiments.

[0261] Optionally, there may be one or more processors 1110.

[0262] Optionally, the memory 1120 may be one or more.

[0263] Alternatively, the memory 1120 can be integrated with the processor 1110, or it can be set separately.

[0264] Optionally, such as Figure 11 As shown, the device 1100 also includes a transceiver 1130, which is used for receiving and / or transmitting signals. For example, the processor 1110 is used to control the transceiver 1130 to receive and / or transmit signals.

[0265] As an example, processor 1110 may have Figure 10 The processing unit 1020 shown has the function of a storage unit, the memory 1120 may have the function of a storage unit, and the transceiver 1130 may have the function of a storage unit. Figure 10 The function of the transceiver unit 1010 shown is illustrated.

[0266] As one embodiment, the device 1100 is used to implement the operations performed by the first terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

[0267] For example, processor 1110 is used to execute computer programs or instructions stored in memory 1120 to implement the relevant operations of the first terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

[0268] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0269] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM). For example, RAM can be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0270] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0271] It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0272] As an example, Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1200 provided in an embodiment of this application. The chip system 1200 (or may also be referred to as a processing system) includes logic circuitry 1210 and an input / output interface 1220.

[0273] The logic circuit 1210 can be a processing circuit in the chip system 1200. The logic circuit 1210 can be coupled to a memory unit, calling instructions from the memory unit, enabling the chip system 1200 to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of this application. The input / output interface 1220 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system 1200, outputting processed information from the chip system 1200, or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 1200 for processing.

[0274] As one option, the chip system 1200 is used to implement the operations performed by the first terminal device or network device in the various method embodiments described above.

[0275] For example, logic circuit 1210 is used to implement processing-related operations performed by the first terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments; input / output interface 1220 is used to implement sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by the first terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

[0276] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions for implementing the method described above, executed by a first terminal device or network device. For example, when the computer program or instructions are run, they cause... Figure 6 The method 600 shown is executed.

[0277] This application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement the method described above, executed by a first terminal device or network device. For example, when the computer program or instructions are run, they cause... Figure 6 The method 600 shown is executed.

[0278] This application also provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device can be used to execute the method executed by the first terminal device in the above method embodiments, for example... Figure 6 The method 600 shown is executed by the first terminal device. This network device can be used to execute the method executed by the network device in the above method embodiments, for example... Figure 6 The method shown in method 600 is the method executed by the network device.

[0279] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working process and beneficial effects of the systems, devices and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0280] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of apparatus or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0281] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0282] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0283] In the above embodiments, the functions of each functional unit can be implemented entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. This computer program product includes one or more computer instructions (programs). When the computer program instructions (programs) are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks (SSDs)).

[0284] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0285] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive first information, the first information being used to indicate M channel sets, the M channel sets being obtained by sorting N channel sets based on preset rules, where N and M are both positive integers; Obtain the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The step of obtaining the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets includes: Determine the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, N is greater than M.

4. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The M channel sets are the top M channels obtained by sorting the N channel sets based on the preset rules.

5. The method as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the top M channel sets.

6. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The M channel sets include: the top (M-1) channel sets obtained by sorting the N channel sets according to the preset rules, and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets.

7. The method as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the (M-1) reference channels corresponding to the (M-1) channel sets and the channel information of the (N-M+1) reference channels corresponding to the (N-M+1) channel sets.

8. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, N is less than M; the M channel sets are obtained by splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets, and each split channel set is the last channel set ranked according to the preset rule among the multiple channel sets obtained in the previous update.

9. The method as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The N channel sets are obtained by updating the N' channel sets, where N' is a positive integer greater than M and less than or equal to L; the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the N' reference channels corresponding to the N' channel sets.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Based on preset rules, N channel sets are sorted to obtain M channel sets, where N and M are both positive integers; Send a first message, which is used to indicate the M channel sets.

11. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The method further includes: Determine the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets.

12. The method as described in claim 11, characterized in that, N is greater than M.

13. The method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, The M channel sets are the top M channels obtained by sorting the N channel sets based on the preset rules.

14. The method as described in claim 13, characterized in that, The channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the top M channel sets.

15. The method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, The M channel sets include: the top (M-1) channel sets obtained by sorting the N channel sets according to the preset rules, and a channel set obtained by merging the bottom (N-M+1) channel sets.

16. The method as described in claim 15, characterized in that, The channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the (M-1) reference channels corresponding to the (M-1) channel sets and the channel information of the (N-M+1) reference channels corresponding to the (N-M+1) channel sets.

17. The method as described in claim 11, characterized in that, N is less than M; the M channel sets are obtained by splitting one or more channel sets from the N channel sets, and each split channel set is the last channel set ranked according to the preset rule among the multiple channel sets obtained in the previous update.

18. The method as described in claim 17, characterized in that, The N channel sets are obtained by updating the N' channel sets, where N' is a positive integer greater than M and less than or equal to L; the channel information of the M reference channels corresponding to the M channel sets is determined based on the channel information of the N' reference channels corresponding to the N' channel sets.

19. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes modules or units for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, or modules or units for performing the method of any one of claims 10 to 18.

20. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a processor configured to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, or to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 18.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 18.

22. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 18.

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