A communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and related apparatus, in which, after receiving first information, a first communication apparatus can perform measurement based on N groups of measurement units indicated by the first information, and send second information. The second information indicates information of the N groups of measurement units and first channel state information, so that a receiver of the second information can determine one measurement unit in each of the N groups of measurement units based on the information of the N groups of measurement units, and determine channel state information of a first channel corresponding to the N groups of measurement units based on the first channel state information. In this way, the first communication apparatus can feed back the selected measurement units and the channel state information corresponding to the measurement units through the measurement process corresponding to the measurement units indicated by the first information, so as to reduce the latency and overhead, and improve the measurement performance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] Wireless communication can be a transmission communication between two or more communication devices that does not propagate through conductors or cables. These two or more communication devices may include network devices and terminal devices, or they may include different terminal devices.

[0003] In a communication system, different communication devices can communicate using multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology. During this communication process, the signal transmitter can send a channel measurement signal (e.g., a reference signal), and the corresponding signal receiver can receive the channel measurement signal and perform measurements based on it to obtain channel information. Subsequently, high-speed data transmission can be achieved based on this channel information.

[0004] However, improving measurement performance during the aforementioned channel measurement process is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a communication method and related apparatus for reducing latency and overhead in the measurement process and improving measurement performance.

[0006] The first aspect of this application provides a communication method applied to a first communication device. For example, the first communication device may be a terminal device, or a component for the terminal device (such as a chip or circuit, which may be 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.). Alternatively, the method may be executed by a logic module or software that implements some or all of the functions of the terminal device. The following description uses the first communication device as an example.

[0007] In this method, a first communication device receives first information, which is used to indicate N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; the first communication device performs measurements based on the first information to obtain second information; wherein, the second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel status information, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units respectively, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel status information is the channel status information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units; the first communication device sends the second information.

[0008] Based on the above scheme, after receiving the first information, the first communication device can perform measurements based on the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information, obtain and send the second information. The second information indicates the information of the N measurement units and the first channel state information, enabling the receiver of the second information to determine one measurement unit in each of the N sets of measurement units based on the information of the N measurement units, and to determine the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units based on the first channel state information. In this way, the first communication device can feed back the selected measurement units and their corresponding channel state information through the measurement process corresponding to the measurement units indicated by the first information, thereby reducing latency and overhead and improving measurement performance.

[0009] Furthermore, in the above process, N is an integer greater than 1. The measurement of channel state information of two or more sets of measurement units can be realized through the measurement process corresponding to the first information (e.g., a single measurement process), which can reduce measurement latency and overhead.

[0010] Optionally, in this application, the measurement unit can be a measurement object that the communication device performs the measurement on. For example, the communication device can perform the measurement based on a reference signal transmitted by the measurement object. The measurement object can be a beam, beam set, resource, resource set, port, port set, or other implementation defined by the future network. For example, the above N sets of measurement units can be N sets of beams, and N measurement units can be N beams.

[0011] As an example, in the above process, let's take the measurement unit as a beam. In a traditional measurement process, the communication device feeds back the beam selected by the communication device in one measurement process and the channel state information corresponding to that beam in another measurement process. The receiver of this channel state information can then communicate based on it. This measurement process inevitably leads to significant measurement resource overhead and long latency. In the above process, however, the first communication device performs measurements based on N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information. The feedback of the second information can indicate both the measurement units selected by the first communication device and the channel state information corresponding to these measurement units. By using a single feedback method, latency and overhead can be reduced.

[0012] Optionally, the first communication device can measure some or all of the measurement resources in the N groups of measurement units indicated by the first information to obtain the second information. For example, when the first communication device measures some of the measurement resources in the N groups of measurement units, the second information sent by the first communication device can indicate information of M measurement units (M is an integer less than N) and second channel state information. The M measurement units belong to M groups of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the M measurement units and the M groups of measurement units. The second channel state information is the channel state information of the second channel corresponding to the M measurement units. In this way, the first communication device can indicate fewer measurement units and their corresponding channel state information through the second information, which can further reduce latency and overhead. For example, the M measurement units are the M measurement units with better channel quality (e.g., better than a certain threshold) among the channel quality corresponding to the N measurement units. Or, the channel quality of the M measurement units is better than the channel quality of the other NM measurement units in the N measurement units.

[0013] Optionally, one measurement unit can correspond to one channel. For example, a communication device can measure the channel corresponding to a measurement unit based on a reference signal transmitted by the measurement unit to obtain the channel state information of the channel corresponding to the measurement unit. Accordingly, N measurement units can correspond to N channels. In the above process, the N measurement units are associated with a first channel. For example, the first channel includes the N channels corresponding to the N measurement units, or the first channel is a channel (or a joint channel) composed of (or jointly composed of) the N channels corresponding to the N measurement units, or the channel state information of the first channel represents the channel state of the channel (or joint channel) composed of (or jointly composed of) the N channels corresponding to the N measurement units.

[0014] Optionally, the information of the N measurement units can be used to identify the N measurement units. For example, the information of the N measurement units can include the index, identifier, etc. of the N measurement units.

[0015] Optionally, any group of measurement units in the N groups may contain one or more measurement units, and the aforementioned N measurement units are associated with the N groups of measurement units. For example, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units, that is, the k-th measurement unit in the N measurement units belongs to the k-th group of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N or from 0 to N-1. Alternatively, the N measurement units may correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, that is, the k-th measurement unit in the N measurement units corresponds to the k-th group of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N or from 0 to N-1.

[0016] Optionally, the k-th measurement unit is associated with the k-th group of measurement units. For example, the k-th measurement unit is the measurement unit with better channel quality (e.g., better than a certain threshold) among the channel quality units corresponding to the k-th group of measurement units. Alternatively, the channel quality of the k-th measurement unit may be better than the channel quality of all other measurement units in the k-th group of measurement units except for the k-th measurement unit itself.

[0017] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of measurement resources, with each measurement unit being a measurement resource. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports, that is, each measurement resource corresponds to P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0018] Based on the above scheme, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of measurement resources, enabling the first communication device to perform measurements based on the N sets of measurement resources. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information can include one measurement resource from each of the N sets of measurement resources, so as to realize the measurement and feedback of the N sets of measurement resources.

[0019] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, each belonging to one of the N measurement resources, with each set of ports corresponding to one of the N measurement resources. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports; for example, each measurement unit is a set of ports, and each set of ports includes P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0020] Optionally, the N sets of ports are associated with N measurement resources. For example, the k-th set of ports in the N sets of ports belongs to the k-th measurement resource among the N measurement resources. Or, the k-th set of ports in the N sets of ports corresponds to the k-th measurement resource among the N measurement resources.

[0021] Based on the above scheme, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of port sets, which correspond one-to-one with the N measurement resources, enabling the first communication device to perform measurements based on the N measurement resources. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information can correspond to a port set in each of the N measurement resources, so as to realize the measurement and feedback of the N measurement resources.

[0022] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, which belong to one measurement resource. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports; for example, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0023] Based on the above scheme, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of ports, which belong to the same measurement resource, so that the first communication device can perform measurement based on a measurement resource. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information can correspond to a set of ports in the measurement resource, so as to realize the measurement and feedback of a measurement resource.

[0024] Optionally, in the above process, the value of P can be 1, meaning that the P ports can be used to represent single-polarization ports. Alternatively, the value of P can be greater than 1, meaning that the P ports can be used to represent multi-polarization ports. For example, when P is 2, the P ports can be understood as two ports with different polarization directions.

[0025] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, each of the N groups of measurement units corresponds to an antenna group, and the first information includes first indication information, which is used to determine the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

[0026] Based on the above scheme, the first information received by the first communication device may also include first indication information, which enables the first communication device to determine the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units based on the first indication information. This is beneficial for the first communication device to determine the channel status information of the first channel based on the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to the N groups of measurement units, and enables the receiver of the second information to determine the channel status information of each port in the first channel based on the second information.

[0027] As an example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units, and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units; or,

[0028] As another example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction and the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

[0029] For example, if the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction of a network device is I, the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction is J, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to any one of the N measurement units is X, then the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j of the antenna group corresponding to any one of the N measurement units satisfy any one of the following:

[0030] or

[0031] or

[0032] or

[0033] or

[0034] or

[0035] or

[0036] or

[0037]

[0038] Here, mod represents the remainder or modulo operation. This indicates rounding down to the nearest integer.

[0039] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, and the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports, where P is a positive integer; wherein the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports. For example, a measurement unit can be used to transmit a reference signal, and the P ports corresponding to the measurement unit can be ports for transmitting or receiving the reference signal.

[0040] Based on the above scheme, each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, that is, the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports. Correspondingly, the second information indicates the channel state information of the channels corresponding to the N*P ports, so that the receiver of the second information can determine the channel state information corresponding to each of the N*P ports.

[0041] Optionally, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the (k-1)*P+1 to the k*P ports of the first channel, where k takes the value from 1 to N.

[0042] Optionally, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: P equals 2, the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the kth and k+Nth ports of the first channel, and k takes the value from 1 to N.

[0043] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first communication device determining a horizontal arrangement index and a vertical arrangement index corresponding to each port of the first channel; wherein the horizontal arrangement index of the port corresponding to the measurement unit with horizontal arrangement index i and vertical arrangement index j in the first channel is i and j respectively, and i and j are both integers.

[0044] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can also determine the horizontal and vertical arrangement indexes corresponding to each port of the first channel, which is beneficial for the first communication device to determine the first channel status information corresponding to the first channel based on the spatial arrangement position of each port of the first channel, so that the receiver of the second information can determine the channel status information of each port in the first channel based on the second information.

[0045] A second aspect of this application provides a communication method applied to a second communication device, which may be a network device or a component (such as a chip, chip system, or circuit) for a network device. Alternatively, the method may be executed by a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device. The following description uses a second communication device as an example.

[0046] In this method, the second communication device sends first information, which is used to indicate N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; the second communication device receives second information; wherein, the second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel status information, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units respectively, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel status information is the channel status information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units.

[0047] Based on the above scheme, after the second communication device sends first information to the first communication device, the first communication device can perform measurements based on the N groups of measurement units indicated by the first information, obtain and send second information. The second information indicates information about the N measurement units and first channel state information, enabling the second communication device to determine one measurement unit in each of the N groups of measurement units based on the information of the N measurement units, and to determine the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units based on the first channel state information. In this way, the first communication device can feed back the selected measurement units and their corresponding channel state information through the measurement process corresponding to the measurement units indicated by the first information, thereby reducing latency and overhead and improving measurement performance.

[0048] Furthermore, in the above process, N is an integer greater than 1. The measurement of channel state information of two or more sets of measurement units can be realized through the measurement process corresponding to the first information (e.g., a single measurement process), which can reduce measurement latency and overhead.

[0049] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of measurement resources, with each measurement unit being a measurement resource. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports, that is, each measurement resource corresponds to P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0050] Based on the above scheme, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of measurement resources, enabling the first communication device to perform measurements based on the N sets of measurement resources. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information can include one measurement resource from each of the N sets of measurement resources, so as to realize the measurement and feedback of the N sets of measurement resources.

[0051] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, each belonging to one of the N measurement resources. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports; for example, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0052] Optionally, the N sets of ports are associated with N measurement resources. For example, the k-th set of ports in the N sets of ports belongs to the k-th measurement resource among the N measurement resources. Or, the k-th set of ports in the N sets of ports corresponds to the k-th measurement resource among the N measurement resources.

[0053] Based on the above scheme, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of port sets, which correspond one-to-one with the N measurement resources, enabling the first communication device to perform measurements based on the N measurement resources. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information can correspond to a port set in each of the N measurement resources, so as to realize the measurement and feedback of the N measurement resources.

[0054] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, which belong to one measurement resource. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports; for example, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0055] Based on the above scheme, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of ports, which belong to the same measurement resource, so that the first communication device can perform measurement based on a measurement resource. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information can correspond to a set of ports in the measurement resource, so as to realize the measurement and feedback of a measurement resource.

[0056] Optionally, in the above process, the value of P can be 1, meaning that the P ports can be used to represent single-polarization ports. Alternatively, the value of P can be greater than 1, meaning that the P ports can be used to represent multi-polarization ports. For example, when P is 2, the P ports can be understood as two ports with different polarization directions.

[0057] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, each of the N groups of measurement units corresponds to an antenna group, and the first information includes first indication information, which is used to determine the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

[0058] Based on the above scheme, the first information received by the first communication device may also include first indication information, which enables the first communication device to determine the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units based on the first indication information. This is beneficial for the first communication device to determine the channel status information of the first channel based on the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to the N groups of measurement units, and enables the receiver of the second information to determine the channel status information of each port in the first channel based on the second information.

[0059] As an example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units, and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units; or,

[0060] As another example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction and the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

[0061] For example, if the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction of a network device is I, the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction is J, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to any one of the N measurement units is X, then the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j of the antenna group corresponding to any one of the N measurement units satisfy any one of the following:

[0062] or

[0063] or

[0064] or

[0065] or

[0066] or

[0067] or

[0068] or

[0069]

[0070] Here, mod represents the remainder or modulo operation. This indicates rounding down to the nearest integer.

[0071] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, and the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports, where P is a positive integer; wherein, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports. For example, a measurement unit can be used to transmit a reference signal, and the P ports corresponding to the measurement unit can be ports for transmitting or receiving the reference signal.

[0072] Based on the above scheme, each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, that is, the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports. Correspondingly, the second information indicates the channel state information of the channels corresponding to the N*P ports, so that the receiver of the second information can determine the channel state information corresponding to each of the N*P ports.

[0073] Optionally, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the (k-1)*P+1 to the k*P ports of the first channel, where k takes the value from 1 to N.

[0074] Optionally, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: P equals 2, the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the kth and k+Nth ports of the first channel, and k takes the value from 1 to N.

[0075] A third aspect of this application provides a communication device, which includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit is used to receive first information, which indicates N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1. The processing unit is used to perform measurements based on the first information to obtain second information. The second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel state information. The N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units, and the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units. The first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units. The transceiver unit is also used to transmit the second information.

[0076] In the third aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to execute the steps performed in various possible implementations of the first aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0077] A fourth aspect of this application provides a communication device, which is a second communication device. The device includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit is used to transmit first information, which indicates N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1. The transceiver unit is also used to receive second information. The second information indicates information about the N measurement units and first channel state information. The N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the N measurement units and the N groups of measurement units. The first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units. Optionally, the device further includes a processing unit, which is used to determine the information about the N measurement units and the first channel state information based on the second information.

[0078] In the fourth aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps executed in various possible implementations of the second aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0079] A fifth aspect of this application provides a communication device including at least one processor coupled to a memory; the memory is used to store a program or instructions; the at least one processor is used to execute the program or instructions to cause the device to implement the method described in any possible implementation of any of the first to second aspects. Optionally, the communication device may include the memory.

[0080] The sixth aspect of this application provides a communication device including at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the logic circuit is used to perform the method as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

[0081] The seventh aspect of this application provides a communication system, which includes the first communication device and the second communication device described above.

[0082] An eighth aspect of this application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, perform the method as described in any possible implementation of any of the first to second aspects described above.

[0083] The ninth aspect of this application provides a computer program product (or computer program) that, when executed by a processor, performs the method described in any possible implementation of any of the first to second aspects described above.

[0084] The tenth aspect of this application provides a chip or chip system including at least one processor for supporting a communication device in implementing the methods described in any possible implementation of any of the first to second aspects. For example, the chip may be a baseband chip, a modem chip, a SoC chip (such as an SoC chip containing a modem core), a SIP chip, or a communication module, etc.

[0085] In one possible design, the chip or chip system may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices. Optionally, the chip system may also include interface circuitry that provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor.

[0086] The technical effects of any of the design methods in aspects three through ten can be found in the technical effects of the different design methods in aspects one through two above, and will not be repeated here. Attached Figure Description

[0087] Figure 1a This is a schematic diagram of the communication system involved in this application;

[0088] Figure 1b This is another schematic diagram of the communication system involved in this application;

[0089] Figure 1c This is a schematic diagram of the network device involved in this application;

[0090] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the signal transmission involved in this application;

[0091] Figure 3 This is another schematic diagram of the signal transmission involved in this application;

[0092] Figure 4 This is another schematic diagram of the signal transmission involved in this application;

[0093] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the communication method provided in this application;

[0094] Figure 6 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application;

[0095] Figure 7 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application;

[0096] Figure 8 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application;

[0097] Figure 9 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application. Detailed Implementation

[0098] First, some terms used in the embodiments of this application will be explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0099] (1) Configuration and Pre-configuration: In this application, both configuration and pre-configuration are used. Configuration refers to the process by which network devices such as base stations or servers send configuration information or parameter values ​​to the terminal via messages or signaling, so that the terminal can determine the communication parameters or resources for transmission based on these values ​​or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration. It can be a method by which network devices such as base stations or servers send parameter information or values ​​to the terminal via a communication link or carrier; it can also be a method by defining the corresponding parameters or parameter values ​​in a standard, or by setting the relevant parameters or values ​​in the terminal device in advance. This application does not limit this method. Furthermore, these values ​​and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0100] (2) In this application, “for indicating” can include both direct and indirect indication. When describing an indication information as indicating A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0101] In this application, the information indicated by the instruction information is called the information to be instructed. In specific implementation, there are many ways to instruct the information to be instructed. For example, it can be implemented through direct instruction, such as through the information to be instructed itself or its index. It can also be implemented indirectly by instructing other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be instructed. Alternatively, only a part of the information to be instructed can be indicated, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) arrangement of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to some extent.

[0102] The instruction information can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information messages, and the sending period and / or timing of these sub-information messages can be the same or different. This application does not limit the specific sending method. The sending period and / or timing of these sub-information messages can be predefined, for example, according to a protocol, or configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. This configuration information can include, for example, but not limited to, one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC) layer signaling, and physical layer signaling. MAC layer signaling includes, for example, a medium access control control element (MAC CE); physical layer signaling includes, for example, downlink control information (DCI).

[0103] (3) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of this application can be used interchangeably. "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 there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "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 and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish multiple objects and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority or importance of multiple objects.

[0104] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments in this application can be referred to mutually. In the various embodiments of this application, and in the various methods / designs / implementations within each embodiment, unless otherwise specified or logically conflicting, the terminology and / or descriptions between different embodiments and between the various methods / designs / implementations within each embodiment are consistent and can be mutually referenced. The technical features in different embodiments and the various methods / designs / implementations within each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, methods, or implementations based on their inherent logical relationships. The following descriptions of the embodiments of this application do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0105] (4) Reference signal (RS), also known as pilot signal. In communication systems, estimating the uplink or downlink channel is essential for transmitting and receiving data, obtaining system synchronization and feedback channel 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 reference signals known to the transmitter and receiver to track the time and frequency domain changes of the channel. These reference signals are distributed in different resource elements (REs) in the time-frequency two-dimensional space within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and have known amplitude and phase.

[0106] At the physical layer, uplink communication can include the transmission of uplink physical channels and uplink signals. Uplink physical channels include the random access channel (PRACH), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), etc. Uplink signals include the sounding reference signal (SRS), the PUCCH de-modulation reference signal (PUCCH-DMRS), the PUSCH-DMRS, the phase noise tracking reference signal (PTRS), and the uplink positioning signal (RS), etc.

[0107] At the physical layer, downlink communication can include the transmission of downlink physical channels and downlink signals. Downlink physical channels include the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). Downlink signals include the primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the downlink control channel demodulation reference signal PDCCH-DMRS, the downlink data channel demodulation reference signal PDSCH-DMRS, the phase noise tracking signal PTRS, the channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), the cell reference signal (CRS) (not present in NR), the time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS) (not present in LTE), and the LTE / NR positioning signal (positioning RS), etc.

[0108] (5) In the embodiments of this application, "sending" and "receiving" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, the communication process between entity A and entity B is taken as an example. In this application, entity A sends information to entity B, which can be A sending directly to B or A sending indirectly to B through other entities. Similarly, entity B receives information from entity A, which can be entity B receiving the information sent by entity A directly or entity B receiving the information sent by entity A indirectly through other entities. Here, entities A and B can be radio access network (RAN) nodes or terminals, or modules within RAN nodes or terminals. The sending and receiving of information can be information interaction between RAN nodes and terminals, such as information interaction between base stations and terminals; the sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between two RAN nodes, such as information interaction between a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU); the sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between different modules within a device, such as information interaction between a terminal chip and other modules of the terminal, or information interaction between a base station chip and other modules in the base station. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0109] (6) Beam. In the NR protocol, the beam can be represented by a spatial domain filter, or spatial parameter, spatial parameter, spatial domain setting, spatial setting, or quasi-colocation (QCL) information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, etc. The beam can be indicated by the transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state parameter or by the spatial relation parameter. Therefore, in this application, the beam can be replaced by spatial filter, spatial filter, spatial parameter, spatial parameter, spatial setting, spatial setting, QCL information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, TCI-state, downlink TCI-state (DL TCI-state), uplink TCI-state (UL TCI-state), spatial relation, etc. These terms are also equivalent to each other. The term "beam" can be replaced with other beam terms, which are not limited in this application.

[0110] The beam used to transmit signals can be called the transmission beam (Tx beam), spatial domain transmission filter, spatial transmission filter, spatial domain transmission parameter, spatial transmission setting, or spatial transmission setting. The downlink transmission beam can be indicated by TCI-state.

[0111] The beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), a spatial domain reception filter, a spatial reception filter, a spatial domain reception parameter, a spatial domain reception setting, or a spatial reception setting. The uplink transmit beam can be indicated by a spatial relation, an uplink TCI-state, or an SRS resource (indicating the transmit beam using that SRS). Therefore, the uplink beam can also be replaced by an SRS resource.

[0112] The transmitting beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after a signal is transmitted through an antenna, while the receiving beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of a wireless signal received from an antenna.

[0113] Furthermore, the beam can be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or other types of beam. The beamforming technology can be beamforming technology or other technologies. Specifically, beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology, etc.

[0114] Beams are generally associated with resources. For example, during beam measurement, network devices measure different beams using different resources. The terminal device provides feedback on the measured resource quality, allowing the network device to determine the quality of the corresponding beam. During data transmission, beam information is also indicated through its corresponding resources. For instance, network devices use the TCI field in DCI to indicate the PDSCH beam information of the terminal device. Therefore, in this application, beams and resources can be used interchangeably.

[0115] Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as a single beam. A beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and detection signals, etc. One or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

[0116] In the embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified, a beam refers to the transmit beam of a network device. In beam measurement, each beam of a network device corresponds to a resource, and therefore the beam corresponding to that resource can be uniquely identified by the resource index.

[0117] (7) Resources. The protocol does not directly use the term "beam" to characterize beams; instead, it implicitly describes beam-related operations using other methods. For example, in beam measurement, there is a correspondence between beams and resources (network devices use a beam to transmit signals on their corresponding resources), and the terminal device measuring the quality of a resource is equivalent to measuring the quality of the beam. Resources can be uplink or downlink signal resources. Uplink signals include, but are not limited to, sounding reference signals (SRS) and demodulation reference signals (DMRS). Downlink signals include, but are not limited to, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), cell specific reference signals (CS-RS), user equipment specific reference signals (US-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), and synchronization system / physical broadcast channel blocks (SS / PBCH blocks). The SS / PBCH block can be abbreviated as synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0118] For example, resources can be configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling. In terms of configuration structure, a resource is a data structure that includes relevant parameters of its corresponding uplink / downlink signal, such as the type of uplink / downlink signal, the resource granularity carrying the uplink / downlink signal, the transmission time and period of the uplink / downlink signal, and the number of ports used to transmit the uplink / downlink signal. Each uplink / downlink signal resource has a unique index to identify the resource of that downlink signal. It is understood that the resource index can also be called the resource identifier, and this embodiment of the application does not impose any limitation on this.

[0119] This application can be applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, New Radio (NR) systems, or other communication systems, wherein the communication system includes network devices and terminal devices, with the network devices acting as configuration information sending entities and the terminal devices acting as configuration information receiving entities. Specifically, in this communication system, an entity sends configuration information to another entity and sends data to or receives data sent by another entity; another entity receives the configuration information and, based on the configuration information, sends data to or receives data sent by the configuration information sending entity. This application can be applied to terminal devices in a connected or active state, as well as terminal devices in an inactive or idle state.

[0120] Please see Figure 1a This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of this application. Figure 1a As shown, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include an Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., ...). Figure 1a 110a and 110b, collectively referred to as 110, may also include at least one terminal (such as...). Figure 1a RAN100, denoted as RAN100, comprises RAN nodes 120a-120j, collectively referred to as RAN120. RAN100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment. Figure 1a (Not shown in the image). Terminal 120 connects wirelessly to RAN node 110, and RAN node 110 connects wirelessly or via a wired connection to core network 200. The core network equipment in core network 200 and RAN node 110 in RAN 100 can be independent physical devices, or they can be the same physical device integrating the logical functions of core network equipment and RAN nodes. Terminals can connect to each other, and RAN nodes can connect to each other, via wired or wireless connections.

[0121] RAN100 can be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, an NR system, or a future radio access system as defined in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). RAN100 can also include two or more of the above-mentioned different radio access systems. RAN100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0122] RAN nodes, also known as radio access network equipment, RAN entities, or access nodes, are used to help terminals access communication systems wirelessly. In one application scenario, an RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. RAN nodes can also be macro base stations (such as...) Figure 1a 110a in the text), can also be a micro base station or an indoor station (such as... Figure 1a 110b in the middle can also be a relay node or a donor node.

[0123] In another application scenario, multiple RAN nodes can collaborate to help terminals achieve wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing different functions of the base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). Here, the CU performs the functions of the base station's Radio Resource Control Protocol (RRCP) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and can also perform the functions of the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP). The DU performs the functions of the base station's Radio Link Control (RAN) and MAC layers, and can also perform some or all of the physical layer functions. For specific descriptions of these protocol layers, refer to the relevant 3GPP technical specifications. The RU can be used to implement radio frequency signal transmission and reception. The CU and DU can be two independent RAN nodes or integrated into the same RAN node, such as within a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in radio frequency equipment, such as in a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). CUs can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes: centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) and centralized unit-user plane (CU-UP).

[0124] 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 open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN) system, CU can also be called an open CU (ORAN CU, O-CU), DU can also be called an open DU (ORAN DU, O-DU), CU-CP can also be called an open CU-CP (ORAN CU-CP, O-CU-CP), CU-UP can also be called an open CU-UP (ORAN CU-UP, O-CU-UP), and RU can also be called an open RU (ORAN 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 modules and hardware modules.

[0125] Communication between access network devices and terminal devices follows a specific protocol layer structure. This protocol layer may include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: RRC layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Media Access Control (MAC) layer, or Physical (PHY) layer, etc. The user plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, or Physical layer, etc.

[0126] The correspondence between network elements and their achievable protocol layer functions in the ORAN system can be found in Table 1 below.

[0127] Table 1

[0128]

[0129]

[0130] Figure 1b This is an example diagram of an O-RAN system. (Example:) Figure 1bAs shown, network devices may include access network devices. Access network devices (RAN, such as eNB, gNB, or next-generation access network devices) communicate with the core network (CN) via a backhaul link and with user equipment (UE) via an air interface.

[0131] For example, the baseband unit (BBU) in the access network equipment communicates with the core network (CN) via a backhaul link, while the radio unit (RU) in the access network equipment communicates 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.

[0132] Optionally, the BBU includes at least one control unit (CU) and at least one distributed unit (DU), which can communicate via at least one midhaul link.

[0133] Figure 1c This is another example diagram of an O-RAN system. It includes the functional division of network elements and the protocol layer structure of O-RAN equipment.

[0134] In some examples, the CU is a logical node carrying the RRC layer, SDAP layer, PDCP layer, and other control functions of the access network equipment. The CU connects to network nodes such as the core network through interfaces, which can be interfaces such as E2 interfaces. Optionally, the CU may have some core network functions. The CU (e.g., PDCP layer and higher layers) connects to the DU (e.g., RLC layer and lower layers) through interfaces, which can be interfaces such as F1 interfaces. In some examples, these interfaces (e.g., F1 interfaces) 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 of the F1 interface, defining the F1 signaling procedures in some examples. The F1 interface supports control plane F1-C and user plane F1-U.

[0135] In some examples, the CU can be split into CU-CP and CU-UP. CU-CP is a logical node carrying the RRC layer and PDCP-C (i.e., the control plane part of PDCP) layer, 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 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 SDAP layer and PDCP-U (i.e., the user plane part of PDCP) layer, 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; 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 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, such as by 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.

[0136] In some examples, the DU is a logical node that carries the RLC layer, MAC layer, higher physical layer (HigherPHY) layer, and other functions. In some examples, the DU can control at least one RU. 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.

[0137] In some examples, the RU is a logical node carrying 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 Low-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.

[0138] 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 the Lower-Layer Split CUS-Plane (LLS-CUS) interface. LLS-CUS may include LLS-C and LLS-U interfaces providing the control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane), 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.

[0139] 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.

[0140] 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 O-CU (open CU), DU can also be called O-DU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU. For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples.

[0141] For ease of description, the following text uses a base station as an example of a RAN node.

[0142] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities, capable of sending signals to or receiving signals from a base station. Alternatively, a terminal can be a device or module that is connected to the aforementioned communication system and possesses corresponding communication functions. A terminal typically contains a communication module, circuit, or chip that performs the corresponding communication function. The terminal may also be configured with program instructions for performing the corresponding communication function.

[0143] A terminal can also be called a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminals can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, transportation vehicles with wireless communication capabilities, communication modules, roadside units (RSUs) with terminal functions, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or device forms used in the terminal.

[0144] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can be deployed on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of the base stations and terminals.

[0145] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative, for example, Figure 1aThe helicopter or drone 120i can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station; however, for base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that 110a and 120i communicate via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate via a base station-to-base station interface protocol; in this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, both base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. Figure 1a The 110a and 110b in the text can be referred to as communication devices with base station functions. Figure 1a The 120a-120j in the text can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0146] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be conducted using licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both simultaneously. Communication can be conducted using spectrum below 6 GHz, spectrum above 6 GHz, or both simultaneously. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0147] In the embodiments of this application, the functions of the base station can be executed by modules (such as chips) within the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes base station functions. This control subsystem, including base station functions, can be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. Similarly, the functions of the terminal can be executed by modules (such as chips or modems) within the terminal, or by a device that includes terminal functions.

[0148] In wireless communication systems (e.g.) Figure 1a , Figure 1b ,or Figure 1c In the system shown, different communication devices can communicate with each other using multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology to improve data transmission performance. During MIMO communication, the communication devices can employ analog beamforming technology. By weighting the antenna array, the signal energy is concentrated within a small angular range, forming a beam-like signal (called an analog beam, or simply a beam), thereby increasing the transmission distance. The specific definition of a beam is detailed above.

[0149] Furthermore, before data transmission, communication equipment can obtain the beam used for transmission (i.e., which beam is used to transmit data to the terminal device) and the corresponding channel state information (CSI) through channel measurement. For example, during channel measurement, the signal transmitter can send a channel measurement signal (e.g., a reference signal), and the signal receiver can receive this signal. The receiver can then perform measurements based on this signal to obtain channel information, which can subsequently be used to achieve high-speed data transmission. For instance, communication equipment can use the precoding information corresponding to the channel information to perform high-speed data transmission. Also, communication equipment can use channel information to allocate resources among multiple users, reducing interference between different users and improving the overall system performance.

[0150] like Figure 2 The example shown, taking downlink channel measurement as an example, can include the following steps for measuring the downlink channel between a network device and a terminal device.

[0151] S1. The network device sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device.

[0152] S2. Network devices send downlink reference signals based on measurement configuration information.

[0153] S3. The terminal device performs measurements based on the received downlink reference signal and obtains the measurement results.

[0154] S4. The terminal device reports the measurement results to the network device.

[0155] Generally, channel measurement can be applied to processes such as beam management and CSI measurement. Beam management is a measurement process within protocols (e.g., NR protocols) used to determine the beams used for transmission. CSI measurement is another measurement process within protocols (e.g., NR protocols) used to determine the channel state information corresponding to a specific transmission beam. The following section will combine these two processes to... Figure 2 The steps shown are illustrated by way of example.

[0156] As an example, the measurement process corresponding to beam management mainly includes: Figure 2 The four steps are shown.

[0157] S1. The network device sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device. For example, measurement configuration information is sent by the network device to the terminal via RRC signaling and mainly includes two parts: resource configuration information and reporting configuration information. Resource configuration information is related to measurement resources and is configured in the protocol through a three-level structure (resource configuration - resource set - resource). The network device can configure one or more resource configurations (resource configuration can also be written as resource setting) for the terminal device. Each resource configuration includes one or more resource sets, and each resource set can include one or more resources. Each resource configuration / resource set / resource includes its own index. In addition, it includes other parameters such as the resource period and the signal type corresponding to the resource. Reporting configuration information is used to configure downlink measurement and measurement result reporting information and is configured in the protocol through reporting configuration (ReportConfig). The network device can configure one or more reporting configurations for the terminal device. Each reporting configuration includes one or more information related to reporting, such as reporting indicators, reporting time and period, and reporting format. Optionally, the reporting configuration may also include an index of resource configurations, which indicates how the reported results were measured using which measurement configuration.

[0158] S2. The network device sends downlink signals on the resource granules corresponding to the resources configured in the resource configuration information, so that the terminal device can determine the quality of each resource (i.e., the quality of the beam corresponding to the resource) by measuring the downlink signals.

[0159] S3. The terminal equipment measures the downlink signal based on the measurement configuration information.

[0160] S4. The terminal device sends a beam measurement report to the network device. The beam measurement report may include indexes of one or more resources, resource quality, etc. The above-mentioned reporting information may be carried on the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0161] As described above, network devices can determine the beams used for transmission through beam management processes. For example, through beam management, terminal devices measure the various beams of the network device and report one or more high-quality beams to the network device.

[0162] As another example, the measurement process corresponding to CSI measurement mainly includes: Figure 2 The four steps are shown.

[0163] S1. The network device sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device. The configuration information for CSI measurements is largely similar to that for beam management, also comprising two parts: resource configuration information and reporting configuration information. Resource configuration information is also configured using a three-level structure (resourceConfig - resourceSet - resource). Reporting configuration information is used to configure downlink measurements and related information for reporting measurement results, and is also configured using a reporting configuration (ReportConfig) in the protocol. The network device can configure one or more reporting configurations for the terminal device. Each reporting configuration includes one or more pieces of information related to reporting, such as reporting metrics, reporting time and period, and reporting format. Optionally, the reporting configuration also includes an index of the resource configuration, indicating which measurement configuration was used to measure the reported results.

[0164] S2. The network device sends downlink signals on the resource granules (such as resource elements (REs)) corresponding to the resources configured in the resource configuration information, so that the terminal device can determine the channel state information of each resource (i.e., the channel state information of the beam corresponding to the resource) by measuring the downlink signals.

[0165] S3. The terminal equipment measures the downlink signal based on the measurement configuration information.

[0166] S4. The terminal device sends a CSI measurement report to the network device. The CSI measurement report may include channel state information corresponding to a resource. The above-mentioned reported information may be carried in the physical uplink control channel or the physical uplink shared channel.

[0167] As described above, network devices can determine the channel state information corresponding to a specific beam through the CSI measurement process. For example, through CSI measurement, the terminal device measures the reference signal transmitted by the network device through a specific beam, determines the CSI information corresponding to that beam, and reports it to the network device.

[0168] The main difference between CSI measurement and beam management lies in the amount of information reported. In beam management, the terminal device needs to report the resource index corresponding to one or more beams, as well as the channel quality corresponding to those beams, such as the reference signal receiving power (RSRP). In CSI measurement, the terminal device further needs to report channel state information corresponding to a beam, including one or more of the following: channel quality indicator (CQI), rank indicator (RI), or precoding matrix indicator (PMI). CQI can be used to determine the modulation and coding order used for data transmission, RI can be used to determine the number of streams used for data transmission, and PMI can be used to determine the precoding matrix used for data transmission.

[0169] like Figure 3 As shown in the example, beam management and CSI measurement can be executed sequentially. Specifically, the terminal device can perform channel measurement and reporting during beam management, followed by channel measurement and reporting during CSI measurement. Furthermore, the channel measurement in CSI measurement and the channel measurement and reporting in beam management can be related. For example, the relationship between beam management and CSI measurement is as follows: the terminal device reports several beams through the beam management process, and then further reports the channel status information of a specific beam (such as the beam with the highest RSRP among those reported by the terminal device) through the CSI measurement process.

[0170] However, in the implementation of the aforementioned channel measurements, beam management and CSI measurement are two separate steps, which inevitably affects the performance of the channel measurements. For example, in the aforementioned... Figure 3 In the process described, the network device first determines the beam to be used for transmission (e.g., using the beam with the best quality reported by the terminal device) through the channel measurement process corresponding to beam management; then, it determines the CSI corresponding to that transmission beam through the channel measurement process corresponding to CSI measurement. Finally, the network device uses this transmission beam and performs data transmission based on the CSI corresponding to that transmission beam. Since beam management and CSI measurement are two separate steps, data transmission can only proceed after both steps are completed, resulting in significant latency. Furthermore, both steps require the measurement of a reference signal, leading to substantial time-frequency resource overhead.

[0171] Furthermore, CSI measurements show that network devices can only obtain channel state information corresponding to a single specific beam, therefore network devices can only use a single beam for transmission. Transmission based on a single beam may result in a loss of transmission performance.

[0172] like Figure 4 As shown in the example, when there are multiple spatial paths in the channel between the network device and the terminal device (including path 1 corresponding to scatterer 1 and path 2 corresponding to scatterer 2 in the figure), a single beam can only cover part of the spatial path (currently covering path 1 in the figure). When using a single beam for transmission, it is impossible to effectively utilize other spatial paths outside the coverage of that single beam, resulting in a loss of transmission performance.

[0173] To address the aforementioned problems, this application provides a communication method and related apparatus, which will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0174] Please see Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of an implementation of the communication method provided in this application, which includes the following steps.

[0175] It should be noted that in the following text Figure 5 In the examples and related implementations, the first communication device and the second communication device are used as the execution subjects of the interaction to illustrate the method, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interaction.

[0176] For example, the first communication device can be a terminal device, or it can be a component for a terminal device (such as a chip or circuit, which can be 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.). Alternatively, the method involved in the first communication device can also be a logic module or software execution capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the terminal device.

[0177] For example, the second communication device may be a network device, or a component (such as a chip, chip system, or circuit) for a network device. Alternatively, the method involving the second communication device may be executed by a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device.

[0178] Optionally, the aforementioned network equipment may be access network equipment or communication equipment in an ORAN system (e.g., at least one of CU, DU, RU).

[0179] S501. The second communication device sends first information, and correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first information. The first information is used to indicate N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1.

[0180] After step S501, the first communication device can perform measurements based on the first information to obtain second information. The second information indicates information about N measurement units and first channel state information. The N measurement units are associated with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units. For example, after step S501, the second communication device can transmit a reference signal based on the N groups of measurement units indicated by the first information. Accordingly, the first communication device performing measurements based on the first information includes: the first communication device receiving the reference signal based on the N groups of measurement units indicated by the first information, and measuring the received reference signal to obtain the aforementioned second information.

[0181] Furthermore, the aforementioned second information can indicate information about N measurement units, which can be used to identify the N measurement units. For example, the information about the N measurement units can include their indexes, identifiers, etc. For instance, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the N measurement units and the N groups of measurement units. The first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units.

[0182] In one possible implementation, one measurement unit can correspond to one channel. For example, a communication device can measure the channel corresponding to a measurement unit based on a reference signal transmitted by that measurement unit to obtain the channel state information of the channel corresponding to that measurement unit. Accordingly, N measurement units can correspond to N channels. In the above process, the N measurement units are associated with a first channel. For example, the first channel includes the N channels corresponding to the N measurement units, or the first channel is a channel (or a joint channel) composed of (or jointly composed of) the N channels corresponding to the N measurement units, or the channel state information of the first channel represents the channel state of the channel (or joint channel) composed of (or jointly composed of) the N channels corresponding to the N measurement units.

[0183] In one possible implementation, any group of N measurement units may contain one or more measurement units, and the N measurement units are associated with the N groups of measurement units. For example, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units, meaning the k-th measurement unit among the N measurement units belongs to the k-th group of measurement units within the N groups of measurement units, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N or from 0 to N-1. Alternatively, the N measurement units may correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, meaning the k-th measurement unit among the N measurement units corresponds to the k-th group of measurement units within the N groups of measurement units, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N or from 0 to N-1.

[0184] Optionally, the k-th measurement unit is associated with the k-th group of measurement units. For example, the k-th measurement unit is the measurement unit with better channel quality (e.g., better than a certain threshold) among the channel quality units corresponding to the k-th group of measurement units. Alternatively, the channel quality of the k-th measurement unit may be better than the channel quality of all other measurement units in the k-th group of measurement units except for the k-th measurement unit itself.

[0185] S502. The first communication device sends the second information, and correspondingly, the second communication device receives the second information.

[0186] For example, after receiving the second information in step S502, the second communication device can obtain information about N measurement units and first channel status information based on the second information. That is, the second communication device can determine one measurement unit in each of the N groups of measurement units based on the information of the N measurement units, and determine the channel status information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units based on the first channel status information.

[0187] In this way, the first communication device can feed back the selected measurement unit and the channel state information corresponding to these measurement units through the measurement process corresponding to the measurement unit indicated by the first information, thereby reducing latency and overhead and improving measurement performance. Furthermore, in the above process, N is an integer greater than 1, and the measurement of channel state information of two or more sets of measurement units can be achieved through the measurement process corresponding to the first information (e.g., one measurement process), which can reduce measurement latency and overhead.

[0188] Optionally, in this application, the measurement unit can be a measurement object that the communication device performs the measurement on. For example, the communication device can perform the measurement based on a reference signal transmitted by the measurement object. The measurement object can be a beam, beam set, resource, resource set, port, port set, or other implementation defined by the future network. For example, the above N sets of measurement units can be N sets of beams, and N measurement units can be N beams.

[0189] As an example, in the above process, let's take the measurement unit as a beam. In a traditional measurement process, the communication device feeds back the beam selected by the communication device in one measurement process and the channel state information corresponding to that beam in another measurement process. The receiver of this channel state information can then communicate based on it. This measurement process inevitably leads to significant measurement resource overhead and long latency. In the above process, however, the first communication device performs measurements based on N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information. The feedback of the second information can indicate both the measurement units selected by the first communication device and the channel state information corresponding to these measurement units. By using a single feedback method, latency and overhead can be reduced.

[0190] Optionally, in the above process, the first communication device can measure some or all of the measurement resources in the N groups of measurement units indicated by the first information to obtain the second information. For example, when the first communication device measures some of the measurement resources in the N groups of measurement units, the second information sent by the first communication device can indicate the information of M (M is an integer less than N) measurement units and the second channel state information. The M measurement units belong to the M groups of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units, and the M measurement units correspond one-to-one with the M groups of measurement units. The second channel state information is the channel state information of the second channel corresponding to the M measurement units. In this way, the first communication device can indicate fewer measurement units and their corresponding channel state information through the second information, which can further reduce latency and overhead. For example, the M measurement units are the M measurement units with better channel quality (e.g., better than a certain threshold) among the channel quality corresponding to the N measurement units. Or, the channel quality of the M measurement units is better than the channel quality of the other NM measurement units in the N measurement units.

[0191] Optionally, the first information may include a reporting configuration. For example, the reporting configuration may include a first parameter, which is used to configure the number of measurement units reported by the first communication device to be M or N, that is, the reporting configuration may be used to configure the number of beams reported by the first communication device to be M or N. As another example, the reporting configuration may include a second parameter, which is used to configure the first communication device to report first channel state information or to configure the first communication device to report channel state information of the first channel corresponding to N measurement units, that is, the first communication device may, based on the second parameter, report according to... Figure 5 Channel status information is reported in the manner shown.

[0192] It should be noted that the above scheme can also be applied to scenarios with multiple antenna groups. For example, the first communication device can be a terminal device and the second communication device can be a network device, which can contain N antenna groups. The following conditions must be met: the signal transmitted by the k-th measurement unit in the N measurement units is processed through the same antenna array, where k takes the value from 1 to N; and / or, the signals transmitted by different measurement units in the N measurement units are processed through different antenna arrays.

[0193] In this way, the terminal device can measure N sets of measurement resources corresponding to N antenna groups of the network device. The N measurement units indicated by the second information can be the measurement units selected by the terminal device for each of the N antenna groups. This allows the network device to determine the channel state information of the measurement units corresponding to these antenna groups based on the first channel state information indicated by the second information. The measurement process corresponding to the first information (e.g., a single measurement process) can achieve the measurement of the channel state information of the communication beams of multiple antenna groups, reducing measurement latency and overhead. Furthermore, since different antenna groups can achieve beam transmission along different paths, the measurement and feedback of channel state information for multiple paths can also be achieved, as described above. Figure 4 In this scenario, network devices can transmit beams for path 1 and path 2 through different antenna groups. Through the above process, the channel state information of these two paths can be measured and fed back. Compared with the previous scheme of independent beam management and CSI measurement, this can reduce measurement latency and overhead, and can also realize multi-beam data transmission and improve transmission performance by measuring and feeding back the channel state information of multiple beams.

[0194] Alternatively, the antenna group involved in this application may be replaced with other descriptions, such as antenna panel, antenna panel group, antenna array, antenna array group, antenna port, or antenna port group.

[0195] exist Figure 5 In one possible implementation of the method shown, each of the N groups of measurement units corresponds to an antenna group. The first information in step S501 includes first indication information, which is used to determine the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units. The spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to a group of measurement units can also be simply referred to as the spatial arrangement position corresponding to that group of measurement units. Therefore, the first information received by the first communication device may also include the first indication information, enabling the first communication device to determine the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units based on the first indication information. This facilitates the first communication device in determining the channel state information of the first channel based on the spatial arrangement position of the antenna group corresponding to the N groups of measurement units, and enables the receiver of the second information to determine the channel state information of each port in the first channel based on the second information.

[0196] As an example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units, and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

[0197] As another example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction and the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units. For example, if the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction of the network device is I, the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction is J, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to any one of the N groups of measurement units is X, then the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j of the antenna group corresponding to any one of the following conditions A to D are satisfied.

[0198] The case AX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0199] or

[0200]

[0201] Case BX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 1 to I, and j takes values ​​from 1 to J. It satisfies:

[0202]

[0203]

[0204] The case CX takes values ​​from 1 to N, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0205] or

[0206]

[0207] Let DX take values ​​from 1 to N, i take values ​​from 1 to I, and j take values ​​from 1 to J. The following conditions must be met:

[0208] or

[0209]

[0210] In the above process, mod represents the remainder or modulo operation. This indicates rounding down to the nearest integer.

[0211] Optionally, the aforementioned first instruction information may be included in the first information or in other messages / information / signaling, without limitation here.

[0212] Optionally, the first information may also indicate other configuration information for the N groups of measurement units.

[0213] For example, the first information may include second indication information, which indicates that the TCI state information or QCL information corresponding to the k-th group of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units is the same. In this way, the first communication device can determine that the TCI state information or QCL information corresponding to one or more measurement units contained in any group of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units is the same. That is, the first communication device can determine the TCI state information or QCL information of other measurement units contained in the k-th group of measurement units based on the TCI state information or QCL information of any measurement unit contained in the k-th group of measurement units, which can reduce measurement overhead and measurement latency.

[0214] For example, the first information may include third indication information, which indicates that at least two groups of measurement units in the N groups have the same TCI state information or QCL information. In this way, the first communication device can determine that the TCI state information or QCL information corresponding to different groups of measurement units in the N groups are the same. That is, the first communication device can determine the TCI state information or QCL information of the other groups of measurement units in the N groups based on the TCI state information or QCL information of one group of measurement units, which can reduce measurement overhead and measurement latency.

[0215] exist Figure 5 In one possible implementation of the method shown, the second information can indicate information about N measurement units, each of which corresponds to P ports, and the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports, where P is a positive integer; wherein the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports. For example, a measurement unit can be used to transmit a reference signal, and the P ports corresponding to the measurement unit can be ports for transmitting or receiving the reference signal. Thus, each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, that is, the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports. Accordingly, the channel state information of the channels corresponding to the N*P ports indicated by the second information enables the receiver of the second information to determine the channel state information corresponding to each of the N*P ports.

[0216] Optionally, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the (k-1)*P+1 to the k*P ports of the first channel, where k takes the value from 1 to N.

[0217] Optionally, the first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: P equals 2, the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the kth and k+Nth ports of the first channel, and k takes the value from 1 to N.

[0218] exist Figure 5 In one possible implementation of the method shown, the first communication device can further determine the horizontal and vertical arrangement indices corresponding to each port of the first channel; wherein, the horizontal arrangement index of the port corresponding to the measurement unit with horizontal arrangement index i and vertical arrangement index j in the first channel is i and j respectively, where i and j are both integers. Therefore, the first communication device can further determine the horizontal and vertical arrangement indices corresponding to each port of the first channel, which is beneficial for the first communication device to determine the first channel state information corresponding to the first channel based on the spatial arrangement position of each port of the first channel, enabling the receiver of the second information to determine the channel state information of each port in the first channel based on the second information.

[0219] It should be noted that the above N sets of measurement units can be implemented in various ways, and some possible implementation methods will be explained below.

[0220] In the first implementation method, N sets of measurement units are N sets of measurement resources.

[0221] In implementation method one, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of measurement resources, and each measurement unit is a measurement resource. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports, that is, each measurement resource corresponds to P ports, where P is a positive integer. In other words, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of measurement resources, enabling the first communication device to perform measurements based on the N sets of measurement resources. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information include one measurement resource from each of the N sets of measurement resources (for example, the k-th measurement unit in the N sets of measurement units includes one measurement resource from the k-th set of measurement resources in the N sets of measurement resources), so as to realize the measurement and feedback of the N sets of measurement resources.

[0222] Optionally, in the P ports involved in this application, the value of P can be 1, meaning that the P ports can be used to represent single-polarization ports. Alternatively, the value of P can be greater than 1, meaning that the P ports can be used to represent multi-polarization ports. For example, when the value of P is 2, the P ports can be understood as two ports with different polarization directions.

[0223] The following example, using a first communication device as the terminal device and a second communication device as the network device, illustrates implementation method one. In other words, the measurement performed by the first communication device can be a downlink measurement. In the following example, N sets of measurement resources are represented as N groups of measurement resources.

[0224] During the above process, the network device can configure N measurement resource groups for the terminal device using the first information in step S501. Each measurement resource group includes one or more measurement resources. Each measurement resource group corresponds to an antenna array, and each measurement resource in the group corresponds to a beam on that antenna array.

[0225] For example, assuming a network device has 4 antenna arrays, each with 16 beams, the network device can configure 4 (N=4) measurement resource groups for the terminal device using the first information. Each measurement resource group includes 16 measurement resources, supporting the measurement of 16*4=64 beams. As another example, assuming a network device has 8 antenna arrays, each with 32 beams, the network device can configure 8 (N=8) measurement resource groups for the terminal device using the first information. Each measurement resource group includes 32 measurement resources, supporting the measurement of 32*8=256 beams.

[0226] Optionally, a measurement resource group can be a resource set or a subset of a resource set. Furthermore, the reference signal corresponding to each reference signal resource is transmitted via its corresponding beam. The terminal device measures each beam by measuring the reference signal corresponding to each resource.

[0227] Optionally, each measurement resource includes P ports, where P is a positive integer. For example, P = 1 represents one port (e.g., a single-polarized port), and P = 2 represents two ports (e.g., two cross-polarized ports). Here, polarization is short for polarization direction, which refers to the propagation direction of the electric field in an electromagnetic signal. Correspondingly, a measurement resource including a single port may mean that the measurement resource corresponds to a single reference signal; a measurement resource including two ports may mean that the measurement resource corresponds to two reference signals.

[0228] Optionally, the terminal device may determine, through a first information indication (or through pre-configuration), that the TCI state or QCL information of all measurement resources in the same measurement resource group is the same, or that the TCI state or QCL (quasi co-location) information of measurement resources in all measurement resource groups is the same.

[0229] Generally, in network devices, multiple antenna arrays are arranged in both horizontal and vertical directions. For example, a network device may have four antenna arrays. These four antenna arrays can be arranged entirely horizontally (four arrays in the horizontal direction and one array in the vertical direction), or entirely vertically (one array in the horizontal direction and four arrays in the vertical direction), or horizontally superimposed vertically (two arrays in the horizontal direction and two arrays in the vertical direction). The network device can inform the terminal device of the arrangement position of the antenna arrays corresponding to each measurement resource group through the first indication information included in the first information. The arrangement position of the antenna arrays corresponding to the measurement resource group can also be understood as the arrangement position of the antennas corresponding to the measurement resource group, or simply described as the arrangement position of the measurement resource group itself; these three terms are equivalent.

[0230] For example, the network device can configure the arrangement of measurement resource groups using any of the following methods. For instance, the first indication information mentioned above can be configured to arrange different measurement resource groups using the following two methods.

[0231] Arrangement Configuration Method 1: For each measurement resource group, the network device can configure the arrangement position of the measurement resource group, including the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j. Here, the horizontal position index i indicates that the measurement resource group is the i-th measurement resource group in the horizontal direction, and the vertical position index j indicates that the measurement resource group is the i-th measurement resource group in the vertical direction.

[0232] As an example, i can be indexed from 1, meaning the minimum value of i is 1. For example, i = 1 represents the first measurement resource group in the horizontal direction. Alternatively, i can be indexed from 0, meaning the minimum value of i is 0. In this case, the measurement resource group with horizontal position index i represents the (i+1)th measurement resource group in the horizontal direction. For example, i = 0 represents the first measurement resource group in the horizontal direction.

[0233] As another example, j can be indexed from 1, meaning the minimum value of j is 1, and j=1 represents the first measurement resource group in the vertical direction. Alternatively, j can be indexed from 0, meaning the minimum value of j is 0, and the measurement resource group with vertical position index j represents the (j+1)th measurement resource group in the vertical direction. For example, j=0 represents the first measurement resource group in the vertical direction.

[0234] Taking a network device containing 4 (N=4) antenna arrays, with the 4 antenna arrays arranged horizontally and vertically as an example. That is, 2 arrays in the horizontal direction and 2 arrays in the vertical direction.

[0235] In configuration method 1, where both i and j are numbered starting from 1, the network device can indicate this using the first indication information:

[0236] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the first measurement resource group is 1 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (1, 1);

[0237] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the second measurement resource group is 2 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (2, 1);

[0238] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the third measurement resource group is 1 and the vertical position index is 2, which can be denoted as (1, 2).

[0239] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the 4th measurement resource group is 2 and the vertical position index is 2, which can be denoted as (2, 2).

[0240] In configuration method 1, where i and j are both numbered starting from 0, the network device can indicate this using the first indication information:

[0241] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the first measurement resource group is 0 and the vertical position index is 0, which can be denoted as (0, 0);

[0242] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the second measurement resource group is 1 and the vertical position index is 0, which can be recorded as (1, 0);

[0243] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the third measurement resource group is 0 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (0, 1);

[0244] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the 4th measurement resource group is 1 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (1, 1).

[0245] Arrangement Configuration Method 2: The network device configures the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N measurement units as I and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N measurement units as J. In implementation method one, this can be understood as: the network device configures the number of measurement resource groups included in the horizontal and vertical directions as I and J. Furthermore, the network device also configures the index of each measurement unit in the N measurement units as X. In implementation method one, this can be understood as: the network device configures the index of each measurement unit in the N measurement resource groups as X. The terminal device can determine the arrangement position corresponding to each measurement resource group based on the index X of each measurement resource group, and the number of measurement resource groups included in the horizontal and vertical directions as I and J, i.e., determine the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j. For example, N satisfies: N = I * J, and X takes values ​​from 0 to N-1 or X takes values ​​from 1 to N.

[0246] Optionally, each measurement resource group corresponds to one antenna group of the network device. The arrangement position of the measurement resource group can be the arrangement position of the antenna group. The horizontal position index of the measurement resource group can be the horizontal position index of the antenna group corresponding to that measurement resource group. The vertical position index of the measurement resource group can be the vertical position index of the antenna group corresponding to that measurement resource group. The number of measurement resource groups included in the horizontal direction can be the number of antenna groups included in the horizontal direction. The number of measurement resource groups included in the vertical direction can be the number of antenna groups included in the vertical direction.

[0247] Optionally, the index X of the measurement resource group can be an index configured by the network device for each measurement resource group to identify that measurement resource group. Alternatively, the index X of the measurement resource group can also be the configuration sequence number of the measurement resource group, that is, the network device can configure sorting indexes for N measurement resource groups. Alternatively, the index X of the measurement resource group can also be any other type of index, which can be used to determine the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j corresponding to the measurement resource group.

[0248] As an example, X can be numbered starting from 0, meaning the minimum value of X is 0, and the value of X ranges from 0 to N-1. For example, X=0 represents the first measurement resource group in the configured N measurement resource groups, X=1 represents the second measurement resource group in the configured N measurement resource groups, and so on.

[0249] As another example, X can be numbered starting from 1, meaning the minimum value of X is 1, and X can range from 1 to N. For example, X=1 represents the first measurement resource group in the configured N measurement resource groups, X=2 represents the second measurement resource group in the configured N measurement resource groups, and so on.

[0250] Similarly, the horizontal position index i can be numbered starting from 0. i = 0 represents the first measurement resource group in the horizontal direction, i = 1 represents the second measurement resource group in the horizontal direction, and so on. The horizontal position index i can also be numbered starting from 1. i = 1 represents the first measurement resource group in the horizontal direction, i = 2 represents the second measurement resource group in the horizontal direction, and so on. Furthermore, the vertical position index j can be numbered starting from 0. j = 0 represents the first measurement resource group in the vertical direction, j = 1 represents the second measurement resource group in the vertical direction, and so on. The vertical position index j can also be numbered starting from 1. j = 1 represents the first measurement resource group in the vertical direction, j = 2 represents the second measurement resource group in the vertical direction, and so on.

[0251] Here, we will still take the example of a network device containing 4 (N=4) antenna arrays, and the 4 antenna arrays are arranged horizontally and vertically. That is, there are 2 arrays (I=2) in the horizontal direction and 2 arrays (J=2) in the vertical direction.

[0252] In configuration method 2, when X is numbered starting from 1, the network device can indicate via the first indication information:

[0253] The index of the first measurement resource group is 1;

[0254] The index of the second measurement resource group is 2;

[0255] The index of the third measurement resource group is 3;

[0256] The index of the fourth measurement resource group is 4.

[0257] In configuration method 2, when X is numbered starting from 0, the network device can indicate via the first indication information:

[0258] The index of the first measurement resource group is 0;

[0259] The index of the second measurement resource group is 1;

[0260] The index of the third measurement resource group is 2;

[0261] The index of the 4th measurement resource group is 3.

[0262] As an example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the number I of measurement resource groups in the horizontal direction and the number J of measurement resource groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the index X of any measurement resource group. Then, the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j corresponding to any measurement resource group satisfy any one of the following conditions A to D.

[0263] The case AX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0264] or

[0265]

[0266] Case BX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 1 to I, and j takes values ​​from 1 to J. It satisfies:

[0267] or

[0268]

[0269] The case CX takes values ​​from 1 to N, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0270] or

[0271]

[0272] Let DX take values ​​from 1 to N, i take values ​​from 1 to I, and j take values ​​from 1 to J. The following conditions must be met:

[0273] or

[0274]

[0275] In the above process, mod represents the remainder or modulo operation. This indicates rounding down to the nearest integer.

[0276] In implementation method one, the terminal device can measure the measurement resources in each measurement resource group based on the first information to obtain the channel information corresponding to each resource, that is, the information corresponding to each beam on each antenna array. Here, resources can be replaced by beams. Subsequently, the terminal device can determine one measurement resource from each of the N measurement resource groups based on the measured channel information, which is equivalent to determining one beam from each of the N antenna arrays of the network device.

[0277] Furthermore, the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to the N resources, that is, the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the N resources. This channel state information is the first channel state information described above.

[0278] Optionally, before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the N resources, the terminal device can concatenate the channels corresponding to the N resources into a complete channel (i.e., the first channel corresponding to the N resources) and calculate the corresponding channel state information. For example, the terminal device can use any of the following concatenation methods.

[0279] Method 1: The terminal device sequentially concatenates all ports of the N resources in the first order, with each port of each resource corresponding to a port in the complete channel. Assume each resource includes P (P is a positive integer) ports, and the P ports of the i-th resource in the N resources correspond to the (i-1)P+1 to iP-th ports of the complete channel. For example, the P ports of the first resource correspond to the 1 to P-th ports of the complete channel, the P ports of the second resource correspond to the P+1 to 2P-th ports of the complete channel, and so on.

[0280] Method 2: The terminal device sequentially concatenates all ports of the N resources in the first order, with each port of each resource corresponding to a port in a complete channel. Assume each resource includes P = 2 ports, and the two ports of the i-th resource in the N resources correspond to the i-th and (i+N)-th ports of the complete channel. For example, the two ports of the first resource correspond to ports 1 to (N+1)-th of the complete channel, the two ports of the second resource correspond to ports 2 to (N+2)-th of the complete channel, and so on. These P = 2 ports can correspond to two polarizations. In other words, the above method sequentially concatenates the ports of each polarization of the N resources in the first order, that is, first concatenates the ports of the N resources in the first polarization direction, and then concatenates the ports of the N resources in the second polarization direction.

[0281] Optionally, the first order can be the order of resource index sizes, such as ascending or descending order. Alternatively, the first order can be the configuration order of N resources.

[0282] After the terminal device determines the complete channel (which is the first channel mentioned above, and the complete channel corresponds to N*P ports), before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the channel, the terminal device can also determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of the N*P ports, that is, determine the number of horizontal ports and the number of vertical ports corresponding to the first channel.

[0283] Optionally, the number of horizontal ports equals the number of horizontal resource groups, and the number of vertical ports equals the number of vertical resource groups. Alternatively, the number of horizontal ports equals the number of horizontal resource groups multiplied by the number of ports included in each resource, and the number of vertical ports equals the number of vertical resource groups. Alternatively, each resource includes two cross-polarized ports, and for each polarization direction, the number of horizontal ports corresponding to that polarization direction equals the number of horizontal resource groups, and the number of vertical ports corresponding to that polarization direction equals the number of vertical resource groups.

[0284] Optionally, the number of horizontal and vertical resource groups mentioned above can be configured by the network device, i.e., I and J in the resource configuration method.

[0285] Optionally, each port in the complete channel described above corresponds to a port in one of the N resources mentioned above. Specifically, the following correspondence can be used.

[0286] Correspondence 1: Each resource includes a single port. For example, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j in the complete channel described above corresponds to the port of a resource selected from the measurement resource group with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j. Using this method, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between each port in the complete channel and N resources. This correspondence indicates that each port in the complete channel is a port of a specific resource among the N resources.

[0287] Correspondence 2: Each resource includes two ports (e.g., cross-polarization ports). For example, if P is 2, the complete channel described above includes 2N ports, corresponding to two polarization directions. Each polarization direction includes N ports. For the first polarization direction, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponds to the port of the first polarization direction of the resource selected from the measurement resource group with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j. For the second polarization direction, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponds to the port of the second polarization direction of the resource selected from the measurement resource group with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j. Using this method, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between each port in the complete channel and the N resources. This correspondence indicates that each port in the complete channel is a port of a certain resource among the N resources.

[0288] In other words, the terminal device can determine the position of the port of the selected resource in the complete channel based on the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j of each measurement resource group. Based on the complete channel (i.e., the first channel), the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to the complete channel (i.e., the first channel state information corresponding to the first channel). For example, the terminal device can calculate the optimal RI value, optimal PMI, and corresponding CQI for this channel. Furthermore, after determining the optimal RI and optimal PMI, the terminal device calculates the channel quality using these RI and PMI and determines the corresponding CQI.

[0289] Subsequently, in implementation method one, the terminal device can report the information of the N resources determined in the above process and the channel state information corresponding to the N resources through the second information in step S502. For example, the information of the N resources can be an index of the N resources, or other reporting quantities used to determine the index of the N resources. The channel state information corresponding to the N resources can refer to the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the N resources. For example, the channel state information corresponding to the N resources includes at least one or more of RI, PMI, and CQI.

[0290] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second information, the information of the N resources can be arranged according to the index size order or configuration order of the resource groups corresponding to the N resources.

[0291] In the second implementation method, the N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, and each of the N sets of ports belongs to one of the N measurement resources. The N sets of ports correspond one-to-one with the N measurement resources.

[0292] Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports. For example, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer. P can be equal to 1, in which case a port set is equivalent to a set of ports or a port group.

[0293] Optionally, the N sets of ports are associated with N measurement resources. For example, the k-th set of ports in the N sets of ports belongs to the k-th measurement resource among the N measurement resources. Or, the k-th set of ports in the N sets of ports corresponds to the k-th measurement resource among the N measurement resources.

[0294] In the second implementation, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of port sets, which correspond one-to-one with the N measurement resources, enabling the first communication device to perform measurements based on the N measurement resources. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information include a port set from the set of port sets corresponding to each of the N measurement resources (for example, the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units includes the port set corresponding to the kth measurement resource in the N measurement resources), so as to realize the measurement and feedback of the N measurement resources.

[0295] The following example, using the first communication device as the terminal device and the second communication device as the network device, illustrates the second implementation method. In other words, the measurement performed by the first communication device can be a downlink measurement.

[0296] In the above process, the network device can configure N measurement resources for the terminal device through the first information in step S501, and each measurement resource includes multiple ports.

[0297] As an example, in N measurement resources, each measurement resource corresponds to one antenna array, and each port of the measurement resource corresponds to one beam on the antenna array. For instance, assuming the network device has 4 antenna arrays, each with 16 beams, the network device can configure 4 (N=4) measurement resources for the terminal device using the first information. Each measurement resource includes 16 ports, supporting the measurement of 16*4=64 beams. As another example, assuming the network device has 8 antenna arrays, each with 32 beams, the network device can configure 8 (N=8) measurement resources for the terminal device using the first information. Each measurement resource includes 32 ports, supporting the measurement of 32*8=256 beams.

[0298] As another example, in N measurement resources, each measurement resource corresponds to one antenna array, and every two ports of that measurement resource (e.g., two cross-polarized ports) correspond to one beam on that antenna array. For example, suppose the network device has 4 antenna arrays, each with 16 beams, and each beam corresponds to 2 ports. The network device can configure 4 (N=4) measurement resources for the terminal device using the first information. Each measurement resource includes 32 ports, supporting the measurement of 32*4=128 beams. As another example, suppose the network device has 8 antenna arrays, each with 32 beams. The network device can configure 8 (N=8) measurement resources for the terminal device using the first information. Each measurement resource includes 64 ports, supporting the measurement of 64*8=512 beams.

[0299] Optionally, the terminal device may determine, through a first information indication (or through pre-configuration), that the TCI state or QCL information of all measurement resources is the same.

[0300] Generally, in network devices, multiple antenna arrays are arranged in both horizontal and vertical directions. For example, a network device may have four antenna arrays. These four antenna arrays can be arranged entirely horizontally (four arrays in the horizontal direction and one array in the vertical direction), entirely vertically (one array in the horizontal direction and four arrays in the vertical direction), or a combination of horizontal and vertical (two arrays in the horizontal direction and two arrays in the vertical direction). The network device needs to inform the terminal device of the arrangement of the antenna arrays corresponding to each measurement resource. The arrangement of the antenna arrays corresponding to the measurement resource can also be understood as the arrangement of the antennas corresponding to the measurement resource, or simply as the arrangement of the measurement resource itself; these three terms are equivalent.

[0301] For example, the network device can configure the arrangement of measurement resources in any of the following methods. For instance, the first indication information mentioned above can be configured to arrange different measurement resources in the following two methods.

[0302] Arrangement configuration method 3: For each measurement resource, the network device can configure the arrangement position of the measurement resource, including the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j.

[0303] As an example, i can be indexed from 1, meaning the minimum value of i is 1. For example, i = 1 represents the first measurement resource in the horizontal direction. Alternatively, i can be indexed from 0, meaning the minimum value of i is 0. In this case, the measurement resource with the horizontal position index i represents the (i+1)th measurement resource in the horizontal direction. For example, i = 0 represents the first measurement resource in the horizontal direction.

[0304] As another example, j can be indexed from 1, meaning the minimum value of j is 1, and j=1 represents the first measurement resource in the vertical direction. Alternatively, j can be indexed from 0, meaning the minimum value of j is 0, and the measurement resource with the vertical position index j represents the (j+1)th measurement resource in the vertical direction. For example, j=0 represents the first measurement resource in the vertical direction.

[0305] Taking a network device containing 4 (N=4) antenna arrays, with the 4 antenna arrays arranged horizontally and vertically as an example. That is, 2 arrays in the horizontal direction and 2 arrays in the vertical direction.

[0306] In configuration method 3, where both i and j are numbered starting from 1, the network device can indicate this using the first indication information:

[0307] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the first measurement resource is 1 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (1, 1);

[0308] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the second measurement resource is 2 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (2, 1);

[0309] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the third measurement resource is 1 and the vertical position index is 2, which can be denoted as (1, 2);

[0310] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the 4th measurement resource is 2 and the vertical position index is 2, which can be denoted as (2, 2).

[0311] In configuration method 3, where both i and j are numbered starting from 0, the network device can indicate this using the first indication information:

[0312] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the first measurement resource is 0 and the vertical position index is 0, which can be denoted as (0, 0);

[0313] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the second measurement resource is 1 and the vertical position index is 0, which can be recorded as (1, 0);

[0314] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the third measurement resource is 0 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (0, 1);

[0315] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the 4th measurement resource is 1 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (1, 1).

[0316] Arrangement Configuration Method 4: The network device configures the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units as I and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units as J. In implementation method two, this can be understood as: the network device configures the number of measurement resources included in the horizontal and vertical directions as I and J. Furthermore, the network device also configures the index of each group of measurement units in the N groups of measurement units as X. In implementation method two, this can be understood as: the network device configures the index of each measurement unit in the N measurement resources as X. The terminal device determines the arrangement position corresponding to each measurement resource based on the index X of each measurement resource and the number of measurement resources included in the horizontal and vertical directions as I and J, i.e., determines the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j. For example, N satisfies: N = I * J, and X takes values ​​from 0 to N-1 or X takes values ​​from 1 to N.

[0317] Optionally, each measurement resource corresponds to one antenna group of the network device. The arrangement position of the measurement resource can be the arrangement position of the antenna group. The horizontal position index of the measurement resource can be the horizontal position index of the antenna group corresponding to that measurement resource. The vertical position index of the measurement resource can be the vertical position index of the antenna group corresponding to that measurement resource. The number of measurement resources included in the horizontal direction can be the number of antenna groups included in the horizontal direction. The number of measurement resources included in the vertical direction can be the number of antenna groups included in the vertical direction.

[0318] Optionally, the measurement resource index X can be an index configured by the network device for each measurement resource to identify that measurement resource. Alternatively, the measurement resource index X can also be the configuration sequence number of the measurement resource, i.e., the sorting index of multiple configured measurement resources. Alternatively, the measurement resource index X can also be any other type of index, which can be used to determine the horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponding to the measurement resource.

[0319] As an example, X can be numbered starting from 0, meaning the minimum value of X is 0, and the value of X ranges from 0 to N-1. For example, X=0 represents the first measurement resource among the N configured measurement resources, X=1 represents the second measurement resource among the N configured measurement resources, and so on.

[0320] As another example, X can be numbered starting from 1, meaning the minimum value of X is 1, and X can range from 1 to N. For example, X=1 represents the first measurement resource among the N configured measurement resources, X=2 represents the second measurement resource among the N configured measurement resources, and so on.

[0321] Similarly, the horizontal position index i can start numbering from 0. i = 0 represents the first measurement resource in the horizontal direction, i = 1 represents the second measurement resource in the horizontal direction, and so on. The horizontal position index i can also start numbering from 1. i = 1 represents the first measurement resource in the horizontal direction, i = 2 represents the second measurement resource in the horizontal direction, and so on. The vertical position index j can also start numbering from 0. j = 0 represents the first measurement resource in the vertical direction, j = 1 represents the second measurement resource in the vertical direction, and so on. The vertical position index j can also start numbering from 1. j = 1 represents the first measurement resource in the vertical direction, j = 2 represents the second measurement resource in the vertical direction, and so on.

[0322] Here, we will still take the example of a network device containing 4 (N=4) antenna arrays, and the 4 antenna arrays are arranged horizontally and vertically. That is, there are 2 arrays (I=2) in the horizontal direction and 2 arrays (J=2) in the vertical direction.

[0323] In configuration method 4, when X is numbered starting from 1, the network device can indicate via the first indication information:

[0324] The first measurement resource index is 1;

[0325] The second measurement resource index is 2;

[0326] The third measurement resource index is 3;

[0327] The fourth measurement resource index is 4.

[0328] In configuration method 4, when X is numbered starting from 0, the network device can indicate via the first indication information:

[0329] The first measurement resource index is 0;

[0330] The second measurement resource index is 1;

[0331] The third measurement resource index is 2;

[0332] The fourth measurement resource index is 3.

[0333] As an example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the number I of measurement resources in the horizontal direction and the number J of measurement resources in the vertical direction of the network device, and the index X of any measurement resource. Then, the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j corresponding to any measurement resource satisfy any one of the following conditions A to D.

[0334]

[0335] Case BX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 1 to I, and j takes values ​​from 1 to J. It satisfies:

[0336] or

[0337]

[0338] The case CX takes values ​​from 1 to N, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0339] or

[0340]

[0341] Let DX take values ​​from 1 to N, i take values ​​from 1 to I, and j take values ​​from 1 to J. The following conditions must be met:

[0342] or

[0343]

[0344] In the above process, mod represents the remainder or modulo operation. This indicates rounding down to the nearest integer.

[0345] In one possible implementation of Method 2 (denoted as Method A), P is set to 1, meaning N measurement units correspond to N ports. The terminal device measures each measurement resource based on the first information to obtain the channel information corresponding to each port of each resource, i.e., the information corresponding to each beam on each antenna array. Here, "port" can be replaced with "beam". Subsequently, based on the measured channel information, the terminal device determines one port from each of the N measurement resources, for a total of N ports; this is equivalent to determining one beam from each of the N antenna arrays of the network device.

[0346] Furthermore, the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to the above N ports, that is, the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the N ports. This channel state information is the first channel state information described above.

[0347] Optionally, before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the N ports, the terminal device can concatenate the channels corresponding to the N ports into a complete channel (i.e., the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units) and calculate the corresponding channel state information. For example, the terminal device can use the following concatenation method three for concatenation.

[0348] Method 3: The terminal device sequentially splices together the N ports selected from the N resources in the first order, with each port corresponding to a port in the complete channel. For example, the port selected from the i-th resource in the N resources corresponds to the i-th port in the complete channel.

[0349] Optionally, the first order can be the order of resource index sizes, such as ascending or descending order. Alternatively, the first order can be the configuration order of N resources.

[0350] After the terminal device determines the complete channel (which is the first channel mentioned above, and the complete channel corresponds to N ports), before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the channel, the terminal device can also determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of the N ports, that is, determine the number of horizontal ports and the number of vertical ports corresponding to the first channel.

[0351] Optionally, the number of horizontal and vertical resources mentioned above can be configured by the network device, i.e., I and J in the resource configuration method.

[0352] Optionally, each port in the complete channel described above corresponds to one of the N ports mentioned above. Specifically, the following correspondence can be adopted.

[0353] Correspondence 3: The port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j in the above complete channel corresponds to the port selected from the measurement resources with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j. Using this method, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between each port in the above complete channel and N resources. This correspondence indicates that each port in the complete channel is a port of a specific resource among the N resources.

[0354] In other words, the terminal device can determine the position of the selected port in the complete channel based on the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j of each measurement resource. Based on this complete channel (i.e., the first channel, which corresponds to N ports), the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to this complete channel (i.e., the first channel state information corresponding to the first channel). For example, the terminal device can calculate the optimal RI value, optimal PMI, and corresponding CQI for this channel. Furthermore, after determining the optimal RI and optimal PMI, the terminal device calculates the channel quality using these RI and PMI and determines the corresponding CQI.

[0355] Subsequently, in Method A of Implementation Method 2, the terminal device can report the information of the N ports determined in the above process and the channel status information corresponding to the N ports through the second information in step S502. For example, the information of the N ports can be the index of the N ports, or other reporting quantities used to determine the index of the N ports. The channel status information corresponding to the N ports can refer to the channel status information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the N ports. For example, the channel status information corresponding to the N ports includes at least one or more of RI, PMI, and CQI.

[0356] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second information, the information for the N ports can be arranged according to the index size or configuration order of the resources corresponding to the N ports.

[0357] In another possible implementation of Method 2 (denoted as Method B), P is set to 2, meaning N measurement units correspond to 2N ports. The terminal device measures each measurement resource based on the first information to obtain the channel information corresponding to each port of each resource, i.e., the information corresponding to each beam on each antenna array. Here, "port" can be replaced with "beam". Based on the measured channel information, the terminal device determines two ports (e.g., two cross-polarized ports) from each of the N measurement resources, for a total of 2N ports. This is equivalent to determining one beam from each of the N antenna arrays of the network device.

[0358] Furthermore, the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to the aforementioned 2N ports, that is, the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the aforementioned 2N ports. This channel state information is the first channel state information described above.

[0359] Optionally, before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the 2N ports, the terminal device can concatenate the channels corresponding to the 2N ports into a complete channel (i.e., the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units) and calculate the corresponding channel state information. For example, the terminal device can use the following concatenation method four for concatenation.

[0360] Method 4: The terminal device sequentially concatenates the 2N ports selected from the N resources in the first order, with each port corresponding to one port in the complete channel. For example, the two ports selected from the i-th resource in the N resources correspond to the i-th and (i+N)-th ports of the complete channel. Alternatively, the two ports selected from the i-th resource in the N resources correspond to the (2i-1)-2i ports of the complete channel.

[0361] Optionally, the first order can be the order of resource index sizes, such as ascending or descending order. Alternatively, the first order can be the configuration order of N resources.

[0362] After the terminal device determines the complete channel (this complete channel is the first channel mentioned above, corresponding to 2N ports), before calculating the channel state information corresponding to this channel, the terminal device can also determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of these 2N ports, that is, determine the number of horizontal ports and the number of vertical ports corresponding to the first channel. For example, the number of horizontal ports equals the number of horizontal resources multiplied by 2, and the number of vertical ports equals the number of vertical resources. Or, the number of horizontal ports equals the number of horizontal resources, and the number of vertical ports equals the number of vertical resources multiplied by 2. Or, for each polarization direction, the number of horizontal ports corresponding to that polarization direction equals the number of horizontal resources, and the number of vertical ports corresponding to that polarization direction equals the number of vertical resources.

[0363] Optionally, the number of horizontal and vertical resources mentioned above can be configured by the network device, i.e., I and J in the resource configuration method.

[0364] Optionally, each port in the complete channel described above corresponds to one of the 2N ports mentioned above. Specifically, the following correspondence can be adopted.

[0365] Correspondence 4: The complete channel described above comprises 2N ports, corresponding to two polarization directions. Each polarization direction includes N ports. For the first polarization direction, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponds to the port selected from the measurement resources with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j for the first polarization direction. For the second polarization direction, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponds to the port selected from the measurement resources with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j for the second polarization direction. Using this method, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between each port in the complete channel and the N resources. This correspondence indicates that each port in the complete channel is a port of a specific resource among the N resources.

[0366] In other words, the terminal device can determine the position of the selected port in the complete channel based on the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j of each measurement resource. Based on this complete channel (i.e., the first channel, which corresponds to 2N ports), the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to this complete channel (i.e., the first channel state information corresponding to the first channel). For example, the terminal device can calculate the optimal RI value, optimal PMI, and corresponding CQI for this channel. Furthermore, after determining the optimal RI and optimal PMI, the terminal device calculates the channel quality using these RI and PMI and determines the corresponding CQI.

[0367] Subsequently, in Method B of Implementation Method Two, the terminal device can report the information of the 2N ports determined in the above process and the channel status information corresponding to the 2N ports through the second information in step S502. For example, the information of the 2N ports can be the index of the 2N ports, or other reporting quantities used to determine the index of the 2N ports. The channel status information corresponding to the 2N ports can refer to the channel status information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the 2N ports. For example, the channel status information corresponding to the 2N ports includes at least one or more of RI, PMI, and CQI.

[0368] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second information, the information for the 2N ports can be arranged according to the index size or configuration order of the resources corresponding to those 2N ports. For example, the information for the two ports corresponding to the first resource is placed in the first and second positions, the information for the two ports corresponding to the second resource is placed in the third and fourth positions, and so on. Another example is that the information for the two ports corresponding to the i-th resource is placed in the 2i-1 and 2i positions. Yet another example is that the information for the two ports corresponding to the i-th resource is placed in the i and N+i positions.

[0369] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second piece of information, only the information of the N ports corresponding to the first polarization direction out of the 2N ports can be reported (e.g., the first N ports out of the 2N ports, or the last N ports out of the 2N ports), without reporting the information of all 2N ports. This reduces reporting overhead. This is because the 2N ports include N groups of cross-polarized ports. The indices of two ports in each group of cross-polarized ports differ by a fixed value. Therefore, only the information of the N ports corresponding to the first polarization direction needs to be reported. The network device determines the indices of the N ports corresponding to the first polarization direction based on the reported content, and then adds the fixed value to determine the indices of the N ports corresponding to the second polarization direction. For example, in the reporting format, the information of these N ports can be arranged according to the index size or configuration order of the resources corresponding to these N ports.

[0370] In the third implementation method, the N measurement units are N port sets, and these N port sets belong to one measurement resource. Optionally, each measurement unit corresponds to P ports. For example, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer.

[0371] In the third implementation, the N sets of measurement units indicated by the first information can be N sets of ports belonging to the same measurement resource, enabling the first communication device to perform measurement based on a measurement resource. Furthermore, the N measurement units indicated by the second information include one port set from each of the N sets of ports (for example, the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units includes one port set from the kth set of ports in the N sets of ports), so as to realize the measurement and feedback of a measurement resource.

[0372] The following example, using the first communication device as the terminal device and the second communication device as the network device, illustrates the implementation method three. In other words, the measurement performed by the first communication device can be a downlink measurement. In the following example, N sets of ports are represented as N port groups.

[0373] During the above process, the network device can configure a measurement resource for the terminal device using the first information in step S501. This measurement resource includes N port groups.

[0374] As an example, in N port groups, each port group corresponds to one antenna array, and each port in the port group corresponds to one beam on that antenna array. For instance, suppose the network device has 4 antenna arrays, each with 16 beams. The measurement resources configured by the network device for the terminal device include 4 (N=4) port groups, each with 16 ports, supporting the measurement of 16*4=64 beams. Alternatively, suppose the network device has 8 antenna arrays, each with 32 beams. The measurement resources configured by the network device for the terminal device include 8 (N=8) port groups, each with 256 ports, supporting the measurement of 32*8=256 beams.

[0375] As another example, in N port groups, each port group corresponds to one antenna array, and every two ports in the port group (e.g., two cross-polarized ports) correspond to one beam on that antenna array. For example, suppose the network device has 4 antenna arrays, each with 16 beams. The measurement resources configured by the network device for the terminal device include 4 (N=4) port groups, each with 32 ports, supporting the measurement of 32*4=128 beams. As another example, suppose the network device has 8 antenna arrays, each with 32 beams. The measurement resources configured by the network device for the terminal device include 8 (N=8) port groups, each with 65 ports, supporting the measurement of 64*8=512 beams.

[0376] Optionally, the terminal device may determine, through a first information indication (or through pre-configuration), that the TCI state or QCL information of all port groups is the same.

[0377] Generally, in network devices, multiple antenna arrays are arranged in both horizontal and vertical directions. For example, a network device may have four antenna arrays. These four antenna arrays can be arranged entirely horizontally (four arrays in the horizontal direction and one array in the vertical direction), entirely vertically (one array in the horizontal direction and four arrays in the vertical direction), or a combination of horizontal and vertical (two arrays in the horizontal direction and two arrays in the vertical direction). The network device needs to inform the terminal device of the antenna array arrangement positions corresponding to each port group. The arrangement positions of the antenna arrays corresponding to a port group can also be understood as the arrangement positions of the antennas corresponding to the port group, or simply the arrangement positions of the port group itself; these three terms are equivalent.

[0378] For example, a network device can configure the port group layout using any of the following methods. For instance, the first indication information mentioned above can be configured to configure the port group layout using the following two methods.

[0379] Arrangement configuration method 5: For each port group, the network device can configure the arrangement position of the port group, including the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j.

[0380] As an example, i can be indexed from 1, meaning the minimum value of i is 1. For example, i = 1 represents the first port group in the horizontal direction. Alternatively, i can be indexed from 0, meaning the minimum value of i is 0. In this case, the port group with the horizontal position index i represents the (i+1)th port group in the horizontal direction. For example, i = 0 represents the first port group in the horizontal direction.

[0381] As another example, j can be indexed from 1, meaning the minimum value of j is 1, and j=1 represents the first port group in the vertical direction. Alternatively, j can be indexed from 0, meaning the minimum value of j is 0, and the port group with the vertical index j represents the (j+1)th port group in the vertical direction. For example, j=0 represents the first port group in the vertical direction.

[0382] Taking a network device containing 4 (N=4) antenna arrays, with the 4 antenna arrays arranged horizontally and vertically as an example. That is, 2 arrays in the horizontal direction and 2 arrays in the vertical direction.

[0383] In configuration method 3, where both i and j are numbered starting from 1, the network device can indicate this using the first indication information:

[0384] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the first port group is 1 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (1, 1);

[0385] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the second port group is 2 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (2, 1);

[0386] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the third port group is 1 and the vertical position index is 2, which can be denoted as (1, 2);

[0387] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the 4th port group is 2 and the vertical position index is 2, which can be denoted as (2, 2).

[0388] In configuration method 3, where both i and j are numbered starting from 0, the network device can indicate this using the first indication information:

[0389] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the first port group is 0 and the vertical position index is 0, which can be denoted as (0, 0);

[0390] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the second port group is 1 and the vertical position index is 0, which can be denoted as (1, 0);

[0391] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the third port group is 0 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (0, 1);

[0392] The horizontal position index of the antenna array corresponding to the 4th port group is 1 and the vertical position index is 1, which can be denoted as (1, 1).

[0393] Arrangement Configuration Method 6: The network device configures the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N measurement units as I and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N measurement units as J. In implementation method three, this can be understood as: the network device configures the number of port groups included in the horizontal and vertical directions as I and J. Furthermore, the network device also configures the index of each measurement unit in the N measurement units as X. In implementation method three, this can be understood as: the network device configures the index of each port group in the N port groups as X. The terminal device determines the arrangement position corresponding to each port group based on the index X of each port group and the number of port groups included in the horizontal and vertical directions as I and J, i.e., determines the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j. For example, N satisfies: N = I * J, and X takes values ​​from 0 to N-1 or X takes values ​​from 1 to N.

[0394] Optionally, each port group corresponds to one antenna group of the network device. The arrangement position of the port group can be the arrangement position of the antenna group. The horizontal position index of the port group can be the horizontal position index of the antenna group corresponding to that port group. The vertical position index of the port group can be the vertical position index of the antenna group corresponding to that port group. The number of port groups included in the horizontal direction can be the number of antenna groups included in the horizontal direction. The number of port groups included in the vertical direction can be the number of antenna groups included in the vertical direction.

[0395] Optionally, the port group index X can be an index configured by the network device to identify each port group. Alternatively, the port group index X can also be the configuration sequence number of the port group, i.e., the sorting index of multiple configured port groups. Alternatively, the port group index X can also be any other type of index, which can be used to determine the horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponding to the port group.

[0396] As an example, X can be numbered starting from 0, meaning the minimum value of X is 0, and the value of X ranges from 0 to N-1. For example, X=0 represents the first port group in the configured N port groups, X=1 represents the second port group in the configured N port groups, and so on.

[0397] As another example, X can be numbered starting from 1, meaning the minimum value of X is 1, and X can range from 1 to N. For example, X=1 represents the first port group in the configured N port groups, X=2 represents the second port group in the configured N port groups, and so on.

[0398] Similarly, the horizontal position index i can start numbering from 0. i = 0 represents the first port group in the horizontal direction, i = 1 represents the second port group in the horizontal direction, and so on. The horizontal position index i can also start numbering from 1. i = 1 represents the first port group in the horizontal direction, i = 2 represents the second port group in the horizontal direction, and so on. The vertical position index j can also start numbering from 0. j = 0 represents the first port group in the vertical direction, j = 1 represents the second port group in the vertical direction, and so on. The vertical position index j can also start numbering from 1. j = 1 represents the first port group in the vertical direction, j = 2 represents the second port group in the vertical direction, and so on.

[0399] Here, we will still take the example of a network device containing 4 (N=4) antenna arrays, and the 4 antenna arrays are arranged horizontally and vertically. That is, there are 2 arrays (I=2) in the horizontal direction and 2 arrays (J=2) in the vertical direction.

[0400] In configuration method 4, when X is numbered starting from 1, the network device can indicate via the first indication information:

[0401] The index of the first port group is 1;

[0402] The index of the second port group is 2;

[0403] The index of the third port group is 3;

[0404] The index of the 4th port group is 4.

[0405] In configuration method 4, when X is numbered starting from 0, the network device can indicate via the first indication information:

[0406] The index of the first port group is 0;

[0407] The index of the second port group is 1;

[0408] The index of the third port group is 2;

[0409] The index of the 4th port group is 3.

[0410] As an example, the first indication information is used to indicate: the number I of port groups in the horizontal direction and the number J of port groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the index X of any port group. Then, the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j corresponding to any port group satisfy any one of the following conditions A to D.

[0411] The case AX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0412] or

[0413]

[0414] Case BX takes values ​​from 0 to N-1, i takes values ​​from 1 to I, and j takes values ​​from 1 to J. It satisfies:

[0415] or

[0416]

[0417] The case CX takes values ​​from 1 to N, i takes values ​​from 0 to I-1, and j takes values ​​from 0 to J-1. It satisfies:

[0418] or

[0419]

[0420] Let DX take values ​​from 1 to N, i take values ​​from 1 to I, and j take values ​​from 1 to J. The following conditions must be met:

[0421] or

[0422]

[0423] In the above process, mod represents the remainder or modulo operation. This indicates rounding down to the nearest integer.

[0424] In one possible implementation of Method 3 (denoted as Method C), P is set to 1, meaning N measurement units correspond to N ports. The terminal device can measure the ports in each port group of the aforementioned measurement resources based on the first information, obtaining the channel information corresponding to each port in each port group, i.e., the information corresponding to each beam on each antenna array. Here, "port" can be replaced with "beam". Subsequently, based on the measured channel information, the terminal device determines one port from each of the N port groups, for a total of N ports; this is equivalent to determining one beam from each of the N antenna arrays of the network device.

[0425] Furthermore, the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to the above N ports, that is, the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the N ports. This channel state information is the first channel state information described above.

[0426] Optionally, before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the N ports, the terminal device can concatenate the channels corresponding to the N ports into a complete channel (i.e., the first channel corresponding to the N ports) and calculate the corresponding channel state information. For example, the terminal device can use the following concatenation method five for concatenation.

[0427] Method 5: The terminal device sequentially splices together the N ports selected from the N port groups in the first order, with each port corresponding to a port in the complete channel. For example, the port selected from the i-th port group in the N port groups corresponds to the i-th port in the complete channel.

[0428] Optionally, the first order can be the index size order of the port groups, such as ascending or descending order. Alternatively, the first order can be the configuration order of N port groups.

[0429] After the terminal device determines the complete channel (which is the first channel mentioned above, corresponding to N ports), before calculating the channel state information corresponding to this channel, the terminal device can also determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of these N ports, that is, determine the number of horizontal ports and the number of vertical ports corresponding to the first channel. For example, the number of horizontal ports is equal to the number of horizontal port groups, and the number of vertical ports is equal to the number of vertical port groups.

[0430] Optionally, the number of horizontal and vertical port groups mentioned above can be configured by the network device, i.e., I and J in the port group configuration method.

[0431] Optionally, each port in the complete channel described above corresponds to one of the N ports mentioned above. Specifically, the following correspondence can be adopted.

[0432] Correspondence 5: The port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j in the above complete channel corresponds to the port selected from the port group with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j. Using this method, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between each port in the above complete channel and N port groups. This correspondence indicates that each port in the complete channel is a port in a specific port group among the N port groups.

[0433] In other words, the terminal device can determine the position of the selected port in the complete channel based on the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j of each port group. Based on this complete channel (i.e., the first channel), the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to this complete channel (i.e., the first channel state information corresponding to the first channel). For example, the terminal device can calculate the optimal RI value, optimal PMI, and corresponding CQI for this channel. Furthermore, after determining the optimal RI and optimal PMI, the terminal device calculates the channel quality using these RI and PMI and determines the corresponding CQI.

[0434] Subsequently, in implementation method C of method three, the terminal device can report the information of the N ports determined in the above process and the channel state information corresponding to the N ports through the second information in step S502. For example, the information of the N ports can be the index of the N ports, or other reporting quantities used to determine the index of the N ports. The channel state information corresponding to the N ports can refer to the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the N ports. For example, the channel state information corresponding to the N ports includes at least one or more of RI, PMI, and CQI.

[0435] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second information, the information of the N ports can be arranged according to the index size order or configuration order of the port groups corresponding to the N ports.

[0436] In another possible implementation of Method 3 (denoted as Method D), P is set to 2, meaning N measurement units correspond to 2N ports. The terminal device can measure the ports in each port group of the aforementioned measurement resources based on the first information, obtaining the channel information corresponding to each port in each port group, i.e., the information corresponding to each beam on each antenna array. Here, "port" can be replaced with "beam". Based on the measured channel information, the terminal device determines two ports from each of the N port groups, for a total of 2N ports. This is equivalent to determining one beam from each of the N antenna arrays of the network device.

[0437] Furthermore, the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to the aforementioned 2N ports, that is, the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the aforementioned 2N ports. This channel state information is the first channel state information described above.

[0438] Optionally, before calculating the channel state information corresponding to the 2N ports, the terminal device can concatenate the channels corresponding to the 2N ports into a complete channel (i.e., the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units) and calculate the corresponding channel state information. For example, the terminal device can use the following concatenation method six for concatenation.

[0439] Method Six: The terminal device sequentially concatenates the 2N ports selected from the N port groups in the first order, with each port corresponding to one port in the complete channel. For example, the two ports selected from the i-th port group in the N port groups correspond to the i-th and (i+N)-th ports of the complete channel. Alternatively, the two ports selected from the i-th port group in the N port groups correspond to the 2i-1 to 2i-th ports of the complete channel.

[0440] Optionally, the first order can be the index size order of the port groups, such as ascending or descending order. Alternatively, the first order can be the configuration order of N port groups.

[0441] After the terminal device determines the complete channel (this complete channel is the first channel mentioned above, corresponding to 2N ports), before calculating the channel state information corresponding to this channel, the terminal device can also determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of these 2N ports, that is, determine the number of horizontal ports and the number of vertical ports corresponding to the first channel. For example, the number of horizontal ports equals the number of horizontal port groups multiplied by 2, and the number of vertical ports equals the number of vertical port groups. Or, the number of horizontal ports equals the number of horizontal port groups, and the number of vertical ports equals the number of vertical port groups multiplied by 2. Or, for each polarization direction, the number of horizontal ports corresponding to that polarization direction equals the number of horizontal port groups, and the number of vertical ports corresponding to that polarization direction equals the number of vertical port groups.

[0442] Optionally, the number of horizontal port groups and the number of vertical port groups mentioned above can be configured by the network device, i.e., I and J in the port group configuration method.

[0443] Optionally, each port in the complete channel described above corresponds to one of the 2N ports mentioned above. Specifically, the following correspondence can be adopted.

[0444] Correspondence 6: The complete channel described above comprises 2N ports, corresponding to two polarization directions. Each polarization direction includes N ports. For the first polarization direction, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponds to the port selected from the port group with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j for the first polarization direction. For the second polarization direction, the port with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j corresponds to the port selected from the port group with horizontal position index i and vertical position index j for the second polarization direction. Using this method, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between each port in the complete channel and the N port groups. This correspondence indicates that each port in the complete channel is a port in one of the N port groups.

[0445] In other words, the terminal device can determine the position of the selected port in the complete channel based on the horizontal position index i and the vertical position index j of each port group. Based on this complete channel (i.e., the first channel), the terminal device calculates the channel state information corresponding to this complete channel (i.e., the first channel state information corresponding to the first channel). For example, the terminal device can calculate the optimal RI value, optimal PMI, and corresponding CQI for this channel. Furthermore, after determining the optimal RI and optimal PMI, the terminal device calculates the channel quality using these RI and PMI and determines the corresponding CQI.

[0446] Subsequently, in implementation method D of method three, the terminal device can report the information of the 2N ports determined in the above process and the channel state information corresponding to the 2N ports through the second information in step S502. For example, the information of the 2N ports can be the index of the 2N ports, or other reporting quantities used to determine the index of the 2N ports. The channel state information corresponding to the 2N ports can refer to the channel state information corresponding to the channel formed by combining the channels corresponding to the 2N ports. For example, the channel state information corresponding to the 2N ports includes at least one or more of RI, PMI, and CQI.

[0447] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second information, the information of the 2N ports can be arranged according to the index size or configuration order of the port groups corresponding to these 2N ports. For example, the information of the two ports corresponding to the first port group is placed in the first and second positions, the information of the two ports corresponding to the second port group is placed in the third and fourth positions, and so on. Another example is that the information of the two ports corresponding to the i-th port group is placed in the 2i-1 and 2i positions. Yet another example is that the information of the two ports corresponding to the i-th port group is placed in the i and N+i positions.

[0448] Optionally, in the reporting format for the second piece of information, only the information of the N ports corresponding to the first polarization direction out of the 2N ports can be reported (such as the first N ports out of the 2N ports, or the last N ports out of the 2N ports), without reporting the information of all 2N ports. This reduces reporting overhead. This is because the 2N ports include N groups of cross-polarized ports. The indices of two ports in each group of cross-polarized ports differ by a fixed value. Therefore, only the information of the N ports corresponding to the first polarization direction needs to be reported. The network device determines the indices of the N ports corresponding to the first polarization direction based on the reported content, and then adds the fixed value to determine the indices of the N ports corresponding to the second polarization direction. For example, in the reporting format, the information of these N ports can be arranged according to the index size order or configuration order of the port groups corresponding to these N ports.

[0449] Please see Figure 6 This application provides a communication device 600, which can realize the functions of the second or first communication device in the above method embodiments, and thus also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In this application embodiment, the communication device 600 can be the first communication device (or the second communication device), or it can be an integrated circuit or component inside the first communication device (or the second communication device), such as a chip.

[0450] It should be noted that the transceiver unit 602 may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit, which are used to perform transmitting and receiving respectively.

[0451] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method performed by the first communication device in the aforementioned embodiments, the device 600 includes a transceiver unit 602; the transceiver unit 602 is used to receive first information, which indicates N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; the processing unit 601 is used to perform measurements based on the first information to obtain second information; wherein, the second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel state information, the N measurement units respectively belong to the N groups of measurement units, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units; the transceiver unit 602 is also used to send the second information.

[0452] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method performed by the second communication device in the aforementioned embodiments, the device 600 includes a transceiver unit 602; the transceiver unit 602 is used to transmit first information, which indicates N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; the transceiver unit 602 is also used to receive second information; wherein the second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel state information, the N measurement units respectively belong to the N groups of measurement units, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units. Optionally, the device further includes a processing unit 601, which is used to determine the information of the N measurement units and the first channel state information based on the second information.

[0453] It should be noted that the information execution process of the unit of the above-mentioned communication device 600 can be specifically described in the method embodiments shown above in this application, and will not be repeated here.

[0454] Please see Figure 7 This is another schematic structural diagram of the communication device 700 provided in this application. The communication device 700 includes a logic circuit 701 and an input / output interface 702. The communication device 700 can be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0455] in, Figure 6 The transceiver unit 602 shown can be a communication interface, which can be... Figure 7 The input / output interface 702 may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface may also be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0456] Optionally, the input / output interface 702 is used to receive first information, which indicates N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; the logic circuit 701 is used to perform measurements based on the first information to obtain second information; wherein, the second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel state information, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units respectively, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units; the input / output interface 702 is also used to send the second information.

[0457] Optionally, the input / output interface 702 is used to send first information, which indicates N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; the input / output interface 702 is also used to receive second information; wherein the second information indicates information of the N measurement units and first channel state information, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units respectively, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units. Optionally, the device further includes a logic circuit 701, which is used to determine the information of the N measurement units and the first channel state information based on the second information.

[0458] The logic circuit 701 and the input / output interface 702 can also perform other steps performed by the first or second communication device in any embodiment and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be elaborated here.

[0459] In one possible implementation, Figure 6 The processing unit 601 shown can be Figure 7 The logic circuit 701 in the middle.

[0460] Optionally, the logic circuit 701 can be a processing device, the functions of which can be partially or entirely implemented in software.

[0461] Optionally, the processing apparatus may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding processing and / or steps in any of the method embodiments.

[0462] Optionally, the processing device may consist of only a processor. A memory for storing computer programs is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory via circuitry / wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory. The memory and processor may be integrated together or physically independent of each other.

[0463] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system on-chips (SoCs), central processors (CPUs), network processors (NPs), digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors.

[0464] Please see Figure 8 The communication device 800 provided in the above embodiments of this application can specifically be the communication device that serves as a terminal device in the above embodiments. Figure 8 The communication device shown in the example is implemented through a terminal device (or a component within a terminal device).

[0465] The present invention is a possible logical structure diagram of the communication device 800, which may include, but is not limited to, at least one processor 801 and a communication port 802.

[0466] in, Figure 6 The transceiver unit 602 shown can be a communication interface, which can be... Figure 8 The communication port 802 in the example may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication port 802 may also be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0467] Further optionally, the device may also include at least one of a memory 803 and a bus 804. In the embodiments of this application, the at least one processor 801 is used to control the operation of the communication device 800.

[0468] Furthermore, the processor 801 can be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array, or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, etc. Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes 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.

[0469] It should be noted that, Figure 8 The communication device 800 shown can be used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments, and to achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. Figure 8 The specific implementation of the communication device shown can be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0470] Please see Figure 9 The above-described embodiment of the communication device 900 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the communication device 900 provided in the embodiments of this application. Specifically, the communication device 900 can be a network device as described in the above-described embodiment. Figure 9 The communication device illustrated is implemented through a network device (or a component within a network device), the structure of which can be referenced. Figure 9 The structure shown.

[0471] The communication device 900 includes at least one processor 911 and at least one network interface 914. Optionally, the communication device further includes at least one memory 912, at least one transceiver 913, and one or more antennas 915. The processor 911, memory 912, transceiver 913, and network interface 914 are connected, for example, via a bus. In this embodiment, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc., and this embodiment is not limited thereto. The antenna 915 is connected to the transceiver 913. The network interface 914 enables the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 914 may include a network interface between the communication device and core network equipment, such as an S1 interface, or a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (e.g., other network devices or core network equipment), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0472] in, Figure 6 The transceiver unit 602 shown can be a communication interface, which can be... Figure 9The network interface 914 may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the network interface 914 may also be a transceiver circuit, which may include input interface circuitry and output interface circuitry.

[0473] The processor 911 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process data from the software programs, for example, to support the communication device in performing the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the CPU is primarily used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data from the software programs. Figure 9 The processor 911 can integrate the functions of a baseband processor and a central processing unit. Those skilled in the art will understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit can also be independent processors interconnected via technologies such as buses. Those skilled in the art will understand that a terminal device can include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network standards, and multiple central processing units to enhance its processing capabilities. The various components of the terminal device can be connected via various buses. The baseband processor can also be described as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit can also be described as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data can be built into the processor or stored in memory as a software program, with the processor executing the software program to implement the baseband processing function.

[0474] The memory is primarily used to store software programs and data. The memory 912 can exist independently or be connected to the processor 911. Optionally, the memory 912 can be integrated with the processor 911, for example, integrated into a single chip. The memory 912 can store program code that executes the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and its execution is controlled by the processor 911. The various types of computer program code being executed can also be considered as drivers for the processor 911.

[0475] Figure 9 Only one memory and one processor are shown. In actual terminal devices, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. Memory can also be called storage medium or storage device, etc. Memory can be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or it can be a separate storage element; this application does not limit this.

[0476] Transceiver 913 can be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency (RF) signals between a communication device and a terminal. Transceiver 913 can be connected to antenna 915. Transceiver 913 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 915 can receive RF signals. The receiver Rx of transceiver 913 receives the RF signals from the antennas, converts the RF signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency (IF) signals, and provides the digital baseband signals or IF signals to processor 911 so that processor 911 can perform further processing on the digital baseband signals or IF signals, such as demodulation and decoding. Furthermore, the transmitter Tx in transceiver 913 is also used to receive modulated digital baseband signals or IF signals from processor 911, convert the modulated digital baseband signals or IF signals into RF signals, and transmit the RF signals through one or more antennas 915. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more stages of downmixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency (IF) signal. The order of these downmixing and IF conversion processes is adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more stages of upmixing and digital-to-analog conversion on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital IF signal to obtain a radio frequency signal. The order of these upmixing and IF conversion processes is also adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital IF signal can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0477] The transceiver 913 can also be called a transceiver unit, transceiver, transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the device in the transceiver unit that performs the receiving function can be regarded as the receiving unit, and the device in the transceiver unit that performs the transmitting function can be regarded as the transmitting unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit can also be called a receiver, input port, receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit can be called a transmitter, transmitter, or transmitting circuit, etc.

[0478] It should be noted that, Figure 9 The communication device 900 shown can be used to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments, and to achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. Figure 9 The specific implementation of the communication device 900 shown can be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0479] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor performs the method described in the possible implementations of the first or second communication device in the foregoing embodiments.

[0480] This application also provides a computer program product (or computer program) that, when executed by a processor, executes the method described above for the possible implementation of the first or second communication device.

[0481] This application also provides a chip system including at least one processor for supporting a communication device in implementing the functions involved in the possible implementations of the communication device described above. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit that provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor. In one possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing the program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices, wherein the communication device may specifically be the first communication device or the second communication device in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0482] This application also provides a communication system, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device in any of the above embodiments.

[0483] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, 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 coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units through some interfaces, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0484] 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.

[0485] Furthermore, 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. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit. If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes, or all or part 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.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive first information, which is used to indicate N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; Based on the first information, a second information is obtained by measurement; wherein, the second information indicates the information of N measurement units and the first channel state information, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units respectively, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units; Send the second message.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The N sets of measurement units are N sets of measurement resources. Each measurement unit is a measurement resource, and each measurement resource corresponds to P ports, where P is a positive integer.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer. The N sets of ports belong to N measurement resources, and each of the N sets of ports corresponds one-to-one with the N measurement resources.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer. The N sets of ports belong to one measurement resource.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, Each of the N groups of measurement units corresponds to an antenna group. The first information includes first indication information, which is used to determine the spatial arrangement of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The first indication information is used to indicate: the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units, and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units; or, The first indication information is used to indicate: the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction and the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, Each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, and the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports, where P is a positive integer; The first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: The P ports of the kth measurement unit among the N measurement units correspond to the (k-1)*P+1 to the k*Pth ports of the first channel, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N; or... P equals 2, and the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the kth and (k+N)th ports of the first channel, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The method further includes: Determine the horizontal and vertical arrangement indices corresponding to each port of the first channel; Among them, the horizontal arrangement index of the measurement unit with index i and the vertical arrangement index j are respectively the horizontal arrangement index i and the vertical arrangement index j in the first channel, where i and j are both integers.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Send a first message, which is used to indicate N groups of measurement units, where N is an integer greater than 1; Receive second information; wherein the second information indicates information of N measurement units and first channel state information, the N measurement units belong to the N groups of measurement units respectively, the N measurement units correspond one-to-one with the N groups of measurement units, and the first channel state information is the channel state information of the first channel corresponding to the N measurement units.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The N sets of measurement units are N sets of measurement resources. Each measurement unit is a measurement resource, and each measurement resource corresponds to P ports, where P is a positive integer.

12. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer. The N sets of ports belong to N measurement resources, and each of the N sets of ports corresponds one-to-one with the N measurement resources.

13. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The N sets of measurement units are N sets of ports, each measurement unit is a port set, and each port set includes P ports, where P is a positive integer. The N sets of ports belong to one measurement resource.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that, Each of the N groups of measurement units corresponds to an antenna group. The first information includes first indication information, which is used to determine the spatial arrangement of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The first indication information is used to indicate: the horizontal arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units, and the vertical arrangement index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units; or, The first indication information is used to indicate: the number of antenna groups in the horizontal direction and the number of antenna groups in the vertical direction of the network device, and the global position index of the antenna group corresponding to each of the N groups of measurement units.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that, Each of the N measurement units corresponds to P ports, and the N measurement units correspond to N*P ports, where P is a positive integer; The first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The first channel is the channel corresponding to the N*P ports, including: The P ports of the kth measurement unit among the N measurement units correspond to the (k-1)*P+1 to the k*Pth ports of the first channel, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N; or... P equals 2, and the P ports of the kth measurement unit in the N measurement units correspond to the kth and (k+N)th ports of the first channel, where k takes values ​​from 1 to N.

18. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a module for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes at least one processor, said at least one processor being used to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17.

20. The communication device according to claim 19, characterized in that, The communication device is a chip or chip system.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a communication device, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17.

22. A computer program product, characterized in that, It includes a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17.

Images