Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and device, which are applied to the technical field of communication. In the method, a terminal device sends a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the sending of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are part of a plurality of first time domain resource-associated ports, wherein the plurality of first time domain resource-associated ports are ports used for sending a reference signal on a plurality of first time domain resources. It can be seen that, in the method, the plurality of first time domain resource-associated part ports used for sending the reference signal correspond to the sending of the physical uplink shared channel, that is, the part ports used by the terminal device for sending the reference signal multiple times correspond to the sending of the physical uplink shared channel, which helps to improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] In a communication system, a terminal can send a reference signal to a base station. The base station measures the received reference signal to obtain channel information, which it can then use for data scheduling, precoding, and other tasks. The base station can also schedule the terminal to send data via the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The reference signal can also be used to obtain downlink channel information based on channel reciprocity. In this case, the terminal needs to send the reference signal multiple times in a time-division multiplexing manner to obtain complete downlink channel information. How to design the PUSCH transmission for scenarios where the terminal sends the reference signal multiple times in a time-division multiplexing manner still requires further research. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a communication method and apparatus that can assign a portion of the ports used by the terminal device to transmit reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner to correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, which is beneficial to improving the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0004] Firstly, this application provides a communication method applicable to a terminal device. The terminal device can be a terminal equipment, a component within the terminal equipment (e.g., a processor, chip, chip system, circuit, or functional module), or a logical node, logical module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the terminal equipment's functions.

[0005] The method includes: a terminal device transmitting a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the multiple first time-domain resources are ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0006] As can be seen, in this method, some ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources used to transmit reference signals correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In other words, some ports used by the terminal device to transmit reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. This establishes a connection between the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel and the transmission of the reference signal, rather than the two being independent of each other. Consequently, the channel information obtained based on the reference signal in the scenario where the terminal device transmits reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner can be used for the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, which helps to improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0007] Optionally, different first time domain resources may be associated with different ports.

[0008] Furthermore, by designing one or more first ports corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, the performance of the physical uplink shared channel can be further improved, thereby increasing the uplink resource utilization. See the implementation details below for further information.

[0009] In one alternative implementation, one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources.

[0010] Among them, the scheme based on "one or more first ports are the ports associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources" makes the port associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. This is beneficial to make the reference signal transmitted on the last first time domain resource use the same port as the physical uplink shared channel. Then, the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources does not need to reserve a protection time (for example, no time for antenna switching) between it and the second time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel, which can improve the uplink resource utilization.

[0011] In one optional implementation, a plurality of first time-domain resources are located in a plurality of time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the plurality of first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots.

[0012] Among them, the scheme based on "one or more first ports are the ports associated with the last first time domain resource included in the last time slot among multiple time slots" makes the port associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. This is beneficial to make the reference signal transmitted on the last first time domain resource use the same port as the physical uplink shared channel. Then, the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources does not need to reserve a protection time (for example, no time for antenna switching) between it and the second time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel, which can improve the uplink resource utilization.

[0013] In one alternative implementation, one or more first ports are ports associated with the most recent first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel.

[0014] Based on the above scheme, the port associated with the most recent first time domain resource before the second time domain resource corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. This is beneficial because the reference signal transmitted on the most recent first time domain resource before the second time domain resource uses the same port as the physical uplink shared channel. Therefore, the most recent first time domain resource before the second time domain resource does not need to reserve a protection time (e.g., no time needs to be reserved for antenna switching), which can improve the uplink resource utilization.

[0015] In one alternative implementation, a reference signal is used to determine channel conditions. One or more first ports are ports associated with a third time-domain resource; the third time-domain resource is one of a plurality of first time-domain resources; and, among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal.

[0016] Based on the above scheme, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources are optimal. It can be seen that the port associated with the third time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources is the port with optimal channel conditions. Associating the port with optimal channel conditions with the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel is beneficial to enable the terminal device to use the port with optimal channel conditions to transmit the physical uplink shared channel, which can improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0017] In one alternative implementation, different first time domain resources among a plurality of first time domain resources are associated with different port groups, and the port group includes one or more ports.

[0018] In one optional implementation, the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports, including: the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on a first port group, the first port group including one or more first ports, the first port group corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the first port group being a portion of a port group associated with multiple first time domain resources.

[0019] In one alternative implementation, the method further includes: a terminal device receiving first information, the first information being used to determine one or more first ports.

[0020] In one alternative implementation, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel. Alternatively, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between a group of first ports and the physical uplink shared channel, the group of first ports including one or more first ports. Alternatively, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between a fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, the fourth time-domain resource being associated with one or more first ports, or the fourth time-domain resource being associated with a group of first ports, the group of first ports including one or more first ports.

[0021] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving second information, the second information being used to indicate the association relationship between a first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources and a port or port group, the port group including one or more ports.

[0022] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving third information, the third information being used to indicate an update of the association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group.

[0023] Based on the above scheme, the association between the first time domain resources and ports or port groups can be dynamically adjusted, which is conducive to enabling better communication performance.

[0024] In an alternative implementation, the third information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group.

[0025] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate an update of a port in a port group associated with a first time-domain resource.

[0026] Secondly, this application provides a communication method that can be applied to a network device. For example, the network device can be a network equipment, a component within the network equipment (such as a processor, chip, chip system, circuit, or functional module), or a logical node, logical module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the network equipment.

[0027] The method includes: a network device sending first information to a terminal device, the first information being used to determine one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of a physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources, the multiple first time-domain resources being ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0028] As can be seen, in this method, some ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources used to transmit reference signals correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In other words, some ports used by the terminal device to transmit reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. This establishes a connection between the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel and the transmission of the reference signal, rather than the two being independent of each other. Consequently, the channel information obtained based on the reference signal in the scenario where the terminal device transmits reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner can be used for the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, which helps to improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0029] Optionally, different first time domain resources may be associated with different ports.

[0030] In one alternative implementation, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel. Alternatively, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between a group of first ports and the physical uplink shared channel, the group of first ports including one or more first ports. Alternatively, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between a fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, the fourth time-domain resource being associated with one or more first ports, or the fourth time-domain resource being associated with a group of first ports, the group of first ports including one or more first ports.

[0031] In one alternative implementation, one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources.

[0032] In one optional implementation, a plurality of first time-domain resources are located in a plurality of time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the plurality of first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots.

[0033] In one alternative implementation, one or more first ports are ports associated with the most recent first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource for transmitting the physical uplink shared channel.

[0034] In one alternative implementation, a reference signal is used to determine channel conditions. One or more first ports are ports associated with a third time-domain resource; the third time-domain resource is one of a plurality of first time-domain resources; and, among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal.

[0035] In one alternative implementation, different first time domain resources among a plurality of first time domain resources are associated with different port groups, and the port group includes one or more ports.

[0036] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the network device sending second information, the second information being used to indicate the association between a first time-domain resource among a plurality of first time-domain resources and a port or port group, the port group including one or more ports.

[0037] In an alternative implementation, the method further includes: the network device sending third information, the third information being used to indicate an update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group.

[0038] In an alternative implementation, the third information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group.

[0039] In an alternative implementation, the method further includes: the network device sending fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate an update of a port in a port group associated with a first time-domain resource.

[0040] The various embodiments in this aspect also have the same beneficial effects as those in the first aspect described above, which will not be described in detail here.

[0041] Thirdly, this application also provides a communication device. This communication device can be a terminal device, a chip, or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of a terminal device. The communication device has the functions of implementing some or all of the embodiments described in the first aspect above. Alternatively, the communication device can be a network device, or a chip, or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of a network device. The communication device has the functions of implementing some or all of the embodiments described in the second aspect above. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0042] In one possible design, the communication device may include a processing unit configured to support the communication device in performing the corresponding functions described in the above methods. Optionally, the communication device may also include a communication unit for supporting communication between the communication device and other communication devices. Optionally, the communication device may further include a storage unit coupled to the processing unit and the communication unit, which stores necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. Additionally, the processing unit may be used to control the communication unit to transmit and receive data / signaling.

[0043] In one embodiment, a communication unit is configured to transmit a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with a plurality of first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the plurality of first time-domain resources are ports used for transmitting reference signals on the plurality of first time-domain resources.

[0044] In addition, other alternative implementations of the communication device in this regard can be found in the relevant content of the first aspect above, and will not be described in detail here.

[0045] In another embodiment, the communication unit is configured to send first information to the terminal device, the first information being used to determine one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of a physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources, the multiple first time-domain resources being ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0046] In addition, other alternative implementations of the communication device in this regard can be found in the relevant content of the second aspect above, and will not be described in detail here.

[0047] As an example, the communication unit can be a transceiver or a communication interface, the storage unit can be a memory, and the processing unit can be a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory, which stores programs or instructions for the processor. The processor can be used to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and / or, through logic circuitry, cause the communication device to perform the methods described in the first or second aspect above. The transceiver or communication interface can be used to transmit and receive signals and / or data.

[0048] In another embodiment, the communication device is a chip or chip system. The processing unit may also be a processing circuit or logic circuit; the transceiver unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip or chip system.

[0049] In one possible implementation, the processor can be used for, for example, but not limited to, baseband-related processing, and the transceiver or communication interface can be used for, for example, but not limited to, radio frequency transceiver. The aforementioned devices can be disposed on separate chips, or at least partially or entirely on the same chip. For example, the processor can be further divided into analog baseband processors and digital baseband processors. The analog baseband processor can be integrated with the transceiver (or communication interface) on the same chip, while the digital baseband processor can be disposed on a separate chip. With the continuous development of integrated circuit technology, more and more devices can be integrated on the same chip. For example, a digital baseband processor can be integrated with multiple application processors (e.g., but not limited to graphics processors, multimedia processors, etc.) on the same chip. Such a chip can be called a system-on-a-chip (SoC). Whether the various devices are disposed independently on different chips or integrated on one or more chips often depends on the needs of the product design. This application does not limit the implementation form of the aforementioned devices.

[0050] Fourthly, this application also provides a processor for executing the various methods described above. In the execution of these methods, the processes of sending and receiving the aforementioned information can be understood as the process of the processor outputting the aforementioned information, and the process of the processor inputting the aforementioned information. When outputting the aforementioned information, the processor outputs the aforementioned information to a transceiver so that the transceiver (or communication interface) can transmit it. After being output by the processor, the aforementioned information may require further processing before reaching the transceiver (or communication interface). Similarly, when the processor receives the aforementioned input information, the transceiver (or communication interface) receives the aforementioned information and inputs it into the processor. Furthermore, after the transceiver (or communication interface) receives the aforementioned information, the aforementioned information may require further processing before being input into the processor.

[0051] Unless otherwise specified, or unless it contradicts its actual function or internal logic in the relevant description, the transmission and reception operations involved by the processor can be more generally understood as processor output and reception, input and other operations, rather than transmission and reception operations directly performed by radio frequency circuits and antennas.

[0052] In implementation, the processor can be a dedicated processor for executing these methods, or it can be a processor that executes computer instructions stored in memory to execute these methods, such as a general-purpose processor. The memory can be a non-transitory memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), which can be integrated with the processor on the same chip or disposed on different chips. This application does not limit the type of memory or the arrangement of the memory and processor.

[0053] Fifthly, this application also provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to perform the method described in the first aspect, and the network device is used to perform the method described in the second aspect.

[0054] Optionally, the system may also include other devices that interact with the terminal device, and / or other devices that interact with the network device.

[0055] Sixthly, this application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when run, causes the methods described in the first or second aspect above to be executed.

[0056] In a seventh aspect, this application also provides a computer program product including instructions, the computer program product comprising: computer program code, which, when executed, causes the methods described in the first or second aspect above to be performed.

[0057] Eighthly, this application provides a chip including at least one processor for executing instructions to cause the method described in the first or second aspect to be performed. Optionally, the chip further includes an interface circuit for receiving the executed instructions and transmitting them to the processor. And / or, the interface circuit is used to receive information from the processor and output information. Optionally, the chip further includes a memory for storing instructions and data. Attached Figure Description

[0058] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a system architecture provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0059] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a device architecture provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0060] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication method between a network device and a terminal device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0061] Figure 4This is a schematic diagram of an access network device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0062] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of another access network device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0063] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating a reference signal configuration and channel information acquisition provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0064] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0065] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of an SRS and PUSCH provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0066] Figure 9 This is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0067] Figures 10 to 19 This is a schematic diagram showing the correspondence between the port associated with the first time domain resource and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0068] Figure 20 This is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0069] Figure 21 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0070] Figure 22 This is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0071] The embodiments of this application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0072] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTX), 4th Generation (4G) mobile communication system, 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system, New Radio (NR) system, Next Generation (NG) mobile communication system, and with the continuous development of communication technology, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can also be used in future communication systems.

[0073] For example, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application can be applied to Figure 1 The system architecture shown is as follows: Figure 1 The system architecture shown can be applied, for example, to scenarios where one or more users are served in a large-scale antenna service cell. Figure 1 The system architecture shown includes network devices and terminal devices, which can communicate directly or indirectly. Optionally, Figure 1 The system architecture shown may also include backhaul nodes, through which terminal devices can connect to network devices via one-hop or multi-hop backhaul nodes. Additionally, Figure 1 The number and form of the devices shown are for illustrative purposes and do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of this application. In actual applications, more than one device of the same type may be included. Figure 1 The example used in the China-Israel network diagram is a base station, and the terminal device is a mobile phone.

[0074] For ease of explanation, the embodiments of this application use terminal devices and network devices as execution subjects to illustrate the corresponding methods. However, this application does not limit the execution subject of the method. For example, the device in the embodiments of this application can also be a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the device in implementing the corresponding method, or it can be a logic module, unit, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the device. The terminal device and network device are described exemplarily below.

[0075] 1. Terminal device

[0076] In this application embodiment, the terminal device may be a terminal equipment. Alternatively, the terminal device may be a chip, chip system, hardware, or processor that supports the device in implementing the corresponding method (such as a chip, chip system, hardware, or processor in a terminal equipment), or it may be a logic module, software, or unit that can implement all or part of the functions of the device (such as a module, software, or unit in a terminal equipment), or the terminal device may be combined with a terminal equipment to implement the method provided in this application embodiment.

[0077] A terminal device is an entity capable of receiving and / or transmitting signals. A terminal device can be a user equipment (UE), user communication equipment, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station (MS), mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile terminal (MT), mobile device, user terminal, user agent, or user equipment.

[0078] The terminal device in this application embodiment may be / including a handheld device with wireless communication function, an in-vehicle device, an in-vehicle communication module or other embedded communication module, a wearable device, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, or a device for providing voice or data connectivity to a user. The terminal device may also be an Internet of Things (IoT) device. The terminal device may be a terminal with the function of connecting to a cellular base station. For example, terminal devices can be cellular phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops, handheld computers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wireless data cards, personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless modems, handsets, handheld terminals, laptop computers, machine-type communication (MTC) terminals, wearable devices (such as smartwatches, smart bracelets, pedometers, smart glasses, etc.), vehicle terminals (such as hardware or software in private vehicles, commercial vehicles, etc.), shipboard terminals (such as hardware or software in private boats, commercial vessels, etc.), and airborne terminals (such as hardware or software in civil aviation, airplanes, etc.).

[0079] Terminal devices can also include virtual reality (VR) terminal devices, augmented reality (AR) terminal devices, smart point of sale (POS) machines, customer-premises equipment (CPE), light user equipment (UE), reduced capability user equipment (REDCAP UE), wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless communication equipment in smart factories, smart home devices (e.g., refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners, electricity meters, etc.), smart robots, robotic arms, workshop equipment, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, and flying equipment (e.g., smart robots, hot air balloons, drones, airplanes), etc. Terminal devices can also be vehicle devices, such as vehicle devices, vehicle modules, vehicle chips, on-board units (OBUs) or telematics boxes (T-BOXs). Terminal devices can also be other devices with terminal functions. For example, a terminal device can also be a device that performs terminal functions in D2D communication.

[0080] In addition, one possible architecture for the terminal device could be as follows: Figure 2 As shown. Figure 2 The architecture shown includes a processor, memory, and a signal transceiver unit. The memory can be used to store computer programs and / or configuration information. The signal transceiver unit includes a transmitter, a receiver, and antennas. The antennas include M antenna arrays, where M is a positive integer. Each antenna array includes digital channels and phase shifters. One phase shifter represents one analog channel and connects to one or more arrays; that is, in practice, one phase shifter can control multiple arrays, or phase shifters and arrays can be cross-connected. Furthermore, Figure 2 In the diagram, F in the box used to illustrate a digital channel represents the digital precoding weight. For example, the digital precoding weight corresponding to the first digital channel in antenna array 1 is F. 1,1 The digital precoding weight corresponding to the Nth digital channel in antenna array 1 is F. 1,N The digital precoding weight corresponding to the first digital channel in antenna array M is F. M,1The digital precoding weight corresponding to the Nth digital channel in the antenna array M is F. N,N .

[0081] The deployment methods of terminal devices listed above are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or equipment forms used in the terminal devices. Furthermore, as standard technologies evolve, other deployment forms of terminal devices may exist, and the embodiments of this application do not limit these.

[0082] 2. Network devices

[0083] In this embodiment, the network device can be a network equipment, a chip, chip system, hardware, or processor that supports the device in implementing the corresponding method (such as a chip, chip system, hardware, or processor in a network equipment), or a logic module, software, or unit that can implement all or part of the device's functions (such as a module, software, or unit in a network equipment). Furthermore, the network device can be deployed on the ground, such as a terrestrial base station. Alternatively, the network device can be a device with wireless transceiver capabilities in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), such as a satellite, a device deployed on a satellite, or an airborne node.

[0084] Network devices are entities on the network side capable of transmitting and receiving signals, possessing wireless transceiver capabilities. Network devices include, but are not limited to: access network equipment, radio network controllers (RNCs), base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), home network equipment (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), baseband units (BBUs), relay equipment, donor nodes, radio controllers in cloud radio access networks (CRAN) scenarios, transceiver nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, transmission and reception points (TRPs), transfer points (TPs), wireless fidelity (WiFi) access points (APs) (i.e., WiFi APs), integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, mobile switching centers, network equipment in NTN communication systems, base station equipment in future communication systems, or network equipment in future evolved public land mobile networks (PLMNs). Network equipment can also function as a base station in device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, drone communication, and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. Optionally, network equipment can also be servers, wearable devices, vehicles, or in-vehicle equipment. For example, in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, the access network equipment can be a roadside unit (RSU).

[0085] In this context, access network equipment can be a base station (BS). A base station is a device deployed in a radio access network that provides wireless communication capabilities. Examples include evolved NodeBs (eNBs or e-NodeBs) and NodeBs (NBs) in LTE systems, gNodeBs or gNBs in 5G systems, and base stations in future communication systems. A base station can contain a Base Unit (BBU) and a Remote Radio Unit (RRU). The BBU and RRU can be placed in different locations; for example, the RRU can be deployed remotely to a high-traffic area, while the BBU is placed in a central equipment room. Alternatively, the BBU and RRU can be placed in the same equipment room. The BBU and RRU can also be different components within the same rack. Base stations can take the following forms: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), indoor stations, pico base stations, relay stations, access points, balloon stations, etc. Another possible base station architecture is as follows: Figure 2 As shown, regarding Figure 2 The architecture shown can be found in the previous descriptions, and will not be repeated here.

[0086] Optionally, the communication between the network device and the terminal device can also take the form of, for example: Figure 3 As shown. Combined with Figure 3 A network device includes a processor, memory, and a transceiver. The memory stores computer program code, and the transceiver includes a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. The transmitter in the network device can be used to send information / signals / data (e.g., transmit control information) to a terminal device via the network device's antenna, and the receiver in the network device can be used to receive information / signals / data from the terminal device via the network device's antenna (e.g., transmit feedback information). Similarly, a terminal device includes a processor, memory, and a transceiver. The memory stores computer program code, and the transceiver includes a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. The transmitter in the terminal device can be used to send information / signals / data (e.g., transmit control information) to the network device via the terminal device's antenna, and the receiver in the terminal device can be used to receive information / signals / data from the network device via the terminal device's antenna (e.g., transmit feedback information).

[0087] Optionally, multiple network devices can collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, with different network devices each implementing some of the base station's functions. For example, network devices can be control units (CUs), distributed units (DUs), CU-control planes (CPs), CU-user planes (UPs), or radio units (RUs), etc. CUs and DUs can be set up separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RUs can be included in radio equipment or radio units, such as RRUs, active antenna units (AAUs), or remote radioheads (RRHs). It is understood that network devices can be CU nodes, DU nodes, or devices including both CU and DU nodes. Furthermore, CUs can be classified as network devices in the radio access network (RAN) or as network devices in the core network (CN), without limitation. In addition, in scenarios where the network device includes a CU and a DU, in the technical solution provided in the embodiments of this application, any uplink transmission from the terminal device to the network device is processed by the DU in the baseband and the RU receives the information / channel / signal.

[0088] For example, the network device is an access network device, combined with Figure 4 Access network equipment communicates with core network (CN) equipment via a backhaul link and with terminal devices via an air interface. Optionally, access network equipment includes a BBU and a RU. The BBU communicates with the core network equipment via a backhaul link, and the 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. The BBU includes at least one CU and at least one DU, and the CU and DU can communicate with each other via at least one midhaul link.

[0089] In some examples, combined Figure 5The CU (Core Unit) is a logical node that carries the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, and other control functions of access network equipment. The CU connects to network nodes such as the core network through interfaces, which can be interfaces like the E2 interface. Optionally, the CU may possess some core network functions. The CU (e.g., the PDCP layer and higher layers) connects to the DU (e.g., the RLC layer and lower layers) through interfaces, which can be interfaces like the F1 interface. In some examples, these interfaces (e.g., the F1 interface) can provide control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane) functions (e.g., interface management, system information management, UE context management, RRC message transmission, etc.). F1AP is the application protocol for the F1 interface, defining the F1 signaling procedures in some examples. The F1 interface supports control plane F1-C and user plane F1-U.

[0090] In some examples, combined Figure 5The Control Unit (CU) can be divided into CU-CP and CU-UP. CU-CP is a logical node carrying the RRC layer and PDCP-C (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 (AMF) network elements, such as the Access and Mobility Management (AMF) function in a 5G system. AMF network elements are 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 (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) function 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.

[0091] In some examples, combined Figure 5 A DU (Radio Link Control) is a logical node that carries the radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer, higher physical layer (Higher PHY) layer, and other functions. In some examples, a DU can control at least one RU (Remote Root). The DU connects to the RU through interfaces, which can be fronthaul interfaces. In some examples, the Higher PHY layer includes the PHY layer processing, such as forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, and demodulation.

[0092] In some examples, combined Figure 5 The RU (Remote Utility) is a logical node that carries both lower physical layer (PHY) and radio frequency (RF) processing. RF processing can be implemented by the RU through an RF chain. In some examples, the RU can be a 3GPPTRP, RRH, or other similar entity. 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.

[0093] The DU and RU can be co-located or not. The DU and RU exchange control plane and user plane information via a fronthaul link through a lower-layer split-control, user, and synchronization-plane (LLS-C / U / S) interface. The LLS-C / U / S may include LLS-C and LLS-U interfaces that respectively provide the control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane). 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.

[0094] 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.

[0095] 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) system, CU can also be called an open CU (open-CU, O-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. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0096] Optionally, in an open-radio access network (O-RAN) system, the DU can also have O-RAN control, user, and synchronization plane (CUS-Plane) functions and O-RANM-Plane functions. The RU can also have O-RANCUS-Plane and O-RANM-Plane functions. The O-RAN CUS-Plane in the DU and the O-RAN CUS-Plane in the RU can communicate via the LLS-C / U / S interface. The O-RAN M-Plane in the DU and the O-RAN M-Plane in the RU can communicate via the lower-layer split management-Plane (LLS-M) interface. Additionally, the O-RAN M-Plane and LLS-M in the DU / DU can communicate via a management system.

[0097] The deployment methods of network devices listed above are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or equipment forms used in the network devices. Furthermore, as standard technologies evolve, network devices may have other deployment forms, and the embodiments of this application do not limit these.

[0098] The embodiments disclosed in this application will be presented to illustrate various aspects, embodiments, or features of this application in relation to systems including multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that individual systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and / or may not include all the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, combinations of these approaches may also be used.

[0099] The relevant concepts involved in the embodiments of this application are described below.

[0100] 1. Antenna Port

[0101] An antenna port is a logical concept, typically associated with a reference signal. For example, an antenna port can be understood as a transmit / receive interface on the channel through which the reference signal passes. In this embodiment, the antenna port may also be referred to as a port. For ease of explanation, a port will be used as an example below.

[0102] For low frequencies, an antenna port may correspond to one or more antenna elements, which jointly transmit a reference signal; the receiver can treat these elements as a whole and does not need to distinguish between them. For high-frequency systems, an antenna port may correspond to a beam; the receiver can treat this beam as an interface.

[0103] 2. Beam

[0104] A beam is a communication resource. A beam can be wide, narrow, or other types of beam. The technology used to form a beam can be beamforming technology or other techniques. Beamforming technology can specifically be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology.

[0105] For example, the transmit beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after a signal is transmitted through an antenna, while the receive beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of a wireless signal received from an antenna.

[0106] It's understandable that one or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be considered a set of antenna ports. In protocols, beams can be represented by spatial filters, transmission methods, or transmission modes. In practical communication systems, beams can be characterized by resources (or signals, reference signals). A beam can include one or more antenna ports used to transmit reference signals, data channels, control channels, or sounding signals. Additionally, a beam can also be understood as a transmission configuration indicator (TCI), a TRP, or a sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) (used for uplink data transmission). Different beams can also be represented by different TCIs, TRPs, or SRIs.

[0107] 3. Reference signal

[0108] At the physical layer, uplink communication includes the transmission of uplink physical channels and uplink signals, while downlink communication includes the transmission of downlink physical channels and downlink signals. This can be applied to LTE and NR, for example.

[0109] The uplink physical channels include the random access channel (PRACH), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). 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, among others.

[0110] Downlink physical channels include the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and downlink data channels (e.g., 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, 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 (positioningRS), etc.

[0111] 4. Precoding and codebook

[0112] Using multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology can increase system capacity and improve throughput. The mathematical expression can be shown in the following formula (1).

[0113] y = Hx + n (1)

[0114] Where y is the received signal, H is the MIMO channel, x is the transmitted signal, and n is noise.

[0115] In communication systems with multiple antennas, signals from multiple transmitting antennas are superimposed on any one receiving antenna. Therefore, the method of transmitting signals at the transmitting end affects the system performance, and the recovery of the transmitted signals at the receiving end is often quite complex. Based on this, precoding can be used to reduce system overhead and maximize the system capacity of MIMO, and it can also reduce the complexity of the receiver in eliminating inter-channel interference. The mathematical expression based on precoding can be shown in the following formula (2).

[0116] y = HPx + n (2)

[0117] Where y is the received signal, H is the MIMO channel, x is the transmitted signal, and n is noise. P is the precoding matrix (or vector).

[0118] To simplify implementation complexity, P can be selected from a predefined set of matrices (or vectors), called a codebook; this method is also known as a codebook-based transmission method. If the sender has all the information about H, P can be obtained by the sender itself; this method is also known as a non-codebook (NCB) transmission method.

[0119] 5. Channel Information Acquisition Process

[0120] Combination Figure 6 The channel information acquisition process based on uplink signals includes: the network device sending reference signal configuration information to the terminal device; the terminal device sending a reference signal based on the reference signal configuration information; and the network device measuring the received reference signal to obtain channel information. Subsequently, the network device can perform data scheduling, precoding, etc., based on the channel information. For example, the network device sends uplink scheduling information to the terminal device to schedule uplink transmission; the uplink scheduling information can be used to allocate uplink transmission time, frequency, antenna resources, precoding, etc.; the terminal device sends a PUSCH based on the received uplink scheduling information.

[0121] Optionally, the reference signal configuration information can be used to configure the resources of the reference signal. For example, the network device can configure one or more resource sets for the terminal device, and each resource set can include one or more resources. Each resource set / resource includes its own index; in addition, optionally, other parameters are also included, such as the resource period and the signal type corresponding to the resource.

[0122] For example, the reference signal may be an SRS, and the reference signal configuration information may be SRS configuration information. The SRS configuration information may include SRS resource set configuration information and / or SRS resource configuration.

[0123] The SRS resource set configuration information can be used to indicate one or more of the following: SRS resource set index, SRS resource list (which may include multiple SRS resources), SRS resource type, SRS resource set purpose, SRS power control parameters, or downlink reference signal when calculating path loss using SRS. Optionally, SRS resource types include: aperiodic SRS resources, semi-persistent scheduling SRS resources, or periodic SRS resources. Optionally, for aperiodic SRS resources, the SRS resource set configuration information can also be used to indicate one or more of the following: aperiodic SRS trigger, CSI-RS index associated with the SRS resource set, or aperiodic SRS resource time offset position. Optionally, for semi-persistent scheduling SRS resources, the SRS resource set configuration information can also be used to indicate the CSI-RS associated with the SRS resource. Optionally, for periodic SRS resources, the SRS resource set configuration information can also be used to indicate the CSI-RS associated with the SRS resource. Additionally, optional uses of the SRS resource set include: beam management, codebook, non-codebook, or antenna switching.

[0124] SRS resource configuration can be used to indicate one or more of the following: SRS resource index, number of SRS resource ports, SRS resource frequency domain combing configuration, SRS resource mapping, SRS resource frequency domain location, SRS resource frequency domain shift, SRS resource and frequency hopping information, SRS resource sequence index, or spatial relationship information. Optionally, SRS resource mapping can be used to indicate at least one of the following: SRS time domain location information, number of continuous OFDM symbols for SRS resources, or SRS resource repetition factor. Optionally, SRS resource and frequency hopping information can be used to indicate at least one of the following: determining the bandwidth of SRS resources together with b-SRS, determining the bandwidth of SRS resources together with c-SRS, or frequency hopping information.

[0125] SRS can be used not only to obtain uplink channel information, but also to obtain downlink channel information based on channel reciprocity. For example, when the transmission mode of the SRS is codeBook, the SRS can be used to obtain an uplink codebook, and a network device may indicate the corresponding codebook when scheduling uplink transmission. When the transmission mode of the SRS is antennaSwitching, the SRS can be used to obtain downlink channel information.

[0126] For the case where the transmission mode of the SRS is antennaSwitching, the uplink transmission and reception capabilities of a terminal device are different, that is, the terminal device may simultaneously receive signals by using R antennas, but no more than T antennas simultaneously transmit signals, where T<R. Therefore, the terminal device needs to transmit the SRS multiple times in a time-division manner, so that a network device can obtain complete downlink channel information. It can be understood that the following scenario may exist: with reference to Figure 7 , the terminal device transmits the SRS multiple times in a time-division manner by using different antenna groups (for example Figure 7 antenna group 1 and antenna group 2 in), and further transmits a PUSCH (for example Figure 7 SRS#1, SRS#2, SRS#... in).

[0127] For example, with reference to Figure 8 , it is assumed that R=2T, antennas of the terminal device are divided into antenna group 1 and antenna group 2, and a time interval exists between that the terminal device transmits the SRS by using antenna group 1 and that the terminal device transmits the SRS by using antenna group 2, where the time interval is used for antenna switching, and the time interval may be one or more OFDM symbols. In addition, because that the terminal device transmits the SRS multiple times in a time-division manner is completely independent of PUSCH transmission, a period of time needs to be reserved between that the terminal device transmits the SRS by using antenna group 2 and that the terminal device transmits the PUSCH, where the time may be one or more OFDM symbols, so that the terminal device has sufficient time to switch to a proper antenna for PUSCH transmission.

[0128] In view of this, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, where some ports used by a terminal device to transmit reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner can correspond to transmission of a physical uplink shared channel, which is beneficial to improving performance of the physical uplink shared channel and improving uplink resource utilization.

[0129] The following describes embodiments of this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0130] Refer to Figure 9 , Figure 9 which is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application, and the communication method includes the following steps.

[0131] S101. The terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. Correspondingly, the network device receives the physical uplink shared channel.

[0132] In this configuration, one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. These one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources, and the ports associated with these multiple first time-domain resources are the ports used for transmitting reference signals on these multiple first time-domain resources. Optionally, different ports may be associated with different first time-domain resources.

[0133] It is evident that the ports used by the terminal device to transmit the reference signal multiple times in a time-division manner correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. The method provided in this application embodiment can be applied to scenarios where the reference signal transmission mode is antenna switching, thus establishing a correlation between the reference signal transmission in this antenna switching mode and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. This helps to improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel and enhance uplink resource utilization.

[0134] Alternatively, in this embodiment, the unit of time-domain resources may be, for example, one of the following: radio frame, subframe, slot, microslot, symbol, millisecond (ms), or second (s). The symbol may be an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a discrete fourier transform spread spectrum orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) symbol, etc. However, this embodiment does not limit the unit of time-domain resources; in addition to those listed above, other units representing time may be used. Taking the first time-domain resource as an example, the first time-domain resource may be one or more radio frames, one or more subframes, one or more slots, one or more microslots, or one or more symbols, etc. The second, third, and fourth time-domain resources mentioned later are similar and will not be described in detail hereafter.

[0135] Optionally, the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel is the same as or partially the same as the transmission of the reference signal on one or more first ports.

[0136] For example, the terminal device uses one or more first ports to transmit the physical uplink shared channel; that is, the port used by the terminal device to transmit the physical uplink shared channel is the same as one or more first ports. Alternatively, the channel through which the terminal device transmits the physical uplink shared channel is the same as the channel through which the terminal device transmits the reference signal on one or more first ports. Optionally, the physical uplink shared channel is transmitted based on one or more first ports used to transmit the reference signal.

[0137] The following provides an exemplary description of one or more first ports, as described in the following optional implementation methods 1.1 to 1.8.

[0138] In implementation 1.1, one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources.

[0139] Among them, the first first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources can also be understood as: the first first time domain resource with the earliest time among multiple first time domain resources.

[0140] Optionally, there may be an interval of time domain resources between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource in the plurality of first time domain resources, wherein the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel. It is understood that since the port associated with the first first time domain resource in the plurality of first time domain resources corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the port associated with the first first time domain resource in the plurality of first time domain resources is different from the port associated with the last first time domain resource, a time domain resource can be reserved between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource for antenna switching. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the reserved time domain resource for antenna switching can also be understood as a guard time.

[0141] For example, combining Figure 10 Assume that the multiple first time-domain resources are actually two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2, with first time-domain resource #1 preceding first time-domain resource #2. The first first time-domain resource among these multiple first time-domain resources is first time-domain resource #1. The port associated with first time-domain resource #1 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #1 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, a time-domain resource can be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and the second time-domain resource for antenna switching.

[0142] In addition, since different first time domain resources are associated with different ports, a time domain resource can be reserved between two adjacent first time domain resources for antenna switching. Figure 10 And the following text Figures 11 to 19Between two adjacent first time domain resources, time domain resources can be reserved for handover; this will not be elaborated further below. Additionally, as... Figures 10 to 19 The dashed arrows in the diagram illustrate the correspondence between the ports associated with the first time domain resources and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, which will not be elaborated further below.

[0143] In implementation 1.2, one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources.

[0144] Among them, the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources can also be understood as: the first time domain resource with the latest time among multiple first time domain resources.

[0145] Optionally, since the port associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, time domain resources do not need to be reserved between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource, which can improve the uplink resource utilization. The second time domain resource is the time domain resource used for transmitting the physical uplink shared channel.

[0146] For example, combining Figure 11 Assuming there are two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2, with first time-domain resource #1 preceding first time-domain resource #2, then the last of these first time-domain resources is designated as first time-domain resource #2. The port associated with first time-domain resource #2 is then designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #2 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, no time-domain resources need to be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and second time-domain resources, thus improving uplink resource utilization.

[0147] In implementation 1.3, multiple first time-domain resources are located in multiple time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the multiple first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the multiple time slots.

[0148] The first first time domain resource included in the first time slot among multiple time slots can also be understood as the earliest first time domain resource among at least one first time domain resource included in the first time slot among multiple time slots. Furthermore, it is understandable that for any time slot among multiple time slots, if the number of first time domain resources included in that time slot is 1, then that first time domain resource included in that time slot is both the first and the last first time domain resource included in that time slot.

[0149] Optionally, there may be an interval of time domain resources between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource in a plurality of first time domain resources, wherein the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel. Understandably, since the port associated with the first first time domain resource in the first time slot of a plurality of time slots corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the ports associated with different first time domain resources are different, a time domain resource can be reserved between the port associated with the last first time domain resource in the last time slot of a plurality of time slots and the second time domain resource for antenna switching.

[0150] For example, combining Figure 12 Assume that the multiple first time-domain resources are actually two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2. First time-domain resource #1 is located in time slot #1, and first time-domain resource #2 is located in time slot #2. Time slot #1 is earlier than time slot #2. Then, the first time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #1, and the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot is first time-domain resource #1. The port associated with first time-domain resource #1 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #1 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this method, a time-domain resource can be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and second time-domain resource #2 for antenna switching. For example, in time slot #2, first time-domain resource #2 occupies 1 symbol, and 1 symbol is reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and second time-domain resource #2 for antenna switching. The second time-domain resource occupies 12 symbols.

[0151] For example, combining Figure 13 Assume there are three first time-domain resources: first time-domain resource #1, first time-domain resource #2, and first time-domain resource #3. First time-domain resources #1 and #2 are located in time slot #1, with first time-domain resource #1 preceding first time-domain resource #2. First time-domain resource #3 is located in time slot #2, with time slot #1 preceding time slot #2. Then, the first time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #1, and the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot is also called first time-domain resource #1. The port associated with first time-domain resource #1 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #1 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, a time-domain resource can be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and the second time-domain resource for antenna switching.

[0152] In implementation 1.4, multiple first time-domain resources are located in multiple time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the multiple first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the multiple time slots.

[0153] The last first time domain resource included in the first time slot among multiple time slots can also be understood as: the latest first time domain resource among at least one first time domain resource included in the first time slot among multiple time slots.

[0154] Optionally, there may be an interval of time domain resources between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource in a plurality of first time domain resources, wherein the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel. Understandably, since the port associated with the last first time domain resource included in the first time slot in a plurality of time slots corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and different first time domain resources are associated with different ports, a time domain resource can be reserved between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource in a plurality of first time domain resources for antenna switching.

[0155] For example, combining Figure 12 Assume that the multiple first time-domain resources are actually two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2. First time-domain resource #1 is located in time slot #1, and first time-domain resource #2 is located in time slot #2. Time slot #1 is earlier than time slot #2. Then, the first time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #1, and the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot is also called first time-domain resource #1. The port associated with first time-domain resource #1 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #1 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, a time-domain resource can be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and second time-domain resource #2 for antenna switching.

[0156] For example, combining Figure 14 Assume there are three first time-domain resources: first time-domain resource #1, first time-domain resource #2, and first time-domain resource #3. First time-domain resources #1 and #2 are located in time slot #1, with first time-domain resource #1 preceding first time-domain resource #2. First time-domain resource #3 is located in time slot #2, with time slot #1 preceding time slot #2. Then, the first time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #1, and the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot is first time-domain resource #2. The port associated with first time-domain resource #2 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #2 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, a time-domain resource segment can be reserved between first time-domain resource #3 and the second time-domain resource for antenna switching.

[0157] In implementation method 1.5, multiple first time-domain resources are located in multiple time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one first time-domain resource among the multiple first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot among the multiple time slots. The first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot among the multiple time slots can also be understood as: the earliest first time-domain resource among the at least one first time-domain resource included in the last time slot among the multiple time slots.

[0158] Understandably, the port associated with the first first time domain resource in the last time slot of multiple time slots corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In one optional approach, a time domain resource can be reserved between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource for antenna switching. The second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel. This approach can be applied to scenarios where the last time slot of multiple time slots includes at least two first time domain resources. In another optional approach, no time domain resource can be reserved between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource for antenna switching, which can improve uplink resource utilization. This approach can be applied to scenarios where the last time slot of multiple time slots includes one first time domain resource.

[0159] For example, combining Figure 15 Assume that the multiple first time-domain resources are actually two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2. First time-domain resource #1 is located in time slot #1, and first time-domain resource #2 is located in time slot #2. Time slot #1 is earlier than time slot #2. Then, the last time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #2, and the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot is first time-domain resource #2. The port associated with first time-domain resource #2 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #2 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this method, no time-domain resources need to be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and second time-domain resources, which can improve uplink resource utilization. For example, in time slot #2, first time-domain resource #2 occupies 1 symbol, and second time-domain resource occupies 13 symbols.

[0160] For example, combining Figure 16Assume there are three first time-domain resources: first time-domain resource #1, first time-domain resource #2, and first time-domain resource #3. First time-domain resource #1 is located in time slot #1, and first time-domain resources #2 and #3 are located in time slot #2, with first time-domain resource #2 preceding first time-domain resource #3, and time slot #1 preceding time slot #2. Then, the last time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #2, and the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot is first time-domain resource #2. The port associated with first time-domain resource #2 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #2 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, a time-domain resource can be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and the second time-domain resource for antenna switching.

[0161] In implementation 1.6, multiple first time-domain resources are located in multiple time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the multiple first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the multiple time slots.

[0162] The last first time domain resource included in the last time slot among multiple time slots can also be understood as: the latest first time domain resource among at least one first time domain resource included in the last time slot among multiple time slots.

[0163] Optionally, since the last time slot in a plurality of time slots includes the port associated with the last first time domain resource, time domain resources do not need to be reserved between the last first time domain resource and the second time domain resource, which can improve the uplink resource utilization. The second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel.

[0164] For example, combining Figure 15 Assume that the multiple first time-domain resources are actually two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2. First time-domain resource #1 is located in time slot #1, and first time-domain resource #2 is located in time slot #2. Time slot #1 is earlier than time slot #2. Then, the last time slot among the multiple time slots is time slot #2, and the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot is first time-domain resource #2. The port associated with first time-domain resource #2 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #2 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, no time-domain resources need to be reserved between first time-domain resource #2 and second time-domain resources, which can improve uplink resource utilization.

[0165] For example, combining Figure 17Assume there are three first time-domain resources: first time-domain resource #1, first time-domain resource #2, and first time-domain resource #3. First time-domain resource #1 is located in time slot #1, and first time-domain resources #2 and #3 are located in time slot #2, with first time-domain resource #2 preceding first time-domain resource #3, and time slot #1 preceding time slot #2. Then, the last time slot among these multiple time slots is time slot #2, and the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot is first time-domain resource #3. The port associated with first time-domain resource #3 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #3 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, no time-domain resources need to be reserved between first time-domain resource #3 and second time-domain resources, improving uplink resource utilization.

[0166] In implementation 1.7, one or more first ports are ports associated with the most recent first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel.

[0167] Understandably, the port associated with the most recent first time domain resource preceding the second time domain resource corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. Optionally, no time domain resources need to be reserved between the most recent first time domain resource preceding the second time domain resource and the second time domain resource, which can improve uplink resource utilization.

[0168] Option A: The second time-domain resource is located after multiple first time-domain resources, and the most recent first time-domain resource preceding the second time-domain resource is the last first time-domain resource among the multiple first time-domain resources. One or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time-domain resource among the multiple first time-domain resources. In this option, the specific description of one or more first ports can be found in the relevant description of the aforementioned implementation method 1.2, and will not be repeated here.

[0169] Option B: The second time-domain resource is located among multiple first time-domain resources, and one or more first ports are ports associated with the most recent first time-domain resource that precedes the second time-domain resource.

[0170] For example, combining Figure 18Assuming there are multiple first time-domain resources, specifically two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2, with first time-domain resource #1 preceding first time-domain resource #2, and the second time-domain resource used for transmitting the physical uplink shared channel located between first time-domain resources #1 and #2, the most recent first time-domain resource preceding the second time-domain resource is designated as first time-domain resource #1. The port associated with first time-domain resource #1 is designated as one or more first ports, meaning the port associated with first time-domain resource #1 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In this approach, no time-domain resources need to be reserved between first time-domain resource #1 and the second time-domain resource, thus improving uplink resource utilization.

[0171] Additionally, as an example, method B can be applied to scenarios involving periodic transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. For example, combined with... Figure 19 Assuming the transmission period of the physical uplink shared channel is 1 time slot, and assuming that the multiple first time domain resources are 2 first time domain resources, namely first time domain resource #1 and first time domain resource #2, first time domain resource #1 is earlier than first time domain resource #2.

[0172] The first time domain resource #1 and the second time domain resource #1 are located in time slot #1. The terminal device transmits a reference signal on the first time domain resource #1 and transmits a physical uplink shared channel on the second time domain resource #1. The port associated with the first time domain resource #1 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel on the second time domain resource #1. No time domain resources need to be reserved between the first time domain resource #1 and the second time domain resource #1, which can improve the uplink resource utilization rate.

[0173] The first time domain resource #2 and the second time domain resource #2 are located in time slot #2. The terminal device transmits a reference signal on the first time domain resource #2 and transmits a physical uplink shared channel on the second time domain resource #2. The port associated with the first time domain resource #2 corresponds to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel on the second time domain resource #2. No time domain resources need to be reserved between the first time domain resource #2 and the second time domain resource #2, which can improve the uplink resource utilization rate.

[0174] In addition, time domain resources can be reserved between the second time domain resource #1 and the first time domain resource #1 for antenna switching.

[0175] In implementation 1.8, a reference signal is used to determine channel conditions. One or more first ports are ports associated with a third time-domain resource, which is one of a plurality of first time-domain resources. The third time-domain resource is determined based on the channel conditions corresponding to the reference signals transmitted on the plurality of first time-domain resources.

[0176] For example, the terminal device can report channel condition information, which indicates the channel conditions corresponding to a reference signal on one or more first time-domain resources. For instance, the channel condition information indicates the channel conditions by including at least one of the following: channel quality indicator, rank indicator, precoding matrix index, signal-to-noise ratio, signal-to-interference ratio, or received signal power. The network device can determine a third time-domain resource based on the channel condition information reported by the terminal device.

[0177] As another example, the terminal device determines the third time-domain resources based on channel condition information. For details on channel condition information, please refer to the foregoing explanations; they will not be repeated here.

[0178] As another example, the network device measures reference signals received on multiple first time-domain resources. The measurement results can be used to determine the channel conditions corresponding to the reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources. Based on the channel conditions corresponding to the reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources, the network device determines a third time-domain resource.

[0179] Optionally, among multiple first time-domain resources, the channel condition determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource is optimal. Understandably, one or more first ports are ports associated with the first time-domain resources corresponding to the optimal channel condition among multiple first time-domain resources. This facilitates using the port corresponding to the optimal channel condition for transmission on the physical uplink shared channel, thereby improving the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0180] For example, suppose there are two first time-domain resources, namely first time-domain resource #1 and first time-domain resource #2. The terminal device transmits reference signals on first time-domain resources #1 and #2. The network device measures the reference signal received on first time-domain resource #1 to obtain channel condition #1 corresponding to first time-domain resource #1; the network device measures the reference signal received on first time-domain resource #2 to obtain channel condition #2 corresponding to first time-domain resource #2. If channel condition #1 is better than channel condition #2, the port associated with first time-domain resource #1, i.e., the port used by the terminal device to transmit the reference signal on first time-domain resource #1, is mapped to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. If channel condition #2 is better than channel condition #1, the port associated with first time-domain resource #2, i.e., the port used by the terminal device to transmit the reference signal on first time-domain resource #2, is mapped to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0181] Alternatively, the one or more first ports corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel can be ports associated with the first time domain resources described in any of the embodiments 1.1 to 1.8, or ports associated with other first time domain resources among a plurality of first time domain resources. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0182] The above provides an exemplary description of the first port. The following provides an exemplary description of how to determine one or more first ports.

[0183] In implementation 2.1, one or more first ports can be predefined or preconfigured. That is, the ports corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel among multiple ports associated with first time-domain resources are predefined or preconfigured. In other words, the correspondence between one or more first ports and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel is predefined or preconfigured.

[0184] Optionally, this embodiment 2.1 can be combined with any of the aforementioned embodiments 1.1 to 1.8. For example, one or more of the embodiments 1.1 to 1.8 can be predefined or preconfigured, or the first port described in one or more of the embodiments 1.1 to 1.8 can be predefined or preconfigured. The terminal device determines one or more of the aforementioned embodiments 1.1 to 1.8 based on the predefined or preconfigured information.

[0185] In implementation 2.2, the network device determines one or more first ports. That is, the network device can determine the port corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel among multiple ports associated with first time-domain resources. Alternatively, the network device can determine the correspondence between one or more first ports and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0186] Optionally, the network device sends first information to the terminal device so that the terminal device can determine one or more first ports based on the first information, and then send a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports.

[0187] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate one or more first ports, and / or, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel, and / or, the first information is used to indicate a fourth time-domain resource, and / or, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between a fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel. The fourth time-domain resource is associated with one or more first ports. It is understood that the fourth time-domain resource is a first time-domain resource among multiple first time-domain resources that is associated with one or more first ports.

[0188] For example, the first information indicates the correspondence between one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of each of the one or more first ports. Alternatively, the first information indicates the correspondence between one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of each of the one or more first ports and a first bit. The first bit is used to indicate the transmission correspondence between the one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel.

[0189] For example, the first information indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the fourth time-domain resource. Alternatively, the first information indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the fourth time-domain resource and a second bit, wherein the second bit is used to indicate the correspondence between the port associated with the fourth time-domain resource and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0190] Optionally, this embodiment 2.2 can be combined with any of the embodiments described above, such as embodiments 1.1 to 1.8.

[0191] For example, the terminal device determines one or more of the aforementioned embodiments 1.1 to 1.8 based on the first information received from the network device.

[0192] For example, combining Implementation 2.2 with Implementation 1.8, in this scenario, one or more first ports are associated with a third time-domain resource. The third time-domain resource is determined based on the channel conditions corresponding to reference signals transmitted on multiple first time-domain resources. Therefore, the aforementioned fourth time-domain resource is the third time-domain resource. After determining the third time-domain resource based on the channel condition information reported by the terminal device or based on the measurement results of the reference signal, the network device sends first information to the terminal device. Thus, the terminal device can determine one or more first ports associated with the third time-domain resource based on the first information. For details regarding channel condition information, the measurement results of the reference signal, and the third time-domain resource, please refer to the foregoing descriptions; they will not be repeated here. Optionally, the method may further include: the network device sending fifth information to the terminal device, the fifth information indicating the update of one or more first ports. Optionally, the fifth information may also indicate the effective time of the updated one or more first ports. Based on the above scheme, the network device can dynamically adjust the correspondence between the port used to transmit the reference signal and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, which helps to enable better performance of the physical uplink shared channel and ensures that the physical uplink shared channel is always transmitted based on optimal channel conditions.

[0193] As can be seen, after the network device indicates to the terminal device the port corresponding to the transmission of the Physical Uplink Shared Channel among the multiple ports associated with the first time domain resources, it can also update the port corresponding to the transmission of the Physical Uplink Shared Channel and indicate the updated port and effective time to the terminal device. After receiving the fifth information, the terminal device can transmit the Physical Uplink Shared Channel within the effective time based on the updated port. Furthermore, the indication method of the fifth information is similar to that of the first information, and can be referred to the relevant descriptions, which will not be repeated here.

[0194] In implementation method 2.3, the terminal device determines one or more first ports. That is, the terminal device can determine the port corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel among the ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. Alternatively, the terminal device can determine the correspondence between one or more first ports and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0195] Optionally, the terminal device sends sixth information to the network device. This sixth information indicates one or more first ports, and / or indicates the correspondence between one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel, and / or indicates fourth time-domain resources, and / or indicates the correspondence between fourth time-domain resources and the physical uplink shared channel. The fourth time-domain resources are associated with one or more first ports. The sixth information is similar to the aforementioned first information; please refer to the relevant description of the first information, which will not be repeated here.

[0196] Optionally, this embodiment 2.3 can be combined with any of the embodiments described above, such as embodiments 1.1 to 1.8.

[0197] For example, the terminal device may independently determine one or more of the aforementioned embodiments 1.1 to 1.8.

[0198] For example, combining Implementation 2.3 with Implementation 1.8, in this scenario, one or more first ports are associated with a third time-domain resource. This third time-domain resource is determined based on channel conditions corresponding to reference signals on multiple first time-domain resources. Therefore, the aforementioned fourth time-domain resource is the third time-domain resource. The terminal device can determine the third time-domain resource itself based on channel condition information or the measurement results of the reference signals, and send the sixth information to the network device. The terminal device sends the physical uplink shared channel based on the port associated with the third time-domain resource. For information on channel condition information, the measurement results of the reference signals, and the third time-domain resource, please refer to the foregoing descriptions; they will not be repeated here.

[0199] Optionally, the method may further include: the terminal device sending a seventh message to the network device, the seventh message indicating the update of one or more first ports. Optionally, the seventh message may also indicate the effective time of the updated one or more first ports. This is similar to the aforementioned network device sending a fifth message to the terminal device, and can be referred to the relevant descriptions above, which will not be repeated here.

[0200] The above description uses the term "port." Besides this approach, the technical solutions provided in this application can also be implemented based on the following port division: port groups, where a port group includes one or more ports. Exemplary examples are provided below:

[0201] In one alternative implementation, different first time domain resources among a plurality of first time domain resources are associated with different port groups, and the port group includes one or more ports.

[0202] Optionally, the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports, including: the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on a first port group, the first port group including one or more first ports, the first port group corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the first port group being a portion of a port group associated with multiple first time domain resources.

[0203] Optionally, the first port group is the port group associated with the first first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources; or, the first port group is the port group associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources. Similar to the aforementioned embodiments 1.1 and 1.2, the relevant descriptions can be referred to above, and will not be repeated here.

[0204] Optionally, the multiple first time-domain resources are located in multiple time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the multiple first time-domain resources. The first port group is the port group associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the multiple time slots; or, the first port group is the port group associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the multiple time slots; or, the first port group is the port group associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the multiple time slots; or, the first port group is the port group associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the multiple time slots. Similar to the aforementioned embodiments 1.3 to 1.6, the relevant descriptions can be referred to above, and will not be repeated here.

[0205] Optionally, the first port group is the port group associated with the most recent first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel. Similar to the aforementioned implementation 1.7, the relevant descriptions can be referred to above, and will not be repeated here.

[0206] Optionally, a reference signal is used to determine channel conditions. The first port group is a port group associated with a third time-domain resource, wherein the third time-domain resource is one of a plurality of first time-domain resources, and the third time-domain resource is determined based on the channel conditions corresponding to the reference signals transmitted on the plurality of first time-domain resources. Optionally, among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signals transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal. Similar to implementation method 1.8, the relevant descriptions above can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0207] Alternatively, the first port group corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel can be, in addition to the port group associated with the aforementioned first time domain resource, also be a port group associated with other first time domain resources among multiple first time domain resources, without any restriction.

[0208] Optionally, the first port group is predefined. Similar to the aforementioned implementation 2.1, please refer to the relevant descriptions above, which will not be repeated here.

[0209] Optionally, the network device determines the first port group. Optionally, after determining the first port group, the network device may also send first information to the terminal device so that the terminal device can determine the first port group based on the first information. Optionally, the network device may also send indication information to the terminal device to indicate the update of the first port group and / or the effective time of the updated first port group.

[0210] Similar to the aforementioned implementation method 2.2, the following is a brief explanation based on the relevant descriptions above:

[0211] For example, the first information is used to indicate a first port group, and / or, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel, and / or, the first information is used to indicate a fourth time-domain resource, and / or, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel. Wherein, the fourth time-domain resource is associated with the first port group.

[0212] For example, the first information indicates the correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the first port group. As another example, the first information indicates the correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the first port group and a third bit, wherein the third bit is used to indicate the transmission correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel.

[0213] For example, the first information indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the fourth time-domain resource. Alternatively, the first information indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the fourth time-domain resource and a second bit, where the second bit indicates the correspondence between the port associated with the fourth time-domain resource and the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0214] Optionally, the terminal device determines the first port group. Optionally, after determining the first port group, the terminal device may also send sixth information to the network device. This sixth information indicates the first port group, and / or indicates the correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel, and / or indicates the fourth time-domain resource, and / or indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, with the fourth time-domain resource associated with the first port group. Optionally, the terminal device may also send indication information to the network device to indicate the update of the first port group and / or the effective time of the updated first port group. Similar to the aforementioned embodiment 2.3, the relevant descriptions can be referred to above, and will not be repeated here.

[0215] In one optional implementation, the port or port group associated with any of the multiple first time domain resources can be predefined. Alternatively, the network device can configure the port or port group associated with any of the multiple first time domain resources for the terminal device. For example, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, which indicates the association relationship between the first time domain resources and the port or port group.

[0216] Understandably, the association between the first time-domain resources and the port or port group can be predefined, or it can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device.

[0217] In addition, in the embodiments of this application, the ports associated with different first time domain resources in the multiple first time domain resources are different (e.g., partially different or completely different), the number of ports associated with different first time domain resources in the multiple first time domain resources can be the same or different, or the number of ports in the port groups associated with different first time domain resources in the multiple first time domain resources can be the same or different.

[0218] For example, the ports of the terminal device are divided into K port groups, each port group includes one or more ports, and each port group corresponds to a first time domain resource, where K is an integer greater than 1. For example, multiple first time domain resources are K first time domain resources, namely first time domain resources #0 to first time domain resources #K-1. The indices of the K port groups of the terminal device are 0 to K-1 in sequence, and each port group includes T ports. The port groups, the ports included in the port groups, and the first time domain resources associated with the port groups are shown in Table 1 below.

[0219] Table 1

[0220] Port group index The port group includes the index of the ports. First Time Domain Resources 0 <![CDATA[p 0,0 ,p 0,1 ,…,p 0,T-1 ]]> First Time Domain Resource #0 1 <![CDATA[p 1,0 ,p 1,1 ,…,p 1,T-1 ]]> First Time Domain Resource #1 … … … K-1 <![CDATA[p K-1,0 ,p K-1,1 ,…,p K-1,T-1 ]]> First Time Domain Resource #K-1

[0221] In this embodiment of the application, p k,t It is the index of the t-th port included in the port group with index k, where k is 0, 1, ..., or K-1, and t is 0, 1, ..., or T-1. This application embodiment refers to p... k,t The range of values ​​for p is not limited; for example, p k,t The value can range from 1000 to 1063, or it can also be from 1200 to 1263. This will not be elaborated further below.

[0222] Furthermore, the tables provided in the embodiments of this application are merely detailed examples to facilitate understanding of the solution by those skilled in the art, and do not constitute a unique limitation on the form of tables that may exist in this application. For example, the embodiments of this application do not limit the number of rows, columns, or values ​​in the tables. For instance, the number of ports corresponding to different rows in Table 1 may be the same or different. Also, each table may be used individually, or multiple tables may be combined. Further details will not be elaborated upon below.

[0223] In one optional embodiment, the method further includes: the network device sending third information to the terminal device, the third information indicating an update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group; the terminal device can determine the updated association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group based on the third information. In another optional embodiment, the method further includes: the terminal device updating the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group, and reporting the third information to the network device, the third information indicating the update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group.

[0224] Optionally, the third information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group, which can also be understood as the effective time of the third information.

[0225] For example, multiple first time-domain resources are classified as K first time-domain resources, and the indices of the K first time-domain resources are first time-domain resource #1 to first time-domain resource #K-1. The ports associated with the first time-domain resources at time t0 and the ports associated with the first time-domain resources at time t0+Δ can be shown in Table 2 below.

[0226] Table 2

[0227]

[0228] Alternatively, the ports associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0 and the ports associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0+Δ can be shown in Table 3 below. In Table 3, δ is the offset of the port index.

[0229] Table 3

[0230]

[0231] Alternatively, the ports associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0 and the ports associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0+Δ can be shown in Table 4 below. Alternatively, the indices of the K port groups of the terminal device are sequentially from 0 to K-1, and the port groups associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0 and the port groups associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0+Δ can be shown in Table 5 below. In Tables 4 and 5, δ represents the offset of the port group index.

[0232] Table 4

[0233]

[0234]

[0235] Table 5

[0236]

[0237] It is evident that, compared to the port or port group associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0, the port or port associated with the first time-domain resource at time t0+Δ has been updated, where t0+Δ is the effective time of the updated association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group. Optionally, the unit of Δ can be, for example, a time slot, and the value of Δ can be one of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Alternatively, the unit of Δ can also be an OFDM symbol, and the value of Δ can be one of 0, 2, 7, 14, 21, 42, or 56. For example, the aforementioned third information can indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port by including time t0+Δ or by including Δ itself.

[0238] Optionally, the third information, used to indicate the update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group, can be implemented in the following optional ways:

[0239] Option 1: The third information indicates the update of the association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group by including the index of the first time domain resource, the index of the updated port associated with the first time domain resource, or the index of the port group.

[0240] Option 2: The third information indicates the update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port by including the index of the first time-domain resource and the offset between the updated port index associated with the first time-domain resource and the port index before the update. For example, δ in Table 3 is the offset between the updated port index associated with the first time-domain resource and the port index before the update; δ in Table 3 can be sent by the network device to the terminal device through the third information, or it can be reported by the terminal device to the network device through the third information after determining δ in Table 3.

[0241] Option 3: The third information indicates the update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port group by including the index of the first time-domain resource and the offset between the updated index of the port group associated with the first time-domain resource and the index of the port group before the update. For example, δ in Tables 4 and 5 is the offset between the updated index of the port group associated with the first time-domain resource and the index of the port group before the update; δ in Table 4 or Table 5 can be sent by the network device to the terminal device through the third information, or it can be reported by the terminal device to the network device through the third information after determining δ in Table 4 or Table 5.

[0242] In one optional implementation, the method further includes: the network device sending fourth information to the terminal device, the fourth information indicating an update of ports in the port group; the terminal device can determine the updated ports included in the port group based on the fourth information. In another optional implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device updating the ports included in the port group and reporting the fourth information to the network device, the fourth information indicating an update of ports in the port group.

[0243] Understandably, the fourth piece of information is used to indicate the update of the association between port groups and ports. This association can also be interpreted as specifying which ports are included in a port group, and updating the association between port groups can be understood as updating the ports included in the port group.

[0244] Optionally, the fourth information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated port group, which can also be understood as the effective time of the fourth information.

[0245] For example, the indices of the K port groups of the terminal device are 0 to K-1. The ports included in the port group at time t0 and the ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ′ can be shown in Table 6 below.

[0246] Table 6

[0247] Port group index <![CDATA[indices of ports included in the port group at time t0]]> <![CDATA[index of the ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ′]]> 0 <![CDATA[p 0,0 ,p 0,1 ,…,p 0,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p′ 0,0 ,p′ 0,1 ,…,p′ 0,T-1 <!-- 25 -->]]> 1 <![CDATA[p 1,0 ,p 1,1 ,…,p 1,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p′ 1,0 ,p′ 1,1 ,…,p′ 1,T-1 ]]> … … … K-1 <![CDATA[p K-1,0 ,p K-1,1 ,…,p K-1,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p′ K-1,0 ,p′ K-1,1 ,…,p′ K-1,T-1 ]]>

[0248] Alternatively, the ports included in the port group at time t0 and the ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ′ can be shown in Table 7 below. δ in Table 7 represents the offset of the port index.

[0249] Table 7

[0250] Port group index <![CDATA[indices of ports included in the port group at time t0]]> <![CDATA[indices of ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ']]> 0 <![CDATA[p 0,0 ,p 0,1 ,…,p 0,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p 0,0 +δ,p 0,1 +δ,…,p 0,T-1 +d]]> 1 <![CDATA[p 1,0 ,p 1,1 ,…,p 1,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p 1,0 +δ,p 1,1 +δ,…,p 1,T-1 +d]]> … … … K-1 <![CDATA[p K-1,0 ,p K-1,1 ,…,p K-1,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p K-1,0 +δ,p K-1,1 +δ,…,p K-1,T-1 +d]]>

[0251] Alternatively, the ports included in the port group at time t0 and the ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ′ can be shown in Table 8 below. δ in Table 8 represents the offset of the port group index.

[0252] Table 8

[0253] Port group index <![CDATA[indexes of ports included in the port group at time t0]]> <![CDATA[indexes of ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ']]> 0 <![CDATA[p 0,0 ,p 0,1 ,…,p 0,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p 0+δ,0 ,p 0+δ,1 ,…,p 0+δ,T-1 ]]> 1 <![CDATA[p 1,0 ,p 1,1 ,…,p 1,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p 1+δ,0 ,p 1+δ,1 ,…,p 1+δ,t-1 ]]> … … … K-1 <![CDATA[p k-1,0 ,p k-1,1 ,…,p K-1,T-1 ]]> <![CDATA[p K-1+δ,0 ,p K-1+δ,1 ,…,p K-1+δ,1-1 ]]>

[0254] As can be seen, compared to the ports included in the port group at time t0, the ports included in the port group at time t0+Δ′ have been updated, and t0+Δ′ is the effective time of the updated port group. Optionally, the unit of Δ′ can be, for example, a time slot, and the value of Δ′ can be one of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Alternatively, the unit of Δ′ can also be, for example, an OFDM symbol, and the value of Δ′ can be one of 0, 2, 7, 14, 21, 42, or 56. In addition, the value of Δ′ can be the same as or different from the aforementioned Δ. For example, the aforementioned fourth information can indicate the effective time of the updated port group by including time t0+Δ′ or by including Δ′.

[0255] Optionally, the fourth piece of information, used to indicate updates to ports in the port group, can be implemented in the following optional ways:

[0256] Option 1: The fourth information indicates the update of ports in the port group by including the index of the port group and the index of the updated ports included in the port group.

[0257] Option 2: The fourth information indicates the update of ports in a port group by including the index of the port group and the offset between the updated index of the port group and the index of the port before the update. For example, δ in Table 7 is the offset between the updated index of the port group and the index of the port before the update; δ in Table 7 can be sent by the network device to the terminal device through the fourth information, or it can be determined by the terminal device and then reported to the network device through the fourth information.

[0258] Option 3: The fourth piece of information indicates the update of ports within a port group by including the port group index, the offset between the updated port group index and the original port group index, and so on. For example, if the port group index is 0, and the offset between the updated and original port group indexes is δ, the ports contained in port group 0 are updated to the ports contained in port group 0 + δ. As shown in Table 8, the ports contained in port group 0 are updated to p. 0+δ,0 p 0+δ,1 , ..., p 0+δ,T-1 Additionally, δ in Table 8 can be sent from the network device to the terminal device via the fourth information, or it can be determined by the terminal device in Table 8 and then reported to the network device via the fourth information.

[0259] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the network device sending a transmitted matrix precoding indicator (TPMI) to the terminal device. This allows the terminal device to also transmit the physical uplink shared channel based on the TPMI. Optionally, the network device may further indicate to the terminal device that the TPMI corresponds to one or more first ports, or that the TPMI corresponds to a group of first ports. Understandably, the one or more first ports corresponding to the TPMI, or the group of first ports corresponding to the TPMI, are used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel and the corresponding reference signal.

[0260] Furthermore, this application does not limit the type of information exchanged between the network device and the terminal device. For example, the instruction information or information (e.g., first information, second information, third information, fourth information) sent by the network device to the terminal device may be or be carried in one or more of the following: downlink control information (DCI), media access control-control element (MAC-CE), or RRC. The format of the DCI may be, for example, DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 0_3, etc.

[0261] In summary, in this communication method, the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the multiple first time-domain resources are the ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0262] As can be seen, in this method, some ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources used to transmit reference signals correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In other words, some ports used by the terminal device to transmit reference signals multiple times in a time-division manner correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, which establishes a connection between the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel and the transmission of the reference signal.

[0263] Compared to scenarios where the terminal device transmits reference signals multiple times in a time-division multiplexing manner, the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel and the transmission of the reference signal are independent of each other. This results in the channel information (e.g., CSI) acquired by the reference signal transmitted by the terminal device being inconsistent with the channel information during physical uplink shared channel transmission, making it impossible to use the channel information acquired based on the reference signal for transmission on the physical uplink shared channel. The method provided in this application establishes a connection between the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel and the transmission of the reference signal in the scenario where the terminal device transmits reference signals multiple times in a time-division multiplexing manner. This allows the channel information acquired based on the reference signal to be used for transmission on the physical uplink shared channel, thereby helping to improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0264] In addition, by designing one or more first ports corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, it is helpful to further improve the performance of the physical uplink shared channel and improve the uplink resource utilization.

[0265] For example, the port associated with the third time-domain resource is mapped to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. The third time-domain resource is one of multiple first time-domain resources, and among the multiple first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal. Understandably, the port associated with the third time-domain resource among the multiple first time-domain resources is the port with the optimal channel conditions. Mapping the port with the optimal channel conditions to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel allows the terminal device to use the port with the optimal channel conditions to transmit the physical uplink shared channel, thereby improving the performance of the physical uplink shared channel.

[0266] For example, the port associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources can be mapped to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. Alternatively, if multiple first time domain resources are located in multiple time slots, the port associated with the last first time domain resource included in the last time slot can be mapped to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. In these methods, the reference signal transmitted on the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources can use the same port as the physical uplink shared channel. Therefore, no guard time needs to be reserved between the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources and the second time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel (e.g., no time needs to be reserved for antenna switching), which can improve the uplink resource utilization.

[0267] For example, the port associated with the most recent first time domain resource preceding the second time domain resource can be mapped to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel. The second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel. In this method, the reference signal transmitted on the most recent first time domain resource preceding the second time domain resource can use the same port as the physical uplink shared channel. Therefore, no guard time needs to be reserved between the most recent first time domain resource preceding the second time domain resource and the second time domain resource (e.g., no time needs to be reserved for antenna switching), which can improve the uplink resource utilization.

[0268] In another possible implementation, it can be Figure 9 In the communication method shown, replacing the port with an antenna and the port group with an antenna group results in the following: Figure 20 The communication method shown. In Figure 20 In the communication method shown, the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first antennas; correspondingly, the network device receives the physical uplink shared channel.

[0269] Among them, one or more first antennas correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, one or more first antennas are part of the antennas associated with multiple first time domain resources, and the multiple antennas associated with multiple first time domain resources are the antennas used to transmit reference signals on multiple first time domain resources.

[0270] Figure 20 The communication method shown is the same as described above. Figure 9 The communication methods shown are similar and can be found in the relevant descriptions. A brief description follows:

[0271] In one alternative implementation, different first time domain resources are associated with different antennas.

[0272] In one alternative implementation, one or more first antennas are antennas associated with the first first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources; or, one or more first antennas are antennas associated with the last first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources.

[0273] In one alternative implementation, a plurality of first time-domain resources are located in a plurality of time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the plurality of first time-domain resources. One or more first antennas are antennas associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first antennas are antennas associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first antennas are antennas associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, one or more first antennas are antennas associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots.

[0274] In one alternative implementation, one or more first antennas are antennas associated with the most recent first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, the second time domain resource being the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel.

[0275] In one alternative implementation, a reference signal is used to determine channel conditions. One or more first antennas are antennas associated with a third time-domain resource, wherein the third time-domain resource is one of a plurality of first time-domain resources, and the third time-domain resource is determined based on channel conditions corresponding to reference signals transmitted on the plurality of first time-domain resources. Optionally, among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal.

[0276] In one alternative implementation, one or more first antennas may be predefined.

[0277] In another optional implementation, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can determine one or more first antennas based on the indication information. Optionally, after determining one or more first antennas, the network device may also send first information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can determine one or more first antennas based on the first information. For example, the first information is used to indicate one or more first antennas, and / or, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between one or more first antennas and the physical uplink shared channel, and / or, the first information is used to indicate a fourth time-domain resource, and / or, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, wherein the fourth time-domain resource is associated with the first antenna group.

[0278] For example, the first information indicates the correspondence between one or more first antennas and the physical uplink shared channel by including the index of each first antenna in one or more first antennas. As another example, the first information indicates the correspondence between one or more first antennas and the physical uplink shared channel by including the index of each first antenna in one or more first antennas and a third bit; wherein the third bit is used to indicate the transmission correspondence between one or more first antennas and the physical uplink shared channel.

[0279] For example, the first information indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the fourth time-domain resource. Alternatively, the first information indicates the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel by including an index of the fourth time-domain resource and a fourth bit, where the fourth bit indicates the transmission correspondence between the antenna associated with the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel.

[0280] In another optional implementation, the terminal device determines one or more first antennas. The terminal device may also send indication information to the network device to indicate one or more of the following: one or more first antennas, the correspondence between one or more first antennas and the physical uplink shared channel, a fourth time-domain resource, or the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel. The fourth time-domain resource is associated with the first antenna group.

[0281] The above description uses the term "antenna." Besides this approach, alternatively, the technical solutions provided in this application can also be implemented based on the following antenna partitioning: antenna group, where an antenna group includes one or more antennas. Exemplary examples are provided below:

[0282] In one alternative implementation, different first time-domain resources among a plurality of first time-domain resources are associated with different antenna groups, and the antenna group includes one or more antennas.

[0283] Optionally, the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first antennas, including: the terminal device transmits a physical uplink shared channel based on a first antenna group, the first antenna group including one or more first antennas, the first antenna group corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the first antenna group being a portion of an antenna group associated with multiple first time-domain resources.

[0284] Optionally, the first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the first first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources; or, the first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the last first time domain resource among multiple first time domain resources.

[0285] Optionally, the multiple first time-domain resources are located in multiple time slots, and any one of the multiple time slots includes at least one of the multiple first time-domain resources. The first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the multiple time slots; or, the first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the first time slot of the multiple time slots; or, the first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the first first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the multiple time slots; or, the first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the last first time-domain resource included in the last time slot of the multiple time slots.

[0286] Optionally, the first antenna group is the antenna group associated with the most recent first time domain resource among a plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel.

[0287] Optionally, a reference signal is used to determine the channel conditions. The first antenna group is an antenna group associated with a third time-domain resource, wherein the third time-domain resource is one of a plurality of first time-domain resources, and the third time-domain resource is determined based on the channel conditions corresponding to the reference signals transmitted on the plurality of first time-domain resources. Optionally, among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signals transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal.

[0288] Optionally, the first antenna group is predefined.

[0289] Optionally, the network device determines the first antenna group. Optionally, after determining the first antenna group, the network device may also send first information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can determine the first antenna group based on the first information. For example, the first information may indicate the first antenna group, and / or, the first information may indicate the correspondence between the first antenna group and the physical uplink shared channel, and / or, the first information may indicate a fourth time-domain resource, and / or, the first information may indicate the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, wherein the fourth time-domain resource is associated with the first antenna group. For example, the first information may include an index of the first antenna group. As another example, the first information may include an index of the fourth time-domain resource.

[0290] Optionally, the terminal device determines the first antenna group. Optionally, after determining the first antenna group, the terminal device may also send indication information to the network device to indicate one or more of the following: the first antenna group, the correspondence between the first antenna group and the physical uplink shared channel, the fourth time domain resource, or the correspondence between the fourth time domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, wherein the fourth time domain resource is associated with the first antenna group.

[0291] In one alternative implementation, the antenna or antenna group associated with each of the plurality of first time-domain resources can be predefined. Alternatively, the network device can configure the antenna or antenna group associated with each of the plurality of first time-domain resources for the terminal device. For example, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, the second information indicating the association relationship between the first time-domain resources and the antenna or antenna group among the plurality of first time-domain resources.

[0292] In one optional embodiment, the method further includes: the network device sending third information to the terminal device, the third information indicating an update to the association between the first time-domain resource and the antenna or antenna group; the terminal device can determine the updated association between the first time-domain resource and the antenna or antenna group based on the third information. In another optional embodiment, the method further includes: the terminal device updating the association between the first time-domain resource and the antenna or antenna group, and reporting the third information to the network device, the third information indicating the update to the association between the first time-domain resource and the antenna or antenna group.

[0293] Optionally, the third information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time domain resource and the antenna or antenna group, which can also be understood as the effective time of the third information.

[0294] In one optional embodiment, the method further includes: the network device sending fourth information to the terminal device, the fourth information indicating an update of the antennas in the antenna group; the terminal device can determine the updated antennas included in the antenna group based on the fourth information. In another optional embodiment, the method further includes: the terminal device updating the antennas included in the antenna group and reporting the fourth information to the network device, the fourth information indicating an update of the antennas in the antenna group.

[0295] Optionally, the fourth information is also used to indicate the effective time of the antenna group after the antenna update, which can also be understood as the effective time of the fourth information.

[0296] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the network device sending the TPMI to the terminal device, so that the terminal device also transmits the Physical Uplink Shared Channel based on the TPMI. Optionally, the network device further indicates to the terminal device that the TPMI corresponds to one or more first antennas, or that the TPMI corresponds to a first antenna group.

[0297] To achieve the functions of the methods provided in the embodiments of this application, the network element / device may include hardware structures and / or software modules, implementing the above functions in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules. Whether a particular function is executed in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0298] like Figure 21 As shown, this application provides a communication device 2100. The communication device 2100 can be used for the steps executed by a terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, as described in the relevant descriptions in the above method embodiments. The communication device 2100 can also be other communication units used to implement the methods in the method embodiments of this application. The communication device 2100 may include a processing unit 2101. Optionally, the communication device 2100 may further include a communication unit 2102, where the processing unit 2101 controls the communication unit 2102 to send and receive data / signaling. The communication unit 2102 may also be called a transceiver unit. Optionally, the communication unit 2102 may include a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit can be used to send data / signaling, and the receiving unit can be used to receive data / signaling. Optionally, the communication device 2100 may further include a storage unit 2103, which can be used to store information and / or data and / or instructions, etc. The storage unit 2103 can interact with the processing unit 2101 and also with the communication unit 2102.

[0299] In one possible design, regarding the case where the communication device 2100 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments:

[0300] Communication unit 2102 is used to transmit a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the multiple first time-domain resources are the ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0301] In another possible design, regarding the case where the communication device 2100 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments:

[0302] The communication unit 2102 is used to send first information to the terminal device, the first information being used to determine one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the multiple first time-domain resources are the ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0303] The embodiments of this application and the method embodiments shown above are based on the same concept and have the same technical effects. For the specific principles, please refer to the description of the embodiments shown above, which will not be repeated here.

[0304] This application embodiment also provides a communication device 2200, such as... Figure 22As shown. The communication device 2200 can be used for the steps performed by the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, and can be referred to the relevant description in the above method embodiments.

[0305] The communication device 2200 may include one or more processors 2201. The processor 2201 can be used to implement some or all of the functions of the terminal-side device or network-side device through logic circuits or by running computer programs. The processor 2201 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor, etc. For example, it may be one or a combination of one or more of the following: baseband processor, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field-programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, central processing unit (CPU), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), microprocessor unit (MPU), microcontroller unit (MCU), graphics processing unit (GPU), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), artificial intelligence processor (AI processor), or neural processing unit (NPU). The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the central processing unit can be used to control communication devices, execute software programs, and process data from software programs. Communication devices include, for example, base stations, baseband chips, terminals, terminal chips, DUs, or CUs.

[0306] Optionally, the communication device 2200 may include one or more memories 2202, which may store instructions 2204. These instructions can be executed on the processor 2201, causing the communication device 2200 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 2202 may also store data. The processor 2201 and the memory 2202 may be configured separately or integrated together.

[0307] The memory 2202 may include, but is not limited to, non-volatile memories such as cache, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), hard disk drive (HDD), or solid-state drive (SSD). The memory 2202 may also include random access memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), ROM, or compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), etc. Memory is any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code having an instruction or data structure form and accessible by a computer, but is not limited to this. The memory in the embodiments of this application may also be a circuit or any other device capable of implementing a storage function for storing computer programs or instructions, and / or data.

[0308] Optionally, the communication device 2200 may further include a transceiver 2205 and an antenna 2206. The transceiver 2205 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver, or transceiver circuit, etc., and is used to implement the transmission and reception functions. The transceiver 2205 may include a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver may be referred to as a receiver or receiving circuit, etc., and is used to implement the receiving function; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or transmitting circuit, etc., and is used to implement the transmitting function.

[0309] In one possible design, regarding the case where the communication device 2200 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments:

[0310] Transceiver 2205 is used to transmit a physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the multiple first time-domain resources are the ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0311] In another possible design, regarding the case where the communication device 2200 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments:

[0312] Transceiver 2205 is used to send first information to a terminal device, the first information being used to determine one or more first ports. The one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of a physical uplink shared channel, and the one or more first ports are a subset of ports associated with multiple first time-domain resources. The ports associated with the multiple first time-domain resources are the ports used for transmitting reference signals on the multiple first time-domain resources.

[0313] The embodiments of this application and the method embodiments shown above are based on the same concept and have the same technical effects. For the specific principles, please refer to the description of the embodiments shown above, which will not be repeated here.

[0314] In another possible design, the processor 2201 may include a transceiver for implementing receive and transmit functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit for implementing receive and transmit functions may be separate or integrated. The aforementioned transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code / data, or it may be used for transmitting or relaying signals.

[0315] In another possible design, the processor 2201 may optionally store instructions 2203, which, when executed on the processor 2201, cause the communication device 2200 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Instructions 2203 may be embedded in the processor 2201; in this case, the processor 2201 may be implemented in hardware.

[0316] In another possible design, the communication device 2200 may include circuitry that performs the functions of transmitting, receiving, or communicating as described in the foregoing method embodiments. The processor and transceiver described in this application embodiment can be implemented on integrated circuits (ICs), analog ICs, radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), mixed-signal ICs, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), electronic devices, etc. The processor and transceiver can also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), n-metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS), positive-channel metal-oxide semiconductors (PMOS), bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon-germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0317] Those skilled in the art will also understand that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps listed in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Whether such functionality is implemented through hardware or software depends on the specific application and the overall system design requirements. Those skilled in the art can use various methods to implement the described functionality for a specific application, but such implementation should not be construed as exceeding the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0318] The embodiments of this application and the above-described method embodiments are based on the same concept and have the same technical effects. For the specific principles, please refer to the description in the above-described method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0319] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions that, when executed by a communication device, implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0320] This application also provides a computer program product for storing computer software instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0321] This application also provides a computer program that, when run on a computer, implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0322] This application also provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to execute code or instructions to implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments. Optionally, the chip further includes an interface, and the processor is coupled to the interface, which is used to receive or output signals.

[0323] This application also provides a system comprising a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device is capable of implementing the functions of the terminal device in any of the above method embodiments, and the network device is capable of implementing the functions of the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0324] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media may be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., high-density digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., SSDs), etc.

[0325] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

[0326] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified or logically conflicting, the terminology and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. Technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships.

[0327] It is understood that some optional features in the various embodiments of this application may not depend on other features in certain scenarios, or may be combined with other features in certain scenarios, without limitation.

[0328] It is understood that the solutions in the embodiments of this application can be used in combination, and the explanations or descriptions of various terms, similar operations or steps appearing in the embodiments can be referenced or explained to each other in the various embodiments, and this application does not limit them.

[0329] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects 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 can mean: a, or, b, or, c, or, a and b, or, a and c, or, b and c, or, a, b, and c. Here, a, b, and c can each be single or multiple.

[0330] In this application, the terms "first," "second," and various numerical designations are used for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. For example, they may be used to distinguish different messages, rather than to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such descriptions can be interchanged where appropriate to describe solutions other than those described in this application.

[0331] In this application, the terms “comprising” and “having”, and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units that are explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not explicitly listed or that are inherent to such process, method, product, or apparatus.

[0332] In this application, "for indicating" can include both direct and indirect indication. When describing an indication message as indicating A, it can include whether the indication message directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, but does not necessarily mean that the indication message carries A.

[0333] In this application, "sending information to XX (device / network element)" can be understood as the destination of the information being that device / network element. This can include sending information directly or indirectly to that device / network element. "Receiving information from XX (device / network element), or receiving information from XX (device / network element)" can be understood as the source of the information being that device / network element. This can include receiving information directly or indirectly from that device / network element. Information may undergo necessary processing between the source and destination, such as format changes, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source.

[0334] In this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of terms such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner to facilitate understanding.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a terminal device, the method includes: Transmit the physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports; Wherein, the one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, the one or more first ports are some ports among the ports associated with multiple first time domain resources, and the ports associated with multiple first time domain resources are the ports used to transmit reference signals on the multiple first time domain resources.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource among the plurality of first time domain resources; or, The one or more first ports are the ports associated with the last first time domain resource among the plurality of first time domain resources.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The plurality of first time domain resources are located in a plurality of time slots, and any one of the plurality of time slots includes at least one of the plurality of first time domain resources; The one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, The one or more first ports are the ports associated with the last first time domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the most recent first time domain resource among the plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource used to transmit the physical uplink shared channel.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The reference signal is used to determine channel conditions; The one or more first ports are ports associated with third time-domain resources; The third time-domain resource is one of the plurality of first time-domain resources; and among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The multiple first time domain resources are associated with different port groups, and the port group includes one or more ports.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The transmission of the physical uplink shared channel based on one or more first ports includes: The physical uplink shared channel is transmitted based on a first port group, the first port group including one or more first ports, the first port group corresponding to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, and the first port group being a portion of the port groups associated with the plurality of first time domain resources.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive first information, which is used to determine the one or more first ports.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel; or, The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel, wherein the first port group includes the one or more first ports; or, The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, the fourth time-domain resource being associated with the one or more first ports, or the fourth time-domain resource being associated with a first port group, the first port group including the one or more first ports.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive second information, which is used to indicate the association between the first time domain resources among the plurality of first time domain resources and ports or port groups, wherein the port group includes one or more ports.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive third information, which is used to indicate an update of the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The third information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive fourth information, which is used to indicate the update of ports in the port group associated with the first time domain resource.

14. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a network device, the method includes: Send first information to the terminal device, the first information being used to identify one or more first ports; Wherein, the one or more first ports correspond to the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel, the one or more first ports are some of the ports associated with a plurality of first time domain resources, and the ports associated with the plurality of first time domain resources are the ports used to transmit reference signals on the plurality of first time domain resources.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the one or more first ports and the physical uplink shared channel; or, The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first port group and the physical uplink shared channel, wherein the first port group includes the one or more first ports; or, The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the fourth time-domain resource and the physical uplink shared channel, the fourth time-domain resource being associated with the one or more first ports, or the fourth time-domain resource being associated with a first port group, the first port group including the one or more first ports.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource among the plurality of first time domain resources; or, The one or more first ports are the ports associated with the last first time domain resource among the plurality of first time domain resources.

17. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The plurality of first time domain resources are located in a plurality of time slots, and any one of the plurality of time slots includes at least one of the plurality of first time domain resources; The one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the last first time domain resource included in the first time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the first first time domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots; or, The one or more first ports are the ports associated with the last first time domain resource included in the last time slot of the plurality of time slots.

18. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The one or more first ports are ports associated with the most recent first time domain resource among the plurality of first time domain resources that precedes the second time domain resource, and the second time domain resource is the time domain resource for transmitting the physical uplink shared channel.

19. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The reference signal is used to determine channel conditions; The one or more first ports are ports associated with third time-domain resources; The third time-domain resource is one of the plurality of first time-domain resources; and among the plurality of first time-domain resources, the channel conditions determined by the reference signal transmitted on the third time-domain resource are optimal.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that, The multiple first time domain resources are associated with different port groups, and the port group includes one or more ports.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a second message, which is used to indicate the association between the first time domain resources among the plurality of first time domain resources and a port or port group, wherein the port group includes one or more ports.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a third message, which indicates an update to the association between the first time-domain resource and the port or port group.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, The third information is also used to indicate the effective time of the updated association between the first time domain resource and the port or port group.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a fourth message, which is used to indicate the update of ports in the port group associated with the first time domain resource.

25. A communication device, characterized in that, The apparatus includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 13, or includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 14 to 24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes at least one processor; The processor is configured to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13, or to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 24, by executing a computer program or instructions stored in a memory, and / or by logic circuitry.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed, causes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 to be performed, or causes the method as described in any one of claims 14 to 24 to be performed.

28. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising: Computer program code, when run, causes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 to be performed, or causes the method as described in any one of claims 14 to 24 to be performed.

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