Communication method and related device

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and provide a communication method and a related device. In the method, on the basis of the channel quality of transport layers, the transport layers are divided into a first transport layer group and a second transport layer group, and then the first transport layer group and the second transport layer group are mapped to a first code word and a second code word; and a first cooperative transmission resource set is configured for the first code word, and a second cooperative transmission resource set is configured for the second code word. The number of transmission resources in the first cooperative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in a third cooperative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources in the second cooperative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in the third cooperative transmission resource set, and thus, when channel quantization is to be performed on the basis of a codebook, the number of channels requiring channel quantization is reduced compared with the prior art, such that the data volume involved in feeding back CSI can be reduced, thereby reducing the communication overhead of feeding back CSI.

Description

A communication method and related equipment

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on November 23, 2023, with application number 202311578617.7, and priority to the Chinese patent application entitled “A Communication Method and Related Equipment”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and in particular to a communication method and related equipment. Background Art

[0003] Communication systems have higher requirements for system capacity and spectrum efficiency. In fifth-generation (5G) communication systems, the application of Massive MIMO (Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology plays a crucial role in improving system spectrum efficiency. When using MIMO technology, the base station must precode data before sending it to the user equipment (UE). The precoding method relies on the channel state information (CSI) that the UE provides to the base station. Therefore, accurate CSI feedback is a key factor affecting system performance.

[0004] In the frequency division duplex (FDD) mode, the frequency band spacing of the uplink and downlink channels is much larger than the coherence bandwidth, and the uplink and downlink channels do not have complete reciprocity. In the FDD system, the UE needs to feedback the CSI of the downlink channel to the base station. The basic process is shown in Figure 1A. The base station needs to first send channel measurement configuration information to inform the UE of the time and behavior of the channel measurement. Then the base station sends a channel measurement pilot to the UE. The above pilot is the reference signal (RS); the UE calculates the final CSI feedback amount based on the pilot measurement result and feeds back the CSI. The base station then sends data based on the CSI fed back by the UE. Among them, the base station determines the number of data streams transmitted to the UE based on the channel rank indicator (RI) in the CSI fed back by the UE; the base station determines the modulation order and channel coding code rate of the data transmitted to the UE based on the channel quality indicator (CQI) in the CSI fed back by the UE; the base station determines the precoding of the data transmitted to the UE based on the precoding matrix indicator (PMI) in the CSI fed back by the UE.

[0005] In FDD mode, it is very costly for the UE to directly feed back the received channel to the base station. Generally, a codebook (including multiple space-frequency basis vectors) is used to quantize the channel and feed back the CSI. The codebook is known to both the base station and the UE. The base station uses the CSI and the known codebook to obtain the quantized channel.

[0006] In order to improve the user's signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) and reduce inter-cell interference, thereby improving network system capacity and user experience, Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology has been proposed. Multi-antenna base stations in multiple cells are used for joint scheduling and pre-processing to eliminate multi-cell co-channel interference to improve the received signal quality of UEs at the cell edge and further reduce co-channel interference in adjacent cells. Multi-cell coordinated transmission technology is divided into uplink coordinated technology and downlink coordinated technology. Among them, the commonly mentioned joint transmission (JT) belongs to the downlink coordinated technology, which improves the system gain through joint transmission of multiple cells / base stations. Joint transmission is divided into coherent joint transmission (C-JT) that ensures coherent superposition of signals between multiple points and non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT) that does not ensure coherent superposition of multi-point signals at the receiving end.

[0007] First, determine the collaborative transmission resource set used for the joint transmission / reception of the target user signal, and the collaborative transmission resource set includes at least one CSI-RS resource. The CSI-RS resource that actually participates in the transmission / reception of the target user signal in the above collaborative transmission resource set is usually represented by a collaborative transmission reception point (TRP). In the joint transmission, the specific collaborative TRP set participating in the joint transmission is dynamically determined according to the channel quality between the CSI-RS resource and the UE. Figure 1B is a schematic diagram of coherent joint transmission data, where TRP is an antenna array, not limited to one base station. C-JT usually regards the antennas of multiple TRPs as a unified virtual antenna, based on the joint channel [H1,…,H N ], calculate the joint precoding W=[W1,…,W N ] T Each TRP uses its own precoding W i , jointly send the same symbol s, where W iIn Figure 1B , the first cooperative transmission reception point TRP1 sends symbol s with precoding W1; the second cooperative transmission reception point TRP2 sends symbol s with precoding W2; and the third cooperative transmission reception point TRP3 sends symbol s with precoding W3.

[0008] FIG1C is a schematic diagram of a C-JT precoding structure. The structure shown in FIG1C represents a joint precoding structure of a certain layer. As shown in formula (1), W is the joint precoding, W i is the precoding matrix of the i-th TRP, i is the serial number of TRP, N is the total number of TRPs, P i TRP i The dimension of the spatial beam, N f is the number of subcarriers, 2L i TRP i The number of selected spatial basis vectors, M i TRP i The number of frequency domain basis vectors. 1,i is the matrix used for spatial beam selection, is the beam combining coefficient matrix, is the matrix used for frequency domain compression. H is the mathematical symbol for "conjugate transpose". The UE needs to feedback the corresponding W through PMI 1,i 、 as well as Finally, each TRP determines the precoding of data transmitted to the UE based on the corresponding PMI information.

[0009] The C-JT codebook can only support 4-layer transmission, corresponding to one codeword (CW). Each layer of data is jointly transmitted on the collaborative transmission resource set, that is, all layers correspond to the same collaborative transmission resource set, and each TRP uses the same set of spatial basis vectors in each layer of data transmission, that is, W 1i Similarly, whether the CSI-RS resources in the collaborative transmission resource set participate in the C-JT of a certain layer is determined by Decision, if you do not participate, then the corresponding On the other hand, since each layer corresponds to the same collaborative transmission resource set, the UE's feedback PMI overhead to each TRP is the same. As the number of layers increases, the feedback overhead increases.

[0010] Therefore, how to solve the above problems has become a hot topic being studied by those skilled in the art.

[0011] Summary of the Invention

[0012] The present application provides a communication method and related equipment, which can reduce the communication overhead of a communication device feeding back CSI.

[0013] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a communication device or a chip in the communication device. Exemplarily, the communication device can be a terminal device.

[0014] The above-mentioned communication method includes the following steps: determining the first information. The above-mentioned first information indicates the mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, and the mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword. The first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to the channel quality of the transmission layer. Determine the second information. The above-mentioned second information indicates the mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and the mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second collaborative transmission resource set. The number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the above-mentioned third collaborative transmission resource set is determined based on the channel measurement result. The channel between each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set and the terminal is quantized based on the codebook to determine the CSI. Output the first information, the second information and the CSI.

[0015] It can be seen that in this solution, the transmission layer is divided into a first transmission layer group and a second transmission layer group according to the channel quality of the transmission layer, and then the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are mapped to a first codeword and a second codeword, and a first collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the first codeword, and a second collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the second codeword. Since the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, when channel quantization is performed based on the codebook, compared with the existing technology, the number of channels that need to be channel quantized is reduced, the amount of data when feeding back CSI can be reduced, and the communication overhead of feeding back CSI can be reduced.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to the channel quality of the transmission layer, and the channel quality of the first transmission layer group and the channel quality of the second transmission layer group are the same.

[0017] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group. In this solution, the transmission layers are grouped according to the differences in their channel qualities, and collaborative transmission resource sets with different numbers of transmission resources can be configured for the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group with different channel qualities.

[0018] For example, the number of transmission resources in the second coordinated transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in the third coordinated transmission resource set, the number of transmission resources in the first coordinated transmission resource set is less than or equal to the number of transmission resources in the third coordinated transmission resource set, and the number of transmission resources in the first coordinated transmission resource set is greater than the number of transmission resources in the second coordinated transmission resource set. In other words, allocating more transmission resources to the first transmission layer group with higher channel quality and allocating fewer transmission resources to the second transmission layer with lower channel quality can reduce both the communication overhead of feeding back CSI and the waste of communication overhead.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

[0020] In this scheme, compared with the first codeword, the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set utilize fewer spatial basis vectors when transmitting the second codeword with poor channel quality. By using fewer spatial basis vectors to represent the channel of the second codeword, the communication overhead of feedback CSI can be further reduced.

[0021] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first information is X, and the first information X is used to indicate that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers whose channel qualities rank top X among the transmission layers.

[0022] In this solution, X is used to indicate transport layer grouping and the mapping between codewords and transport layer groups. The transport layers ranked by channel quality in the top X are grouped into the first transport layer group, corresponding to the first codeword; the remaining transport layers are grouped into the second transport layer group, corresponding to the second codeword. X is a non-zero positive integer, and its specific value can be set based on actual conditions. This ensures that the channel quality of the first transport layer group is higher than that of the second transport layer group, and allows for faster transport layer grouping and mapping of codewords to transport layer groups.

[0023] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the outputting of the first information, the second information, and the CSI specifically includes the following steps: sending the first information, the second information, and the CSI to a first collaborative transmission resource. The first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

[0024] In this solution, when outputting the first information, the second information and the CSI, the first information, the second information and the CSI can be first sent to the first collaborative transmission resource. The first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set. The collaborative transmission resource distributes information so that each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set can obtain the first information, the mapping relationship related to itself in the second information and the information related to itself in the CSI.

[0025] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, outputting the first information, the second information, and the CSI specifically includes the following steps: sending CSI to a first coordinated transmission resource, where the CSI includes the first information and the second information. The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of a first coordinated transmission resource set and a second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0026] In this solution, when sending the first information, second information, and CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource, the first information and second information can be used as new fields in the CSI, and only the CSI needs to be sent to the first coordinated transmission resource. By multiplexing CSI, communication resources can be saved.

[0027] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the outputting of the first information, the second information, and the CSI specifically includes the following steps: sending the first information, the third information, and the first CSI related to the first collaborative transmission resource in the CSI to the first collaborative transmission resource. The third information indicates a mapping relationship related to the first collaborative transmission resource in the second information. The first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

[0028] In this solution, when outputting the first information, the second information and the CSI, the first information, the mapping relationship related to the collaborative transmission resource in the second information and the information related to the collaborative transmission resource in the CSI can be sent to each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set respectively.

[0029] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the outputting of the first information, the second information, and the CSI specifically includes the following steps: sending the first CSI to a first coordinated transmission resource. The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set. The first CSI includes the first information and third information, where the third information indicates a mapping relationship in the second information related to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0030] In this solution, when the first information, third information, and first CSI are sent to the first coordinated transmission resource, the first information and second information can be used as new fields in the first CSI. Therefore, only the first CSI needs to be sent to the first coordinated transmission resource. By multiplexing CSI, communication resources can be saved.

[0031] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

[0032] In this solution, when a collaborative transmission resource belongs to both the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword is smaller than the number of spatial basis vectors used when transmitting the first codeword, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword. The channel quality of the second codeword is poorer than that of the first codeword. Therefore, by using fewer spatial basis vectors to represent the channel of the second codeword, the communication overhead of feedback CSI can be further reduced.

[0033] In a second aspect, the present application also provides a communication method, which can be executed by a communication device or a chip in the communication device.

[0034] The above-mentioned communication method includes: receiving first information, second information and CSI. The first information indicates the mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, the mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword, and the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to the channel quality of the transmission layer. The second information indicates the mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and the mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second collaborative transmission resource set. The number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the third collaborative transmission resource set is determined based on the channel measurement result. The CSI is obtained by the terminal quantizing the channel between each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set and the terminal based on the codebook.

[0035] In this solution, the transmission layer is divided into a first transmission layer group and a second transmission layer group according to the channel quality of the transmission layer, and then the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are mapped to a first codeword and a second codeword, and a first collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the first codeword, and a second collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the second codeword. Since the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, when channel quantization is performed based on the codebook, the number of channels that need to be channel quantized is reduced compared to the existing technology, which can reduce the amount of data when feeding back CSI, thereby reducing the communication overhead of feeding back CSI.

[0036] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group.

[0037] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

[0038] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information is X, and the first information X is used to indicate that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers whose channel qualities rank top X among the transmission layers.

[0039] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the receiving of the first information, the second information, and the CSI specifically includes the following steps: receiving CSI, where the CSI includes the first information and the second information.

[0040] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

[0041] In a third aspect, the present application further provides a communication device comprising a module for executing the communication method as described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0042] In a fourth aspect, the present application also provides a communication device, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the communication method described in the first aspect or the second aspect through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0043] In a fifth aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a communication device, the communication method as described in the first aspect or the second aspect is implemented.

[0044] In a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute the communication method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0045] In the seventh aspect, the present application also provides a chip, which includes a processor and a data interface, and the processor reads instructions stored in the memory through the data interface to execute the communication method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0046] Optionally, as an implementation method, the chip may further include a memory, in which instructions are stored, and the processor is used to execute the instructions stored on the memory. When the instructions are executed, the processor is used to execute the communication method described in the first aspect or the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] The following is an introduction to the drawings used in the embodiments of this application.

[0048] FIG1A is a schematic diagram of a process of UE feeding back CSI according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG1B is a schematic diagram of coherent joint data transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG1C is a schematic diagram of a C-JT precoding structure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIG1D is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG2A is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG2B is a schematic diagram of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] The following describes the embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The terms used in the implementation methods of the embodiments of the present application are only used to explain the specific embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

[0060] To facilitate understanding, the following first introduces relevant terms and other related concepts involved in the embodiments of this application.

[0061] (1) Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO)

[0062] MIMO technology uses multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to simultaneously transmit and receive multiple data streams on the same channel, thereby increasing data transmission rates. MIMO technology is primarily categorized into two types: spatial diversity and spatial multiplexing. Spatial diversity uses multiple antennas to transmit the same data, leveraging multipath effects to improve signal quality. Spatial multiplexing uses multiple antennas to transmit different data streams, leveraging spatial correlation to increase data transmission rates.

[0063] (2) Codeword

[0064] Channel coding and modulation are performed on data from upper layers to form codewords. Layer mapping is performed on different codewords. The layer-mapped data is precoded and mapped to antennas for transmission.

[0065] (3) Transport layer

[0066] A layer refers to the information transmission and reception channel. With MIMO, if the distance between transmitting antennas is sufficient to meet isolation requirements, the signals sent from the antennas will not interfere with each other. This effectively utilizes spatial resources, dividing space into different layers and multiplying information transmission capacity.

[0067] A "layer" is a visual description of multiple modulated signal streams of the same frequency after being encoded by the precoding matrix in space.

[0068] The transport layer is equivalent to "rank" or "stream." Rank is a mathematical concept, representing the maximum number of rows in an orthogonal matrix. Spatial division multiplexing requires spatial stratification, which is achieved through precoding. Before a signal is transmitted, it must be precoded to ensure it matches the signal environment and enables the receiver to correctly decode it by leveraging correlations between signals. This process is called precoding. After MIMO, the transmitted signal is a precoded signal. Streams represent data.

[0069] (4) Spatial basis vectors

[0070] Spatial basis vectors are a set of basis vectors used to describe wireless channels in wireless communication systems, such as discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis vectors. These basis vectors are typically determined by the characteristics of the wireless channel. In wireless communication systems, spatial basis vectors are often used to describe channel state information in multi-antenna systems.

[0071] Figure 1D is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1D, the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The radio access network 100 may include at least one radio access network device (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1D) and may also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1D). The terminal is connected to the radio access network device wirelessly, and the radio access network device is connected to the core network via wireless or wired connections. The core network device and the radio access network device may be independent and distinct physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the radio access network device may be integrated into the same physical device, or a single physical device may integrate some of the functions of the core network device and some of the functions of the radio access network device. Terminals and radio access network devices may be connected to each other via wired or wireless connections. FIG1D is only a schematic diagram. The communication system may further include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG1D .

[0072] The wireless access network device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation base station (next generation NodeB, gNB) in the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in the sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc.; it can also be a module or unit that performs part of the functions of a base station, for example, it can be a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The wireless access network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1D), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1D), or a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the wireless access network device. For the sake of convenience, the following description takes the base station as an example of the wireless access network device.

[0073] A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, drone, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal.

[0074] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or in the air on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and terminals.

[0075] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1D can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station. However, for base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1D can be referred to as communication devices with base station functionality, while 120a-120j in Figure 1D can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functionality.

[0076] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be carried out through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; communication can be carried out through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0077] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes the base station functions. The control subsystem that includes the base station functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device that includes the terminal functions.

[0078] In the present application, the base station sends a downlink signal or downlink information to the terminal, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal sends an uplink signal or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel.

[0079] It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) are merely examples of downlink data channels, downlink control channels, uplink data channels, and uplink control channels. In different systems and different scenarios, data channels and control channels may have different names, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0080] In 5G communication systems, the application of massive multi-antenna technology plays a crucial role in improving the system's spectral efficiency. When using MIMO technology, the base station must precode the data before sending it to the UE. The precoding method relies on the CSI (Channel Information Score) that the UE provides to the base station. Therefore, accurate CSI feedback is a crucial factor influencing system performance.

[0081] In time division duplexing (TDD) mode, uplink and downlink channels transmit signals on different time resources within the same frequency domain. Within a relatively short period of time (the coherence time of channel propagation), the signals on the uplink and downlink channels can be assumed to experience the same channel fading, thus demonstrating reciprocity. The base station can leverage this channel reciprocity to obtain the CSI of the downlink channel through the uplink channel for precoding.

[0082] In FDD mode, the frequency band spacing of the uplink and downlink channels is much larger than the coherence bandwidth, and the uplink and downlink channels do not have complete reciprocity. In the FDD system, the UE needs to feedback the CSI of the downlink channel to the base station. The basic process is shown in Figure 1A. Among them, the CSI includes measurement information such as CQI, PMI, CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI), SSB Resource Indicator (SSBRI), Layer Indicator (LI), Rank Indicator (RI) and L1-Reference Signal Receiving Power (L1-RSRP). Among them, SSBRI, LI and L1-RSRP are newly added feedback quantities in the New Radio (NR). L1 is used to indicate the strongest column in the PMI and is used for PT-RS reference signal mapping. SSBRI and L1-RSRP are used for beam management. SSBRI indicates the beam index and L1-RSRP indicates the beam strength.

[0083] The base station determines the number of data streams to be transmitted to the UE based on the RI. The base station also determines the modulation order and channel coding rate for the data transmitted to the UE based on the CQI in the CSI. The base station also determines the precoding of the data transmitted to the UE based on the PMI. Specifically, the base station performs channel coding and modulation on data from upper layers to form codewords; performs layer mapping on different codewords; and precodes the layer-mapped data for mapping to the antennas for transmission.

[0084] In the NR standard protocol, FDD CSI feedback uses base station-side information as a reference for channel quantization. The R15 Type II codebook employs spatial (angle) compression, representing the precoding matrix for a single user as a linear combination of several spatial basis vectors. The R16 Type II codebook, based on the R15 codebook, further compresses the frequency domain (delay) by leveraging the frequency domain correlation of the amplitude and phase coefficients of different subbands. It represents the matrix using a bilinear combination of several spatial basis vectors and several frequency domain DFT basis vectors.

[0085] In FDD mode, it is very expensive for the UE to directly feed back the received channel to the base station. Generally, a codebook (including multiple space-frequency basis vectors) is used to quantize the channel and feed back the CSI. The codebook is known to both the base station and the UE. The base station uses the CSI and the known codebook to obtain the quantized channel.

[0086] In order to improve the user's SINR and reduce inter-cell interference, thereby improving network system capacity and user experience, joint transmission is proposed. Joint transmission is divided into guaranteed C-JT and NC-JT. Figure 1B is a schematic diagram of coherent joint transmission of data, where TRP is an antenna array and is not limited to one base station. C-JT usually regards the antennas of multiple TRPs as a unified virtual antenna, based on the joint channel [H1,…,H N ], calculate the joint precoding W=[W1,…,W N ] T Each TRP uses its own precoding W i , jointly send the same symbol s, where W i It is determined based on the PMI feedback from the UE. Figure 1C is a schematic diagram of the C-JT precoding structure. The structure shown in Figure 1C represents the joint precoding structure of a certain layer; as shown in formula (1), W is the joint precoding, W i is the precoding matrix of the i-th TRP, i is the serial number of TRP, N is the total number of TRPs, P i TRP i The dimension of the spatial beam, N f is the number of subcarriers, 2L i TRP i The number of selected spatial basis vectors, M i TRP i The number of frequency domain basis vectors. 1,i is the matrix used for beam selection, is the beam combining coefficient matrix, is the matrix used for frequency domain compression. UE needs to feedback the corresponding W through PMI 1,i 、 as well as Finally, each TRP determines the precoding of data transmitted to the UE based on the corresponding PMI information.

[0087] The C-JT codebook can only support 4-layer transmission, corresponding to one codeword. Each layer of data is jointly transmitted on the collaborative transmission resource set, that is, all layers correspond to the same collaborative transmission resource set, and each TRP uses the same spatial basis vector set in each layer of data transmission, that is, W 1，i Similarly, whether the CSI-RS resources in the collaborative transmission resource set participate in the C-JT of a certain layer is determined by W 2，i Decision, if you do not participate, the corresponding W 2， i On the other hand, since each layer corresponds to the same collaborative transmission resource set, the UE's feedback PMI overhead to each TRP is the same. As the number of layers increases, the feedback overhead increases.

[0088] Therefore, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method that can reduce the communication overhead of a communication device feeding back CSI.

[0089] The communication method of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to future communication networks such as the long term evolution (LTE) system, the long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) system, the enhanced long term evolution (eLTE), the new air interface system of the 5G mobile communication system, the sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, and can also be extended to similar wireless communication systems such as wireless fidelity (WiFi), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX), and cellular systems related to the third generation partnership project (3GPP).

[0090] The communication method in the embodiment of the present application is applicable to a variety of communication systems including the 5G NR system, and the above-mentioned communication system meets the following requirements: there is an entity in the communication system that needs to send transmission direction indication information, and another entity in the communication system needs to receive the indication information and determine the transmission direction within a certain time based on the indication information.

[0091] The above communication method is applied to a communication system, which includes network equipment and terminal equipment. The network equipment, also known as radio access network equipment, is an entity on the network side that transmits or receives signals, such as a gNB. The terminal equipment, also known as a terminal, is an entity on the user side that transmits or receives signals, such as a mobile phone.

[0092] As shown in Figure 2A, a communication system exemplarily includes multiple base stations 201 and multiple UEs 202 forming a communication system, where multiple base stations simultaneously serve one UE. In this communication system, a UE can send uplink data to a base station, and the base station needs to receive the uplink data sent by the UE.

[0093] Referring to Figure 2B, Figure 2B is a schematic diagram of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application; wherein both the base station and the UE include a physical layer (PHY) signaling and data interaction module, which is a module used by the base station and the UE to send and receive uplink / downlink control signaling and uplink / downlink data. The downlink control signaling is carried in the PDCCH, and the downlink data is carried in the PDSCH. The uplink control signaling is carried in the PUCCH, and the uplink data is carried in the PUSCH.

[0094] The communication method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below, taking the base station and the terminal as the execution entities as an example.

[0095] Referring to Figures 3 and 4, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application; the communication method of the present application includes the following steps:

[0096] 201. The terminal determines first information.

[0097] The first information indicates a mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, and a mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword. The first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to the channel quality (or channel condition) of the transmission layer.

[0098] Specifically, the first information may directly or indirectly indicate a mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, and a mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword. The channel quality of the transmission layer may be characterized by various channel evaluation parameters, such as a modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

[0099] 202. The terminal determines the second information.

[0100] The second information indicates a mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first set of coordinated transmission resources, and a mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second set of coordinated transmission resources. The second information may directly or indirectly indicate a mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first set of coordinated transmission resources, and a mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second set of coordinated transmission resources.

[0101] The transmission resources are Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources. Each transmission resource corresponds to an antenna array, and a base station can have at least one transmission resource. The first and second collaborative transmission resource sets are collaborative transmission resource sets used for joint transmission / reception of user signals.

[0102] For example, when the second information is an indirect indication, the second information can be a mapping relationship between at least one transmission layer in the first transmission layer group and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and a mapping relationship between at least one transmission layer in the second transmission layer group and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

[0103] For example, assume that the first information indicates that the first codeword corresponds to transmission layer 1 to transmission layer 4, and the second codeword corresponds to transmission layer 5 to transmission layer 8. The second information can be the mapping relationship between transmission layer 1 (or any one of transmission layers 2 to transmission layer 4) and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and the mapping relationship between transmission layer 8 (or any one of transmission layers 5 to transmission layer 7) and the second collaborative transmission resource set. Since the transmission layer corresponds to the codeword, it can be determined according to the above second information that the first codeword corresponds to the first collaborative transmission resource set, and the second codeword corresponds to the second collaborative transmission resource set. Alternatively, the second information can be the mapping relationship between all transmission layers in transmission layer 1 to transmission layer 4 and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and the mapping relationship between all transmission layers in transmission layer 5 to transmission layer 8 and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

[0104] The number of transmission resources in the first coordinated transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in the third coordinated transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources in the second coordinated transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in the third coordinated transmission resource set. The third coordinated transmission resource set is determined based on channel measurement results. The third coordinated transmission resource set is semi-statically determined based on the channel measurement results, and its determination method is the same as that in the prior art.

[0105] Specifically, based on the transmission layer grouping, a collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the first codeword and the second codeword. The first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set may be the same, completely different, or partially the same.

[0106] 203. The terminal quantizes the channel between each coordinated transmission resource in the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set and the terminal based on the codebook to determine CSI. 204. The terminal outputs the first information, the second information, and the CSI.

[0107] In an embodiment of the present application, the transmission layer is divided into a first transmission layer group and a second transmission layer group according to the channel quality of the transmission layer, and then the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are mapped to a first codeword and a second codeword, and a first collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the first codeword, and a second collaborative transmission resource set is configured for the second codeword. Since the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, when channel quantization is performed based on the codebook, compared with the prior art, the number of channels that need to be channel quantized is reduced, the amount of data when feeding back CSI can be reduced, and thus the communication overhead of feeding back CSI is reduced.

[0108] In the embodiment of the present application, the transport layer is mapped to two codewords, the first codeword and the second codeword. The communication method of the embodiment of the present application can also be extended to the case of more than three codewords without special limitation.

[0109] The first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to the channel quality of the transmission layer. The channel quality of the first transmission layer group and the channel quality of the second transmission layer group may be the same.

[0110] In one possible implementation, the channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group. In this solution, the transmission layers are grouped according to their channel quality differences, and thus collaborative transmission resource sets with different numbers of transmission resources can be configured for the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group with different channel qualities.

[0111] For example, the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than or equal to the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is higher than the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set. For another example, the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set are both less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is higher than the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set. In other words, allocating more transmission resources to the first transmission layer group with higher channel quality and allocating fewer transmission resources to the second transmission layer with lower channel quality can reduce both the communication overhead of feedback CSI and the waste of communication overhead.

[0112] In one possible implementation, when the first information indirectly indicates a mapping relationship between a first transmission layer group and a first codeword, and a mapping relationship between a second transmission layer group and a second codeword, the first information is X, and the first information being X indicates that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers ranked in the top X in terms of channel quality among the transmission layers. X is a non-zero positive integer, and the specific value of X can be set based on actual conditions. For example, the value of X is determined based on the channel quality of the transmission layer.

[0113] Specifically, both the base station and the terminal can obtain the channel quality of the transmission layer. Therefore, the correspondence between codewords and layers can be flexibly adjusted according to the channel conditions of each layer, and the layers can be grouped according to the channel quality. For example, codeword 1 corresponds to layers 1 to X, and codeword 2 corresponds to layers X+1 to V, where the number of layers V is greater than 4. The mapping relationship is determined by the signaling indication X value. The base station can then implement the mapping between transmission layers and codewords based on the X value.

[0114] In the embodiments of the present application, X is used to indicate the transport layer grouping and the mapping relationship between codewords and transport layer groups. The transport layers ranked in the top X by channel quality are grouped into a first transport layer group, corresponding to a first codeword; while the remaining transport layers are grouped into a second transport layer group, corresponding to a second codeword. This ensures that the channel quality of the first transport layer group is higher than that of the second transport layer group, and allows for rapid transport layer grouping and mapping of codewords to transport layer groups.

[0115] In a possible embodiment, when the above-mentioned first information directly indicates the mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, and the mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword, the base station does not know the channel quality of the transmission layer, and the terminal needs to feedback the specific mapping relationship, that is, which transmission layers correspond to which codeword.

[0116] In a possible implementation, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

[0117] In an embodiment of the present application, compared with the first codeword, the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set utilize fewer spatial basis vectors when transmitting the second codeword with poor channel quality. By using fewer spatial basis vectors to represent the channel of the second codeword, the communication overhead of the feedback CSI can be further reduced.

[0118] The number of spatial basis vectors is related to the codeword corresponding to the transmission layer group, that is, 0<γ L <1; L is the number of spatial basis vectors, CW represents the codeword, CW1 is the first codeword, and CW is the second codeword. n is the corresponding layer, γ LThat is, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the coordinated transmission resources for transmitting the second codeword is smaller than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the coordinated transmission resources for transmitting the first codeword.

[0119] In one possible embodiment, the second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

[0120] In an embodiment of the present application, when a certain collaborative transmission resource (such as a second collaborative transmission resource) belongs to both the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword is less than the number of spatial basis vectors used when transmitting the first codeword, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword. The channel quality of the second codeword is poorer than the channel quality of the first codeword. Therefore, by using fewer spatial basis vectors to characterize the channel of the second codeword, the communication overhead of feedback CSI can be further reduced.

[0121] Specifically, for the second cooperative transmission resource, it is included in both the first cooperative transmission resource set and the second cooperative transmission resource set. The second cooperative transmission resource selects The second collaborative transmission resource transmits the second codeword from the above spatial basis vectors. Select from the spatial basis vectors With reference to FIG1C , the spatial basis vectors used by the second cooperative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used when transmitting the first codeword. Reducing the number of spatial basis vectors L can effectively reduce CSI feedback overhead.

[0122] In a possible implementation, referring to FIG4 , the above step 204 specifically includes the following steps:

[0123] The terminal sends the first information, the second information, and the CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0124] Correspondingly, the first coordinated transmission resource receives the first information, the second information, and the CSI. Alternatively, the base station receives the first information, the second information, and the CSI. The base station is the base station where the first coordinated transmission resource is located.

[0125] The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0126] In an embodiment of the present application, when outputting the first information, the second information, and the CSI, the terminal may first send the first information, the second information, and the CSI to the first collaborative transmission resource. The first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set. The collaborative transmission resource distributes information so that each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set can obtain the first information, a mapping relationship related to itself in the second information, and information related to itself in the CSI. Based on the first information, the second information, and the CSI, the collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set that actually participate in the joint data transmission perform joint data transmission.

[0127] In a possible implementation, step 204 specifically includes the following steps:

[0128] The terminal sends CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource, where the CSI includes first information and second information.

[0129] Correspondingly, the first coordinated transmission resource receives CSI. Alternatively, the base station receives CSI. The base station is the base station where the first coordinated transmission resource is located.

[0130] The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0131] In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal sends the first information, the second information, and the CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource, the first information and the second information can be used as new fields in the CSI, and the terminal only needs to send the CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource. By multiplexing the CSI, communication resources can be saved.

[0132] Exemplarily, the number of first cooperative transmission resources may be one, and information distribution is performed using only one cooperative transmission resource in the first cooperative transmission resource set and the second cooperative transmission resource set to reduce communication overhead. Alternatively, the number of first cooperative transmission resources may be multiple, and information distribution is performed using multiple first cooperative transmission resources in the first cooperative transmission resource set and the second cooperative transmission resource set, with information transmission performed multiple times to ensure reliable transmission of the first information, the second information, and the CSI.

[0133] In a possible implementation, step 204 specifically includes the following steps:

[0134] The terminal sends the first information, the third information, and the first CSI related to the first coordinated transmission resource in the CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0135] Correspondingly, the first coordinated transmission resource receives the first information, the third information, and the first CSI. Alternatively, the base station receives the first information, the third information, and the first CSI. The base station is the base station where the first coordinated transmission resource is located.

[0136] The third information indicates a mapping relationship related to the first coordinated transmission resource in the second information. The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0137] In an embodiment of the present application, when outputting the first information, the second information and the CSI, the terminal may respectively send the first information, the mapping relationship related to the collaborative transmission resource in the second information and the information related to the collaborative transmission resource in the CSI to each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set (in the embodiment of the present application, the first collaborative transmission resource is taken as an example).

[0138] Among them, the union of the first CSI corresponding to all collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set is the CSI in step 204, and the union of the third information corresponding to all collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set is the second information.

[0139] Each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set that actually participates in the joint data transmission performs joint data transmission according to the first information, the third information of the collaborative transmission resource and the first CSI of the collaborative transmission resource.

[0140] In a possible implementation, step 204 specifically includes the following steps:

[0141] The terminal sends first CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0142] Correspondingly, the first coordinated transmission resource receives the first CSI. Alternatively, the base station receives the first CSI. The base station is the base station where the first coordinated transmission resource is located.

[0143] The first CSI includes first information and third information, where the third information indicates a mapping relationship in the second information related to the first coordinated transmission resource. The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0144] In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal sends the first information, the third information, and the first CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource, the first information and the second information can be used as new fields in the first CSI. The terminal only needs to send the first CSI to the first coordinated transmission resource. By multiplexing CSI, communication resources can be saved.

[0145] It is understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and the terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in conjunction with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0146] Figures 5, 6, and 7 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal or the first coordinated transmission resource (or base station) in the above-mentioned method embodiments, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be one of the terminals 120a-120j as shown in Figure 1D, or it can be the base station 110a or 110b as shown in Figure 1D, or it can be a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal or base station.

[0147] As shown in Figure 5 , a communication device 500 includes a processing unit 510 and a transceiver unit 520. The communication device 500 is used to implement the functions of the terminal in the method embodiment shown in Figure 3 above.

[0148] When the communication device 500 is used to implement the functions of the terminal in the method embodiment shown in Figure 3: the processing unit 510 is used to determine first information. The first information indicates the mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, and the mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword. The first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined based on the channel quality of the transmission layer. The processing unit 510 is also used to determine second information. The second information indicates the mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first coordinated transmission resource set, and the mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second coordinated transmission resource set. The number of transmission resources in the first coordinated transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in the third coordinated transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources in the second coordinated transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources in the third coordinated transmission resource set, and the third coordinated transmission resource set is determined based on channel measurement results. The processing unit 510 is also used to quantize the channel between each coordinated transmission resource in the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set and the terminal based on a codebook to determine channel state information (CSI). The transceiver unit 520 is used to output the first information, the second information, and the CSI.

[0149] In a possible implementation, the channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group.

[0150] In a possible implementation, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

[0151] In a possible implementation manner, the first information is X, and the first information X is used to indicate that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers whose channel qualities rank top X among the transmission layers.

[0152] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 520 is specifically configured to output the first information, the second information, and the CSI:

[0153] The first information, the second information, and the CSI are sent to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0154] The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0155] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 520 is specifically configured to output the first information, the second information, and the CSI:

[0156] CSI is sent to the first coordinated transmission resource, where the CSI includes first information and second information.

[0157] The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0158] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 520 is specifically configured to output the first information, the second information, and the CSI:

[0159] The first information, the third information, and the first CSI related to the first cooperative transmission resource in the CSI are sent to the first cooperative transmission resource.

[0160] The third information indicates a mapping relationship related to the first coordinated transmission resource in the second information. The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0161] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 520 is specifically configured to output the first information, the second information, and the CSI:

[0162] The first CSI is sent to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0163] The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set. The first CSI includes first information and third information, where the third information indicates a mapping relationship in the second information related to the first coordinated transmission resource.

[0164] In one possible embodiment, the second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

[0165] A more detailed description of the processing unit 510 and the transceiver unit 520 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG3 , and is not repeated here.

[0166] As shown in Figure 6 , a communication device 600 includes a transceiver unit 610. The communication device 600 is used to implement the function of the first coordinated transmission resource (or base station) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4 above.

[0167] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the function of the first collaborative transmission resource in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4: the transceiver unit 610 is used to receive the first information, the second information and the CSI. The first information indicates the mapping relationship between the first transmission layer group and the first codeword, and the mapping relationship between the second transmission layer group and the second codeword, and the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to the channel quality of the transmission layer. The second information indicates the mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and the mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second collaborative transmission resource set. The number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the third collaborative transmission resource set is determined based on the channel measurement result. The CSI is obtained by the terminal quantizing the channel between each collaborative transmission resource in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set and the terminal based on the codebook.

[0168] In a possible implementation, the channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group.

[0169] In a possible implementation, the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the first collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the collaborative transmission resources in the second collaborative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

[0170] In a possible implementation manner, the first information is X, and the first information X is used to indicate that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers whose channel qualities rank top X among the transmission layers.

[0171] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 610 is specifically configured to receive the first information, the second information, and the CSI by: receiving the CSI, where the CSI includes the first information and the second information.

[0172] In one possible implementation, the second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

[0173] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 610 is specifically configured to receive the first information, the second information, and the CSI by:

[0174] Receive first information, third information, and first CSI. The third information indicates a mapping relationship in the second information related to a first coordinated transmission resource (communication device 600 is a bearer of the first coordinated transmission resource). The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0175] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 610 is specifically configured to receive the first information, the second information, and the CSI by:

[0176] Receive first CSI. The first CSI includes first information and third information, where the third information indicates a mapping relationship related to a first coordinated transmission resource in the second information. The first coordinated transmission resource is any one of the first coordinated transmission resource set and the second coordinated transmission resource set.

[0177] A more detailed description of the transceiver unit 610 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG4 , and is not repeated here.

[0178] As shown in Figure 7, communication device 700 includes a processor 710 and an interface circuit 720. Processor 710 and interface circuit 720 are coupled to each other. It will be appreciated that interface circuit 720 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 700 may further include a memory 730 for storing instructions executed by processor 710, input data required by processor 710 to execute instructions, or data generated after processor 710 executes instructions.

[0179] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 3 , the processor 710 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 510 , and the interface circuit 720 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 520 .

[0180] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the first coordinated transmission resource in the method shown in FIG. 4 , the interface circuit 720 is used to implement the function of the above-mentioned transceiver unit 610 .

[0181] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The terminal device chip receives information from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or the terminal device chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0182] When the communication device is a chip used in a network device, the network device chip implements the network device functions of the above method embodiments. The network device chip receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device chip sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0183] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0184] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a network device or a terminal device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in a network device or a terminal device as discrete components.

[0185] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive.

[0186] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0187] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formulas of this application, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in a "division" relationship.

[0188] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine first information, where the first information indicates a mapping relationship between a first transmission layer group and a first codeword, and a mapping relationship between a second transmission layer group and a second codeword, where the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to a channel quality of a transmission layer; Determine second information, where the second information indicates a mapping relationship between the first codeword and a first collaborative transmission resource set, and a mapping relationship between the second codeword and a second collaborative transmission resource set, wherein the number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of a third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the third collaborative transmission resource set is determined based on a channel measurement result; quantize a channel between each cooperative transmission resource in the first cooperative transmission resource set and the second cooperative transmission resource set and the terminal based on a codebook to determine channel state information CSI; The first information, the second information, and the CSI are output.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The number of spatial basis vectors used by the cooperative transmission resources in the first cooperative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by the cooperative transmission resources in the second cooperative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The first information is X, and the first information is X for indicating that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers whose channel quality ranks top X among the transmission layers.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The outputting the first information, the second information, and the CSI includes: The first information, the second information and the CSI are sent to a first collaborative transmission resource, where the first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The outputting the first information, the second information, and the CSI includes: The CSI is sent to a first collaborative transmission resource, where the CSI includes the first information and the second information, and the first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The outputting the first information, the second information, and the CSI includes: The first information, the third information, and the first CSI related to the first collaborative transmission resource in the CSI are sent to the first collaborative transmission resource, and the third information indicates a mapping relationship related to the first collaborative transmission resource in the second information; the first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The outputting the first information, the second information, and the CSI includes: A first CSI is sent to a first collaborative transmission resource, where the first collaborative transmission resource is any one of the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the first CSI includes the first information and third information, and the third information indicates a mapping relationship in the second information related to the first collaborative transmission resource.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial domain basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial domain basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

10. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving first information, second information, and CSI; The first information indicates a mapping relationship between a first transmission layer group and a first codeword, and a mapping relationship between a second transmission layer group and a second codeword, and the first transmission layer group and the second transmission layer group are determined according to a channel quality of a transmission layer; The second information indicates a mapping relationship between the first codeword and the first collaborative transmission resource set, and a mapping relationship between the second codeword and the second collaborative transmission resource set; The number of transmission resources of the first collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and / or the number of transmission resources of the second collaborative transmission resource set is less than the number of transmission resources of the third collaborative transmission resource set, and the third collaborative transmission resource set is determined based on a channel measurement result; The CSI is obtained by the terminal quantizing a channel between each cooperative transmission resource in the first cooperative transmission resource set and the second cooperative transmission resource set and the terminal based on a codebook.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The channel quality of the first transmission layer group is higher than the channel quality of the second transmission layer group.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: The number of spatial basis vectors used by each cooperative transmission resource in the first cooperative transmission resource set when transmitting the first codeword is greater than the number of spatial basis vectors used by each cooperative transmission resource in the second cooperative transmission resource set when transmitting the second codeword.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that: The first information is X, and the first information is X for indicating that the first transmission layer group is composed of transmission layers whose channel quality ranks top X among the transmission layers.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that The receiving the first information, the second information and the CSI includes: The CSI is received, where the CSI includes the first information and the second information.

15. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that The second collaborative transmission resource is included in the first collaborative transmission resource set and the second collaborative transmission resource set, and the spatial domain basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the second codeword are a subset of the spatial domain basis vectors used by the second collaborative transmission resource when transmitting the first codeword.

16. A communication device comprising means for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: It includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 15 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or an instruction. When the computer program or the instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is implemented.

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