Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method is used for reducing pilot pollution between terminal devices. The method comprises: sending first information, wherein the first information indicates pilots corresponding to a plurality of terminal devices in a first user group, the pilots corresponding to the plurality of terminal devices in the first user group are orthogonal, and the plurality of terminal devices in the first user group include terminal devices in at least two cells.

Description

Communication method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on November 30, 2023, with application number 202311640778.4 and application name “Communication Method and Communication Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] In massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, as the number of users in a region increases, mutually orthogonal pilot sequences cannot fully meet the needs of all users in the region. Therefore, users in different cells may use non-orthogonal pilot sequences. Furthermore, while a base station obtains channel information from terminals in its own cell, it may also obtain channel information from terminals in other cells. As a result, the base station's estimate of the channel for its own cell is superimposed with information from other terminals, contaminating the pilot information. This pilot contamination can cause deviations in the base station's signal processing, resulting in interference between cells and severely limiting system performance.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and a communication device to reduce pilot pollution between terminal devices.

[0006] The first aspect provides a communication method. The method is executed by a control device, or the method is executed by some components in the control device (such as a processor, chip or chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the control device. The control device is a device in the access network. The control device can be a network device including a BBU, a CU or a BBH. Or the control device is a BBU, a CU or a BBH. The method is executed by one control device among multiple control devices (hereinafter referred to as the target control device). The multiple control devices are control devices with a collaborative relationship. The multiple control devices can be deployed in the same computer room or in different computer rooms, and there is no limitation here.

[0007] The method includes: controlling a device to send first information, the first information indicating pilots corresponding to multiple terminal devices in a first user group, the pilots corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the first user group being orthogonal, and the multiple terminal devices in the first user group including terminal devices in at least two cells. The pilot may also be referred to as pilot information, pilot signal, reference signal (RS), reference sequence, or pilot sequence. The pilot may be used for channel measurement or channel estimation. Therefore, whether the pilot is contaminated can affect the accuracy of the channel estimation, thereby affecting the demodulation performance of the signal.

[0008] In the embodiments of the present application, terminal devices in at least two cells are grouped to obtain multiple user groups. The pilot signals of the terminal devices in each user group are orthogonal, thereby reducing pilot contamination, ensuring the accuracy of channel estimation, and thereby improving demodulation performance. Furthermore, the terminal devices in the user groups in the embodiments of the present application are not limited to terminal devices in the same cell, but can come from different cells, thereby reducing pilot contamination between terminal devices in different cells.

[0009] In one possible implementation, terminal devices in the same user group may have high channel correlation, high interference, or be located close together. Therefore, by grouping interfering terminal devices into the same user group and allocating orthogonal pilots to the terminal devices in the same user group, pilot contamination between terminal devices that would otherwise have significant interference can be reduced.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the control device sends second information indicating the control device associated with the first user group, and the control device is configured to process uplink signals from terminal devices in the associated first user group. The second information may be sent to the radio frequency device, so that the radio frequency device can, based on the association between the user group and the control device, send the uplink signal from the terminal device to the control device associated with the terminal device. This allows the control device to demodulate the uplink signal from the terminal device on a user group basis, eliminating the need for interaction between control devices, thereby reducing latency and improving gain.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third information, where the first information indicates the terminal devices included in the first user group. The third information may be sent to other coordinated control devices so that the control devices can identify the terminal devices in the same user group and demodulate uplink signals of the terminal devices in units of user groups.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving uplink signals from multiple terminal devices in an associated second user group; and jointly demodulating the uplink signals from the multiple terminal devices in the second user group. The uplink signals from the terminal devices may include signals received by the radio frequency device corresponding to the serving cell, and may also include signals received by the radio frequency device corresponding to the collaborative cell. The control device can obtain uplink signals from the radio frequency device in the same user group, thereby demodulating the uplink signals from the terminal devices on a user group basis without interacting with other control devices, thereby reducing processing latency.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: obtaining channel measurement information corresponding to terminal devices in multiple cells; and determining multiple terminal devices in the first user group based on the channel measurement information. The channel measurement information includes, for example, reference signal receiving power (RSRP), sounding reference signal (SRS) measurement information, positioning reference signal (PRS) (including uplink PRS (UL-PRS) or downlink PRS (DL-PRS)) measurement information, and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement information, etc. At least one of the above. The control device can classify terminal devices with high channel correlation / high interference / close distance among multiple terminal devices into the same user group based on the channel measurement information, thereby reducing pilot pollution between terminal devices that originally had severe interference.

[0014] A second aspect provides a communication method, comprising: receiving first information, the first information indicating pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in a first user group, the pilot signals corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the first user group being orthogonal to each other, and the multiple terminal devices in the first user group including terminal devices in at least two cells.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving second information, where the second information indicates association with a control device associated with the first user group, and the control device is configured to process uplink signals of terminal devices in the associated first user group.

[0016] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a first uplink signal from a terminal device in the user group; and sending a second uplink signal to a control device associated with the terminal device, where the second uplink signal is obtained based on the first uplink signal.

[0017] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: sending fourth information indicating a pilot corresponding to a terminal device in the user group. Thus, the terminal device can use the corresponding pilot to send an uplink signal, thereby improving the accuracy of uplink channel estimation and the performance of demodulating the uplink signal.

[0018] In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device having the functionality to implement the behaviors described in the method example of the first aspect. The beneficial effects can be found in the description of the first aspect and are not further described here. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect, or the communication device may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device described in the first aspect to implement the functionality required by the method provided in the first aspect, such as a chip or chip system.

[0019] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding means or modules for performing the method of the first aspect. For example, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and / or a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). These units (modules) can perform the corresponding functions in the above-mentioned method example of the first aspect. For details, please refer to the detailed description in the method example, which is not repeated here.

[0020] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device having the function of implementing the behavior in the method example of the second aspect above. The beneficial effects can be found in the description of the second aspect and are not repeated here. The communication device can be the network device in the second aspect, or the communication device can be a device that can support the network device in the second aspect to implement the functions required by the method provided in the second aspect, such as a chip or chip system.

[0021] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding means or modules for performing the method of the second aspect. For example, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and / or a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). These units (modules) can perform the corresponding functions in the above-mentioned method example of the second aspect. For details, please refer to the detailed description in the method example, which is not repeated here.

[0022] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the communication device in the third or fourth aspect of the above-mentioned embodiment, or a chip or chip system provided in the communication device in the third or fourth aspect. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, further includes a memory. The memory is used to store computer programs, instructions, or data, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program, instructions, or data, the communication device executes the method performed by the terminal device or network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment.

[0023] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processor and, optionally, a memory, wherein the at least one processor is coupled to the memory. The at least one processor is configured to execute the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0024] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and may also include a memory and / or a communication interface, for implementing the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect. In one possible implementation, the chip system also includes a memory for storing program instructions and / or data. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0025] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising a communication device for executing the method described in the first aspect and a communication device for executing the method described in the second aspect. The communication device for executing the method described in the first aspect is, for example, the terminal device described in the first aspect, and the communication device for executing the method described in the second aspect is, for example, the network device described in the second aspect. Optionally, the communication system may further include a positioning management device.

[0026] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed, the method of any one of the first to second aspects described above is implemented.

[0027] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising: a computer program code, wherein when the computer program code is run, the method in any one of the first to second aspects is executed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of the method provided in the application embodiment;

[0029] FIG2a is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a wireless access network provided by the present application;

[0030] FIG2b is a schematic diagram of the architecture of another wireless access network provided by the present application;

[0031] FIG2c is a schematic diagram of the architecture of another wireless access network provided by the present application;

[0032] FIG2d is a schematic diagram of the architecture of another wireless access network provided by the present application;

[0033] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the software and hardware architecture of the access network provided by this application;

[0034] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0035] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0036] FIG6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0038] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD) systems, world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth generation (5G) systems or new radio (NR), sixth generation (6G) systems or future communication systems. The 5G mobile communication system described in this application includes a non-standalone (NSA) 5G mobile communication system or a standalone (SA) 5G mobile communication system. The communication system may also be a public land mobile network (PLMN), a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT) communication system, a vehicle to everything (V2X) communication system, an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) communication system, or other communication systems.

[0039] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can represent A or B. "And / or" in this application is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: 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 addition, in the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" refers to two or more than two. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, and c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0040] In addition, for the sake of clarity in describing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially identical functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and order of execution, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit differences. At the same time, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplarily" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or technical solution described as "exemplarily" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design solutions. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplarily" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant probabilities in a concrete manner for easy understanding.

[0041] In addition, the network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0042] To facilitate understanding of the embodiment of the present application, an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application is first described in detail with reference to FIG1 .

[0043] Figure 1 is a system architecture applicable to the method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the system includes: a first network device and a second network device. The first network device and the second network device are connected through a first interface, and the first interface can be any one of the following interfaces: a common public radio interface (CPRI), an enhanced CPRI (eCPRI) interface, an F1 interface, or an interface defined in the future for connecting two network devices. eCPRI services are carried on the eCPRI protocol layer, and the eCPRI services include user data, real-time control, and other eCPRI services. The eCPRI services can be carried on the transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP) layer, or they can skip the TCP / IP layer and be directly encapsulated in the Ethernet media access control (MAC) layer. Exemplarily, the first interface can be called a fronthaul interface or a midhaul interface.

[0044] Exemplarily, the first network device is a control device, and the second network device is a radio frequency device. In a multi-cell collaboration scenario, the first network device can send first information and second information to the second network device through the first interface. The first information indicates the pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in the user group. The second information indicates the control device associated with the user group, or the association relationship between the user group and the control device. Accordingly, after receiving the first information from the first network device, the second network device can send the pilot signal to the corresponding terminal device. After receiving the second information from the first network device, the second network device can send the uplink signal corresponding to the terminal device to the control device associated with the terminal device after receiving the uplink signal of the terminal device.

[0045] Among them, the control device can serve as the main device of the base station, providing the function of processing baseband signals, such as providing high-level baseband processing (BBH) function, and / or providing control and management of the functions of various devices of the base station. For example, BBH can have one or more functions of coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping in the downlink direction, and BBH can have one or more functions of decoding, rate de-matching, descrambling, demodulation, and channel estimation / equalization in the uplink direction. In another implementation, the control device can be a baseband unit (BU or BBU), a centralized unit (CU), etc., or the control device can be a device including a BBU or a CU.

[0046] In some deployments, the control device may include a CU. Furthermore, the CU may also adopt an architecture with a separate control plane (CP) and user plane (UP), that is, the CU may include a CU-CP entity and a CU-UP entity.

[0047] The radio frequency device can serve as the radio frequency module of the base station, can be used to process intermediate frequency signals and / or radio frequency signals, and can also be used to receive and transmit wireless signals. The radio frequency device can also be used to provide some baseband signal processing functions, for example, providing low-layer baseband processing (baseband low, BBL) functions. In some deployments, the radio frequency device may also include a distributed unit (DU). It can be understood that the DU includes some baseband processing functions. In this application, the DU is deployed near the antenna array, so the DU is used as a functional module in the radio frequency device. Exemplarily, the BBL may have one or more functions of resource element mapping, digital beam forming (DBF), inverse fast Fourier transformation (IFFT) and cyclic prefix addition, analog beam forming (ABF), and analog to digital conversion in the downlink direction, and the BBL may have one or more functions of fast Fourier transformation (FFT) and cyclic prefix removal, and resource element de-mapping in the uplink direction. Exemplarily, the radio frequency device may be a device including a radio unit (RU), a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), a DU, etc., or the radio frequency device may be an RU, an RRU, an AAU, or a DU, etc.

[0048] The control device may include a processing module, which is primarily configured to perform L3 protocol functions, L2 protocol functions, and upper-layer baseband processing (BBH) functions in the L1 layer on received data. The BBH functions may be part of the L1 protocol functions. For example, the BBH functions include, but are not limited to, one or more of encoding, layer mapping, precoding, antenna mapping, resource element (RE) mapping, and inverse fast Fourier transform. For another example, the BBH functions include, but are not limited to, one or more of resource element (RE) demapping, beam mapping, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) equalization, and decoding.

[0049] In some deployments, when the radio frequency device includes a BBL function and the control device includes a BBH function, the radio frequency device may be configured to perform lower-layer baseband processing (BBL) functions in the Layer 1 (L1) layer on data, including at least a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and / or an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT). For example, when the BBL function in the radio frequency device includes at least a discrete Fourier transform (DFT), the BBH function in the control device does not include a DFT; when the BBL function in the radio frequency device includes at least an IDFT, the BBH function in the control device does not include an IDFT; and when the BBL function in the radio frequency device includes at least a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and an IDFT, the BBH function in the control device does not include a DFT and an IDFT.

[0050] In 4G / 5G, discrete Fourier transform (DFT) or inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) can significantly compress bandwidth. When uplink data is received, the time-domain data is converted to frequency-domain data after DFT or IDFT. Frequency domains are generally allocated based on users (terminals). When there are fewer terminals, most frequency domains are idle, and this idle frequency domain data can be omitted. This allows for less data to be transmitted between the radio equipment and the control device.

[0051] In an example, taking the L1 protocol function including coding, modulation, layer mapping, precoding, antenna mapping, resource element RE mapping, and inverse fast Fourier transform as an example, if the BBH function includes coding, layer mapping, and precoding, then the BBL function includes the functions of the L1 protocol function except the BBH function, that is, the BBL function includes modulation, antenna mapping, resource element RE mapping, inverse fast Fourier transform, etc.

[0052] The following is an explanation of the relevant data involved in this application:

[0053] 1. (Radio) access network (R)AN

[0054] (R)AN can also be called access equipment. (R)AN can manage wireless resources, provide access services to user equipment, and complete the forwarding of user equipment data between user equipment and the core network. (R)AN can also be understood as a base station in the network.

[0055] Exemplarily, the access network device in the embodiment of the present application may be any communication device with wireless transceiver functions for communicating with user equipment. The access network device, for example, includes but is not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home evolved NodeB (HeNB, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), access point (AP) in wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP) or transmission and reception point (TRP), etc., and can also be 5G, such as the next generation node B (gNB) in NR system, or transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group of (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of a base station in 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a gNB or transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or DU, etc. In the 5G core network-based positioning architecture, the gNB / ng-eNB can provide measurement information for the target user equipment and convey this information to the positioning management device.

[0056] The RAN device can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of the base station, for example, it can be a centralized unit CU, a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU here performs the functions of the radio resource control protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also perform the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU performs the functions of the radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also perform some or all of the physical layer functions. For detailed descriptions of the above-mentioned protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, CU, DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (open-CU), DU may also be called O-DU, and RU may also be called O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0057] 2. Terminal equipment

[0058] Terminal devices may also be referred to as terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart 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.

[0059] 3. Radio unit (RU)

[0060] The RU can perform functions such as intermediate frequency (IF) signal processing, radio frequency (RF) signal processing, and duplexing. For example, the RU can be a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or other network element or communication device capable of processing IF signals, RF signals, or IF / RF signals. In a communication system using the enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI), the RU can include baseband low (BBL) processing.

[0061] 4. Baseband unit (BU)

[0062] A BU performs baseband signal processing. For example, a BU can be a baseband unit (BBU), a central control unit (CU), a distributed control unit (DU), or other network elements or communication devices with baseband signal processing capabilities. A BU can include baseband high (BBH) processing.

[0063] 5. Pilot

[0064] The pilot may also be referred to as pilot information, pilot signal, RS, reference sequence, etc. The pilot may be used for channel measurement. The pilot may include an uplink pilot and a downlink pilot. The uplink pilot is used for uplink channel measurement and estimation of the uplink CSI (or uplink channel matrix). The uplink pilot is a pilot sent by the terminal device, and the network device estimates the uplink CSI based on the pilot, and then uses the reciprocity of the uplink and downlink channels to transpose the uplink CSI as the downlink CSI. The downlink pilot is used for downlink channel measurement and estimation of the downlink CSI (or downlink channel matrix). Exemplarily, the uplink pilot may be a sounding reference signal (SRS), and the downlink pilot may be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). It should be understood that the reference signals listed above are only examples and should not constitute any limitation to this application. This application does not exclude the possibility of defining other reference signals in future protocols to achieve the same or similar functions.

[0065] Uplink Coordination Multi-Point (UL CoMP) utilizes antennas from adjacent cells to jointly receive a single user's transmitted signal, achieving multi-antenna signal combining gain or interference suppression gain. UL CoMP primarily refers to Joint Reception (JR), which enhances signals and suppresses interference by jointly processing signals from different cells or base stations at the baseband, using larger-scale multi-antenna processing. This includes soft combining (SC), joint detection (JD), joint interference rejection combine (JIRC), and coordinated multi-point interference cancellation (CoMP IC).

[0066] JD treats all antennas of a cooperating receiving node as virtual multiple antennas and multiple users belonging to different cells on the same time-frequency resources as multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) users. This allows for uplink multi-user joint detection, resulting in better signal combining and interference suppression gains. The transmitted information includes scheduling information and antenna frequency domain data, placing high real-time requirements. Scalability is low, and complexity increases cubically with the number of cooperating users and the number of cooperating nodes. Specifications are limited by the maximum number of joint receiving antennas and the maximum number of cooperating users.

[0067] JIRC treats all antennas of a cooperating receiving node as virtual multiple antennas, performing joint equalization reception of target user signals in the serving cell to achieve combining gain and interference suppression gain. Like JD, the transmitted information includes scheduling information and antenna frequency domain data, and has high real-time requirements. It offers moderate scalability, with complexity increasing linearly with the number of cooperating users and cubically with the number of cooperating nodes. Specifications are limited by the maximum number of joint receiving antennas.

[0068] Limited by the existing rules for allocating different pilot root sequences between cells, the accuracy of channel estimation from a strong interfering UE to the serving cell will be affected by pilot contamination, thereby reducing the gains of JD and JIRC.

[0069] The interaction between collaborative cells is achieved through the interaction of processing cores. As the number of collaborative users and collaborative nodes increases, the latency increases, causing the performance of JD and JIRC to degrade.

[0070] In view of this, the present application provides the following embodiments. As shown in Figure 2a, Figure 2a is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a wireless access network provided in the present application. The wireless access network in Figure 2a includes multiple control devices and multiple radio frequency devices. Each of the multiple radio frequency devices is connected to multiple control devices. The radio frequency device is configured to connect to at least one terminal device via an air interface.

[0071] In this embodiment, one of the multiple control devices (hereinafter referred to as the target control device) is used to control the radio frequency device to measure the channel of the terminal device to obtain channel measurement information of the terminal device. The target control device is also used to group the terminal devices from multiple cells according to the channel measurement information to obtain multiple user groups. Among the multiple user groups, there are terminal devices in the user groups from at least two cells. The terminal devices in the same user group include terminal devices with relatively large channel correlation or relatively large interference determined according to the channel measurement information. The user groups and control devices are associated. One user group can be associated with one control device, and one control device can be associated with at least one user group. The control device processes the uplink signals of the terminal devices in the associated user groups. The target control device can also allocate orthogonal pilots to the terminal devices in each user group, thereby reducing pilot pollution between terminal devices in the same user group. The control device can also transmit the terminal device grouping results (information on multiple user groups), pilot allocation results, and the association results between the user groups and the control device to multiple radio frequency devices, so that the radio frequency devices can send pilots to the corresponding terminal devices and, upon receiving an uplink signal from a terminal device, transmit the uplink signal to the control device associated with the terminal device, or process the uplink signal and then transmit the processed uplink signal to the control device associated with the terminal device. The target control device can also transmit the terminal device grouping results to other control devices, so that the control devices can jointly process the uplink signals of the terminal devices in the user group.

[0072] In this embodiment, the control device may include a BBU, BBH, or CU, etc. The radio frequency device may include an RRU, BBL, TRP, or AAU, etc. In different architectures, the control device and the radio frequency device include different components.

[0073] For example, as shown in Figure 2b, the control device may include a BBU, and the radio frequency device may include an RRU and an antenna array. The RRU can connect to multiple BBUs via the fronthaul network. For example, the RRU can be deployed near the antenna array, and the BBUs of multiple control devices can be deployed in the same equipment room or in different equipment rooms. The RRU can send the uplink signal of a terminal device to the corresponding BBU based on the user group to which the terminal device belongs and the control device associated with that user group. This reduces the latency of negotiation interactions between BBUs.

[0074] For example, as shown in Figure 2c, the controller may include a BBH, and the radio equipment may include a BBL and a TRP. The BBL can connect to multiple BBHs via the fronthaul network. For example, the BBL can be deployed near the TRP, and multiple BBHs controlling the device can be deployed in the same equipment room or in different equipment rooms. The BBL can process the uplink signals of terminal devices in the cell and then send the processed uplink signals to the BBH corresponding to the terminal device based on the user group to which the terminal device belongs and the control device associated with that user group. This can reduce the latency of negotiation interactions between BBHs.

[0075] For example, as shown in Figure 2d, the control device may include a CU, and the radio frequency device may include a DU and an AAU. The DU can be connected to the AAU through the fronthaul network. For example, the DU is deployed near the AAU, and the DU can be connected to multiple CUs through the midhaul network. The CUs of multiple control devices can be deployed in the same machine room or in different machine rooms. The DU can process the uplink signal of the terminal device in the cell, and then send the uplink signal of the terminal device to the corresponding CU based on the user group to which the terminal device belongs and the control device associated with the user group. In this way, the delay of negotiation interaction between CUs can be reduced.

[0076] As shown in Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of the software and hardware architecture of the access network provided by this application, the software and hardware architecture shown in Figure 3 includes user plane software, computing and processing hardware network, physical transceiver node communication network and control plane management.

[0077] Among them, the user plane software includes modules such as channel measurement, user management, and user group management. Channel measurement is used to obtain channel measurement results of terminal devices. User management is used to group terminal devices in multiple cells based on the channel measurement results to obtain multiple user groups. For example, terminal devices from the same cell or different cells with high channel correlation are divided into the same user group, or terminal devices in neighboring cells with high interference power to the target cell and at least one terminal device in the target cell are divided into the same user group. User groups can include terminal devices from different cells. User group management is used to assign a root sequence to each user group and allocate orthogonal pilots to the terminal devices in the user group based on the root sequence of the user group. The root sequences of different user groups can be the same or different, or the root sequences of some user groups can be the same while the root sequences of some user groups are different. User group management can also be used to associate a control device with each user group so that the uplink signals of the terminal devices in the user group are combined and processed by the associated control device.

[0078] The computing and processing hardware network includes multiple control devices. Each user group is associated with a control device, and each control device is used to process uplink signals corresponding to the terminal devices in the associated user group. It should be noted that the figure uses the example of one user group associated with one control device. When the number of user groups exceeds the number of control devices, at least two user groups can be associated with one control device, and this is not a limitation here.

[0079] The physical transceiver node communication network includes multiple radio frequency devices, which receive uplink signals from terminal devices through the radio frequency devices of the serving cell and the collaborative cell, and send the uplink signals corresponding to the terminal devices to the control device associated with the terminal device.

[0080] Control plane management is used to assist in managing control signals and control signaling related to terminal devices. For example, it is used to send corresponding pilot signals to terminal devices.

[0081] As shown in FIG4 , FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application. The method can be implemented by a wireless access network having any of the architectures shown in FIG2a - FIG2d . This embodiment includes the following steps:

[0082] S401: The target control device obtains channel measurement information of multiple terminal devices.

[0083] The channel measurement information includes, for example, at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP), SRS measurement information, PRS (including UL-PRS or DL-PRS) measurement information, and CSI-RS measurement information. The channel measurement information may also include status information such as traffic volume and quality of service (QoS) corresponding to the terminal device.

[0084] The channel measurement information may be obtained by the terminal device measuring the downlink reference signal and then reported to the device in the wireless access network, such as RSRP, DL-PRS or CRI-RS measurement information. In one possible implementation, the terminal device may periodically report the channel measurement information, and the target control device obtains the channel measurement information periodically reported by multiple terminal devices. In another possible implementation, the control device may send a measurement reference signal to the terminal device through the radio frequency device, and the terminal device may report the channel measurement information according to the indication of the measurement reference signal. According to channel reciprocity, the channel measurement information of the uplink channel can be obtained according to the channel measurement information of the downlink channel.

[0085] The channel measurement information may also be obtained by measuring the uplink signal of the terminal device by the equipment in the wireless access network, such as SRS measurement information or UL-PRS. In one possible implementation, the SRS may be periodically sent by the terminal device, and the equipment in the access network receives the SRS periodically sent by the terminal device to measure the SRS and obtain the SRS measurement information. In another possible implementation, for semi-persistent or non-periodic SRS, the target control device may send measurement control information to the terminal device, and the terminal device may send the SRS or UL-PRS according to the instruction of the measurement control information.

[0086] In this embodiment, the multiple terminal devices include terminal devices from multiple cells. The channel measurement information of the terminal device may include the channel measurement information corresponding to the terminal device in the serving cell, and may also include the channel measurement information corresponding to the terminal device in the neighboring cell.

[0087] S402: The target control device determines a plurality of user groups according to channel measurement information of a plurality of terminal devices, where each user group includes at least one terminal device.

[0088] In this embodiment, since the multiple terminal devices include terminal devices from multiple cells, multiple user groups may include terminal devices from different cells. In other words, the user groups in this embodiment may include terminal devices belonging to different serving cells. A terminal device belongs to only one user group.

[0089] The target control device can determine the channel correlation between multiple terminal devices or the interference power between the terminal devices based on the channel measurement information, and determine the terminal devices in multiple user groups based on the channel correlation or interference power. In other words, the terminal devices are assigned to the same user group based on the channel correlation or interference power between the terminal devices, so that terminal devices with high channel correlation or interference are assigned to the same user group. A higher interference power indicates stronger interference between two terminal devices, and vice versa.

[0090] The target control device can group multiple terminal devices using a user grouping algorithm. The user grouping algorithm can be based on graph theory, mixed integer programming, heuristic algorithms, etc. Based on graph theory, mixed integer programming, and heuristic algorithms, a global or local optimal terminal device grouping result can be determined. Based on graph theory, for example, a graph-based clustering algorithm can be included. For example, each terminal device can be used as a vertex, and terminal devices with channel correlation or interference can be connected through edges. The channel correlation or interference power value between two terminal devices with edges is used as the weight of the edge to obtain a graph that can describe the channel correlation or interference power between terminal devices. The graph is then segmented so that several subgraphs are formed after segmentation. The weights (similarity) of the edges connecting different subgraphs are as low as possible, and the weights (similarity) of the edges within the same subgraph are as high as possible. There are many methods for segmenting the graph, such as cut / ratio cut, normalized cut, or converting it into a singular value decomposition (SVD) problem for solution. Heuristic algorithms include, for example, simulated annealing algorithm, genetic algorithm, list search algorithm, evolutionary programming, evolutionary strategy, ant colony algorithm, artificial neural network, etc.

[0091] Alternatively, the target control device can determine the locations of multiple terminal devices based on channel measurement information, and then divide user groups based on the locations of the terminal devices. For example, the location (position) of the terminal devices can be obtained based on PRS measurement information, and the distance between the terminal devices can be determined based on the location of the terminal devices. Terminal devices that are closer in distance can then be divided into the same user group. The target control device can also divide multiple spatially clustered terminal devices into the same user group based on a clustering algorithm.

[0092] Optionally, the number of user groups is the same as the maximum number of allocatable root sequences.

[0093] It should be noted that user grouping can be updated based on factors such as the movement of terminal devices and changes in interference between terminal devices. For example, when the channel measurement information of a terminal device changes, grouping calculation is performed again based on the changed channel measurement information to obtain an updated user group.

[0094] S403: The target control device sends first information to the radio frequency device. Correspondingly, the radio frequency device receives the first information. The first information indicates pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in the user group, and the pilot signals corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the user group are orthogonal.

[0095] The target control device can send the first information to multiple radio frequency devices respectively. On the one hand, it can indicate to the radio frequency device the grouping results of multiple terminal devices and to which user group the terminal device belongs, so that when the radio frequency device subsequently receives an uplink signal from the terminal device, it can determine to which control device to send the uplink signal of the terminal device for processing. On the other hand, it can indicate to the radio frequency device the pilot allocated to the terminal device, so that the radio frequency device can send the fourth information of the terminal device to the terminal device in the service cell. The fourth information indicates the pilot allocated to the terminal device, so that the terminal device uses the corresponding pilot to send the uplink signal. Here, the target control device is the pilot allocated to the terminal device, which is a pilot used for channel estimation and uplink demodulation, such as DMRS.

[0096] The first information may include pilot configuration information of terminal devices in multiple user groups. The multiple user groups include the first user group, and the multiple terminal devices in the first user group include terminal devices in at least two cells. It should be noted that the first user group including terminal devices in at least two cells means including at least one terminal device in at least two cells, that is, the first user group may include all terminal devices in at least two cells, or may also include some terminal devices in at least two cells, depending on the actual grouping situation and is not limited here.

[0097] The target control device can assign a root sequence to each user group. The root sequences of the terminal devices in a user group are the same. Based on the root sequence, the target control device uses time, frequency, and code division to achieve pilot orthogonality for the terminal devices in the same user group. This can reduce or eliminate pilot contamination between terminal devices that would otherwise interfere, thereby improving cooperative gain. Furthermore, since terminal devices in the same user group may come from different cells, the target control device can allocate pilots to terminal devices in multiple user groups. This ensures pilot orthogonality between multiple terminal devices in the same user group without the need for negotiation and interaction between control devices, thereby reducing negotiation delays between control devices.

[0098] Different user groups can be assigned different root sequences. Of course, some user groups can also be assigned the same root sequence, while others can be assigned different root sequences. The pilot signals of the terminal devices in the user group assigned the same root sequence are orthogonal, and this is not restricted here.

[0099] S404: The target control device sends second information to the radio frequency device. Correspondingly, the radio frequency device receives the second information. The second information indicates the control device associated with the user group.

[0100] The target control device can send the second information to multiple radio frequency devices respectively, so that when the radio frequency device subsequently receives an uplink signal from the terminal device, it can determine to send the uplink signal of the terminal device to the control device associated with the terminal device for processing based on the user group to which the terminal device belongs and the association between the user group and the control device.

[0101] The second information may include information about control devices associated with multiple user groups. A control device may be associated with at least two user groups, and a user group may be associated with only one control device. For example, if the number of user groups exceeds the number of control devices, a control device may be associated with at least two user groups. The multiple user groups include the first user group described above. The first information and the second information may be the same or different, without limitation.

[0102] S405: The target control device sends third information to other control devices. Correspondingly, the other control devices receive the third information. The third information indicates the terminal devices included in the user group associated with the control device.

[0103] This step is optional and is shown by a dotted line in FIG4 .

[0104] In this embodiment, the control device demodulates the uplink signal of the associated user group on a user group basis. When a control device is associated with multiple user groups, the control device needs to distinguish which terminal devices belong to the same user group, so that it can accurately demodulate the uplink signals of multiple terminal devices in the user group on a user group basis. It should be noted that the uplink signal processed by the control device in this embodiment may refer to an uplink signal processed by the radio frequency device. For example, when the radio frequency device includes a BBL or DU, the BBL / DU will perform partial baseband processing on the uplink signal and then send the processed uplink signal to the corresponding control device.

[0105] In one possible implementation, the third information may include information about terminal devices of all user groups. In this case, the target control device may send the third information to all other control devices. Of course, the target control device may also send the third information only to some control devices, for example, only to control devices associated with at least two user groups. In another possible implementation, the third information may also include information about terminal devices in at least two user groups associated with the same control device. In this case, the target control device may send the third information to control devices associated with at least two user groups. In yet another possible implementation, the third information includes information about terminal devices of a user group associated with a control device, and the target control device sends corresponding third information to each other control device respectively, that is, the third information sent to the control device indicates the terminal devices in the user group associated with the control device.

[0106] S406: The radio frequency device receives an uplink signal from a terminal device, which is a terminal device in the second user group associated with the target control device.

[0107] The RF device can receive uplink signals from terminal devices in the serving cell or in the coordinated cell. RF devices that receive uplink signals from terminal devices include those in the serving cell and those in the coordinated group. This example uses the terminal device as an example of a terminal device in the second user group associated with the target control device.

[0108] S407: The radio frequency device sends the uplink signal corresponding to the terminal device to the control device associated with the terminal device.

[0109] After receiving the uplink signal from the terminal device, the radio frequency device performs corresponding processing on the uplink signal, such as filtering, low-noise amplification, and down-conversion, to obtain a processed uplink signal. When the radio frequency device includes a BBL or DU, the radio frequency device can also perform corresponding baseband processing on the uplink signal. For example, the BBL can perform first-level equalization / beam dimensionality reduction processing on the first uplink signal (the signal received by the BBL after TRP processing), such as one or more of cyclic prefix removal, FFT, and resource demapping, to obtain a second uplink signal, and then send the second uplink signal to the corresponding control device.

[0110] The RF device determines the control device associated with the terminal device and sends the processed uplink signal to the corresponding control device. That is, regardless of whether the terminal device is in the RF device's serving cell, the RF device sends the uplink signal corresponding to the terminal device to the control device associated with it. This allows the control device to obtain uplink signals from different RF devices regarding the terminal device associated with it, eliminating the need for interaction between control devices and reducing the latency of the control device in demodulating the uplink signal.

[0111] In FIG4 , the terminal device is taken as an example as a terminal device in the second user group associated with the target control device, that is, each radio frequency device sends an uplink signal corresponding to the terminal device (the uplink signal processed by the radio frequency device) to the target control device.

[0112] S408: The target control device jointly demodulates uplink signals of multiple terminal devices in the second user group.

[0113] The target control device performs joint demodulation using uplink signals from multiple terminal devices in the second user group. Because the pilot signals of the terminal devices in the same user group are orthogonal, pilot contamination between the terminal devices in the user group is reduced, increasing the accuracy of uplink channel estimation and thereby improving the performance of demodulating uplink signals.

[0114] In this embodiment, terminal devices in multiple cells are grouped based on channel measurement information to obtain multiple user groups. Pilots are then allocated based on the user groups, making the pilots of the terminal devices in the user groups orthogonal. This reduces pilot contamination of the terminal devices in the user groups, making uplink channel estimation more accurate, improving uplink signal demodulation performance, and increasing collaborative gain. Furthermore, by associating a user group with a control device, the control device jointly demodulates the uplink signals of the terminal devices in the associated user group on a user group basis, eliminating the need for interaction between control devices. This reduces latency and improves demodulation efficiency.

[0115] In the relevant description of Figure 4, the target control device allocates pilots to the terminal devices in all user groups. Optionally, in another implementation, each control device may allocate pilots to the terminal devices in its own associated user group, ensuring that the pilots of the terminal devices in the same user group are orthogonal. Specifically, after the target control device determines multiple user groups, the control devices associated with the user groups, and the root sequences corresponding to the user groups, the target control device sends the corresponding user group information (information of the terminal devices in the user group associated with the control device, and the root sequences allocated to the associated user groups, etc.) to other control devices, and then each control device allocates orthogonal pilots to the terminal devices in its own associated user group according to the root sequence. In this case, the first user group and the second user group in Figure 4 can be considered to be user groups associated with the target control device. The first user group and the second user group can be the same user group or different user groups.

[0116] The following describes a communication device used to implement the above method in an embodiment of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0117] As shown in Figure 5, it is a possible exemplary block diagram of a communication device involved in this application. The communication device 500 can correspondingly implement the functions or steps implemented by the control device or radio frequency device in the above-mentioned various method embodiments. The communication device may include a transceiver module 501 and a processing module 502. Optionally, it may also include a storage module, which can be used to store instructions (code or program) and / or data. The processing module 502 can be coupled to the storage module. For example, the processing module 502 can read the instructions (code or program) and / or data in the storage module to implement the corresponding method. The above-mentioned modules can be set independently or partially or fully integrated.

[0118] It should be understood that the processing module 502 can be a processor or controller, for example, a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processing (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, for example, including a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and so on. The transceiver module 501 is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transceiver module 501 is an interface circuit of the chip for receiving signals from other chips or devices, or, it is an interface circuit of the chip for sending signals to other chips or devices.

[0119] The communication device 500 may be a control device or radio frequency device in the above-described embodiments, or may be a chip for implementing the functions of the control device or radio frequency device in the above-described embodiments. For example, when the communication device 500 is a control device or radio frequency device, the processing module 502 may be, for example, a processor, and the transceiver module 501 may be, for example, a transceiver. Optionally, the transceiver may include a radio frequency circuit, and the storage unit may be, for example, a memory. For example, when the communication device 500 is a chip for implementing the functions of the control device or radio frequency device, the processing module 502 may be, for example, a processor, and the transceiver module 501 may be, for example, an input / output interface, a pin, or a circuit. The processing module 502 may execute computer-executable instructions stored in a storage unit. Optionally, the storage unit may be a storage unit within the chip, such as a register or cache. The storage unit may also be a storage unit within the control device or radio frequency device located outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions, or a random access memory (RAM).

[0120] In some possible implementations, the communication device 500 can implement the behaviors and functions of the control device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. For example, the communication device 500 can be a control device, or a component (such as a chip or circuit) used in the control device. The transceiver module 501 can be used to support communication between the control device and other network entities, such as supporting communication between the terminal device and the radio frequency device shown in Figure 3. The processing module 502 is used to control and manage the actions of the control device. For example, the processing module 502 is used to support the control device to perform all operations of the control device in Figure 4 except for transceiver transmission.

[0121] For example, the transceiver module 501 can be used to perform all receiving or sending operations performed by the control device in the embodiment shown in FIG4, such as S403, S404, S405, S406, etc. in the embodiment shown in FIG3, and / or other processes for supporting the technology described herein. The processing module 502 is used to perform all operations other than the transceiver operations performed by the control device in the embodiment shown in FIG4, such as other processes for supporting the technology described herein.

[0122] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 501 is used to send first information, where the first information indicates pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in a first user group, the pilot signals corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the first user group are orthogonal, and the multiple terminal devices in the first user group include terminal devices in at least two cells.

[0123] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 501 is further configured to send second information, where the second information indicates a control device associated with the first user group, and the control device is configured to process uplink signals of terminal devices in the associated first user group.

[0124] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 501 is further configured to send third information, where the first information indicates the terminal devices included in the first user group.

[0125] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 501 is further configured to receive uplink signals from multiple terminal devices in an associated second user group. The processing module 502 is configured to jointly demodulate the uplink signals from the multiple terminal devices in the second user group.

[0126] In a possible implementation, the processing module 502 is configured to obtain channel measurement information corresponding to terminal devices in multiple cells. The processing module 502 is configured to determine multiple terminal devices in the first user group based on the channel measurement information.

[0127] In some possible implementations, the communication device 500 can implement the behaviors and functions of the radio frequency device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. For example, the communication device 500 can be a radio frequency device, or a component (such as a chip or circuit) used in a radio frequency device. The radio frequency device is, for example, an RRU, AAU, TRP, etc. in an access network device. The transceiver module 501 can be used to support communication between the radio frequency device and other network entities, for example, to support communication between the radio frequency device and the control device shown in Figure 4. The processing module 502 is used to control and manage the actions of the radio frequency device. For example, the processing module 502 is used to support the radio frequency device to perform all operations except transceiver in Figure 4.

[0128] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 501 is used to receive first information, where the first information indicates pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in a first user group, the pilot signals corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the first user group are orthogonal, and the multiple terminal devices in the first user group include terminal devices in at least two cells.

[0129] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 501 is used to receive second information, where the second information indicates the association of a control device associated with the first user group, and the control device is used to process uplink signals of terminal devices in the associated first user group.

[0130] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 501 is used to receive a first uplink signal from a terminal device in the user group; the transceiver module 501 is used to send a second uplink signal to a control device associated with the terminal device, where the second uplink signal is obtained based on the first uplink signal.

[0131] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 501 is configured to send fourth information, where the fourth information indicates a pilot corresponding to the terminal device in the user group.

[0132] It should be understood that the processing module 502 in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, and the transceiver module 501 can be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component.

[0133] As shown in Figure 6, it is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in the present application, wherein the communication device 600 can be a control device, etc., which can realize the function of the control device in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, or the communication device 600 can be a radio frequency device, which can realize the function of the device in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application; or the communication device 600 can also be a device that can support the control device or radio frequency device to realize the corresponding function in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Among them, the communication device 600 can be a chip system. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0134] The communication device 600 includes at least one processor 620. The processor 620 can be a CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application solution, and is used to implement or support the communication device 600 in implementing the functions of the control device or radio frequency device in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. For details, please refer to the detailed description in the method example, which is not repeated here.

[0135] The communication device 600 may also include at least one memory 630 for storing program instructions and / or data. The memory 630 is coupled to the processor 620. The coupling in the embodiment of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units or modules. The processor 620 may operate in conjunction with the memory 630. The processor 620 may execute the program instructions and / or data stored in the memory 630 so that the communication device 600 implements the corresponding method. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor 620.

[0136] Communication device 600 may also include a communication interface 610, which may be any transceiver or similar device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as radio frequency devices. Communication interface 610 is used to communicate with other devices via a transmission medium, thereby enabling the device in communication device 600 to communicate with other devices. For example, when communication device 600 is a control device, the other device may be a radio frequency device; or, when the communication device is a radio frequency device, the processor 620 may use communication interface 610 to transmit and receive data. Communication interface 610 may specifically be a transceiver.

[0137] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 610, processor 620, and memory 630 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 6, the memory 630, processor 620, and communication interface 610 are connected via a bus 640. The bus is represented by a bold line in Figure 6. The connection method between other components is only for schematic illustration and is not limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one bold line is used in Figure 6, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0138] In the embodiments of the present application, the processor 620 may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented as being executed by a hardware processor, or may be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0139] The memory 630 may be a ROM or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a RAM or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, an optical disc storage (including a compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory may exist independently and be connected to the processor via a communication line. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

[0140] The memory 630 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 620. The processor 620 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 630, thereby implementing the communication method provided in the above embodiment of the present application.

[0141] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0142] It should be noted that the communication device in the above embodiments can be a radio frequency device or a circuit, or a chip used in a radio frequency device or other combined devices or components having the functions of the above radio frequency devices. When the communication device is a radio frequency device, the transceiver module can be a transceiver, which can include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, etc., and the processing module can be a processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU). When the communication device is a component having the functions of the above radio frequency device, the transceiver module can be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module can be a processor. When the communication device is a chip system, the communication device can be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a dedicated ASIC, a system on chip (SoC), a CPU, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other integrated chip. The processing module 502 can be the processor of the chip system. The transceiver module 701 or the communication interface can be the input and output interface or interface circuit of the chip system. For example, the interface circuit may be a code / data read / write interface circuit. The interface circuit may be configured to receive code instructions (the code instructions are stored in a memory and may be read directly from the memory or read from the memory via another device) and transmit them to a processor; the processor may be configured to execute the code instructions to perform the method in the above-described method embodiment. For another example, the interface circuit may be a signal transmission interface circuit between a communication processor and a transceiver.

[0143] For example, the communication device in the above embodiment may be a chip, which includes a logic circuit and an input / output interface, and may also include a memory. The input / output interface may be used to receive code instructions (the code instructions are stored in the memory and may be read directly from the memory or read from the memory via another device) and transmit them to the logic circuit; the logic circuit may be used to execute the code instructions to perform the method in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the input / output interface may be a signal transmission interface circuit between the logic circuit and a transceiver.

[0144] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method executed by the control device and the radio frequency device in FIG4 .

[0145] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method for controlling the device and the radio frequency execution in FIG4 .

[0146] The embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and may also include a memory, for implementing the functions of the network device and the terminal device in the aforementioned method. The chip system can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0147] The methods provided in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in whole or in part through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, they may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in this embodiment are generated 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 instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. 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 includes one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., an SSD), etc.

[0148] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send first information, wherein the first information indicates pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in a first user group, the pilot signals corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the first user group are orthogonal, and the multiple terminal devices in the first user group include terminal devices in at least two cells.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending second information, where the second information indicates a control device associated with the first user group, and the control device is used to process uplink signals of terminal devices in the associated first user group.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Sending third information, wherein the first information indicates the terminal devices included in the first user group.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving uplink signals of a plurality of terminal devices in an associated second user group; The uplink signals of multiple terminal devices in the second user group are jointly demodulated.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Obtain channel measurement information corresponding to terminal devices in multiple cells; A plurality of terminal devices in the first user group is determined according to the channel measurement information.

6. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive first information, where the first information indicates pilot signals corresponding to multiple terminal devices in a first user group, where the pilot signals corresponding to the multiple terminal devices in the first user group are orthogonal, and where the multiple terminal devices in the first user group include terminal devices in at least two cells.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: Second information is received, where the second information indicates an association with a control device associated with the first user group, and the control device is used to process uplink signals of terminal devices in the associated first user group.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving a first uplink signal from a terminal device in the user group; A second uplink signal is sent to a control device associated with the terminal device, where the second uplink signal is obtained based on the first uplink signal.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send fourth information, where the fourth information indicates a pilot corresponding to the terminal device in the user group.

10. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises at least one processor configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

12. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or an instruction, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is implemented.

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