Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which can mitigate channel aging. The method comprises: receiving first configuration information, wherein each group of reference signal resources among at least one group of reference signal resources indicated by the first configuration information comprises at least X reference signal ports; X reference signal ports of an i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with X antenna ports of a first group of antenna ports in an i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources among the at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is an antenna array among at least one antenna array of a terminal device; and a connecting line of antenna ports in the same row in the i-th antenna array is parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device, the first group of antenna ports consists of the frontmost X antenna ports in the movement direction of the terminal device in the i-th antenna array, the X antenna ports are located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and i and X are positive integers.

Description

Communication method and 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 202311636139.0 and application name “Communication Method and Device,” the entire 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 communication methods and devices. Background Art

[0003] As one of the key technologies of the next-generation wireless access technology (NR), massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology can improve system capacity by utilizing more spatial degrees of freedom and has been widely studied.

[0004] To achieve better MIMO performance, the base station needs to obtain accurate downlink channel information and then calculate the precoding vector from the base station to the terminal device based on this downlink channel information, thereby improving the transmission quality or rate of the signal between the base station and the terminal device. For example, in a time division duplexing (TDD) system, the base station determines the uplink channel state information (CSI) by receiving the sounding reference signal (SRS) from the terminal device, and then determines the downlink CSI (i.e., downlink channel information) based on uplink and downlink reciprocity.

[0005] However, the time-frequency resources used to send SRS are limited. The more terminal devices a base station serves, the fewer time-frequency resources are allocated to each terminal device for sending SRS, which increases the period for the terminal device to send SRS. As a result, the CSI determined based on the SRS does not match the CSI at the actual scheduling time, which causes channel aging.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The communication method and device provided in the embodiments of the present application can alleviate channel aging.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a terminal device, or by a component of the terminal device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the terminal device, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the terminal device's functions. The method includes: receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources including at least X reference signal ports;

[0009] The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is one of the at least one antenna array of the terminal device;

[0010] The line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row of the i-th antenna array, where X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and both i and X are positive integers.

[0011] Based on this solution, the first configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, wherein each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports, and the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. That is, the terminal device is able to receive the reference signal ports configured by the network device for the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in each antenna array in at least one antenna array. Since the first group of antenna ports is the X antenna ports located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, and X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, it can be considered that the network device configures reference signal resources for some antenna ports in at least one row of antenna ports in at least one antenna array of the terminal device.

[0012] In addition, the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device, and the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are located at the front end of the same row of the i-th antenna array. Therefore, during the movement of the terminal device, the antenna ports in the row of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, except for the X antenna ports, can all move to the position of the X antenna ports; that is, there is a correlation between the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports. Therefore, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the other antenna ports based on the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports (such as the downstream channel information), thereby determining the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. In other words, by configuring reference signal resources for some antenna ports in a row of antenna ports, the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row is obtained; compared to the solution of configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port for channel estimation, the consumption of reference signal resources can be reduced. That is, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port of the terminal device) can be determined through a small amount of reference signal resources, so that when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources that can be used for a terminal device to send a reference signal are increased. Therefore, for a terminal device, the reference signal sending period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0013] In one possible design, the communication method further includes: sending a reference signal through X antenna ports, where the reference signal is used to determine channel state information of Z antenna ports, where Z is a total number of antenna ports in at least one antenna array, and Z is a positive integer.

[0014] Based on this possible design, the terminal device sends reference signals through X antenna ports, so that the network device can determine the channel state information of the X antenna ports based on the reference signals from the X antenna ports, and further determine the channel state information of the Z antenna ports. Compared with the solution of performing channel estimation by configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port in at least one antenna array of the terminal device) can be determined using a small amount of reference signal resources. Therefore, when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources available for a terminal device to send a reference signal increase. In other words, for a terminal device, the reference signal transmission period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0015] In one possible design, the communication method further includes: sending first indication information, the first indication information indicating M, the first indication information being used to determine the number of at least X reference signal ports, where M is greater than or equal to X.

[0016] In one possible design, the communication method also includes: sending second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate Z.

[0017] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a network device, or by a component of the network device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the network device, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the network device's functions. The method includes: sending first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources including at least X reference signal ports;

[0018] The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is one of the at least one antenna array of the terminal device;

[0019] The line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row of the i-th antenna array, where X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and both i and X are positive integers.

[0020] Based on this solution, the first configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, wherein each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports, and the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. That is, the network device configures reference signal ports for the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in each antenna array in at least one antenna array of the terminal device. Since the first group of antenna ports is the X antenna ports located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, and X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, it can be considered that the network device configures reference signal resources for some antenna ports in at least one row of antenna ports in at least one antenna array of the terminal device.

[0021] In addition, the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device, and the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are located at the front end of the same row of the i-th antenna array. Therefore, during the movement of the terminal device, in the row where the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is located, all antenna ports other than the X antenna ports can move to the position where the X antenna ports are located; that is, there is a correlation between the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports. Therefore, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the other antenna ports based on the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports (such as the downstream channel information), thereby determining the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row where the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is located. In other words, by configuring reference signal resources for some antenna ports in a row of antenna ports, the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row is obtained; compared to the solution of configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port for channel estimation, the consumption of reference signal resources can be reduced. That is, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port of the terminal device) can be determined through a small amount of reference signal resources, so that when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources that can be used for a terminal device to send a reference signal are increased. Therefore, for a terminal device, the reference signal sending period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0022] In one possible design, the communication method further includes: receiving a reference signal through X antenna ports, where the reference signal is used to determine channel state information of Z antenna ports, where Z is a total number of antenna ports in at least one antenna array, and Z is a positive integer.

[0023] In one possible design, the communication method further includes: receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating M, the first indication information being used to determine a number of at least X reference signal ports, where M is greater than or equal to X.

[0024] In one possible design, the communication method also includes: receiving second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate Z.

[0025] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design in the second aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the corresponding design in the above-mentioned first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in one possible design, the first indication information and the second indication information may be located in the capability information of the terminal device to the network device.

[0027] Based on this possible design, the first indication information and the second indication information can be located in the capability information. It can be understood that the capability information is reported by the terminal device to the network device during the random access process; thus, compared with the method in which the terminal device uses dynamic signaling (such as uplink control information (UCI)) to report the first indication information and the second indication information, the overhead of dynamic signaling can be reduced. In addition, when the reference signal resources change, more signaling interactions are required between the terminal device and the network device. If dynamic signaling is used for reporting, the dynamic signaling overhead is further increased. Therefore, the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can further reduce the overhead of dynamic signaling when the reference signal resources change.

[0028] In combination with the first and second aspects, in one possible design, the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are sequentially mapped to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to a first mapping rule, wherein the first mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port index in ascending order and the antenna ports in the first group of antenna ports in a front-to-back order to the X antenna ports.

[0029] In combination with the first and second aspects, in one possible design, the number of the at least X reference signal ports is M, where M is Y times X. Accordingly, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, and Y is less than or equal to the number of rows of the i-th antenna array.

[0030] The second group of antenna ports is located in the i-th antenna array, in the frontmost X columns in the direction of movement of the terminal device, the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports include the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports, and Y is a positive integer.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in one possible design, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are mapped in sequence to the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the second mapping rule, wherein the second mapping rule includes mapping to the M antenna ports in sequence according to the order of the reference signal port index from small to large and the column index of the antenna port in the second group of antenna ports from front to back.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in one possible design, the second indication information is used to indicate the structure of the i-th antenna array and the number of arrays of at least one antenna array, and the structure of each antenna array in at least one antenna array is the same.

[0033] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in one possible design, the second indication information includes the number of rows and columns and the number of arrays of the i-th antenna array.

[0034] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in one possible design, the second indication information is also used to indicate the distribution mode of at least one antenna array.

[0035] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in a possible design, the maximum value of i is determined according to the number of arrays of at least one antenna array.

[0036] In combination with the first aspect and the second aspect, in a possible design, the maximum value of i is the number of arrays.

[0037] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing various methods. The communication device may be the terminal device in the first aspect or the network device in the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device or network device, such as a chip or chip system. The communication device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the implementation method, which may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing the corresponding software implementation. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions.

[0038] In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functionality of any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module, respectively configured to implement the receiving functionality and the transmitting functionality of any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

[0039] In some possible designs, the transceiver module may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device performs the method described in any one of the aspects. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect or the network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device or network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0041] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is configured to communicate with a module external to the communication device; and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction to cause the communication device to perform the method described in any one of the aspects. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect or the network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device or network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0042] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions to cause the communication device to perform the method described in any one of the aspects. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect or the network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device or network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0043] In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data. The memory may be coupled to the processor or may be independent of the processor.

[0044] In some possible designs, when the device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0045] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the third to sixth aspects is a chip, the sending action / function of the communication device can be understood as output information, and the receiving action / function of the communication device can be understood as input information.

[0046] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute the method described in any one of the aspects.

[0047] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method described in any one of the aspects.

[0048] In the ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the terminal device in the first aspect (or the device contained in the terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system) and the network device in the second aspect (or the device contained in the network device, such as a chip or a chip system).

[0049] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the third to ninth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by different design methods in the above-mentioned first or second aspects, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of an antenna array provided in this application;

[0051] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0052] FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0053] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of a first group of antenna ports provided in this application;

[0054] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a mapping relationship between a reference signal port and an antenna port provided in the present application;

[0055] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of another antenna array provided in this application;

[0056] FIG7 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0057] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of at least one antenna array provided by the present application;

[0058] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of at least one antenna array provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

[0059] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0060] FIG11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by the present application;

[0061] FIG12 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] 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 merely a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist, 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.

[0063] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" 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, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0064] In addition, to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the words "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean different.

[0065] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner to facilitate understanding.

[0066] It will be understood that the “embodiment” mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the various embodiments throughout the specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It will be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application.

[0067] It can be understood that in this application, "when" and "if" both mean that corresponding processing will be taken under certain objective circumstances, and do not limit the time, nor do they require any judgment action when implementing, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0068] It is understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may, in certain scenarios, be implemented independently of other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects. They may also be combined with other features in certain scenarios as needed. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also implement these features or functions accordingly, which will not be described in detail here.

[0069] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In the various embodiments in this application, and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, implementation methods, implementation methods, or implementation methods according to their inherent logical relationships. The implementation methods of this application described below do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0070] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the relevant technologies of the present application is first given as follows.

[0071] 1. Antenna array:

[0072] An antenna array refers to an antenna system composed of multiple antenna elements arranged in a regular pattern; illustratively, in the antenna array, the distances between adjacent antenna elements in the same row are equal, and / or the distances between adjacent antenna elements in the same column are equal.

[0073] For example, as shown in FIG1 , antenna array #1 is a 3×6 (i.e., three rows and six columns) antenna array; the distances between adjacent antenna elements in antenna array #1 are equal and are both a. Antenna array #2 is a 3×6 antenna array; the distances between adjacent antenna elements in the same row in antenna array #2 are equal and are both a; the distances between adjacent antenna elements in the same column are equal and are both b, with a being greater than b. Antenna array #3 is a 3×4 antenna array; the distances between adjacent antenna elements in the same row in antenna array #3 are equal and are both c; the distances between adjacent antenna elements in the same column are equal and are both a, with c being greater than a.

[0074] 2. Channel estimation:

[0075] Channel estimation is the process of estimating the characteristics of the channel using the characteristics of the received signal. Because signals are subject to varying degrees of interference during propagation, their amplitude, phase, and frequency can vary significantly by the time they reach the receiver. Channel estimation helps restore the signal as closely as possible, thereby improving decoding efficiency.

[0076] In a time division duplexing (TDD) system, a sounding reference signal (SRS) is typically used for channel estimation. Specifically, a terminal device sends an SRS to a network device. After receiving the SRS from the terminal device, the network device determines the uplink channel state information (CSI) based on the SRS and determines the downlink CSI based on channel reciprocity. The network device can then calculate the precoding matrix based on the downlink CSI and communicate with the terminal device based on the precoding matrix to improve signal transmission quality or transmission rate. In other words, the accuracy of the SRS channel estimation affects the overall throughput of the system.

[0077] Because the time-frequency resources allocated for SRS are limited, the more terminal devices a network device serves, the fewer time-frequency resources are allocated to each terminal device. Consequently, for a terminal device, the fewer time-frequency resources it has, the longer the SRS transmission period must be. However, a longer SRS period can cause the downlink CSI estimated by the network device based on the SRS to mismatch the actual scheduling time, a phenomenon known as channel aging. This phenomenon is particularly severe in scenarios where the terminal device is mobile.

[0078] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, in which the first configuration information sent by a network device to a terminal device indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, wherein each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports, and the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. That is, the network device configures reference signal ports for the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in each antenna array in at least one antenna array of the terminal device. Since the first group of antenna ports is the X antenna ports located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, and X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, it can be considered that the network device configures reference signal resources for some antenna ports in at least one row of antenna ports in at least one antenna array of the terminal device.

[0079] In addition, the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device, and the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are located at the front end of the same row of the i-th antenna array. Therefore, during the movement of the terminal device, in the row where the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is located, all antenna ports other than the X antenna ports can move to the position where the X antenna ports are located; that is, there is a correlation between the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports. Therefore, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the other antenna ports based on the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports (such as the downstream channel information), thereby determining the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row where the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is located. In other words, by configuring reference signal resources for some antenna ports in a row of antenna ports, the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row is obtained; compared to the solution of configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port for channel estimation, the consumption of reference signal resources can be reduced. That is, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port of the terminal device) can be determined through a small amount of reference signal resources, so that when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources that can be used for a terminal device to send a reference signal are increased. Therefore, for a terminal device, the reference signal sending period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0080] The technical solution provided in this application can be used in various communication systems, which may be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication system, for example, a fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) system, an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A) system, a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) system, a vehicle to everything (V2X) system, a system of hybrid LTE and NR networking, or a device to device (D2D) system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), and other next generation communication systems, such as a sixth generation (6G) communication system. Alternatively, the communication system may also be a non-3GPP communication system, without limitation.

[0081] Among them, the above-mentioned communication system applicable to the present application is only an example, and the communication system applicable to the present application is not limited to this. It is uniformly described here and will not be repeated below.

[0082] Referring to FIG2 , an exemplary communication system provided by the present application is shown. The communication system includes at least one network device and at least one terminal device. Optionally, different terminal devices can communicate with each other.

[0083] Optionally, information transmission between network devices and terminal devices can be achieved through transmission media such as radio waves, visible light, laser, infrared light, and optical fiber.

[0084] Optionally, the terminal device of an embodiment of the present application is applied in a high-speed moving scenario, that is, the terminal device can be a high-speed moving terminal device. Furthermore, the terminal device is deployed with at least one antenna array.

[0085] For example, the terminal device includes but is not limited to high-speed rail, trains, cars, trucks and other devices that can move at high speed.

[0086] Optionally, the network device in the embodiment of the present application is a device that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. The network device can be a node in a wireless access network, which can also be called a base station, or a radio access network (RAN) node (or device).

[0087] For example, the network device may include an evolved NodeB (eNB) or e-NodeB (evolutionary Node B) in an LTE system or an LTE-A system, such as a traditional macro eNB and a micro eNB in ​​a heterogeneous network scenario. Alternatively, it may include a next generation node B (gNB) of wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA). Alternatively, it may include a transmission reception point (TRP), a home base station (e.g., a home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), a base band pool (BBU pool), a base transceiver station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communication (GSM) or code division multiple access (CDMA) network, or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), etc. Alternatively, it may include a base station in an NTN, that is, it may be deployed on a high-altitude platform or satellite. In the NTN, the network device may serve as a layer 1 (L1) relay, or as a base station, or as a distributed unit (DU), or as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node. Alternatively, the network device may be a device that implements a base station function in the IoT, such as a device that implements a base station function in V2X, D2D, or machine to machine (M2M), or it may include an in-vehicle device or a wearable device, or it may include a network device in a 5G network or a public land mobile network (PLMN) that evolves after 5G, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0088] In some possible scenarios, the network device in the embodiments of the present application may also be a module or unit that can implement some functions of the base station. For example, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be set separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may 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).

[0089] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, the access network device may be a network device or a module of a network device in an open radio access network (open RAN, ORAN) system. In the ORAN system, CU may also be referred to as open (open, O)-CU, DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and RU may also be referred to as 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.

[0090] Optionally, the base station in the embodiment of the present application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, home base stations, TRPs, transmitting points (TPs), mobile switching centers, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0091] Optionally, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a user-side device for implementing wireless communication functions, such as a terminal or a chip that can be used in a terminal. The terminal may be a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a terminal agent, or a terminal device in a 5G network or a PLMN evolved after 5G. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device or a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical care, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a wireless data card, a tablet computer, a wireless modem, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, etc. Alternatively, the terminal may be a terminal with communication functionality in IoT, such as a terminal in V2X (e.g., a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) device), a terminal in D2D communication, or a terminal in M2M communication. The terminal may be mobile or fixed.

[0092] Optionally, the roles between the network device and the terminal device can be relative. For example, in FIG2 , the terminal device 9 and the terminal device 10 need to access the network device 1 through the terminal device 9. Therefore, relative to the terminal device 10, the terminal device 9 can be configured as a network device at this time; and relative to the network device 1, the terminal device 9 is a terminal device at this time, that is, the network device 1 and the terminal device 9 communicate through the wireless air interface protocol. Optionally, the network device 1 and the terminal device 9 can also communicate through the interface protocol between the network devices. At this time, relative to the network device 1, the terminal device 9 also acts as a network device. Optionally, the network device and the terminal device, the network device and the network device, or the terminal device and the terminal device can communicate through the authorized spectrum, or can communicate through the unlicensed spectrum, or can communicate through both the authorized spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum. Optionally, network devices and terminal devices, network devices and network devices, or terminal devices and terminal devices may communicate using a spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), or may communicate using a spectrum above 6 GHz, or may communicate using both a spectrum below 6 GHz and a spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communications.

[0093] The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated that in the embodiment of the present application, the network device or the terminal device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiment of the present application, and these steps or operations are merely examples. The embodiment of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps may be performed in different orders as presented in the embodiment of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiment of the present application need to be performed.

[0094] As shown in FIG3 , a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

[0095] S301: A network device sends first configuration information to a terminal device; in response, the terminal device receives the first configuration information from the network device. The first configuration information indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports.

[0096] The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is an antenna array in at least one antenna array of the terminal device.

[0097] The line connecting antenna ports in the same row in the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, where X is less than the number of columns in the i-th antenna array, and both i and X are positive integers.

[0098] It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, antenna elements and antenna ports represent the same concept, that is, antenna elements and antenna ports can be replaced with each other. For example, the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports can be replaced with: X antenna elements of the first group of antenna ports, or can also be replaced with: X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports, or can also be replaced with: X antenna elements of the first group of antenna ports. For the convenience of description, the following embodiments of the present application are uniformly referred to as antenna ports, and are uniformly described here and not repeated here.

[0099] Optionally, the maximum value of i is determined according to the number of at least one antenna array. Exemplarily, the maximum value of i is the number of at least one antenna array.

[0100] Optionally, the total number of reference signal ports included in the at least X reference signal ports (or, the number of the at least X reference signal ports) is an integer multiple of X. For convenience of description, the following is introduced as an example where the total number of reference signal ports included in the at least X reference signal ports is M, which is uniformly explained here and not repeated herein, where M is a positive integer.

[0101] As an example, the total number of reference signal ports included in the at least X reference signal ports is equal to X. That is, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes X reference signal ports, that is, M is equal to X.

[0102] Optionally, in this example, the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array.

[0103] Exemplarily, the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. It can be understood that: the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources correspond one-to-one to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array.

[0104] Exemplarily, the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports may also be understood as: the total number of antenna ports included in the first group of antenna ports is X.

[0105] Optionally, in this example, the first group of antenna ports is the X antenna ports at the front end in the direction of movement of the terminal device in the i-th antenna array, and the X antenna ports are located in the same row in the i-th antenna array. It can be understood that: the first group of antenna ports is the X antenna ports at the front end in the direction of movement of the terminal device in the antenna array in the same row of the i-th antenna array; that is, the X antenna ports included in the first group of antenna ports are the antenna ports closest to the front end of the terminal device in the antenna array in the same row of the i-th antenna array.

[0106] For example, taking the i-th antenna array as antenna array #1 in (a) of Figure 4, and the value of X as 2, since the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row is parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device, the antenna array #1 is a three-row and six-column antenna array (or, the antenna array #1 is a 3×6 antenna array); since the X antenna ports are the antenna ports closest to the front end of the terminal device in the same row of the antenna array, the first group of antenna ports can be the antenna ports in any one of the three dotted areas in (a) of Figure 4.

[0107] Alternatively, taking the i-th antenna array as antenna array #2 in (b) of Figure 4, and the value of X as 1 as an example, since the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row is parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device, antenna array #2 is an antenna array with six rows and three columns (or, antenna array #2 is a 6×3 antenna array); since the X antenna ports are the antenna ports closest to the front end of the terminal device in the same row of the antenna array, the first group of antenna ports can be the antenna ports in any one of the six dotted areas in (b) of Figure 4.

[0108] Optionally, in this example, the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are sequentially mapped to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the first mapping rule.

[0109] The first mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port indexes in ascending order and the antenna ports in the first group of antenna ports in a front-to-back order to the X antenna ports in sequence.

[0110] Exemplarily, the order of the antenna ports in the first group of antenna ports from front to back refers to: the order of the antenna ports in the first group of antenna ports from front to back in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0111] For example, taking the i-th antenna array as antenna array #1 shown in FIG5 , the value of X is 2, the first group of antenna ports is the antenna ports within any one of the three dotted areas, and the X reference signal ports are reference signal port #1000 and reference signal port #1001. As shown in FIG5 , the two antenna ports included in the first group of antenna ports include antenna port #0 and antenna port #1, so that reference signal port #1000 can be mapped to antenna port #0, and reference signal port #1001 can be mapped to antenna port #1.

[0112] Based on this example, the terminal device can map the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the first mapping rule, and then send the reference signal through the first group of antenna ports, so that the network device can determine the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports based on the reference signal.

[0113] Because the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device, and the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are located at the front end of the same row of the i-th antenna array, during the movement of the terminal device, all antenna ports in the row of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, except for the X antenna ports, can move to the location of the X antenna ports; that is, there is a correlation between the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports. Therefore, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the other antenna ports based on the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports, thereby determining the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. In other words, by configuring reference signal resources for some antenna ports in a row of antenna ports, the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row is obtained. Compared to a solution that configures reference signal resources for each antenna port for channel estimation, this solution can reduce the consumption of reference signal resources.

[0114] In another example, the total number of reference signal ports included in the at least X reference signal ports is greater than X, that is, M is greater than X.

[0115] Optionally, in this example, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array.

[0116] The second group of antenna ports includes the first group of antenna ports, that is, the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports include the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports. In other words, the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are part of the antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports.

[0117] The second group of antenna ports is located in the i-th antenna array, in the frontmost X column in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0118] Exemplarily, implementation of the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports may refer to the related description of the first group of antenna ports in the foregoing example, which is not repeated here.

[0119] Exemplarily, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. This can be understood as follows: the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources correspond one-to-one with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. In other words, each of the M reference signal ports in each reference signal group has its corresponding antenna port.

[0120] Exemplarily, the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports may also be understood as: the total number of antenna ports included in the second group of antenna ports is M.

[0121] Optionally, in this example, M is Y times X. Wherein, Y is less than or equal to the number of rows of the i-th antenna array, and Y is a positive integer.

[0122] In a first possible implementation manner, when Y is less than the number of rows of the i-th antenna array, the M antenna ports included in the second group of antenna ports are located in some rows of the i-th antenna array.

[0123] Optionally, in this possible implementation, the M antenna ports are located in Y rows in the i-th antenna array, and each of the Y rows includes X antenna ports of the M antenna ports.

[0124] For example, assuming that the i-th antenna array is antenna array #1 shown in FIG4(a), and the value of X is 2, antenna array #1 is an antenna array with three rows and six columns, and the value of Y is less than 3, since M is greater than X, the value of Y can be 2. In this case, M is equal to 4, and the second group of antenna ports includes antenna ports within any two of the three dashed areas in FIG4(a). The antenna ports within one of these two dashed areas constitute the first group of antenna ports.

[0125] Alternatively, assuming that the i-th antenna array is antenna array #2 shown in FIG4(b), and the value of X is 1, antenna array #2 is a six-row, three-column antenna array, and the value of Y is less than 6. Since M is greater than X, the value of Y can be any value from 2 to 5. In this case, the second group of antenna ports includes antenna ports within any Y dashed areas of the six dashed areas in FIG4(b). The antenna ports within any one of the Y dashed areas constitute the first group of antenna ports.

[0126] In a second possible implementation manner, when Y is equal to the number of rows of the i-th antenna array, the M antenna ports included in the second group of antenna ports are located in all rows of the i-th antenna array.

[0127] Optionally, in this possible implementation, M antenna ports are located in each row of the i-th antenna array, and each row includes X antenna ports of the M antenna ports. That is, the second group of antenna ports is the frontmost X columns of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0128] For example, assume that the i-th antenna array is antenna array #1 shown in FIG4(a), and the value of X is 2. Antenna array #1 is an antenna array with three rows and six columns, and the value of Y is 3. In this case, M is 6, and the second group of antenna ports includes the antenna ports within the three dashed areas in FIG4(a). The antenna ports within any one of the three dashed areas constitute the first group of antenna ports.

[0129] Alternatively, taking the example of antenna array #2 (b) of FIG4 as the i-th antenna array, and X being 1, antenna array #2 is an antenna array with six rows and three columns, and Y being 6, M is 6, and the second group of antenna ports includes the antenna ports within the six dashed areas in FIG4 (b). The antenna ports within one of the six dashed areas constitute the first group of antenna ports.

[0130] Optionally, in this example, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are mapped in sequence to the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the second mapping rule.

[0131] The second mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port indexes in ascending order and the column indexes of the antenna ports in the second group of antenna ports in descending order to the M antenna ports.

[0132] Exemplarily, the column indexes of the antenna ports in the second group of antenna ports are from front to back, which means: the column indexes of the antenna ports in the second group of antenna ports are from front to back in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0133] Optionally, the second mapping rule may further include: for antenna ports in the same column, they may be mapped to M antenna ports in sequence according to the order of antenna port indexes from small to large.

[0134] For example, taking the i-th antenna array as antenna array #1 shown in Figure 6, the value of X is 2, and the second group of antenna ports includes antenna ports within at least two of the three dotted areas as an example, when Y is less than the number of rows of antenna array #1 (i.e., 3), the value of M can be 4. At this time, if the M reference signal ports include reference signal ports #1000~1003, taking the second group of antenna ports including antenna ports #0~1 and antenna ports #6~7 as an example, according to the second mapping rule, reference signal port #1000 can be mapped to antenna port #0, reference signal port #1001 can be mapped to antenna port #6, reference signal port #1002 can be mapped to antenna port #1, and reference signal port #1003 can be mapped to antenna port #7. Alternatively, reference signal port #1000 can be mapped to antenna port #6, reference signal port #1001 can be mapped to antenna port #0, reference signal port #1002 can be mapped to antenna port #7, and reference signal port #1003 can be mapped to antenna port #1.

[0135] When Y is equal to the number of rows of antenna array #1 (i.e., 3), the value of M can be 6. In this case, if the M reference signal ports include reference signal ports #1000 to 1005, and the second group of antenna ports includes antenna ports #0 to 1, antenna ports #6 to 7, and antenna ports #12 to 13, then according to the second mapping rule, reference signal port #1000 can be mapped to antenna port #0, reference signal port #1001 can be mapped to antenna port #6, reference signal port #1002 can be mapped to antenna port 12, reference signal port #1003 can be mapped to antenna port #1, reference signal port #1004 can be mapped to antenna port #7, and reference signal port #1005 can be mapped to antenna port #13.

[0136] Taking the first row where antenna ports #0 to #1 are located in FIG6 as an example, in the above example, the mapping order of the second mapping relationship also includes: for antenna ports located in the same column, mapping is performed in order of row index from small to large. In fact, the embodiment of the present application also supports mapping in order of row index from large to small, for example, reference signal port #1000 can be mapped to antenna port #12, reference signal port #1001 can be mapped to antenna port #6, and reference signal port #1002 can be mapped to antenna port #0; or, for antenna ports located in the same column, mapping can also be performed according to other preset mapping orders, for example, mapping can be performed in the order of the second row, the third row, and the first row, such as reference signal port #1000 can be mapped to antenna port #6, reference signal port #1001 can be mapped to antenna port #12, and reference signal port #1002 can be mapped to antenna port #0; the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

[0137] Based on this example, the terminal device can map the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources to the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the second mapping rule, and then send the reference signal through the second group of antenna ports, so that the network device can determine the channel state information corresponding to the second group of antenna ports based on the reference signal.

[0138] Because the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device, and the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are located at the front end of the same row of the i-th antenna array, during the movement of the terminal device, the antenna ports in the row of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, except for the X antenna ports, can all move to the position of the X antenna ports; that is, there is a correlation between the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports. Therefore, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the other antenna ports based on the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports (such as the downstream channel information), thereby determining the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. In other words, by configuring reference signal resources for some antenna ports in a row of antenna ports, the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row is obtained; compared to the solution of configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port for channel estimation, the consumption of reference signal resources can be reduced.

[0139] That is, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port of the terminal device) can be determined through a small amount of reference signal resources, so that when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources that can be used for a terminal device to send a reference signal are increased. Therefore, for a terminal device, the reference signal sending period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0140] It should be noted that the above is only exemplary. Taking the first mapping rule and the second mapping rule as an example, the mapping relationship between M reference signal ports and M antenna ports is introduced. In fact, there are other mapping relationships between the M reference signal ports and the M antenna ports. For example, the reference signal port index can be mapped to the M antenna ports in descending order, and the column index of the antenna port in the second group of antenna ports can be mapped to the M antenna ports in a descending order. The implementation is similar to the implementation of the above-mentioned first mapping rule and the second mapping rule. For details, please refer to the relevant description of the above-mentioned first mapping rule and the second mapping rule, which will not be repeated here.

[0141] Optionally, after step S301, as shown in FIG7 , the communication method further includes the following step S302:

[0142] S302: The terminal device transmits a reference signal to the network device via the X antenna ports. In response, the network device receives the reference signal from the terminal device via the X antenna ports. The reference signal is used to determine channel state information for the Z antenna ports, where Z is a total number of antenna ports in the at least one antenna array and is a positive integer.

[0143] Exemplarily, the reference signal includes but is not limited to a sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0144] Exemplarily, the channel state information of the Z antenna ports may be downlink channel information of the Z antenna ports; it is understandable that the downlink channel information of the Z antenna ports may also be considered as: downlink channel information of the terminal device.

[0145] Optionally, step S302 may also be replaced by: the terminal device sends a reference signal to the network device through M antenna ports; where M is equal to X, that is, the terminal device sends the reference signal to the network device through the X antenna ports.

[0146] Optionally, the network device can determine the channel state information of each antenna port in the i-th group of antenna arrays based on the channel state information of the M antenna ports, the structure of at least one antenna array, and the mapping relationship between the M antenna ports and the M reference signal ports, thereby determining the channel state information of at least one antenna array (i.e., Z antenna ports).

[0147] Among the M antenna ports, the channel state information of the X antenna ports located in the same row can be used to determine the channel state information of other antenna ports in the row (that is, the antenna ports other than the X antenna ports in the row where the X antenna ports are located, which are uniformly described here and not repeated here).

[0148] Optionally, the channel state information of the X antenna ports and the channel state information of other antenna ports satisfy the following relationship (1):

[0149] Wherein, t in the above relation (1) represents time; The channel state information of one of the other antenna ports is represented; It is represented as the channel state information of one antenna port among the X antenna ports located in the same row; h is the prediction coefficient; L is the distance the terminal device moves when one of the other antenna ports moves to the position of one of the X antenna ports; Δ t is the time taken by the terminal device to move the distance L. Under different values ​​of L and t, The antenna ports are channel state information corresponding to different antenna ports.

[0150] Exemplarily, L is the distance that the terminal device moves when one of the other antenna ports moves to the position of one of the X antenna ports. It can also be understood as: L is the distance between one of the X antenna ports and one of the M antenna ports.

[0151] For example, taking the value of X as 1 and the number of columns of the i-th antenna array as 4, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the remaining three antenna ports in the row where the antenna port is located based on the channel state information of one antenna port. Among them, L and t corresponding to each of the remaining three antenna ports can be determined based on the moving speed of the terminal device and the distance between the remaining three antenna ports and the antenna port, thereby determining the channel state information corresponding to the three antenna ports according to the above relationship (1).

[0152] Optionally, when the value of X is greater than 1, the network device may determine multiple channel state information of a line port in other antenna ports based on the channel state information of each antenna port in the X antenna ports, where the channel state information of each antenna port in each of the X antenna ports corresponds to one channel state information in the multiple channel state information; thereby determining the channel state information of one line port in the other antenna port based on the multiple channel state information.

[0153] For example, taking the i-th antenna array as antenna array #1 shown in FIG6 , the value of X is 2, the X antenna ports include antenna port #0 and antenna port #1, and the other antenna ports include antenna port #2 to antenna port #5. Taking the example of using the channel state information of antenna port #0 and antenna port #1 to infer the channel state information of antenna port #2, the channel state information of antenna port #0 and the channel state information of antenna port #1 are respectively substituted into the above relationship (1) to obtain the two channel state information of antenna port #2. Further, the channel state information of antenna port #2 is determined based on the two channel state information.

[0154] Exemplarily, determining the channel state information of one line port in the other antenna ports based on the multiple channel state information includes: obtaining the channel state information of one line port in the other antenna ports by performing one or more of weighted combining, maximum ratio combining (MRC), and Kalman filtering on the multiple channel state information.

[0155] It should be noted that the above is only an illustrative introduction to the implementation method of "determining the channel state information of one line port among the other antenna ports based on the multiple channel state information". In fact, the embodiment of the present application can also implement "determining the channel state information of one line port among the other antenna ports based on the multiple channel state information" by other methods other than the above method, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

[0156] Based on this optional solution, the network device can determine the channel state information corresponding to each row of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the above relationship (1). Compared with the solution of performing channel estimation by configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port in at least one antenna array of the terminal device) can be determined by a small amount of reference signal resources. As a result, when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources that can be used for a terminal device to send a reference signal increase. That is, for a terminal device, the reference signal sending period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0157] It should be noted that the above is only an example of relationship (1) to introduce the method of inferring the channel state information of other antenna ports in the row where the X antenna ports are located based on the channel state information of X antenna ports. In fact, it is also possible to implement "inferring the channel state information of other antenna ports in the row where the X antenna ports are located based on the channel state information of X antenna ports" in other ways other than the above relationship (1). This is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0158] Furthermore, the channel state information for each row of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array can be implemented according to the process of "inferring the channel state information of other antenna ports in the row containing the X antenna ports based on the channel state information of X antenna ports," thereby determining the channel state information of the i-th antenna array. Furthermore, each antenna array in the at least one antenna array can refer to the implementation process of the channel state information for the i-th antenna array to obtain the channel state information of the at least one antenna array (i.e., the channel state information of the terminal device).

[0159] The communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, in which the first configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, wherein each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports, and the X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array. That is, the network device configures reference signal ports for the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in each antenna array in at least one antenna array of the terminal device. Since the first group of antenna ports is the X antenna ports located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, and X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, it can be considered that the network device configures reference signal resources for some antenna ports in at least one row of antenna ports in at least one antenna array of the terminal device.

[0160] In addition, the line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device, and the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports are located at the front end of the same row of the i-th antenna array. Therefore, during the movement of the terminal device, in the row where the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is located, all antenna ports other than the X antenna ports can move to the position where the X antenna ports are located; that is, there is a correlation between the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports. Therefore, the network device can infer the channel state information corresponding to the other antenna ports based on the channel state information corresponding to the X antenna ports (such as the downstream channel information), thereby determining the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row where the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is located. In other words, by configuring reference signal resources for some antenna ports in a row of antenna ports, the channel state information of all antenna ports in the row is obtained; compared to the solution of configuring reference signal resources for each antenna port for channel estimation, the consumption of reference signal resources can be reduced. That is, the channel state information of the terminal device (i.e., the channel state information of each antenna port of the terminal device) can be determined through a small amount of reference signal resources, so that when the number of terminal devices served by the network device remains unchanged, the reference signal resources that can be used for a terminal device to send a reference signal are increased. Therefore, for a terminal device, the reference signal sending period is shortened, thereby alleviating channel aging.

[0161] Optionally, before step S301, as shown in FIG7 , the communication method further includes the following steps S300A to S300B:

[0162] S300A: The terminal device sends first indication information to the network device. In response, the network device receives the first indication information from the terminal device. The first indication information indicates M, and the first indication information is used to determine the number of at least X reference signal ports. That is, after receiving the first indication information, the network device can determine the number of at least X reference signal ports based on the first indication information.

[0163] S300B: The terminal device sends a second indication message to the network device; correspondingly, the network device receives the second indication message from the terminal device, wherein the second indication message indicates Z.

[0164] Optionally, the second indication information is indicated by the structure of the i-th antenna array and the array quantity Z of at least one antenna array, wherein the structure of each antenna array in the at least one antenna array is the same.

[0165] Exemplarily, the structure of the i-th antenna array can be represented by the number of rows and columns of the i-th antenna array. Therefore, the second indication information being used to indicate the structure of the i-th antenna array can be understood as indicating the number of rows and columns of the i-th antenna array. For example, the second indication information includes the number of rows and columns of the i-th antenna array and the number of arrays.

[0166] Optionally, at least one antenna array may be located in different antenna panels, in which case the number of arrays may also be referred to as the number of antenna panels. For example, the terminal device may be a train, and different carriages of the train may be considered different antenna panels, so the number of arrays may also be referred to as the number of carriages of the train.

[0167] Optionally, the distance between adjacent antennas in the i-th antenna array may be a default value, or the distance between adjacent antennas may be pre-set. The antenna ports in the i-th antenna array are evenly distributed, i.e., the distance between any two adjacent antenna ports in the i-th antenna array is equal.

[0168] As an example, the distribution mode of at least one antenna array may be a default distribution mode.

[0169] Optionally, the default distribution method may include: at least one antenna array is evenly distributed in the direction of movement of the terminal device. That is, the distance between any two adjacent antenna ports in the at least one antenna array is the same. In other words, the distance between any two adjacent antenna ports in any antenna array in the at least one antenna array is equal, and the distance between the two closest antenna ports in adjacent antenna arrays in the at least one antenna array is the same as the distance between the two adjacent antenna ports.

[0170] For the convenience of description, the distance between the two closest antenna ports in adjacent antenna arrays in at least one antenna array is referred to as the distance of adjacent antenna arrays, and the distance between two adjacent antenna ports in any antenna array in at least one antenna array is referred to as the distance of adjacent antenna ports. These are explained uniformly here and will not be repeated.

[0171] Optionally, the distance between adjacent antenna ports may adopt a default value, or may be a predetermined value, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0172] Optionally, the default distribution manner may further include: at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the moving direction of the terminal device, or at least one antenna array is distributed in parallel in the moving direction of the terminal device.

[0173] For example, taking the distance between adjacent antenna ports as a and at least one antenna array including three antenna arrays as an example, as shown in (a) in Figure 8 , at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the direction of movement of the terminal device; or, as shown in (b) in Figure 8 , at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0174] As another example, the distribution mode of at least one antenna array may be indicated by the second indication information, that is, the second indication information is also used to indicate the distribution mode of at least one antenna array.

[0175] Optionally, the second indication information may also indicate that the at least one antenna array is evenly distributed in the direction of movement of the terminal device. Alternatively, the second indication information may also indicate that the at least one antenna array is non-uniformly distributed in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0176] Exemplarily, the second indication information may also indicate that the implementation of uniform distribution of at least one antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device is the same as the implementation of the above-mentioned default distribution method. For details, please refer to the relevant description of the above-mentioned default distribution method and will not be repeated here.

[0177] Optionally, the second indication information may also indicate the arrangement of at least one antenna array. Exemplarily, the arrangement of at least one antenna array may be: at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the direction of movement of the terminal device, or at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the direction of movement of the terminal device.

[0178] Optionally, when the second indication information indicates that at least one antenna array is non-uniformly distributed in the direction of movement of the terminal device, the second indication information may also indicate the distance between adjacent antenna arrays.

[0179] For example, taking the case where at least one antenna array includes three antenna arrays, the distance between adjacent antenna ports is a, and the distance between adjacent antenna arrays is b, when at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the direction of movement of the terminal device, the distribution manner of antenna arrays #1 to 3 can be as shown in (a) in Figure 9; when at least one antenna array is distributed side by side in the direction of movement of the terminal device, the distribution manner of antenna arrays #1 to 3 can be as shown in (b) in Figure 9.

[0180] For example, the dotted areas in the above-mentioned Figures 8 (such as (a) in Figure 8 or (b) in Figure 8) and Figure 9 (such as (a) in Figure 9 or (b) in Figure 9) can refer to the relevant descriptions of the dotted areas in the above-mentioned Figures 4 and / or 5, and will not be repeated here.

[0181] Exemplarily, the above-mentioned first indication information and second indication information can be collectively referred to as the constraint of the reference signal, that is, the terminal device reports the constraint of the reference signal to the network device, so that the network device can learn from the constraint that each group of reference signal resources indicated by the first configuration information includes at least X number of reference signal ports and the structure of at least one antenna array. Furthermore, the distance between any one of the X antenna ports and the other antenna ports in its row (that is, L in the above relationship (1)) can also be learned, thereby realizing the acquisition of channel state information of the Z antenna ports.

[0182] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the order of step S300A and step S300B. That is, step S300A may be performed before step S300B, or step S300A may be performed after step S300B, or step S300A and step S300B may be performed simultaneously. For example, when step S300A and step S300B are performed simultaneously, the first indication information and the second indication information (i.e., the reference signal constraint) may be located in the same information, that is, step S300A and step S300B may be combined into one step.

[0183] Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information may be located in the capability information sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0184] Optionally, taking the distribution mode of at least one antenna array as a default distribution mode as an example, the capability information may include a first field and a second field. The first field is used to indicate Z; the second field is used to indicate M.

[0185] Optionally, in the case where Z is indicated by the structure of the i-th antenna array and the array number of at least one antenna array, the second field includes subfield #1, subfield #2 and subfield #3, wherein subfield #1 is used to indicate the number of rows of the i-th antenna array; subfield #2 is used to indicate the number of columns of the i-th antenna array; and subfield #3 is used to indicate the array number of at least one antenna array.

[0186] Based on this optional solution, the first indication information and the second indication information can be located in the capability information. It can be understood that the capability information is reported by the terminal device to the network device during the random access process; thus, compared with the method in which the terminal device uses dynamic signaling (such as uplink control information (UCI)) to report the first indication information and the second indication information, the overhead of dynamic signaling can be reduced. In addition, when the reference signal resources change, more signaling interactions are required between the terminal device and the network device. If dynamic signaling is used for reporting, the dynamic signaling overhead is further increased. Therefore, the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can further reduce the overhead of dynamic signaling when the reference signal resources change.

[0187] The above only takes the distribution mode of at least one antenna array as the default distribution mode as an example to introduce the implementation of capability information. In fact, the distribution mode of at least one antenna array can also be other distribution modes. In this case, the capability information also includes a third field, which is used to indicate the distribution mode of at least one antenna array.

[0188] In the above embodiments of the present application, at least one antenna array includes three antenna arrays. In fact, the number of arrays of the at least one antenna array may be less than 3, or the number of arrays of the at least one antenna array may be greater than 3. The implementation is similar to the implementation of the at least one antenna array including three antenna arrays. For example, please refer to the relevant description of the at least one antenna array including three antenna arrays, which will not be repeated here.

[0189] It should be noted that in the above embodiment, the antenna ports on the line parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device are referred to as antenna ports in the same row. In fact, the embodiment of the present application can also refer to the antenna ports parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device as antenna ports in the same column, that is, the X antenna ports included in the first group of antenna ports are located in the same column; correspondingly, the second group of antenna ports are located in the i-th antenna array, in the frontmost X rows in the movement direction of the terminal device.

[0190] It is understood that in each of the above embodiments, the methods and / or steps implemented by the network device may also be implemented by components applicable to the network device (e.g., processor, chip, chip system, circuit, logic module, or software); and the methods and / or steps implemented by the terminal device may also be implemented by components applicable to the terminal device (e.g., processor, chip, chip system, circuit, logic module, or software). The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0191] It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0192] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0193] Communication Device Figure 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 100. The communication device 100 includes a processing module 1001 and a transceiver module 1002. The communication device 100 can be used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned network device or terminal device.

[0194] In some embodiments, the communication device 100 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 10 ) for storing program instructions and data.

[0195] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1002, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement a transmitting and / or receiving function. The transceiver module 1002 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0196] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1002 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to execute the receiving and sending steps performed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 1001 may be used to execute the processing steps (such as determination, etc.) performed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

[0197] When the communication device 100 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned terminal device:

[0198] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to receive first configuration information, where the first configuration information indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports;

[0199] The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is one of the at least one antenna array of the terminal device;

[0200] The line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row of the i-th antenna array, where X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and both i and X are positive integers.

[0201] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information indicates M; correspondingly, the processing module 1001 is configured to determine the number of at least X reference signal ports according to the first indication information, where M is greater than or equal to X.

[0202] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to send a reference signal through X antenna ports, where the reference signal is used to determine channel state information of Z antenna ports, where Z is the total number of antenna ports in the at least one antenna array, and Z is a positive integer.

[0203] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is further used to send second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate Z.

[0204] When the communication device 100 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned network device:

[0205] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to send first configuration information, where the first configuration information indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources includes at least X reference signal ports;

[0206] The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is one of the at least one antenna array of the terminal device;

[0207] The line connecting the antenna ports in the same row of the i-th antenna array is parallel to the direction of movement of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the direction of movement of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row of the i-th antenna array, where X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and both i and X are positive integers.

[0208] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information indicates M; accordingly, the processing module 1001 is configured to determine the number of at least X reference signal ports according to the first indication information, where M is greater than or equal to X.

[0209] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to receive a reference signal through X antenna ports, where the reference signal is used to determine channel state information of Z antenna ports, where Z is the total number of antenna ports in the at least one antenna array, and Z is a positive integer.

[0210] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is further used to receive second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate Z.

[0211] Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module and will not be repeated here.

[0212] In the present application, the communication device 100 may be presented in the form of various functional modules divided in an integrated manner. The "module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions.

[0213] In some embodiments, when the communication device 100 in Figure 10 is a chip or a chip system, the function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1002 can be implemented through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or chip system, and the function / implementation process of the processing module 1001 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or chip system.

[0214] Since the communication device 100 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0215] As a possible product form, the terminal device or network device described in the embodiments of the present application can also be implemented using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits that can perform the various functions described throughout this application.

[0216] As another possible product form, the terminal device or network device described in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a general bus architecture. For ease of explanation, refer to Figure 11, which is a structural diagram of a communication device 1100 provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 1100 includes a processor 1101 and a transceiver 1102. The communication device 1100 can be a network device, or a chip or chip system therein; or, the communication device 1100 can be a terminal device, or a chip or module therein. Figure 11 only shows the main components of the communication device 1100. In addition to the processor 1101 and the transceiver 1102, the communication device may further include a memory 1103, and an input and output device (not shown in the figure).

[0217] Optionally, the processor 1101 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, as well as control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process software program data. The memory 1103 is primarily used to store software programs and data. The transceiver 1102 may include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna. The radio frequency circuit is primarily used to convert baseband signals into radio frequency signals and process radio frequency signals. The antenna is primarily used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as a touch screen, display, and keyboard, are primarily used to receive user input and output data to the user.

[0218] Optionally, the processor 1101 , the transceiver 1102 , and the memory 1103 may be connected via a communication bus.

[0219] When the communication device is powered on, the processor 1101 can read the software program in the memory 1103, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1101 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1101. The processor 1101 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0220] In another implementation, the RF circuit and antenna may be provided independently of the processor performing baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the RF circuit and antenna may be remotely arranged independent of the communication device.

[0221] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the above-mentioned communication device 100 may take the form of the communication device 1100 shown in FIG. 11 .

[0222] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 1001 in FIG10 can be implemented by the processor 1101 in the communication device 1100 shown in FIG11 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1103. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 1002 in FIG10 can be implemented by the transceiver 1102 in the communication device 1100 shown in FIG11.

[0223] As another possible product form, the network device or terminal device in this application may adopt the structure shown in Figure 12, or include the components shown in Figure 12. Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 1200 provided in this application. The communication device 1200 may be a terminal device or a chip or system-on-chip in a terminal device; or it may be a network device or a module, chip, or system-on-chip in a network device.

[0224] As shown in FIG12 , the communication device 1200 includes at least one processor 1201 and at least one communication interface ( FIG12 is merely an example of one communication interface 1204 and one processor 1201). Optionally, the communication device 1200 may further include a communication bus 1202 and a memory 1203.

[0225] The processor 1201 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 1201 may also be other devices with processing capabilities, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

[0226] Communication bus 1202 is used to connect the various components in communication device 1200, enabling communication between them. Communication bus 1202 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, for example. This bus can be categorized as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of illustration, FIG12 shows a single thick line, but this does not necessarily indicate that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0227] Communication interface 1204 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Exemplarily, communication interface 1204 can be a module, circuit, transceiver, or any other device capable of communication. Optionally, communication interface 1204 can also be an input / output interface within processor 1201, used to implement signal input and output to the processor.

[0228] The memory 1203 may be a device with a storage function, used to store instructions and / or data, wherein the instructions may be computer programs.

[0229] Exemplarily, the memory 1203 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and / or instructions, or a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and / or instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

[0230] It should be noted that the memory 1203 can exist independently of the processor 1201 or can be integrated with the processor 1201. The memory 1203 can be located within the communication device 1200 or outside the communication device 1200, without limitation. The processor 1201 can be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 1203 to implement the methods provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

[0231] As an optional implementation, the communication device 1200 may further include an output device 1205 and an input device 1206. The output device 1205 communicates with the processor 1201 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 1205 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 1206 communicates with the processor 1201 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 1206 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0232] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the communication device 100 shown in FIG. 10 may take the form of the communication device 1200 shown in FIG. 12 .

[0233] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 1001 in FIG10 can be implemented by the processor 1201 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 1002 in FIG10 can be implemented by the communication interface 1204 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12.

[0234] It should be noted that the structure shown in FIG12 does not constitute a specific limitation on the network device or terminal device. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, the network device or terminal device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine or split certain components, or arrange the components differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0235] In some embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which includes a processor for implementing the method in any of the above method embodiments.

[0236] As a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary computer programs and data. The computer program may include instructions, and the processor may invoke the instructions in the computer program stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute any of the above-described method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be located in the communication device.

[0237] As another possible implementation, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is a code / data read / write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer execution instructions (computer execution instructions are stored in a memory, may be read directly from the memory, or may pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0238] As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface, where the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device.

[0239] It can be understood that the communication device can be a chip or a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips or include chips and other discrete devices. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0240] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0241] The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0242] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, devices, and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0243] It is understood that the systems, devices, and methods described in this application may also be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0244] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, i.e., they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Components shown as units may or may not be physical units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the objectives of this embodiment as needed.

[0245] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0246] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, 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 instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, 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 a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state drive (SSD)). In the embodiment of the present application, the computer may include the aforementioned device.

[0247] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art can understand and implement other changes to the disclosed embodiments by reviewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0248] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely illustrative of the present application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive first configuration information, where the first configuration information indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources respectively including at least X reference signal ports; The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is an antenna array in at least one antenna array of the terminal device; The line connecting the antenna ports in the same row in the i-th antenna array is parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the movement direction of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and i and X are both positive integers.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are sequentially mapped to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to a first mapping rule, wherein: The first mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port indexes in ascending order and the antenna ports in the first group of antenna ports in a front-to-back order to the X antenna ports in sequence.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The number of the at least X reference signal ports is M, where M is Y times of X. Accordingly, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, and Y is less than or equal to the number of rows of the i-th antenna array; The second group of antenna ports is located in the i-th antenna array, in the frontmost X columns in the direction of movement of the terminal device, the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports include the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports, and Y is a positive integer.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: The M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are sequentially mapped to the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the second mapping rule, wherein: The second mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port indexes in ascending order and the column indexes of the antenna ports in the second group of antenna ports in a forward-to-backward order to the M antenna ports in sequence.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send first indication information, where the first indication information indicates M, and the first indication information is used to determine the number of the at least X reference signal ports, where M is greater than or equal to X.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A reference signal is sent through the X antenna ports, where the reference signal is used to determine channel state information of the Z antenna ports, where Z is a total number of antenna ports in the at least one antenna array, and Z is a positive integer.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate Z.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The second indication information is used to indicate the structure of the i-th antenna array and the array quantity of the at least one antenna array, and the structure of each antenna array in the at least one antenna array is the same.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The second indication information includes the number of rows and columns of the i-th antenna array and the number of arrays.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The second indication information is also used to indicate a distribution mode of the at least one antenna array.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: The maximum value of i is determined according to the number of arrays of the at least one antenna array.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The maximum value of i is the number of arrays.

13. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending first configuration information, where the first configuration information indicates at least one group of reference signal resources, each group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources respectively including at least X reference signal ports; The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, the i-th group of reference signal resources is a group of reference signal resources in the at least one group of reference signal resources, and the i-th antenna array is an antenna array in at least one antenna array of the terminal device; The line connecting the antenna ports in the same row in the i-th antenna array is parallel to the movement direction of the terminal device. The first group of antenna ports is the frontmost X antenna ports in the i-th antenna array in the movement direction of the terminal device. The X antenna ports are located in the same row in the i-th antenna array, X is less than the number of columns of the i-th antenna array, and i and X are both positive integers.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: The X reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are sequentially mapped to the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to a first mapping rule, wherein: The first mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port indexes in ascending order and the antenna ports in the first group of antenna ports in a front-to-back order to the X antenna ports in sequence.

15. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The number of the at least X reference signal ports is M, where M is Y times of X. Accordingly, the M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, and Y is less than or equal to the number of rows of the i-th antenna array; The second group of antenna ports is located in the i-th antenna array, in the frontmost X columns in the direction of movement of the terminal device, the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports include the X antenna ports of the first group of antenna ports, and Y is a positive integer.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are respectively associated with the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array, including: The M reference signal ports included in the i-th group of reference signal resources are sequentially mapped to the M antenna ports of the second group of antenna ports in the i-th antenna array according to the second mapping rule, wherein: The second mapping rule includes mapping the reference signal port indexes in ascending order and the column indexes of the antenna ports in the second group of antenna ports in a forward-to-backward order to the M antenna ports in sequence.

17. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receiving first indication information, where the first indication information indicates M, where M is greater than or equal to; The number of the at least X reference signal ports is determined according to the first indication information.

18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A reference signal is sent through the X antenna ports, where the reference signal is used to determine channel state information of the Z antenna ports, where Z is a total number of antenna ports in the at least one antenna array, and Z is a positive integer.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate Z.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The second indication information is used to indicate the structure of the i-th antenna array and the array quantity of the at least one antenna array, and the structure of each antenna array in the at least one antenna array is the same.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The second indication information includes the number of rows and columns of the i-th antenna array and the number of arrays.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that The second indication information is also used to indicate a distribution mode of the at least one antenna array.

23. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 22, characterized in that: The maximum value of i is determined according to the number of arrays of the at least one antenna array.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that The maximum value of i is the number of arrays.

25. A communication system, characterized in that: The communication system includes a terminal device and a network device, wherein: The terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12; The network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 13-24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module is used to perform the receiving behavior or the sending behavior in the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, or to perform the receiving behavior or the sending behavior in the method according to any one of claims 13 to 24; The processing module is used to execute the processing behavior in the method according to any one of claims 1-12, or to execute the processing behavior in the method according to any one of claims 13-24.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises a processor; the processor is configured to run a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, or so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 13 to 24.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs. When the computer instructions or programs are executed on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 13 to 24 is executed.

29. A computer program product, characterized in that When the computer program product is executed on a communication device, the communication device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, or the communication device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 13 to 24.

30. A chip, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive computer execution instructions, and when the execution instructions are executed by the processor, the chip executes the method as described in any one of claims 1-12, or the chip executes the method as described in any one of claims 13-24.

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