Channel state information acquisition method and communication apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a channel state information acquisition method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: a terminal receiving first information used for determining a second reference signal resource, wherein the second reference signal resource is derived from a first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource comprises N1 ports, and the second reference signal resource comprises N2 ports, N1 being greater than N2; the terminal receiving a reference signal on the second reference signal resource, and obtaining channel state information of the N2 ports on the basis of the received reference signal and second channel estimation auxiliary information, wherein the second channel estimation auxiliary information is channel estimation auxiliary information which corresponds to the second reference signal resource and is determined from first channel estimation auxiliary information, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource; and the terminal sending the channel state information of the N2 ports. Thus, configuration information overheads can be reduced, and a resource utilization rate can be improved.

Description

Channel state information acquisition method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on January 8, 2024, with application number 202410029679.0 and application name “Channel State Information Acquisition Method and Communication Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a method for acquiring channel state information and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) leverages spatial resources to achieve array gain, multiplexing and diversity gain, and interference cancellation gain in space, exponentially increasing the capacity and spectral efficiency of communication systems. This technology can meet the needs of ultra-high-speed transmission and remains a key technology in future mobile communication system research.

[0004] Currently, in Massive MIMO systems, dynamic radio frequency (RF) link shutdown mechanisms are designed to address dynamic service demands and achieve energy conservation. To support channel estimation for this dynamic RF link shutdown mechanism, network equipment must configure corresponding channel estimation resources for different shutdown methods. This results in limited configuration flexibility and high signaling overhead. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a channel state information acquisition method and a communication device, which can reduce signaling overhead and improve resource utilization.

[0006] In the first aspect, a method for obtaining channel state information is provided. The method can be executed by a communication device, which can be a communication device (such as a terminal) or can be executed by a component configured in a communication device (such as a chip or a chip system). The following is an example of a terminal executing the method.

[0007] The method includes: a terminal receiving first information, the first information being used to determine a second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource being derived from a first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource including N1 ports, the second reference signal resource including N2 ports, N1 being greater than N2, and N1 and N2 being positive integers. The terminal receiving a reference signal on the second reference signal resource, and obtaining channel state information for the N2 ports based on the received reference signal and second channel estimation auxiliary information, the second channel estimation auxiliary information being channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource determined in the first channel estimation auxiliary information, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information being channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource. The terminal then transmits the channel state information for the N2 ports.

[0008] According to the above solution, the terminal can determine the second reference signal resource based on the first reference signal resource, and determine the channel estimation auxiliary information of the second reference signal resource based on the channel estimation auxiliary information of the first reference signal resource, based on the first information from the network device. By referring to the relevant configuration of the first reference signal resource, the relevant configuration of the second reference signal resource can be obtained, which can reduce the signaling overhead of the relevant configuration for obtaining channel state information and improve resource utilization. In particular, for Massive MIMO systems, it can support energy-saving scenarios such as dynamic RF shutdown, greatly reducing signaling overhead.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information is configuration information of the second reference signal resource, and the first information includes an identifier of the first reference signal resource and information indicating the N2 ports among the N1 ports.

[0010] According to the above solution, the first information can be configuration information for the second reference signal resource. The network device indicates the identifier of the first reference signal resource and the manner in which some ports are indicated, and references the configuration information of the first reference signal resource to configure the second reference signal resource. The first information does not need to include specific configuration information for the time-frequency resource mapping pattern or the second channel estimation auxiliary information. This can significantly reduce the information overhead of the reference signal resource configuration information, particularly for the relatively high overhead of the channel estimation auxiliary information, thereby improving resource utilization and reference signal resource configuration efficiency.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the second reference signal resource is the same as the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: the terminal receives second information, the second information is used to configure the first reference signal resource, the second information includes the first channel estimation auxiliary information and first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the time-frequency resource mapping style of the first reference signal resource.

[0013] According to the above solution, the network device can send detailed configuration information of the first reference signal resource to the terminal, so that the terminal can reference the configuration information of the first reference signal resource to configure other reference signal resources, thereby reducing configuration signaling overhead. In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the second information also includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate M ports of the N1 ports that transmit reference signals, where M is a positive integer, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is used to determine channel state information of the N1 ports based on the reference signals transmitted by the M ports.

[0014] According to the above solution, a reference signal transmission method based on sparsity theory can be specifically adopted, whereby a terminal can estimate and obtain channel state information for a larger number of ports by transmitting reference signals through a smaller number of ports. This can further reduce the overhead of reference signal transmission resources. In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the second information further includes third indication information, which is used to indicate the validity period of the first channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0015] According to the above solution, since the first channel estimation auxiliary information is obtained based on prior channel information, its accuracy may decrease as the terminal moves, changes in position, etc., the network device can notify the terminal of the validity period of the first channel estimation auxiliary information to ensure the reliability of the channel estimation. In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal receiving third information, the third information being used to indicate third channel estimation auxiliary information, the third channel estimation auxiliary information being the updated channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource.

[0016] According to this solution, the network device can only update the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the benchmark reference signal resource, that is, it can update the channel estimation auxiliary information of other reference signal resources that use the benchmark reference signal resource as a benchmark without reconfiguring the reference signal resources, which can reduce the configuration signaling overhead, improve resource utilization, and improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

[0017] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the second information further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the first reference signal resource is a reference reference signal resource. The configuration information of the reference reference signal resource is reference configuration information for configuring a reference signal resource, and / or the reference reference signal resource is not associated with reporting configuration information.

[0018] According to the above solution, the network device notifies the terminal through the configuration information of the first reference signal resource that the first reference signal resource is the benchmark reference signal resource, so that the terminal stores the configuration information of the first reference signal resource and calls it when the network device configures other reference signal resources.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal determining not to receive a reference signal on the first reference signal resource based on the first reference signal resource being the benchmark reference signal resource.

[0020] According to the above solution, the reference reference signal resource can be used only to configure other reference signal resources and is not actually used to transmit reference signals. After the terminal learns that the first reference signal resource is the reference reference signal resource, it can determine the configuration information of the first reference signal resource as reference configuration information for other reference signal resources, without having to receive reference signals on the first reference signal resource, thereby achieving consensus between the network device and the terminal.

[0021] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, a terminal receives fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate that downlink data is received on a first resource, and a second resource within the first resource belongs to the first reference signal resource and does not belong to the second reference signal resource. The terminal determines that the second resource carries symbols in the downlink data.

[0022] According to the above scheme, since the first reference signal resource does not actually carry a reference signal, when the resource scheduled by the network device for carrying data overlaps with the first reference signal resource (such as the overlapping resource is the second resource) and does not overlap with the second reference signal resource that actually carries the reference signal, the terminal can determine that the second resource carries data symbols, which enables the terminal to accurately determine the resource that actually carries the data symbols, thereby accurately determining the transmission block size of the data.

[0023] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal sending fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the terminal's support capability for the reference reference signal resource, and the fifth information includes one or more of the following:

[0024] The maximum number of supported reference signal resources.

[0025] The maximum number of ports supported for each baseline reference signal resource;

[0026] The validity period of the supported reference signal resources.

[0027] According to the above solution, the terminal can report or feedback the terminal's support capability for reference reference signal resources to the network device, so that the network device can configure reference reference signal resources that meet the terminal's capability for the terminal.

[0028] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal receiving sixth information, where the sixth information is used to query the terminal's support capability for the benchmark reference signal resource.

[0029] According to the above scheme, the network device can actively query the terminal's support capability for the benchmark reference signal resources in order to obtain the terminal's capabilities or obtain the changes in the terminal's support capabilities in a timely manner when the environment changes, so that the benchmark reference signal resources that the network device can configure for the terminal can meet the terminal's real-time support capabilities.

[0030] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information is channel state information reporting configuration information, and the first information specifically indicates reporting channel state information of N2 ports among the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource.

[0031] According to the above solution, the first information may be channel state information reporting configuration information. The network device may configure a reference signal resource with a large number of ports and configure the terminal to report channel state information for some port combinations among the ports of the reference signal resource through the reporting configuration information. This enables the network device to flexibly obtain channel state information for some port combinations among the large number of port combinations.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first reference signal resource is associated with multiple reporting configuration information, the multiple reporting configuration information include the first information, and the multiple reporting configuration information indicate different ports of the first reference signal resource for obtaining channel state information.

[0033] According to the above solution, a network device can configure a reference signal resource with a large number of ports and multiple reporting configuration information associated with the reference signal resource. Different reporting configuration information configures the terminal to report channel state information for different port combinations within the ports of the reference signal resource. This eliminates the need for the network device to configure different reference signal resources for different port combinations, reducing configuration information overhead and improving resource utilization.

[0034] On the second aspect, a channel state information acquisition method is provided. The method can be executed by a communication device, which can be a communication device (such as a network device) or can be executed by a component configured in a communication device (such as a chip or a chip system). The following is an example of a network device executing the method.

[0035] The method includes: a network device sending first information, the first information being used to determine a second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource being derived from a first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource including N1 ports, the second reference signal resource including N2 ports, N1 being greater than N2, and N1 and N2 being positive integers; the network device sending a reference signal on the second reference signal resource; and receiving channel state information for the N2 ports.

[0036] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information is configuration information of the second reference signal resource, and the first information includes an identifier of the first reference signal resource and information indicating the N2 ports among the N1 ports.

[0037] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the second reference signal resource is the same as the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource.

[0038] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method also includes: the network device sends second information, the second information is used to configure the first reference signal resource, the second information includes first channel estimation auxiliary information and first indication information corresponding to the first reference signal resource, and the first indication information is used to indicate the time-frequency resource mapping style of the first reference signal resource.

[0039] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the second information also includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the M ports among the N1 ports that transmit reference signals, where M is a positive integer, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is used to determine the channel state information of the N1 ports based on the reference signals transmitted by the M ports.

[0040] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second information further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate a valid duration of the first channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0041] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends third information, where the third information is used to indicate third channel estimation auxiliary information, and the third channel estimation auxiliary information is the updated channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource.

[0042] In conjunction with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the second information further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the first reference signal resource is a reference reference signal resource. The configuration information of the reference reference signal resource is reference configuration information for configuring a reference signal resource, and / or the reference reference signal resource is not associated with reporting configuration information.

[0043] In conjunction with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device receiving fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the terminal's support capability for the reference reference signal resource, and the fifth information includes one or more of the following:

[0044] The maximum number of supported reference signal resources.

[0045] The maximum number of ports supported for each baseline reference signal resource;

[0046] The validity period of the supported reference signal resources.

[0047] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends sixth information, where the sixth information is used to query the terminal's support capability for the benchmark reference signal resource.

[0048] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information is channel state information reporting configuration information, and the first information specifically indicates reporting channel state information of N2 ports among the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource.

[0049] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first reference signal resource is associated with multiple reporting configuration information, the multiple reporting configuration information include the first information, and the multiple reporting configuration information indicate different ports of the first reference signal resource for obtaining channel state information.

[0050] According to a third aspect, a communication device is provided. In one design, the device may include a module corresponding to the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect or any embodiment of the first aspect. The module may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software. In one design, the device includes: a transceiver unit for receiving first information, the first information being used to determine a second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource being from a first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource including N1 ports, the second reference signal resource including N2 ports, N1 being greater than N2, and N1 and N2 being positive integers. The transceiver unit is also used to receive a reference signal on the second reference signal resource. A processing unit is used to obtain channel state information of the N2 ports based on the received reference signal and second channel estimation auxiliary information, the second channel estimation auxiliary information being the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource determined in the first channel estimation auxiliary information, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information being the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource. The transceiver unit is also used to send the channel state information.

[0051] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. In one design, the device may include a module corresponding to the method / operation / step / action described in the second aspect or any one of the embodiments of the second aspect. The module may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In one design, the device includes: a processing unit for determining first information, the first information being used to determine a second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource being from a first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource including N1 ports, the second reference signal resource including N2 ports, N1 being greater than N2, and N1 and N2 being positive integers. A transceiver unit for sending the first information. The transceiver unit is also used to send a reference signal on the second reference signal resource. The transceiver unit is also used to receive channel state information, the channel state information being the channel state information of the N2 ports.

[0052] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor. The processor can implement the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect and the first aspect to the second aspect. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory, and the processor is coupled to the memory, and can be used to execute instructions in the memory to implement the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect and the first aspect to the second aspect. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication interface can be a transceiver, a pin, a circuit, a bus, a module, or other types of communication interfaces, without limitation.

[0053] In one implementation, the communication apparatus is a communication device (such as a terminal device or an access network device). When the communication apparatus is a communication device, the communication interface may be a transceiver or an input / output interface.

[0054] In another implementation, the communication device is a chip configured in a communication device. When the communication device is a chip configured in a communication device, the communication interface may be an input / output interface.

[0055] Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0056] In a sixth aspect, a processor is provided, comprising: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation of the first and second aspects above.

[0057] In a specific implementation, the processor may be one or more chips, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a trigger, or various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, received and input by a receiver, and the signal output by the output circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, output to and transmitted by a transmitter. The input circuit and the output circuit may be the same circuit, which functions as an input circuit and an output circuit at different times. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the processor and various circuits.

[0058] In the seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes: a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions), which, when executed, enables a computer to execute the method in the above-mentioned first aspect to the second aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0059] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions). When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, the computer executes the method in the above-mentioned first aspect to the second aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0060] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the aforementioned at least one first network device and the aforementioned at least one second access network device. Optionally, the communication system further comprises the aforementioned at least one terminal device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0061] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a reference signal transmission and channel estimation method based on sparse theory provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for acquiring channel state information provided in the present application;

[0064] FIG4 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of another example of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0066] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0067] In the embodiments of this application, " / " can indicate that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can mean A or B. "And / or" can be used to describe the existence of three relationships between the associated objects. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: A exists alone, A and B exists simultaneously, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural. To facilitate the description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the words "first" and "second" can be used to distinguish them in the embodiments of this application. The words "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or order of execution, and the words "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean different. In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. The use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete way to facilitate understanding. In the embodiments of the present application, at least one (kind) can also be described as one (kind) or multiple (kinds), and multiple (kinds) can be two (kinds), three (kinds), four (kinds) or more (kinds), and this application does not limit it.

[0068] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as long-term evolution (LTE) systems, fifth-generation (5G) communication systems, and wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems. The communication method provided in this application can also be applied to sixth-generation (6G) communication systems and other communication systems evolved after 5G, future communication systems, or other communication systems. This application is not limited to this.

[0069] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible, non-limiting system. As shown in Figure 1 , communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in Figure 1 , collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in Figure 1 , collectively referred to as 120). RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment (not shown in Figure 1 ). Terminal 120 is wirelessly connected to RAN node 110. Access network node (or RAN node) 110 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to core network 200. The core network equipment in core network 200 and access network node 110 in RAN 100 can be separate physical devices, or they can be a single physical device that integrates core network logical functions and radio access network logical functions.

[0070] The RAN 100 may be a cellular system related to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as a 4G or 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolutionary system (such as a 6G mobile communication system). The RAN 100 may also be an open access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The RAN 100 may also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0071] Access network node 110, sometimes also referred to as access network equipment, RAN entity, or access node, constitutes part of the communication system and facilitates wireless access for terminals. Multiple access network nodes 110 in the communication system 10 can be of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of access network node 110 and terminal 120 are relative. For example, network element 120i in Figure 1 can be a helicopter or drone, which can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminal 120j accessing RAN 100 via network element 120i, network element 120i is a base station; however, for base station 110a, network element 120i is a terminal. Access network node 110 and terminal 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices. For example, network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be understood as communication devices with base station functionality, and network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication devices with terminal functionality.

[0072] In one possible scenario, the access network node may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a next generation base station in a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. The access network node may be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG1 ), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG1 ), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the access network node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an onboard device, etc. For example, the access network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of the access network node in this application may also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform). The access network node in this application may also be a logical node, a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the access network node functions.

[0073] In another possible scenario, multiple access network nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different access network nodes respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the access network node can 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 can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0074] A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, or mobile terminal. A terminal can be widely used in various communication scenarios. These scenarios include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), D2D, V2X, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearables, smart transportation, sensing terminals, integrated communication and sensing terminals, or smart cities. The terminal can be a mobile phone (such as 120a, 120j and 120e in Figure 1), a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function (such as 120g in Figure 1), customer-premises equipment (CPE), a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a wearable device, a vehicle (such as 120b in Figure 1), a drone, a helicopter, an airplane (such as 120i in Figure 1), a ship, a robot, a robotic arm, a sensor, a perception device, or a smart home device (such as 120h in Figure 1), etc.

[0075] It should be understood that in this application, "sending information / data to... (such as a terminal)" can be understood as the destination end of the information being the terminal. It can include sending information / data directly or indirectly to the terminal. "Receiving information / data from... (such as a terminal)" can be understood as the source end of the information being the terminal, which can include receiving information / data directly or indirectly from the terminal. The information / data may be subjected to necessary processing between the source end and the destination end of the information / data transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information / data from the source end. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0076] In this application, "sending information / data" refers only to the direction of information / data transmission, including direct transmission over the air interface and indirect transmission by the processing unit through the air interface. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the module interface. "Receiving information / data" refers only to the direction of information / data transmission, including direct reception over the air interface and indirect reception by the processing unit through the air interface. "Receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the module interface.

[0077] In this application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, explicit indication, and implicit indication. When describing a certain indication information as indicating A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A. In this application, the information indicated by the indication information is called the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information is associated with the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can be achieved by using the arrangement order of each piece of information that is pre-agreed (for example, specified by the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. In addition, the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different.

[0078] The following is an introduction to the relevant technologies and terms involved in the embodiments of this application.

[0079] Reference signal transmission and channel estimation method based on sparse theory:

[0080] This method can realize the network equipment in N TX N of the ports aug The reference signal is sent on the ports, N TX Greater than or equal to N aug , and N TX 、N aug is a positive integer. The terminal estimates the auxiliary information based on the channel and the received aug The reference signal of the ports is estimated to be N TX The channel state information (CSI) of each port can reduce the air interface resource overhead of transmitting reference signals. The method is described in detail below.

[0081] Network devices can obtain N TX The prior downlink channel information of each port can be, for example, the prior downlink channel information can be the downlink channel information obtained by the network device based on the uplink and downlink reciprocity by estimating the channel of the uplink channel, or the downlink channel information of the historical period obtained by the network device, or it can be predicted by an artificial intelligence (AI) model, which is not limited in this application. The network device is based on the N TXThe N ports’ prior downlink channel information can be used to obtain TX Each port in the 10 ports corresponds to a spatial basis vector.

[0082] Exemplarily, the prior downlink channel information is represented by a channel matrix H, which may include but is not limited to at least two dimensions of the number of frequency domain units, the number of transmitting antenna ports, or the number of receiving antenna ports. f ×N TX As an example, N f Indicates the number of frequency domain units, for example, N f It can be the number of resource elements (REs) used to carry reference signals. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to this. The network device can perform singular value decomposition (SVD) on the channel matrix H to obtain the space-frequency domain projection matrix V of the channel matrix. H , where V H Represents the conjugate transpose of the matrix V. The space-frequency domain projection matrix V H Including N TX column vectors, one of which is N TX One port in the ports corresponds to the spatial basis vector. The matrix V H The matrix V is a matrix consisting of R row vectors in the right unitary matrix obtained by performing SVD on the channel matrix, where R is the rank of the channel matrix. H The dimension is R×N TX However, the present application is not limited thereto. The space-frequency projection matrix V H It can be N determined by the network device in the predefined codebook based on the prior downlink channel information. TX code words, the N TX Each codeword in the N codewords is TX The spatial basis vector corresponding to one of the ports.

[0083] Network devices can be connected from the matrix V H Obtain the maximum linearly uncorrelated group of column vectors, such as the maximum linearly uncorrelated group including V H Chinese N aug column vectors, aug stands for augmented (abbreviation for augmented), N aug Greater than or equal to R and less than N TX . Network equipment is based on this N aug column vectors in the matrix V H The position in can determine the matrix P aug , matrix P aug The dimension is N TX ×Naug , the matrix P aug N aug Each column vector in the column vector contains N TX Among the elements, only one element has the value of 1, and the other elements have the value of 0. The row number of the row where the element with the value of 1 is located is the same as the N of the maximum linearly uncorrelated group. aug A column vector in the matrix V H The column numbers in the matrix P are the same. aug The number of elements with a value of 1 in any row of the matrix V does not exceed 1. H With the matrix P aug The result of multiplication is the N of the maximum linearly uncorrelated group aug A matrix V consisting of column vectors H P aug Matrix P aug It can be expressed from N TX N selected from the ports aug ports, so the matrix P aug It can be called a port pattern matrix.

[0084] As shown in Figure 2, the network device calculates the matrix V H The maximum linearly uncorrelated group determines the port pattern matrix P aug Then, the maximum linearly uncorrelated group V of the space-frequency projection matrix H P aig and the space-frequency projection matrix V H Channel estimation auxiliary information P can be obtained + , P + Satisfy: P + =(V H P aug ) -1 V H ,

[0085] P + The dimension is N aug ×N TX , where P + A column vector in is N TX The channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to one of the ports. The network device can estimate the channel of the maximum linearly uncorrelated group N aug N corresponding to the spatial basis vectors aug The reference signal is sent by the port, and the terminal can estimate the auxiliary information P based on the channel. + and received from the N aug The reference signal of the ports is estimated to be N TX The channel information of each port.

[0086] Specifically, the terminal receives the network device through the N aug The reference signal sent by the port is transmitted through the channel to the terminal. Therefore, the reference signal received by the terminal carries the N aug The channel information corresponding to the N ports is known, so the terminal can obtain the N aug The channel information corresponding to the ports can be expressed as the matrix H·P aug , H represents N TX The channel matrix corresponding to the ports, the dimension of H is N f ×N TX , H.P. aug The dimension is N f ×N aug The terminal then sets N aug The channel matrix H·P corresponding to the port aug and channel estimation auxiliary information P + Multiply them together to get N TX The estimated matrix of the channel matrix H corresponding to the ports The matrix satisfy:

[0087] That is, the terminal receives N from the network device aug The reference signal of the port is estimated to be N TX The channel information of each port.

[0088] As can be seen from the above description, this channel estimation method enables network devices to transmit reference signals only through a subset of multiple ports whose channel information is to be estimated. Terminals can then estimate the channel information for these multiple ports based on the reference signals received from these subset of ports. This significantly reduces the resource overhead of transmitting reference signals, particularly in Massive MIMO scenarios.

[0089] In Massive MIMO systems, a dynamic radio frequency (RF) link shutdown mechanism is designed to address dynamic service demands and achieve energy savings. To support channel estimation for this dynamic RF link shutdown mechanism, network devices must configure reference signal resources for each port combination for each RF link shutdown mode to perform channel estimation and enable data transmission. If network devices configure reference signal resources and channel estimation auxiliary information for each RF link shutdown mode, this results in limited configuration flexibility and high signaling overhead.

[0090] To address the above issues, this application proposes that, through instructions from network devices, a terminal can obtain channel information corresponding to some port combinations within a large number of ports based on a baseline reference signal resource with a large number of ports. This can significantly reduce the configuration information overhead associated with obtaining CSI, improving resource utilization and the efficiency of reference signal resource configuration.

[0091] FIG3 is a schematic flow chart of a channel information acquisition method 300 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 300 includes but is not limited to the following S301 to S304.

[0092] S301. A network device sends first information to a terminal. The first information is used to determine a second reference signal resource. The second reference signal resource comes from a first reference signal resource. The first reference signal resource includes N1 ports, and the second reference signal resource includes N2 ports. N1 is greater than N2, and N1 and N2 are positive integers.

[0093] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first information and determines the second reference signal resource according to the first information.

[0094] Exemplarily, the reference signal resource (the first reference signal resource and / or the second reference signal resource) may be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource. Alternatively, it may be other downlink reference signal resources for acquiring CSI, such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resource. This application does not limit this.

[0095] Before S301, the network device may send second information to the terminal, where the second information is used to configure the first reference signal resource. The second information includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the first reference signal resource includes N1 ports and a time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource, that is, the position of the time domain resources and the position of the frequency domain resources contained in the first reference signal resource.

[0096] The second information also includes first channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource, the first channel estimation auxiliary information includes N1 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information, and the N1 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponds to the N1 ports one by one. The matrix The dimension of is M×N1, where M is the number of ports transmitting reference signals among the N1 ports, and M is a positive integer. The N1 column vectors in correspond to the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource in sequence, and one column vector is the channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to the corresponding port.

[0097] As described above, the reference signal transmission and channel estimation method based on sparse theory can obtain the spatial projection matrix of the channel based on the prior channel information, and then calculate the maximum linear uncorrelated group corresponding to the N1 ports, thereby determining the M ports that transmit the reference signal and the first channel estimation auxiliary information among the N1 ports, where M is less than N1. Among them, the network device can determine the port pattern matrix P corresponding to the first reference signal resource aug1 , the dimension of the port pattern matrix is ​​N1×M, the matrix P aug1 Each of the N1 column vectors contains M elements, only one of which has the value 1, and the matrix P aug1 Any row contains no more than one element with a value of 1.

[0098] The first channel estimation auxiliary information is specifically used to determine the channel information of N1 ports based on the reference signals transmitted by the M ports. For example, N1=1024, M=256, the first reference signal resource includes 1024 ports, 256 of the 1024 ports are ports for transmitting reference signals, and other ports except the 256 ports do not transmit reference signals. During channel estimation, the terminal can estimate the channel information of each of the 1024 ports based on the reference signals received from the M ports and the first channel estimation auxiliary information. Specifically, the channel information corresponding to a port is estimated based on the channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to the port in the first information estimation auxiliary information and the reference signals received from the M ports.

[0099] Optionally, the second information may further include second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate M ports that transmit reference signals among the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource. For example, the terminal may determine the number of elements included in each channel estimation assistance sub-information based on the number M of ports that transmit reference signals indicated by the second indication information, but the present application is not limited to this.

[0100] The network device may notify the terminal of the M ports transmitting reference signals among the N1 ports through the second indication information in the second information. For example, the second indication information indicates the number M of ports transmitting reference signals among the N1 ports. Alternatively, the second indication information may include an identifier of each of the M ports. Alternatively, the second indication information may include a bit sequence, the bit sequence including N1 bits corresponding one-to-one to the N1 ports, wherein one bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding port transmits a reference signal, that is, whether it belongs to the M ports transmitting reference signals, such as indicating 1, indicating that the reference signal is transmitted, indicating 0, indicating that the reference signal is not transmitted, or vice versa. The M bits among the N1 bits indicate that the corresponding port transmits a reference signal.

[0101] It should be understood that the present application is not limited thereto, and the second information may not include the second indication information. The network device may also notify the terminal of the M ports among the N1 ports that transmit the reference signal through implicit indication.

[0102] For example, the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource is a time-frequency resource mapping pattern of M ports. After the terminal determines the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource according to the first indication information, it can determine that the number of ports that actually transmit reference signals among the N1 ports is M.

[0103] For another example, the terminal obtains the first channel estimation auxiliary information through the second information, and it is known that the number of elements contained in each channel estimation auxiliary sub-information in the N1 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information is equal, then the terminal can determine the number of elements M contained in each channel estimation auxiliary sub-information based on the total number of elements contained in the first channel estimation auxiliary information, that is, the number of ports transmitting reference signals in the N1 ports. Alternatively, the terminal can determine the matrix representation of the first channel estimation auxiliary information based on the first channel estimation auxiliary information: The matrix The number of rows is the number of ports transmitting reference signals among the N1 ports.

[0104] After configuring the first reference signal resource using the second information, the network device may send the first information to the terminal. The terminal may determine the second reference signal resource based on the first information, where the second reference signal resource is derived from the first reference signal resource. Specific implementations of the first information may include, but are not limited to, the following implementations 1 and 2, which are described below.

[0105] In the first embodiment, the first information is configuration information of the second reference signal resource, and the first information includes an identifier of the first reference signal resource and information indicating N2 ports among the N1 ports.

[0106] In this first embodiment, the first reference signal resource serves as a reference reference signal resource, and the configuration information of the reference reference signal resource is reference configuration information for configuring other reference signal resources.

[0107] That is, the network device can reference the configuration information of the first reference signal resource to configure other reference signal resources. For example, when the network device configures the second reference signal resource using the first information, the first information can include an identifier of the first reference signal resource to indicate that the first information references the configuration information of the first reference signal resource. Based on the identifier of the first reference signal resource, the terminal can determine that the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the second reference signal resource is the same as the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource. Furthermore, the terminal can determine the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource based on the first channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource.

[0108] The first information also includes information indicating N2 ports out of the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource, e.g., N1 = 1024, N2 = 512, meaning that the second reference signal resource includes 512 ports out of the 1024 ports of the first reference signal resource. Based on this information, the terminal can determine the N2 ports included in the second reference signal resource, and can also determine second channel estimation assistance information corresponding to the second reference signal resource. The second channel estimation assistance information includes channel estimation assistance sub-information corresponding to the N2 ports in the first channel estimation assistance information.

[0109] For example, the information used to indicate the N2 ports may include an identifier of each of the N2 ports. The terminal may determine the N2 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to the N2 ports in the first channel estimation auxiliary information based on the identifiers of the N2 ports, and the second channel estimation auxiliary information includes the N2 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information.

[0110] For another example, the information indicating the N2 ports may include a bit sequence comprising N1 bits, wherein the N1 bits correspond one-to-one to the N1 ports, wherein one bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding port belongs to the second reference signal resource, e.g., indicating 1 indicates that the port belongs to the second reference signal resource, and indicating 0 indicates that the port does not belong to the second reference signal resource, or vice versa. Of the N1 bits, N2 bits indicate that the corresponding port belongs to the second reference signal resource. Thus, after the terminal determines the N1 ports based on the bit sequence, it can determine N2 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to the N2 ports in the first channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0111] For another example, the information used to refer to the N2 ports may include the port number N2 of the second reference signal resource. The terminal defaults that the second reference signal resource includes the first N2 ports (or the last N2 ports) in the first reference signal resource. Then the first N2 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information (or the last N2 channel estimation auxiliary sub-information) in the first channel estimation auxiliary information is the second channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0112] In a specific implementation, the terminal can determine the sequence number set of the N2 ports of the second reference signal resource in the N1 ports according to the second indication information. idx,i}, I idx,i The sequence number of the i-th port among the N2 ports of the second reference signal resource in the first reference signal resource is 1. idx,i , where idx is the abbreviation of index, and the value range of i is an integer greater than 0 and less than or equal to N2. idx,i} includes N2 serial numbers, I idx,i The value range of is an integer greater than 0 and less than or equal to N1.

[0113] For example, N1=1024, N2=512, that is, the second reference signal resource includes 512 ports of the 1024 ports of the first reference signal resource. If the terminal can determine, according to the second indication information, that the first port of the 512 ports of the second reference signal resource is the third port of the 1024 ports of the first reference signal resource, then i=1, I idx,i =3; the second port of the second reference signal resource is the eighth port of the first reference signal resource, then i=2, I idx,i =8; and the terminal can also determine the sequence numbers of the other ports of the second reference signal resource in the 1024 ports of the first reference signal resource, so that the terminal can determine the sequence number set {I idx,i}={3,8,…}. The sequence number set {I idx,i}A total of 512 serial numbers are included.

[0114] The terminal sets the serial number {I idx,i} The second channel estimation auxiliary information can be determined, and the second channel estimation auxiliary information is expressed as a matrix The matrix satisfy:

[0115] in, The ":" in the string means extracting each row element in the extracted column. {I idx,i} represents the sequence number set {I idx,i} are the column numbers of the extracted columns, then Specifically expressed in the matrix Extract the sequence number set {I idx,i} in each row of the column whose serial number is the column serial number, that is, in the matrix Extract the sequence number set {I idx,i} is a column vector of column numbers. For example, the number set {I idx,i}={3,8,…}, then the matrix The first column vector in (i.e. i = 2) is The third column vector in (i.e., I idx,i =3), the matrix The second column vector in is The 8th column vector in (i.e., I idx,i =8), and so on, the matrix corresponding to the second channel estimation auxiliary information Including the matrix corresponding to the first channel estimation auxiliary information That is, the second channel estimation auxiliary information includes the port sequence number in the first channel estimation auxiliary information as the sequence number set {I idx,i}The channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to the ports of each serial number in}.

[0116] Through the above introduction, the terminal can determine the second reference signal resource based on the first information and refer to the configuration information of the first reference signal resource, including the time-frequency resource mapping style of the second reference signal resource, the included ports and the corresponding second channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0117] As described above, in this first embodiment, a network device can configure a second reference signal resource by referencing the configuration information of the first reference signal resource in the first information. The first information does not need to include specific configuration information for the time-frequency resource mapping pattern or the second channel estimation auxiliary information. This can significantly reduce the information overhead of the reference signal resource configuration information, particularly for the relatively high overhead of the channel estimation auxiliary information, thereby improving resource utilization and reference signal resource configuration efficiency.

[0118] It should be understood that in this first embodiment, although the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource have the same time-frequency resource mapping style and both contain the same N2 ports, i.e., the corresponding channel estimation auxiliary sub-information, the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are considered to be different reference signal resources, such as the two reference signal resources have different identifiers and contain different numbers of ports. When the network device triggers the terminal to measure the second reference signal resource and report the channel state information obtained by the measurement, it can specifically indicate the relevant information of the second reference signal resource, such as the identifier of the second reference signal resource or the identifier of the reporting configuration associated with the second reference signal resource.

[0119] Optionally, the network device may further send configuration information of a third reference signal resource to the terminal, where the configuration information of the third reference signal resource includes an identifier of the first reference signal resource and information indicating N3 ports among the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource.

[0120] That is to say, the network device can also reference the configuration information of the first reference signal resource to configure the third reference signal resource. Based on the configuration information of the third reference signal resource, the terminal can determine that the time-frequency resource mapping style of the third reference signal resource is the same as the time-frequency resource mapping style of the first reference signal resource, that the third reference signal resource includes N3 ports out of the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource, and that the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the third reference signal resource includes the channel estimation auxiliary sub-information corresponding to the N3 ports in the first channel estimation auxiliary information. The network device can configure multiple reference signal resources by applying the configuration information referenced by the first reference signal resource, which can greatly reduce the configuration information overhead of the reference signal resource and improve resource utilization and configuration efficiency of the reference signal resource.

[0121] In a second embodiment, the first information is channel state information reporting configuration information, and the reporting configuration information specifically instructs reporting of channel state information of N2 ports of the first reference signal resource.

[0122] As described above, before S301, the network device may send second information for configuring the first reference signal resource to the terminal. The first reference signal resource may be associated with multiple pieces of reporting configuration information, where different pieces of reporting configuration information may indicate different port combinations of the first reference signal resource. For example, if the first information indicates N2 of the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource, the terminal is configured to report channel state information for the N2 ports. If the first reference signal resource is also associated with another piece of reporting configuration information, the reporting configuration information indicates N3 of the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource, the terminal is configured to report channel state information for the N3 ports.

[0123] In this second embodiment, the second reference signal resource determined by the terminal based on the first information in S301 can be understood as the N2 port resources of the first reference signal resource, and the second reference signal resource can be considered a virtual resource. The terminal can determine, based on the first information, that it needs to report channel state information of the N2 ports after measuring the first reference signal resource.

[0124] As described above, in this second embodiment, a network device can configure a reference signal resource with a large number of ports and multiple reporting configuration information associated with the reference signal resource. Different reporting configuration information configures the terminal to report channel state information for different port combinations within the ports of the reference signal resource. This eliminates the need for the network device to configure different reference signal resources for different port combinations, thereby reducing configuration information overhead and improving resource utilization.

[0125] S302: The network device sends a reference signal on a second reference signal resource.

[0126] In one example, the second reference signal resource may be a periodic resource or a semi-persistent (or semi-static) resource. In the above-mentioned embodiment one, the first information may also indicate the period duration of the second reference signal resource. If the second reference signal resource is a periodic resource, after the network device configures the second reference signal resource through the first information, the terminal may periodically measure and report the channel state information corresponding to the measured second reference signal resource according to the first information. If the second reference signal resource is a semi-persistent resource, after the network device configures the second reference signal resource through the first information, after the network device sends the indication information for triggering the measurement of the second reference signal resource to the terminal, the terminal periodically measures and reports the channel state information corresponding to the measured second reference signal resource. In the above-mentioned embodiment two, if the first reference signal resource is a periodic resource (or semi-persistent resource), then the second reference signal resource is a periodic resource (or semi-persistent resource).

[0127] In another example, the second reference signal resource may be a non-periodic resource, and the network device may send indication information to the terminal for triggering measurement of the second reference signal resource. The terminal may measure and report the channel state information corresponding to the measured second reference signal resource based on the indication information.

[0128] The network device sends a reference signal on the second reference signal resource, and accordingly, the terminal receives the reference signal on the second reference signal resource.

[0129] In S301, the network device transmits reference signals on the M ports of the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource. Therefore, the network device transmits reference signals on the second reference signal resource, including transmitting the reference signals on the M ports. The terminal receives reference signals on the second reference signal resource, including receiving reference signals from the M ports.

[0130] S303, the terminal obtains the channel state information of the N ports based on the received reference signal and the second channel estimation auxiliary information, where the second channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource determined in the first channel estimation auxiliary information, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource.

[0131] The network device sends reference signals through M ports. Correspondingly, the reference signals received by the terminal from the M ports carry the channel information corresponding to the M ports. Since the reference signals are known, the terminal can obtain the channel information corresponding to the M ports, which can be expressed as the channel matrix H corresponding to the M ports. M , H M The dimension is N f ×M, the terminal estimates the second channel auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource The estimated channel information of the N2 ports of the second reference signal resource can be obtained, and the channel information of the N2 ports can be expressed as a matrix The matrix satisfy:

[0132] For example, the network device may use the port pattern matrix P corresponding to the first reference signal resource aug1 Send reference signal, channel matrix H of M ports M =H1·P aug1 , where the dimension of H1 is N f ×N1, the matrix It can also be expressed as:

[0133] After the terminal measures and obtains the channel information of the N2 ports, it can determine the channel state information of the N2 ports. The channel state information of the N2 ports may include one or more of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a channel quality indicator (CQI), a rank indicator (RI), or a layer indicator (LI) corresponding to the channel information of the N2 ports. Alternatively, the channel state information may include the channel information of the N2 ports, which is not limited in this application.

[0134] S304: The terminal sends channel state information of N2 ports to the network device.

[0135] Accordingly, the network device receives the channel state information of the N2 ports of the terminal and can transmit data to the terminal based on the channel state information of the N2 ports.

[0136] With this solution, network devices can obtain channel state information for different port combinations by referencing the configuration information of a single reference signal resource, or by associating multiple reporting configurations for a configuration with a large number of ports. This reduces signaling overhead and improves resource utilization. This is particularly true for Massive MIMO systems, where it supports energy-saving scenarios such as dynamic RF shutdown, significantly reducing signaling overhead.

[0137] In the first embodiment above, the first reference signal resource serving as the base reference signal resource may include the following two optional implementations:

[0138] In implementation mode A, the first reference signal resource is not associated with reporting configuration information.

[0139] In other words, the network device configures the first reference signal resource only for referencing the configuration information of the first reference signal resource to configure other reference signal resources. The first reference signal resource is not used to obtain channel state information. The network device does not send a reference signal on the first reference signal resource and instructs the terminal to measure the first reference signal resource and report channel state information.

[0140] The second information for configuring the first reference signal resource may further include fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the first reference signal resource is a reference reference signal resource. The terminal may determine not to receive a reference signal on the first reference signal resource based on the first reference signal resource being the reference reference signal resource.

[0141] Optionally, if the terminal receives fourth information indicating that downlink data is received on the first resource, and the second resource in the first resource belongs to the first reference signal resource and does not belong to the second reference signal resource, the terminal determines that the second resource carries symbols in the downlink data.

[0142] For example, the terminal receives a downlink control information (DCI), which schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource to transmit downlink data, and the PDSCH resource overlaps with the first reference signal resource. Since the terminal needs to determine the number of REs that actually carry data symbols in the PDSCH resource, it determines the size of the transport block (TB) of the downlink data. Since the first reference signal resource is not actually used to obtain channel state information and can carry data symbols, and the second reference signal resource is used to obtain channel state information and does not carry data symbols, the terminal can determine that the REs in the PDSCH resource that belong to the first reference signal resource and the REs that do not belong to the second reference signal resource carry data symbols. That is, the resources on the ports other than the N2 ports of the second reference signal resource among the N1 ports in the first reference signal resource carry data symbols on the REs that overlap with the PDSCH resources. The terminal can determine the number of REs that ultimately carry data symbols, thereby determining the TB size of the downlink data.

[0143] In implementation mode B, the first information is first reference signal resource association reporting configuration information.

[0144] That is, the network device may use one or more reference signal resources configured for the terminal for obtaining channel state information as reference reference signal resources, and reference corresponding configuration information to configure other reference signal resources.

[0145] In an optional implementation, the second information used to configure the first reference signal resource may further include third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate a valid duration of the first channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0146] Because the first channel estimation assistance information is obtained based on a priori channel information and may decrease in accuracy as the terminal moves or changes position, the network device may notify the terminal of the validity period of the first channel estimation assistance information. Based on the validity period, the terminal may determine that the first channel estimation assistance information and channel estimation assistance information for reference signal resources based on the first reference signal resource are valid within the validity period and expire after the validity period.

[0147] Optionally, the network device may send third information to the terminal, where the third information is used to indicate third channel estimation auxiliary information, and the third channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the updated first reference signal resource.

[0148] After configuring the first reference signal resource, the network device may determine, based on the subsequently acquired channel information, that the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource needs to be updated, or after the validity period of the first channel estimation auxiliary information, the network device may determine the updated channel estimation auxiliary information (i.e., the third channel estimation auxiliary information). The network device notifies the terminal of the updated channel estimation auxiliary information through the third information. Accordingly, the terminal updates the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource, and the terminal also updates the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to other reference signal resources that use the first reference signal resource as a reference reference signal based on the third channel estimation auxiliary information.

[0149] According to this solution, the network device can only update the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the benchmark reference signal resource, that is, it can update the channel estimation auxiliary information of other reference signal resources that use the benchmark reference signal resource as a benchmark without reconfiguring the reference signal resources, which can reduce the configuration signaling overhead, improve resource utilization, and improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

[0150] In an optional implementation, the terminal may send fifth information to the network device, where the fifth information is used to feedback or report the terminal's support capability for the reference signal. For example, the fifth information may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following:

[0151] The maximum number of supported reference signal resources.

[0152] The maximum number of ports supported for each baseline reference signal resource;

[0153] The validity period of the supported reference signal resources.

[0154] Since the configuration information of the reference reference signal resources has a large overhead and the terminal needs to store the configuration information, the terminal can report the capabilities of the reference reference signal resources that the terminal can support to the network device so that the network device can configure the reference reference signal resources within the capabilities of the terminal. For example, the number of reference reference signal resources configured by the network device for the terminal does not exceed the maximum number of reference reference signal resources that the terminal can support. The number of ports for the reference reference signal resources configured by the network device does not exceed the maximum number of ports that the terminal can support. And the effective duration of the reference reference signal configured by the network device for the terminal does not exceed the effective duration that the terminal can support, etc.

[0155] After establishing a communication connection with the network device, the terminal may proactively report its support capability for the reference reference signal to the network device. Alternatively, the terminal may report the support capability in response to a query from the network device. For example, the network device may send sixth information to the terminal, where the sixth information is used to query the terminal's support capability for the reference reference signal resource. In response to the sixth information, the terminal may send fifth information to the network device.

[0156] In one optional implementation, a network device references a reference signal resource when configuring a reference signal resource for a terminal. If the terminal determines that the referenced reference signal resource does not exist, the terminal can send a request to the network device for configuration information for the referenced reference signal resource. This can reduce configuration errors and improve reliability.

[0157] It is understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and the terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in conjunction with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0158] Figures 4 and 5 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal or network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be one of the terminals 120a-120j shown in Figure 1, or it can be the network device 110a or 110b shown in Figure 1, or it can be a module (such as a chip or chip system) applied to the terminal or network device.

[0159] The communication device 400 includes a transceiver unit 420, which can be used to receive or send information. The communication device 400 can also include a processing unit 410, which can be used to process instructions or data to implement corresponding operations.

[0160] It should be understood that when the communication device 400 is a chip configured in (or used in) a communication device, the transceiver unit 420 in the communication device 400 can be the input / output interface or circuit of the chip, and the processing unit 410 in the communication device 400 can be the processor in the chip.

[0161] Optionally, the communication device 400 may further include a storage unit 430, which may be used to store instructions or data. The processing unit 410 may execute the instructions or data stored in the storage unit to enable the communication device to perform corresponding operations.

[0162] The communication device 400 can be used to implement the functions of the terminal or network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 3 .

[0163] When the communication device 400 is used to implement the functions of the terminal in the method embodiment shown in Figure 3: the transceiver unit 420 is used to receive first information, the first information is used to determine the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource comes from the first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource includes N1 ports, the second reference signal resource includes N2 ports, N1 is greater than N2, and N1 and N2 are positive integers. The transceiver unit 420 is also used to receive a reference signal on the second reference signal resource. The processing unit 410 is used to obtain channel state information of the N2 ports based on the received reference signal and second channel estimation auxiliary information, the second channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource determined in the first channel estimation auxiliary information, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource. The transceiver unit 420 is also used to send the channel state information.

[0164] When the communication device 400 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 3: the processing unit 410 is configured to determine first information, where the first information is used to determine a second reference signal resource, where the second reference signal resource is from a first reference signal resource, where the first reference signal resource includes N1 ports, and the second reference signal resource includes N2 ports, where N1 is greater than N2, and N1 and N2 are positive integers. The transceiver unit 420 is configured to transmit the first information. The transceiver unit 420 is further configured to transmit a reference signal on the second reference signal resource. The transceiver unit is further configured to receive channel state information, where the channel state information is the channel state information of the N2 ports.

[0165] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 410 and the transceiver unit 420 , reference may be made to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 3 .

[0166] It should be understood that the transceiver unit 420 in the communication device 400 can be implemented through a communication interface (such as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input / output interface, or a pin, etc.). When the communication interface is a transceiver, the transceiver can be composed of a receiver and / or a transmitter. The processing unit 410 in the communication device 400 can be implemented by at least one processor. The processing unit 410 in the communication device 400 can also be implemented by at least one logic circuit. Optionally, the communication device 400 also includes a storage unit, which can be implemented by a memory.

[0167] As shown in Figure 5, communication device 500 includes a processor 510 and an interface circuit 520. Processor 510 and interface circuit 520 are coupled to each other. It is understood that interface circuit 520 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 500 may also include a memory 530 for storing instructions executed by processor 510, input data required by processor 510 to execute instructions, or data generated after processor 510 executes instructions.

[0168] In one implementation, the memory 530 may also be integrated into the processor 510 or independent of the processor 510 .

[0169] When the communication device 500 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 3 , the processor 510 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 410 , and the interface circuit 520 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 420 .

[0170] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the terminal device chip can implement the terminal functions in the above method embodiments. The terminal device chip receives information from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or the terminal device chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0171] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a network device, the network device module can implement the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The network device module receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device module sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device. The network device module here can be a baseband chip of the network device, or it can be a DU or other module. The DU here can be a DU under the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0172] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0173] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in an access network device or a terminal device. The processor and storage medium can also exist in the access network device or the terminal device as discrete components.

[0174] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the application, the embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code, when the computer program code is executed by one or more processors, it enables the device including the processor to execute the method shown in Figure 3.

[0175] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device.

[0176] According to the method provided in an embodiment of the present application, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores the above-mentioned computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed by one or more processors, the device including the processor executes the method shown in Figure 3.

[0177] As described above, the computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer, or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium can be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile types of storage media.

[0178] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including the one or more terminals mentioned above. The system may further include the one or more network devices mentioned above.

[0179] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the devices described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other shown or discussed can be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0180] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this solution based on actual needs.

[0181] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0182] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining channel state information, characterized in that Comprising: Receiving first information, which is used to determine a second reference signal resource. The second reference signal resource is derived from a first reference signal resource. The first reference signal resource includes N1 ports, the second reference signal resource includes N2 ports, N1 is greater than N2, and N1 and N2 are positive integers; Receiving a reference signal on the second reference signal resource; Obtaining channel state information of the N2 ports according to the received reference signal and second channel estimation auxiliary information. The second channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the second reference signal resource determined from first channel estimation auxiliary information, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource; Transmitting the channel state information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first information is configuration information of the second reference signal resource, and the first information includes an identifier of the first reference signal resource and information for indicating the N2 ports among the N1 ports.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the second reference signal resource is the same as that of the first reference signal resource.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The method further includes: Receiving second information, which is used to configure the first reference signal resource. The second information includes the first channel estimation auxiliary information and first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The second information further includes second indication information, which is used to indicate M ports for transmitting a reference signal among the N1 ports. M is a positive integer, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is used to determine the channel state information of the N1 ports according to the reference signal transmitted by the M ports.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, The second information further includes third indication information, which is used to indicate the effective duration of the first channel estimation auxiliary information.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein The method further includes: Receiving third information, which is used to indicate third channel estimation auxiliary information. The third channel estimation auxiliary information is the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the updated first reference signal resource.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that The second information further includes fourth indication information, which is used to indicate that the first reference signal resource is a reference reference signal resource. The configuration information of the reference reference signal resource is reference configuration information for configuring a reference signal resource, and / or, the reference reference signal resource is not associated with reporting configuration information.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The method further includes: Determining not to receive a reference signal on the first reference signal resource according to the first reference signal resource being the reference reference signal resource; and / or Receiving fourth information, which is used to indicate receiving downlink data on a first resource. A second resource in the first resource belongs to the first reference signal resource and does not belong to the second reference signal resource; Determining that symbols of the downlink data are carried on the second resource.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a fifth piece of information, where the fifth piece of information is used to indicate the support capability of the terminal for the reference reference signal resource, and the fifth piece of information includes one or more of the following: The maximum number of supported reference reference signal resources; The maximum number of ports for each supported reference reference signal resource; The effective duration of the supported reference reference signal resource.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein The method further includes: Receive a sixth piece of information, where the sixth piece of information is used to query the support capability of the terminal for the reference reference signal resource.

12. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first piece of information is the reporting configuration information of the channel state information, and the first piece of information specifically indicates reporting the channel state information of N2 ports among the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein The first reference signal resource is associated with multiple reporting configuration information, and the multiple reporting configuration information includes the first piece of information, and the ports of the first reference signal resource for obtaining the channel state information indicated by the multiple reporting configuration information are different.

14. A method for obtaining channel state information, characterized in that Includes: Send a first piece of information, where the first piece of information is used to determine a second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource is from the first reference signal resource, the first reference signal resource includes N1 ports, the second reference signal resource includes N2 ports, N1 is greater than N2, and N1 and N2 are positive integers; Send a reference signal on the second reference signal resource; Receive the channel state information of the N2 ports.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein The first piece of information is the configuration information of the second reference signal resource, and the first piece of information includes the identifier of the first reference signal resource and the information used to indicate the N2 ports among the N1 ports.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the second reference signal resource is the same as that of the first reference signal resource.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a second piece of information, where the second piece of information is used to configure the first reference signal resource, and the second piece of information includes the first channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource and a first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the time-frequency resource mapping pattern of the first reference signal resource.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The second piece of information further includes a second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate M ports for transmitting the reference signal among the N1 ports, M is a positive integer, and the first channel estimation auxiliary information is used to determine the channel state information of the N1 ports according to the reference signal transmitted by the M ports.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that, The second piece of information further includes a third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the effective duration of the first channel estimation auxiliary information.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein The method further includes: Send a third piece of information, where the third piece of information is used to indicate third channel estimation auxiliary information, and the third channel estimation auxiliary information is the updated channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the first reference signal resource.

21. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 20, characterized in that, The second piece of information further includes a fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the first reference signal resource is a reference reference signal resource, The configuration information of the reference reference signal resource is the reference configuration information for configuring the reference signal resource, and / or, the reference reference signal resource is not associated with the reporting configuration information.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein The method further includes: Receive a fifth piece of information, where the fifth piece of information is used to indicate the support capability of the terminal for the reference signal resource, and the fifth piece of information includes one or more of the following: The maximum number of supported reference signal resources; The maximum number of ports for each supported reference signal resource; The effective duration of the supported reference signal resources.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein The method further includes: Sending a sixth piece of information, where the sixth piece of information is used to query the support capability of the terminal for the reference signal resource.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The first piece of information is the reporting configuration information of the channel state information, and the first piece of information specifically indicates reporting the channel state information of N2 ports among the N1 ports of the first reference signal resource.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that, The first reference signal resource is associated with multiple reporting configuration information, and the multiple reporting configuration information includes the first piece of information. The ports of the first reference signal resource for obtaining the channel state information indicated by the multiple reporting configuration information are different.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or includes a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.

27. A communication system, characterized in that, It includes a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 and a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.

28. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a processor, the processor is coupled with a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or executes the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.

29. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, A computer program or instruction is stored in the storage medium. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a communication device, it implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or executes the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.

30. A computer program product, characterized in that, It includes an instruction. When the instruction is run by a computer, it causes the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.

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