Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and a communication apparatus, which are used in the technical field of communications. In the technical solution provided in the present application, a network device configures a plurality of CRUs to a terminal device and indicates which CRUs among the plurality of CRUs have reference signals the channel estimation results of which can be spliced to obtain channel states of antenna ports corresponding to more CRUs. In the technical solution provided in the present application, in a scenario in which CRUs are configured once, indicating CRUs which can be spliced implements channel information acquisition for more antenna ports, thus implementing large-scale antenna port channel information acquisition while reducing overhead.

Description

Communication method and related device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on January 8, 2024, with application number 202410031986.2 and application name “Communication Methods and Related Devices”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to communication methods and related devices. Background Art

[0003] A multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) system uses multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver ends, creating multiple channels between the transmitter and receiver. To send and receive data, a MIMO system requires channel information.

[0004] With the development of communication technology, in order to further improve the capacity and spectrum efficiency of communication systems, the number of antenna ports in MIMO systems is increasing. For example, a massive MIMO system has been proposed.

[0005] To support the dynamically changing number of antenna ports in a massive MIMO system, network equipment requires a flexible channel measurement resource configuration method with low signaling overhead. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method, a communication device, and a communication system, which can realize the acquisition of channel information of antenna ports in a large-scale MIMO system, thereby improving communication performance.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method and related apparatus, the method being used for a terminal device. The method comprises: receiving first information, the first information being used to configure R CRUs, each of the R CRUs supporting multiple antenna ports, where R is an integer and R is greater than 1; and receiving second information, the second information indicating S CRUs of the R CRUs, where S is a positive integer less than or equal to R, and S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs being used to determine channel estimation results for N antenna ports, where N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs.

[0008] The first information and the second information may be carried in different messages or different signaling.

[0009] The channel estimation result in this method may be a channel estimation result obtained by using a least squares method, or a precoding indicator.

[0010] In this method, the network device configures multiple CRUs to the terminal device and indicates the CRUs that can be spliced ​​among the multiple CRUs. In scenarios where channel state estimation of multiple large-scale antenna ports is required, this can be achieved through a single configured CRU, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0011] In this method, in some possible implementations, the first information indicates at least one of the following information: identification information of each CRU in the R CRUs, the number of antenna ports supported by each CRU in the R CRUs, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship of each CRU in the R CRUs, or channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to each CRU in the R CRUs.

[0012] In some possible implementations, the first information includes first sub-information, where the first sub-information indicates R numerical values, where the R numerical values ​​correspond one-to-one to the R CRUs, and each of the R numerical values ​​indicates the number of antenna ports supported by the corresponding CRU.

[0013] In some possible implementations, the second information indicates S CRUs among the R CRUs, including: the second information indicates the S CRUs among the R CRUs through a bitmap.

[0014] In some possible implementations, the second information indicates S CRUs out of the R CRUs, including: the second information includes a value S, wherein the S CRUs meet a first condition, and the first condition is preconfigured or predefined.

[0015] In some possible implementations, the first condition includes: the S CRUs are the first S CRUs among the R CRUs.

[0016] In some possible implementations, the second information indicates S CRUs among the R CRUs, including: the second information indicates a position of each CRU among the S CRUs among the R CRUs.

[0017] In some possible implementations, the R CRUs are sorted from small to large or from large to small according to the identification information.

[0018] In some possible implementations, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship between the first CRU and the second CRU in the R CRUs is different.

[0019] In some possible implementations, the S CRUs include the first CRU and the second CRU.

[0020] In some possible implementations, the resource overhead of the first CRU and the second CRU is the same.

[0021] In some possible implementations, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship between the first CRU and the second CRU in the R CRUs is the same.

[0022] In some possible implementations, the number of antenna ports supported by the first CRU is different from the number of antenna ports supported by the second CRU.

[0023] In some possible implementations, a third CRU among the R CRUs is configured with multiple time-frequency resource mapping relationships.

[0024] In some possible implementations, different time-frequency resource mapping relationships among the multiple time-frequency resource mapping relationships have different resource overheads.

[0025] In some possible implementations, the channel estimation information of the fourth CRU among the R CRUs is different from the channel estimation information of the fifth CRU.

[0026] In some possible implementations, the channel estimation information of the fourth CRU among the R CRUs is the same as the channel estimation information of the fifth CRU.

[0027] In some possible implementations, third information is sent, where the third information indicates channel estimation results of the N antenna ports.

[0028] In some possible implementations, S pieces of third information are sent, the S pieces of third information correspond one-to-one to S groups of channel estimation results, each piece of third information in the S pieces of third information indicates the channel estimation result of the corresponding group, the S groups of channel estimation results correspond one-to-one to the S resource units, and each channel estimation result in the S groups of channel estimation results is the channel estimation result of the reference signal transmitted by the corresponding CRU.

[0029] In some possible implementations, the third information includes: a channel LS estimation result, a channel estimation result, a codebook index of the channel estimation result, or a codebook index of the channel LS estimation result.

[0030] In some possible implementations, fourth information is sent, and the fourth information indicates the support capability of the first communication device for CRU, and the support capability includes at least one of the following capabilities: the allowed value of the number of CRUs, the allowed value of the number of antenna ports supported by the CRU, or the allowed value of the number of CRU combinations.

[0031] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method for a network device. The method includes: sending first information, the first information being used to configure R CRUs, each of the R CRUs supporting multiple antenna ports, where R is an integer and R is greater than 1; and sending second information, the second information indicating S CRUs of the R CRUs, where S is a positive integer less than or equal to R, and S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs are used to determine channel estimation results for N antenna ports, where N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs.

[0032] In this method, in some possible implementations, the first information indicates at least one of the following information: identification information of each CRU in the R CRUs, the number of antenna ports supported by each CRU in the R CRUs, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship of each CRU in the R CRUs, or channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to each CRU in the R CRUs.

[0033] In some possible implementations, the first information includes first sub-information, where the first sub-information indicates R numerical values, where the R numerical values ​​correspond one-to-one to the R CRUs, and each of the R numerical values ​​indicates the number of antenna ports supported by the corresponding CRU.

[0034] In some possible implementations, the second information indicates S CRUs among the R CRUs, including: the second information indicates the S CRUs among the R CRUs through a bitmap.

[0035] In some possible implementations, the second information indicates S CRUs out of the R CRUs, including: the second information includes a value S, wherein the S CRUs meet a first condition, and the first condition is preconfigured or predefined.

[0036] In some possible implementations, the first condition includes: the S CRUs are the first S CRUs among the R CRUs.

[0037] In some possible implementations, the second information indicates S CRUs among the R CRUs, including: the second information indicates a position of each CRU in the S resources among the R CRUs.

[0038] In some possible implementations, the R CRUs are sorted from small to large or from large to small according to the identification information.

[0039] In some possible implementations, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship between the first CRU and the second CRU in the R CRUs is different.

[0040] In some possible implementations, the S CRUs include the first CRU and the second CRU.

[0041] In some possible implementations, the resource overhead of the first CRU and the second CRU is the same.

[0042] In some possible implementations, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship between the first CRU and the second CRU in the R CRUs is the same.

[0043] In some possible implementations, the number of antenna ports supported by the first CRU is different from the number of antenna ports supported by the second CRU.

[0044] In some possible implementations, the third resource units in the R CRUs are configured with multiple time-frequency resource mapping relationships.

[0045] In some possible implementations, different time-frequency resource mapping relationships among the multiple time-frequency resource mapping relationships have different resource overheads.

[0046] In some possible implementations, the channel estimation information of the fourth CRU among the R CRUs is different from the channel estimation information of the fifth CRU.

[0047] In some possible implementations, the channel estimation information of the fourth CRU among the R CRUs is the same as the channel estimation information of the fifth CRU.

[0048] In some possible implementations, third information is received, where the third information indicates channel estimation results of the N antenna ports.

[0049] In some possible implementations, S pieces of third information are received, the S pieces of third information correspond one-to-one to S groups of channel estimation results, each piece of third information in the S pieces of third information indicates the channel estimation result of the corresponding group, the S groups of channel estimation results correspond one-to-one to the S CRUs, and each channel estimation result in the S groups of channel estimation results is the channel estimation result of the reference signal transmitted by the corresponding CRU.

[0050] In some possible implementations, the third information includes: a channel LS estimation result, a channel estimation result, a codebook index of the channel estimation result, or a codebook index of the channel LS estimation result.

[0051] In some possible implementations, fourth information is received, and the fourth information indicates the support capability of the first communication device for CRU, and the support capability includes at least one of the following capabilities: the allowed value of the number of CRUs, the allowed value of the number of antenna ports supported by the CRU, or the allowed value of the number of CRU combinations.

[0052] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may include a module corresponding to each of the methods / operations / steps / actions described in the first aspect, and the module may be implemented as a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software.

[0053] In one design, the apparatus may include a processing module and a communication module. The communication module is configured to perform the sending and receiving actions performed by the communication node in the method described in the first aspect above, and the processing module is configured to perform the processing-related actions performed by the communication node in the method described in the first aspect above.

[0054] In one design, the apparatus may be a terminal device, or a device, module, circuit or chip configured and arranged in the terminal device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the terminal device.

[0055] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may include a module corresponding to each of the methods / operations / steps / actions described in the second aspect, and the module may be implemented as a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software.

[0056] In one design, the apparatus may include a processing module and a communication module. The communication module is configured to perform the sending and receiving actions performed by the first communication node in the method described in the second aspect above, and the processing module is configured to perform the processing-related actions performed by the first communication node in the method described in the second aspect above.

[0057] In one design, the device may be a network device, or a device, module, circuit or chip configured and arranged in the network device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the network device.

[0058] In a fifth aspect, a device is provided, comprising a processor and a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the processor, the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect is implemented.

[0059] In a sixth aspect, a device is provided, comprising a processor and a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores instructions, which, when executed by the processor, implement or cause the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect to be implemented.

[0060] In a seventh aspect, a device is provided, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to process data and / or information so that the method according to the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect is implemented.

[0061] In one design, the apparatus may be a terminal device, or a device, module, circuit or chip configured and arranged in the terminal device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the terminal device.

[0062] Optionally, the device may further include a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions, and the processor being used to run the programs or instructions so that the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect is implemented.

[0063] Optionally, the device may further include the transceiver circuit, or an input / output interface.

[0064] In an eighth aspect, a device is provided, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to process data and / or information so that the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect is implemented.

[0065] In one design, the device may be a network device, or a device, module, circuit or chip configured and arranged in the network device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the network device.

[0066] Optionally, the device may further include a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions, and the processor being used to run the programs or instructions so that the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect is implemented.

[0067] Optionally, the device may further include the transceiver circuit, or an input / output interface.

[0068] In the ninth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is used to run a program or instruction so that the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect is implemented, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect is implemented.

[0069] Optionally, the chip may further include a memory for storing programs or instructions. Optionally, the chip may further include the transceiver circuit, or an input / output interface.

[0070] In the tenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes instructions, which, when executed by a processor, enable the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect to be implemented, or enable the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect to be implemented.

[0071] In the eleventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes computer program code or instructions. When the computer program code or instructions are executed, the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect is implemented, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect is implemented.

[0072] In the twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a combination of one or more of the following devices: a communication device that executes the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or a communication device that executes the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0073] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the method of an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the method of an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in one embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of obtaining channel estimation auxiliary information;

[0077] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of channel splicing provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a splicing time span supported by a terminal device;

[0079] FIG7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in another embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG8 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in another embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in yet another embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0083] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0084] To facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the words "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean different.

[0085] It should be noted that in the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0086] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b and (or) c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0087] To facilitate understanding of the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the system architecture and application scenarios of the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application are described below. It is understood that the system architecture and application scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0088] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, wireless local area networks (WLAN) systems, satellite communication systems, future communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems, or a fusion system of multiple systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems, such as the sixth generation (6G).

[0089] A device in a communication system can send signals to or receive signals from another device. These signals may include information, signaling, or data. The term "device" can also be replaced by an entity, network entity, communication device, communication module, node, communication node, etc. This application uses devices as an example for description. For example, a communication system may include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. A network device can send downlink signals to a terminal device, and / or a terminal device can send uplink signals to a network device.

[0090] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0091] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with a wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminals are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). The terminal equipment in the network (PLMN), etc., is not limited to this in the embodiments of the present application.

[0092] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be called wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0093] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the embodiments of the present application, only the terminal device is used as an example for description, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0094] The network device in the embodiments of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device. For example, the network device may be a base station. The network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. A base station may broadly cover various names as follows, or replace the following names, such as: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master station, secondary station, multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), radio unit (RU), positioning node, etc. A base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or a combination thereof. The base station may also refer to a communication module, modem or chip that is set in the aforementioned equipment or device. The base station may also be a mobile switching center and a device that performs the base station function in D2D, V2X, and M2M communications, a network side device in a 6G network, a device that performs the base station function in future communication systems, etc. The base station can support networks with the same or different access technologies. Optionally, the RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an on-board device, etc. For example, the access network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network equipment.In some deployments, the network devices mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may include a CU, a DU, or both a CU and a DU, or a control plane CU node (central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), a user plane CU node (central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), and a DU node. For example, the network devices may include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, and a gNB-DU.

[0095] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminals in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functionality. For example, a RAN node can be a CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, or RU. The CU and DU can be separate or included in the same network element, such as the BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio unit, such as an RRU, AAU, or RRH.

[0096] The RAN node may support one or more types of fronthaul interfaces, with different fronthaul interfaces corresponding to DUs and RUs with different functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is a common public radio interface (CPRI), the DU is configured to implement one or more baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement one or more radio frequency functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is another type of interface, relative to the CPRI, some of the downlink and / or uplink baseband functions, such as precoding, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) for downlink, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation; and for uplink, one or more of digital beamforming (BF), or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) removal, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation. In one possible implementation, the interface may be an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI). In the eCPRI architecture, the division between the DU and RU is different, corresponding to different types (category, Cat) of eCPRI, such as eCPRI Cat A, B, C, D, E, and F.

[0097] Taking eCPRI Cat A as an example, for downlink transmission, based on layer mapping, the DU is configured to implement layer mapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping). Other functions after layer mapping (e.g., RE mapping, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) addition) are moved to the RU for implementation. For uplink transmission, based on RE demapping, the DU is configured to implement demapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of decoding, rate matching, descrambling, demodulation, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), channel equalization, and RE demapping). Other functions after demapping (e.g., one or more of digital BF or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / CP removal) are moved to the RU for implementation. It is understandable that for the functional description of DU and RU corresponding to various types of eCPRI, reference can be made to the eCPRI protocol, which will not be described in detail here.

[0098] In one possible design, the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the BBU is called a baseband high layer (BBH) unit, and the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the RRU / AAU / RRH is called a baseband low layer (BBL) unit.

[0099] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0100] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the functions of the network device is used as an example to illustrate, and does not constitute a limitation on the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0101] The network device and / or terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water surface; it can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and satellites in the air. The embodiments of this application do not limit the scenarios in which the network device and the terminal device are located. In addition, the terminal device and the network device can be hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, software functions running on general-purpose hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform), or entities including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. This application does not limit the specific forms of the terminal device and the network device.

[0102] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the methods of embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , communication system 100 may include at least one network device, such as network device 110 shown in Figure 1 ; communication system 100 may also include at least one terminal device, such as terminal device 120 and terminal device 130 shown in Figure 1 .

[0103] In the communication system shown in (a) of Figure 1 , both the terminal device 120 and the terminal device 130 can be within the coverage of the cell service provided by the network device 110; in the communication system shown in (b) of Figure 1 , only one of the terminal devices can be within the coverage of the cell service provided by the network device 110, such as the terminal device 120; and in the communication system shown in (c) of Figure 1 , none of the terminal devices can be within the coverage of the cell service provided by the network device 110.

[0104] Network device 110 can communicate with terminal device 120 and terminal device 130 via a UU (UTRAN-to-UE) air interface through a wireless link, and terminal device 120 and terminal device 130 can directly communicate wirelessly via a PC5 air interface. Communication devices in this communication system, for example, network device 110 and terminal device 120 and terminal device 130, can communicate using multi-antenna technology.

[0105] As an example, a single network device may transmit data or control signaling to a single or multiple terminal devices, and / or multiple network devices may simultaneously transmit data or control signaling for a single terminal device.

[0106] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the method of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the terminal device includes a processor 211, a memory 212, and a transceiver 213. The transceiver 213 includes a transmitter 2131, a receiver 2132, and an antenna 2133. The network device includes a processor 221, a memory 222, and a transceiver 223. The transceiver 223 includes a transmitter 2231, a receiver 2232, and an antenna 2233.

[0107] The processor 211 , the memory 212 , and the transceiver 213 communicate with each other through an internal connection path, and the processor 221 , the memory 222 , and the transceiver 223 communicate with each other through an internal connection path.

[0108] Receiver 2132 may be configured to receive transmission control information via antenna 2133, and transmitter 2131 may be configured to send transmission feedback information to a network device via antenna 2133. Transmitter 2231 may be configured to send transmission control information to a terminal device via antenna 2233, and receiver 2232 may be configured to receive transmission feedback information sent by the terminal device via antenna 2233.

[0109] It should be noted that Figures 1 and 2 are simplified schematic diagrams for ease of understanding. In actual applications, the communication system may include multiple network devices and multiple terminal devices. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the communication system.

[0110] Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in one embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 3, the method may include S310 and S320.

[0111] S310: The network device sends first information to the terminal, where the first information is used to configure R CRUs, each of the R CRUs supporting multiple antenna ports, where R is a positive integer. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0112] In this embodiment, the network device sends first information to the terminal, and the first information is used to configure R CRUs, each of the R CRUs supports multiple antenna ports. It can be understood that: the network device configures multiple CRUs to the terminal device, where each CRU supports multiple antenna ports.

[0113] As an example, the CRU is an abbreviation of a channel state information reference signal resource unit (CSI-RS resource unit). In this embodiment, the CRU may be referred to as a reference signal resource unit (RS resource unit).

[0114] In this embodiment, a CRU may also be referred to as a group of channel state information reference signal resources, or may be referred to as a group of reference signal resources.

[0115] It can be understood that the antenna ports supported by the CRU are antenna ports of the network device.

[0116] In some possible implementations, the number of antenna ports supported by any two CRUs in the R CRUs may be the same or different.

[0117] In some implementations of this embodiment, R is an integer and R is greater than 1.

[0118] As an example of R, R is equal to 4, that is, the network device is configured with 4 CRUs.

[0119] When R is equal to 4, as an example, among the four CRUs, the first CRU supports 8 antenna ports, the second CRU supports 12 antenna ports, the third CRU supports 16 antenna ports, and the fourth CRU supports 16 antenna ports.

[0120] If the number of antenna ports supported by the CRU is recorded as M, the above example can be expressed as M∈{8, 12, 16, 32}.

[0121] In some possible implementations, the number of antenna ports supported by different CRUs may be the same or different.

[0122] When different CRUs support the same number of antenna ports, as an example, the total number of antenna ports of the network device is recorded as K, K is equal to 1024, the number of antenna ports supported by each CRU is M is equal to 64, and the number of CRUs can be equal to the remainder of K divided by M, that is, the number of CRUs R is 16.

[0123] Different CRUs support different numbers of antenna ports. For example, the total number of antenna ports is 1024, and there are 8 CRUs in total, that is, R = 8. The numbers of antenna ports supported by these 8 CRUs are 8, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512, respectively, which are recorded as M = {8, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512}.

[0124] In this embodiment, a resource obtained by combining all or part of the R CRUs may be referred to as a CSI resource.

[0125] In some possible implementations, different CRUs may have different CSI-RS patterns.

[0126] When different CRUs may have different CSI-RS patterns, in some implementations, the CSI-RS patterns of the multiple CRUs may support including the multiple CRUs in the same CSI resource.

[0127] The resource overheads of the CSI-RS patterns of different CRUs may be the same or different.

[0128] In this embodiment, the resource overhead of the CSI-RS pattern of the CRU may be understood as: the ratio of the resource elements (REs) used for sending reference signals in the CRU to the resource elements (REs) included in the CRU.

[0129] For example, there are 1000 frequency domain subcarriers involved in the CRU, but only 10 of them are mapped to reference signals, so the resource overhead is 10 / 1000=0.1%.

[0130] When the resource overhead of the CSI-RS patterns of different CRUs is the same, in some implementations, the CSI-RS pattern resource overhead of a CRU supporting 64 antenna ports is the same as that of a CRU supporting 32 antenna ports;

[0131] When different CRUs have the same CSI-RS pattern, in some implementations, these CRUs may support different numbers of antenna ports, and the terminal device may implicitly distinguish different CRUs based on the number of antenna ports.

[0132] The CSI-RS pattern of a CRU may have one or more configurations based on resource overhead. In some implementations, the CSI-RS pattern of a CRU may have one or more configurations based on frequency domain density. In other implementations, the CSI-RS pattern of a CRU may have one or more configurations based on time domain density.

[0133] When the CSI-RS pattern of a CRU has one configuration according to resource overhead, as an example, the CSI-RS pattern of a CRU may be fixed, that is, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship does not change with the change of the CRU combination mode.

[0134] When the CSI-RS pattern of a CRU has one configuration according to resource overhead, as an example, a CRU may have CSI-RS patterns with multiple resource overhead configurations. When the CRU is used to form different CSI resources, different CSI-RS patterns may be selected.

[0135] Taking a CRU with two CSI-RS patterns and different resource overhead configuration sizes as an example, when the number of ports N is less than 256, the pattern with large resource overhead is selected; when the number of ports N is greater than or equal to 256, the pattern with small resource overhead is selected.

[0136] In some possible implementations, the CSI-RS pattern or time-frequency resource mapping relationship corresponding to a CRU is at the cell level. In other words, CRUs of different terminal devices can share the same CSI-RS pattern.

[0137] In some possible implementations, the first information may indicate at least one of the following information: identification information (ID) of each CRU in the R CRUs, the number of antenna ports supported by each CRU in the R CRUs, a time-frequency resource mapping relationship of each CRU in the R CRUs, or channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to each CRU in the R CRUs. The time-frequency resource mapping relationship of the CRUs may also be referred to as a CSI-RS pattern.

[0138] In some possible implementations, the channel estimation assistance information of each CRU may be unique, that is, the channel estimation assistance information of different CRUs may be different.

[0139] In some other possible implementations, the channel estimation auxiliary information of multiple CSI-RS resource units may be common, that is, the channel estimation auxiliary information of different CRUs may be the same.

[0140] For example, one CRU supports 64 antenna ports and another CRU supports 64 antenna ports. The CSI-RS patterns of these two CRUs are the same (or the resource overhead of the CSI-RS pattern is the same), and their channel estimation information has the same dimension and the same interpolation filter coefficients.

[0141] As an example, the first information may be carried in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or media access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling.

[0142] It can be understood that the configuration of the CRU in this embodiment can instruct the terminal device to obtain the channels and CSI feedback corresponding to the CSI-RS resources of N antenna ports.

[0143] S320: The network device sends second information to the terminal. The second information indicates S CRUs out of the R CRUs, where S is a positive integer less than or equal to R. The S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs are used to determine channel estimation results for N antenna ports, where N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information.

[0144] In this embodiment, S channel estimation results corresponding to S CRUs are used to determine the channel estimation results of N antenna ports, where N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs. This can be understood as: splicing or combining the channel estimation results of a smaller number of antenna ports to obtain the channel estimation results of a larger number of antenna ports.

[0145] In this embodiment, S channel estimation results can be used to determine the channel estimation results of N antenna ports, and the S channel estimation results correspond one-to-one to S CRUs. Therefore, it can be said that: these S CRUs can be combined into a CSI-RS resource, and the CSI-RS resource supports the N antenna ports, or the CSI-RS resource is used to send a reference signal for estimating the channel estimation results of these N antenna ports.

[0146] In this embodiment, the channels of any N antenna ports can be obtained by combining or splicing the channels corresponding to the antenna ports supported by S CRUs, or in other words, the channel estimation results of any N antenna ports can be obtained by combining or splicing the channel estimation results corresponding to the antenna ports supported by S CRUs.

[0147] In this embodiment, the channel estimation result may include a channel matrix or a precoding matrix indication (PMI).

[0148] In some possible implementations, the second information may indicate S CRUs among the R CRUs in one or more of the following ways: a bitmap, a scalar, or an ID of the CRU.

[0149] When the second information can indicate S CRUs out of the R CRUs in a scalar manner, as an example, the second information includes a numerical value, which is a positive integer, and the maximum value of the numerical value is the maximum number of CRUs, that is, the value range of the numerical value is from 1 (inclusive) to R (inclusive). In this example, S is equal to the numerical value included in the second information, that is, the second information includes the numerical value of S.

[0150] In this case, the positions of the S CRUs indicated by the second information in the R CRUs may be predefined or preconfigured, where predefined may be predefined in the communication standard, and preconfigured may be configured by the network device for the terminal device through messages or signaling.

[0151] As an example, the S CRUs may be the first S CRUs of the R CRUs, or may be the last S CRUs of the R CRUs. Optionally, the R CRUs may be sorted from largest to smallest by identifier, or from largest to smallest by identifier, or from front to back by included time domain resources.

[0152] When the second information is a scalar, as an example, the network device is configured with 16 CRUs, S ranges from 1 to 16, and the second information can occupy 4 bits. When the bit value in the second information is "0100", it means that the CSI-RS resources include the first CRU to the fourth CRU of the 16 CRUs. If each CRU supports 64 antenna ports, then N = 64 * 4 = 256, that is, the CSI-RS resources support 256 antenna ports.

[0153] When the second information is a scalar, as another example, the network device is configured with 16 CRUs, S ranges from 1 to 16, and the second information can occupy 4 bits. When the bit value in the second information is "1100", it means that the CSI-RS resources include the 1st CRU to the 12th CRU of the 16 CRUs. If each CRU supports 64 antenna ports, then N = 64 * 12 = 768, that is, the CSI-RS resources support 768 antenna ports.

[0154] When the second information indicates S CRUs through CRU IDs, as an example, the second information includes the ID of each CRU in the S CRUs. Taking R as 16 as an example, that is, taking the network device as an example, assuming that 16 CRUs are configured for the terminal, the identifier value range of each CRU is between 1 and 16. If the second information includes an identifier set ID = {2, 3, 4, 5}, it means that the CSI-RS resources corresponding to the N antenna ports include four CRUs with IDs 2, 3, 4, and 5.

[0155] When the second information indicates S CRUs via a bitmap, taking R as 16 as an example, the bitmap size is 16 bits. If the second information includes a bitmap with a binary value of 0111 1000 0000 0000, it can indicate that the CSI-RS resources supporting N antenna ports include the second, third, fourth, and fifth CRUs among the 16 CRUs.

[0156] In some possible implementations, the first information and the second information may be carried in different signaling or different messages.

[0157] In this embodiment, after the network device configures R CRUs for the terminal device, it indicates S CRUs among the R CRUs, so that the terminal device can know which CRUs contain resources on which the reference channel can be received, thereby obtaining channel estimation values ​​of the antenna ports supported by these CRUs.

[0158] In this embodiment, optionally, S330 may also be included.

[0159] S330: The network device sends a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs.

[0160] It can be understood that the reference signal in this embodiment can also be called a pilot signal.

[0161] As an example, the reference signal may be a CSI-RS.

[0162] As an example, the network device uses the first CRU among the S CRUs to send a reference signal, and the terminal device receives the reference signal based on the first CRU among the S CRUs; the network device uses the second CRU among the S CRUs to send a reference signal, and the terminal device receives the reference signal based on the second CRU among the S CRUs; and so on, the network device uses the Sth CRU among the S CRUs to send a reference signal, and the terminal device receives the reference signal based on the Sth CRU among the S CRUs.

[0163] In this embodiment, as an example, when the network device transmits a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs, all or some of the multiple antenna ports supported by the CRU may be used. All or some of the multiple antenna ports have a mapping relationship with the time-frequency resources in the CRU. Therefore, the network device transmits the reference signal using the time-frequency resources in the CRU that have a mapping relationship with the all or some of the antenna ports.

[0164] In this embodiment, when the network device sends reference signals through the antenna ports supported by S CRUs, the reference signals sent by these N ports have the same energy per resource element (EPRE).

[0165] In some implementations, a digital automatic gain control (DAGC) configuration used by the terminal device when receiving a reference signal based on any one of the S CRUs is the same as the DAGC used by the terminal device when receiving a reference signal based on any one of the S CRUs.

[0166] Optionally, the communication method of this embodiment may further include S340.

[0167] S340: The terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received on each CRU in the S CRUs, and obtains a channel estimation result for the antenna port supported by each CRU.

[0168] As an example, the channel estimation in this embodiment may refer to estimating the channel on the time-frequency resource unit (RE) involved in the CRU.

[0169] As an example, the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received by the first CRU among the S CRUs to obtain the first sub-channel estimation result; the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received by the second CRU among the S CRUs to obtain the second sub-channel estimation result; and so on, the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received by the Sth CRU among the S CRUs to obtain the Sth sub-channel estimation result.

[0170] In some possible implementations of this embodiment, the terminal device may perform channel estimation based on each reference signal received based on a CRU, and obtain a channel estimation result for the antenna port supported by the CRU. For example, the terminal device receives the reference signal on the first CRU, and performs channel estimation based on the received reference signal, to obtain a channel estimation result for the antenna port supported by the first CRU; then receives the reference signal on the second CRU, and performs channel estimation based on the received reference signal, to obtain a channel estimation result for the antenna port supported by the second CRU; and so on, the terminal device receives the reference signal on the Sth CRU, and performs channel estimation based on the received reference signal, to obtain a channel estimation result for the antenna port supported by the Sth CRU.

[0171] In this embodiment, when performing channel estimation based on the reference signal received by each CRU, the channel LS estimation results of some antenna ports in the CRU can be first obtained based on the least squares method, and then the channel estimation results of all antenna ports supported by the CRU can be obtained based on the channel LS estimation results.

[0172] In some implementations, the antenna ports supported by one of the S CRUs are denoted as M1 antenna ports, and the antenna ports corresponding to the least squares (LS) channel estimation results obtained by performing LS estimation based on the reference signal received by each CRU are denoted as P1 antenna ports among the M1 antenna ports, where P1 is a positive integer less than or equal to M1. P1 is a positive integer and can be equal to or less than M1.

[0173] In this embodiment, the process of estimating the channel through LS may also be referred to as channel LS estimation, which may be understood as estimating only the channel on the time-frequency resource element (RE) where the reference signal in the CRU is located.

[0174] For example, a CRU involves 120 subcarriers, but reference signals are mapped to only 10 subcarriers. In this case, channel LS estimation refers to obtaining channel estimation values ​​on those 10 subcarriers using the LS method; channel estimation refers to obtaining channel estimation values ​​on 120 subcarriers.

[0175] When P1 is equal to M1, that is, when the network device sends the reference signal through all the M1 antenna ports, as an example, the terminal device can perform least squares estimation on the reference signal received based on the CRU to obtain the channel LS estimation result of the M1 antenna ports, and the channel LS estimation result can be used as the channel estimation result of these M1 antenna ports.

[0176] When P1 is less than M1, that is, when the network device sends the reference signal through some of the M1 antenna ports, as an example, the network device can perform least squares estimation on the reference signal received based on the CRU to obtain the channel LS estimation result of the P1 antenna port, and then determine the channel estimation result of the M1 antenna port based on the channel LS estimation result of the P1 antenna port.

[0177] For example, when M1 is equal to 64 and P1 is equal to 40, the terminal device can first perform channel LS estimation on the 40 antenna ports to obtain the channel LS estimation values ​​of the 40 antenna ports, and then determine the channel estimation results of the 64 antenna ports based on the channel LS estimation values ​​of the 40 antenna ports.

[0178] When determining the channel estimation results of M1 antenna ports based on the channel LS estimation results of P1 antenna ports, some implementation methods are as follows: determining the channel estimation results of M1 antenna ports based on the channel LS estimation results of P1 antenna ports and channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the M1 antenna ports.

[0179] The following first introduces the relevant knowledge based on channel estimation auxiliary information. Channel estimation auxiliary information can be obtained based on the channel matrix. For example, the channel matrix is ​​recorded as H, and the dimension of the channel matrix H is NRE ×N TX , N RE Indicates the number of REs used to transmit reference signals in the resource, N TX Indicates the number of antenna ports supported by the resource, that is, the number of ports for the reference signal. The channel matrix can be, for example, a channel matrix of a downlink channel obtained by estimating the uplink channel based on uplink and downlink reciprocity, or a channel matrix based on a historical period, or a channel matrix predicted by an artificial intelligence (AI) model, which is not limited in this application.

[0180] FIG4 exemplarily shows the channel estimation auxiliary information. For example, the channel matrix is ​​subjected to singular value decomposition (SVD) to obtain the spatial-frequency domain projection matrix V of the channel matrix. H , 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 From V H Obtain the maximum linearly uncorrelated group of column vectors to obtain the matrix P aug , whose dimension is N TX ×N aug , N aug is less than or equal to N TX As shown in the figure, the matrix P aug Including N aug non-zero elements, each non-zero element is in the matrix P aug In a column, all other elements are zero, indicating that TX Select the more important N aug ports are used to send reference signals. The matrix P aug Can indicate N aug Ports in N TX The index in the port, so the matrix P can also be called aug is the port pattern used to indicate the reference signal. H and P aug Channel estimation auxiliary information P can be obtained + , P + Satisfy: (V H P aug ) -1 V H , whose dimension is N aug ×N TX .

[0181] It is not difficult to see that although the number of ports for sending reference signals can be less than N TX , but based on the channel estimation auxiliary information P + , we can reconstruct N TX The channel matrix of the ports. One of the reconstructed expressions is as follows:

[0182] Where H' represents the channel matrix of the antenna port that actually sends the reference signal. Indicates N TX The channel matrix of the antenna ports.

[0183] For a CRU, H' represents the channel matrix of P1 antenna ports, represents the channel matrix of M1 antenna ports.

[0184] Optionally, the communication method of this embodiment may further include S350.

[0185] S350, the terminal device sends first channel state information to the network device, where the first channel state information indicates channel estimation results of N antenna ports.

[0186] As an example, after the terminal device obtains the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by each CRU in the S CRUs, it can determine the channel estimation results of the N antenna ports based on the S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs.

[0187] For the convenience of description, in this embodiment, the channel estimation results of the N antenna ports are referred to as first channel estimation results.

[0188] As an example, determining the channel estimation results of the N antenna ports based on the S channel estimation results corresponding one to one to the S CRUs may include: directly concatenating (conjunction) the S channel estimation results to obtain a first channel estimation result.

[0189] As an example, the S channel estimation results may be S channel matrices, and the first channel estimation result is also a channel matrix.

[0190] For example, when R is equal to 16 and S is equal to 4, and the four CRUs are the second CRU, the third CRU, the fourth CRU, and the fifth CRU in the 16 CRUs, and the four CRUs support 64 antenna ports respectively, the first channel estimation result can be recorded as H 256port =[H #2,64port ,H #3,64port ,H #4,64port ,H #5,64port ], where H #2,64portis the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the second CRU, H #3,64port is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the third CRU, H #4,64port is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the fourth CRU, H #5,64port It is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the fifth CRU.

[0191] In this embodiment, when the S channel estimation results are directly concatenated to obtain the first channel estimation result, the column order of the S channel estimation results in the first channel estimation result may be determined according to a preset rule.

[0192] As an example, the preset rule may stipulate that the order relationship of the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by the CRU is the same as the order relationship of the CRU identifiers.

[0193] For example, if the time domain resources in the first CRU are earlier than the time domain resources in the second CRU, the channel estimation result of the antenna port supported by the first CRU is located before the channel estimation result of the antenna port supported by the second CRU.

[0194] As another example, the preset rule may stipulate that the S channel state information are arranged in order from small to large or from large to small according to the identifiers of the antenna ports, so as to obtain the first channel estimation result.

[0195] In this embodiment, a schematic diagram of directly connecting channel estimation results is shown in FIG5(a). In FIG5(a), the left box represents the channel estimation result corresponding to the first CRU, and the right box represents the channel estimation result corresponding to the second CRU. These two channel estimation results are directly connected together to obtain the channel estimation results for N antenna ports.

[0196] As another example, determining the first channel estimation result based on the S channel estimation results may include: splicing the S channel estimation results based on a reference antenna port to obtain the first channel estimation result.

[0197] The reference antenna port may also be referred to as a base antenna port, or simply referred to as a reference port or base port. The reference port may be predefined in the communication protocol or determined by the network device itself based on requirements.

[0198] As an example, when splicing S channel estimation results based on the reference antenna port, taking two of the channel estimation results as an example, it can include: calculating the difference between the channel estimation value corresponding to the reference antenna port in the first sub-channel estimation result corresponding to the first CRU and the channel estimation value corresponding to the reference antenna port in the second sub-channel estimation result corresponding to the second CRU; compensating the difference on the channel estimation value corresponding to the antenna port other than the reference port in the second sub-channel estimation result to obtain the compensated channel estimation result; splicing the first sub-channel estimation result with the compensated channel estimation result to obtain the first channel estimation result.

[0199] An implementation method for splicing the first sub-channel estimation result and the compensated channel estimation result may refer to the aforementioned method of directly connecting the S channel estimation results.

[0200] In this embodiment, a schematic diagram of splicing channel estimation results based on a reference port is shown in FIG5(b). In FIG5(b), the left box represents the channel estimation results of the M1 antenna ports supported by the first CRU, and the right box represents the channel estimation results of the M2 antenna ports supported by the second CRU. The last antenna port of the M1 antenna ports and the first antenna port of the M2 antenna ports share the same reference port. The first sub-channel estimation result and the second sub-channel estimation result can be spliced ​​based on this reference port.

[0201] In this embodiment, a schematic diagram of channel estimation results based on a reference port is shown in (c) of Figure 5. In (c) of Figure 5, the left box represents the channel estimation results for the M1 antenna ports supported by the first CRU, and the right box represents the channel estimation results for the M2 antenna ports supported by the second resource. The first antenna port of the M1 antenna ports and the first antenna port of the M2 antenna ports are the same reference port, and the first sub-channel estimation result and the second sub-channel estimation result can be spliced ​​based on this reference port.

[0202] Optionally, the first channel estimation result may also be a precoding indication. In this case, the terminal device obtains the PMIs of the N antenna ports based on the channel matrices of the N antenna ports.

[0203] The communication method of this embodiment, based on the combined splicing of CRUs, can realize the combined splicing of channel estimation results of antenna ports, thereby reusing existing CSI-RS patterns and even channel estimation auxiliary information, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0204] In this embodiment, optionally, S305 may be further included, i.e., the terminal device reports capabilities supported by the terminal device. The capabilities supported by the terminal may include at least one of the following capabilities: whether splicing of channel estimation results is supported, the maximum number of antenna ports that can be spliced, the maximum number of resources that can be spliced, the time span of resources corresponding to the spliced ​​antenna ports, the number of spliced ​​antenna port groups, the reason for supporting splicing, or the scenario in which splicing is supported.

[0205] An example of a scenario that supports splicing is as follows: a base station has multiple antenna panels, and each panel has a large number of antenna ports.

[0206] An example of a reason for supporting splicing is as follows: a terminal device has multiple antenna panels, and each panel has a large number of antenna ports.

[0207] As an example, the terminal may report the capabilities supported by the terminal in higher layer signaling when accessing a cell.

[0208] An example of a splicing time span supported by a terminal device is shown in Figure 6. Here, t1 represents the time of the earliest resource in the time domain among the resources used for splicing, Kmax represents the maximum number of resources used for splicing, tKmax represents the time of the latest resource in the time domain among the resources used for splicing, and Δt represents the time span.

[0209] It can be understood that the network device can send corresponding CSI-RS resources to the terminal according to the capability information reported by the terminal.

[0210] Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided by another embodiment of the present application. This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in Figure 3 in that: in the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the terminal device splices the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by the S CRUs to obtain the channel estimation results of N antenna ports and feeds them back to the network device; whereas in the embodiment shown in Figure 7, the terminal device feeds back the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by each of the S CRUs to the network device, and the network device splices the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by the S CRUs to obtain the channel estimation results of N antenna ports.

[0211] S710: The network device sends first information to the terminal, where the first information is used to configure R CRUs, each of the R CRUs supporting multiple antenna ports, where R is a positive integer. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0212] In this embodiment, this step may refer to S310 and will not be described again here.

[0213] S720: The network device sends second information to the terminal. The second information indicates S CRUs out of the R CRUs, where S is a positive integer less than or equal to R. The S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs are used to determine channel estimation results for N antenna ports, where N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information.

[0214] In this embodiment, this step may refer to S320 and will not be repeated here.

[0215] S730: The network device sends a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs.

[0216] In this embodiment, this step may refer to S330 and will not be repeated here.

[0217] S740: The terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received on each CRU in the S CRUs, and obtains a channel estimation result of the antenna port supported by each CRU.

[0218] This step can be referred to S340 and will not be repeated here.

[0219] In this embodiment, for the convenience of description, the channel estimation result of the antenna port supported by each CRU in the S CRUs may be referred to as a sub-channel estimation result.

[0220] S750: The terminal device sends S pieces of channel state information, each corresponding to each of the S CRUs. Each piece of the channel state information indicates a channel estimation result for an antenna port supported by the corresponding CRU. In response, the network device receives the S pieces of channel state information.

[0221] As an example, the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received by the first CRU among the S CRUs, and after obtaining the first sub-channel estimation result, sends channel status information indicating the sub-channel estimation result to the network device; the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received by the second CRU among the S CRUs, and after obtaining the second sub-channel estimation result, sends channel status information indicating the sub-channel estimation result to the network device; and so on, the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal received by the Sth CRU among the S CRUs, and after obtaining the Sth sub-channel estimation result, sends channel status information indicating the sub-channel estimation result to the network device.

[0222] As an example, the channel estimation result corresponding to each CRU may be a channel matrix of an antenna port supported by the CRU.

[0223] For example, the second information indicates through the bitmap "0111 1000 0000 0000" that the S CRUs include the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th CRUs. When each of these four CRUs supports 64 antenna ports, the four channel state information that the terminal device can feedback to the network device can be recorded as H, #2,64port 、H #3,64port 、H #4,64port or H #5,64port Among them, H #2,64port is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the second CRU, H #3,64port is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the third CRU, H #4,64port is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the fourth CRU, H #5,64port It is the channel matrix of 64 antenna ports supported by the fifth CRU.

[0224] As another example, the channel estimation result corresponding to each CRU may be the PMI of the antenna port supported by the CRU.

[0225] For example, the second information indicates through the bitmap "0111 1000 0000 0000" that the S CRUs include the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th CRUs. When each of these four CRUs supports 64 antenna ports, the four channel state information that the terminal device can feedback to the network device can be recorded as PMI respectively. #2,64port 、PMI #3,64port 、PMI #4,64port and PMI #5,64port Among them, PMI #2,64port It is the PMI of the 64 antenna ports supported by the second CRU. #3,64port It is the PMI of the 64 antenna ports supported by the third CRU. #4,64port It is the PMI of the 64 antenna ports supported by the fourth CRU. #5,64port This is the PMI of the 64 antenna ports supported by the fifth CRU.

[0226] It is understood that there may be rotation factors between PMIs.

[0227] The following is an example explanation of the rotation factor. Taking matrices and vectors as examples, A1 = [1; 0; 0] is a column vector with 3 rows and 1 column; A2 = [0; 1; 0] is a column vector with 3 rows and 1 column; A2 = B * A1, where B is the rotation factor from A1 to A2, expressed as B = [0, 1, 0; 1, 0, 0; 0, 0, 1], where B is a matrix with 3 rows and 3 columns.

[0228] S760: The network device determines a first channel estimation result according to the S pieces of channel state information.

[0229] This step can refer to the content in S350 where the terminal device determines the channel estimation results of N antenna ports based on the S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs, which will not be repeated here.

[0230] Optionally, this embodiment may further include S705, which may refer to S305 and will not be described in detail here.

[0231] FIG8 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided by another embodiment of the present application. The difference between this embodiment and the embodiment shown in FIG7 is that: in the embodiment shown in FIG7, the terminal device feeds back the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by each CRU in the S CRUs to the network device, and the network device splices the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by the S CRUs to obtain the channel estimation results of the N antenna ports; while in the embodiment shown in FIG8, the terminal device feeds back the channel LS estimation results of the antenna ports supported by each CRU in the S CRUs to the network device, and the network device determines the channel estimation results of the antenna ports supported by each CRU based on the channel LS estimation results of the antenna ports supported by the CRU; and then the network device splices the S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs one by one to obtain the channel estimation results of the N antenna ports.

[0232] S810: The network device sends first information to the terminal, where the first information is used to configure R CRUs, each of the R CRUs supporting multiple antenna ports, where R is a positive integer. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0233] In this embodiment, this step may refer to S310 and will not be described again here.

[0234] S820: The network device sends second information to the terminal. The second information indicates S CRUs out of the R CRUs, where S is a positive integer less than or equal to R. The S channel estimation results corresponding to the S CRUs are used to determine channel estimation results for N antenna ports, where N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information.

[0235] In this embodiment, this step may refer to S320 and will not be repeated here.

[0236] S830: The network device sends a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a reference signal based on each of the S CRUs.

[0237] In this embodiment, this step may refer to S330 and will not be repeated here.

[0238] S840: The terminal device performs channel LS estimation based on the reference signal received on each CRU in the S CRUs, and obtains the channel LS estimation result of the antenna port supported by each CRU.

[0239] S850: The terminal device sends S pieces of channel state information, each corresponding to each of the S CRUs. Each piece of the S channel state information indicates a channel LS estimation result for an antenna port supported by the corresponding CRU. Accordingly, the network device receives the S pieces of channel state information.

[0240] As an example, the terminal device performs channel LS estimation based on the reference signal received by the first CRU among the S CRUs, and after obtaining the first channel LS estimation result, sends channel status information indicating the channel LS estimation result to the network device; the terminal device performs channel LS estimation based on the reference signal received by the second CRU among the S CRUs, and after obtaining the second channel LS estimation result, sends channel status information indicating the channel LS estimation result to the network device; and so on, the terminal device performs channel LS estimation based on the reference signal received by the Sth CRU among the S CRUs, and after obtaining the Sth channel LS estimation result, sends channel status information indicating the channel LS estimation result to the network device.

[0241] As an example, the channel estimation result corresponding to each CRU may be a channel matrix of an antenna port supported by the CRU.

[0242] For example, the second information indicates through the bitmap "0111 1000 0000 0000" that the S CRUs include the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th CRUs. When each of these four CRUs supports 64 antenna ports, the four channel state information that the terminal device can feedback to the network device can be recorded as H, #2,40port 、H #3,40port 、H #4,40port or H #5,40port Among them, H #2,64port is the channel matrix of 40 antenna ports out of the 64 antenna ports supported by the second CRU, H #3,64port is the channel matrix of 40 antenna ports out of the 64 antenna ports supported by the third CRU, H #4,64port is the channel matrix of 40 antenna ports out of the 64 antenna ports supported by the fourth CRU, H #5,64port It is the channel matrix of 40 antenna ports among the 64 antenna ports supported by the fifth CRU.

[0243] S860: The network device determines a first channel estimation result according to the S pieces of channel state information.

[0244] As an example, the network device determines the channel estimation results of all antenna ports supported by the CRU based on the channel estimation result indicated by the channel state information of each CRU and the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to the CRU, and then splices the S channel estimation results to obtain the first channel estimation result.

[0245] This step may refer to the relevant content of the terminal device splicing to obtain the first channel estimation result in S350, which will not be repeated here.

[0246] Optionally, this embodiment may further include S805, which may refer to S305 and will not be described in detail here.

[0247] It is understood that any of the above embodiments are described using downlink MIMO as an example. This application also proposes a method for uplink MIMO channel estimation.

[0248] As an example, the network device can configure multiple CRUs to the terminal device, similar to S310 in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above; and send information to the terminal device to indicate the CRUs that can be spliced ​​among the multiple CRUs, similar to S320 in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above; the terminal device can send a reference signal based on the CRU that can be spliced, similar to the network device sending the reference signal in S330 in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above, where an example of the reference signal is an SR signal; the network device receives the reference signal based on the spliced ​​CRU, similar to the terminal device receiving the reference signal in S330 in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above; the network device performs channel estimation based on the received reference, splices the channel estimation results, and feeds back the spliced ​​channel estimation results to the terminal device, similar to the operations performed by the network device in S340 and S350 in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above.

[0249] Optionally, the network device may perform channel estimation based on the received reference, and feed back the channel estimation result corresponding to each CRU to the terminal device, which then splices the channel estimation results.

[0250] Optionally, the network device may perform channel LS estimation based on the received reference, and feed back the channel LS estimation result to the terminal device. The terminal device obtains a channel estimation result based on the channel LS estimation result, and splices the channel estimation results.

[0251] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG9 , the device 900 may include a processing module 901 and a communication module 902 .

[0252] As a first example, the apparatus 900 can be used to implement the communication method implemented by a terminal in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8. For example, the processing module 901 is used to implement the processing-related steps performed by the terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8, and the communication module 902 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving steps performed by the terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8.

[0253] As a second example, the apparatus 900 can be used to implement the communication method implemented by a network device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8. For example, the processing module 901 is used to implement the processing-related steps performed by the network device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8, and the communication module 902 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving steps performed by the network device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8.

[0254] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 10, the device 1000 includes a processor 1001 and a communication circuit 1002. The processor 1001 and the communication circuit 1002 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the communication circuit 1002 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the device 1000 may further include a memory 1003 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1001 or storing input data required by the processor 1001 to run the instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1001 runs the instructions. It is understood that the memory 1003 can be located outside the processor 1001, or inside the processor 1001.

[0255] As an example, the processor 1001 is used to implement the functions of the processing module 901 , and the communication circuit 1002 is used to implement the functions of the communication module 902 .

[0256] Apparatus 1000 may be a communications device or a chip used in a communications device. For example, apparatus 1000 may be a UE or a chip used in a UE, or a network device or a chip used in a network device. It is understood that when apparatus 1000 is a UE or a network device, communication circuit 1002 may be a transceiver.

[0257] In some embodiments of the present application, a computer program product is also provided. When the computer program product is run on a processor, it can implement the method implemented by the terminal device in any of the above embodiments, or it can implement the method implemented by the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0258] In some embodiments of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, which includes computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on a processor, the method implemented by the terminal device in any of the above embodiments can be implemented, or the method implemented by the network device in any of the above method embodiments can be implemented.

[0259] In some embodiments of the present application, a communication system is also provided, which can implement the method implemented by the terminal device and the network device in any of the above embodiments.

[0260] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be the following devices or all or part of the circuits in the following devices for processing functions: a central processing unit (CPU), and can also 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 can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0261] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a network device or a terminal device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in a network device or a terminal device as discrete components.

[0262] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive.

[0263] 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.

[0264] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a first communication device, the method includes: Receiving first information for configuring R channel state information reference signal resource units (CRUs), where each of the R CRUs supports multiple antenna ports, R is an integer and R > 1; Receiving second information indicating S CRUs among the R CRUs, S is a positive integer less than or equal to R, and the channel estimation results of the S CRUs corresponding one-to-one are used to determine the channel estimation results of N antenna ports, N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first information indicates at least one of the following information: the identification information of each of the R CRUs, the number of antenna ports supported by each of the R CRUs, the time-frequency resource mapping relationship of each of the R CRUs, or the channel estimation auxiliary information corresponding to each of the R CRUs.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The first information includes a first sub-information indicating R values, the R values corresponding one-to-one to the R resource units, and each of the R values indicates the number of antenna ports supported by the corresponding CRU.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second information indicates S CRUs out of the R CRUs, and includes: The second information indicates the S CRUs among the R CRUs through a bitmap.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The second information indicating the S CRUs among the R CRUs includes: The second information includes the value S, where the S resource units satisfy a first condition, and the first condition is pre-configured or pre-defined.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein The first condition includes: the S CRUs are the first S CRUs among the R CRUs.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The second information indicating the S CRUs among the R CRUs includes: The second information indicates the position of each of the S CRUs among the R CRUs.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, The R CRUs are sorted in ascending or descending order according to the identification information.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The time-frequency resource mapping relationships of the first CRU and the second CRU among the R CRUs are different.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The first CRU and the second CRU are included in the S CRUs.

11. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The resource overheads of the first CRU and the second CRU are the same.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The time-frequency resource mapping relationships of the first CRU and the second CRU among the R CRUs are the same.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The number of antenna ports supported by the first CRU is different from the number of antenna ports supported by the second CRU.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, The third CRU among the R CRUs is configured with multiple time-frequency resource mapping relationships.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The resource overheads of different time-frequency resource mapping relationships among the multiple time-frequency resource mapping relationships are different.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, The channel estimation information of the fourth CRU is different from the channel estimation information of the fifth CRU among the R CRUs.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, The channel estimation information of the fourth CRU is the same as the channel estimation information of the fifth CRU among the R CRUs.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that The method further includes: Sending third information indicating the channel estimation results of the N antenna ports.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send S third pieces of information, where the S third pieces of information correspond one-to-one with S groups of channel estimation results, each of the S third pieces of information indicates the channel estimation result of the corresponding group, the S groups of channel estimation results correspond one-to-one with the S CRUs, and each channel estimation result in the S groups of channel estimation results is the channel estimation result of the reference signal transmitted by the corresponding CRU.

20. The method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that, The third piece of information includes: the channel LS estimation result, the channel estimation result, the codebook index of the channel estimation result, or the codebook index of the channel LS estimation result.

21. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, characterized in that, The method further includes: Sending a fourth piece of information, where the fourth piece of information indicates the support capability of the first communication device for the CRU, and the support capability includes at least one of the following capabilities: the allowable value of the number of CRUs, the allowable value of the number of antenna ports supported by the CRU, or the allowable value of the number of CRU combinations.

22. A communication method, characterized in that Applied to a second communication device, the method includes: Sending a first piece of information, where the first piece of information is used to configure R signal status information reference signal resource units (CRUs), each of the R CRUs supports multiple antenna ports, and R is an integer greater than 1; Sending a second piece of information, where the second piece of information indicates S CRUs among the R CRUs, S is a positive integer less than or equal to R, and the S channel estimation results corresponding one-to-one to the S CRUs are used to determine the channel estimation results of N antenna ports, and N is greater than or equal to the total number of antenna ports supported by the S CRUs.

23. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes functional modules for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

24. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes: A memory and a processor; The memory is used to store program instructions; The processor is used to execute the program instructions in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores program code for computer execution, and the program code includes instructions for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

26. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes program code for computer execution, and the program code includes instructions for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

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