Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and apparatus, for use in improving the communication performance between a network device and a terminal device. The method may comprise: a network device sends configuration information, the configuration information being used for configuring a reference signal port set; the network device sends first information, the first information being used for indicating that a terminal device reports information of first vectors corresponding to N reference signal ports, wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set, the first vectors are used for determining a reflection weight of a first apparatus, the first apparatus is used for adjusting a beam direction on the basis of the reflection weight, and the number of elements in each vector among the first vectors is the same as the number of receiving antenna ports of the terminal device; and the network device receives the information of the first vectors from the terminal device.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on February 18, 2024, with application number 202410182627.7 and application name "A Communication Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] An intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is an array composed of multiple phase-adjustable passive reflective elements. In actual communication scenarios, due to obstructions by objects such as buildings and walls, there may be no line of sight (LoS) path between the terminal device and the network device, resulting in poor signal quality at the terminal device, thus affecting communication performance. To this end, an IRS can be deployed. The network device sends a signal to the IRS, and the IRS can send the signal from the network device to the terminal device via a reflected beam. The IRS can adjust the direction of the reflected beam to reflect the signal from the network device in the desired direction (for example, the direction of the LoS path between the IRS and the terminal device), thereby improving the signal coverage of the communication network and thus improving the signal quality of the terminal device.

[0005] How IRS adjusts the direction of the reflected beam is a problem that needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application proposes a communication method and apparatus for improving the communication performance between network devices and terminal devices.

[0007] In the first aspect, the present application implements a communication method, which can be executed by a first communication device, or by a chip or chip system corresponding to the first communication device, without limitation. The first communication device can be a network device, which can be but not limited to an access network device (such as a base station). Taking a network device as an example, the method may include: the network device sends configuration information, which is used to configure a reference signal port set; the network device sends first information, which is used to instruct the terminal device to report information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports; wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set, the first vector is used to determine the reflection weight of the first device, and the reflection weight is used to adjust the beam direction of the first device; the number of elements of each vector in the first vector is the same as the number of receiving antenna ports of the terminal device; the network device receives information of the first vector from the terminal device.

[0008] The information of the first vector may indicate the first vector, or the information of the first vector may indicate the index of the first vector.

[0009] Optionally, the first vector is a vector calculated by a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) equivalent channel. The CSI-RS equivalent channel may be a virtual channel determined by the terminal device by measuring the CSI-RS. The virtual channel may be determined based on an actual physical channel between the network device and the first apparatus, an actual physical channel between the first apparatus and the terminal apparatus, a weight of the network device, and a weight of the first apparatus. The virtual channel may include characteristic information of the actual physical channel between the network device and the first apparatus and the actual physical channel between the first apparatus and the terminal apparatus.

[0010] "The number of elements in the first vector is the same as the number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device." The number of receive antenna ports of a terminal device is determined by the capabilities of the terminal device. For example, if the terminal device has eight receive antenna ports, one of the first vectors may include eight elements.

[0011] In an embodiment of the present application, the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal port set indicated by the network device to the terminal device is used for beam management. The reference signal port set includes N reference signal ports, the N reference signal ports correspond to N beams and N reference signals, the N beams and the N reference signals correspond one to one, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. Accordingly, "the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal port set is used for beam management" can be understood as the network device controlling the first device to switch N beams, and one of the N reference signals is reflected to the terminal device through its corresponding beam, so that the terminal device receives the N reference signals corresponding to the N beams.

[0012] In the embodiment of the present application, the first device is, for example, an IRS, or other devices including functions such as reflecting and / or forwarding signals, or may be a node with similar functions to an IRS, such as a network controlled repeater (NCR) or an integrated access and backhaul (IAB). In the embodiment of the present application, the first device is used to reflect signals (for example, to reflect signals from a network device or a terminal device) as an example, then the transmission beam of the first device may also be referred to as a reflection beam, and the direction of the reflection beam may also be referred to as a reflection direction. The reflection direction of the first device may be related to the reflection weight of the first device, for example, the angle between the reflection beam of the first device and the orientation of the first device (i.e., the reflection direction) may be related to the reflection weight of the first device, and the reflection weight may be the weight corresponding to the reflection beam.

[0013] In the embodiments of the present application, the first device may be an IRS, or may be another device including functions such as reflecting or forwarding signals / data, or a node with similar functions to an IRS, such as a network controlled repeater (NCR) or an integrated access and backhaul (IAB). The reflection weight of the first device may be determined or considered as the beam direction of the reflected beam of the first device, such as the angle between the beam of the first device and the orientation of the first device.

[0014] In an embodiment of the present application, a method for determining a reflection weight of a first device is provided. In this method, a network device can determine the reflection weight of the first device based on a first vector from a terminal device, so that the first device can adjust the direction of the reflected beam based on the reflection weight.

[0015] In one possible implementation, the first vector corresponds to the identifiers of N reference signal ports. In an embodiment of the present application, the first vector corresponds to one or more beams. In this implementation, by setting a correspondence between the identifiers of the N reference signal ports and the first vector, the identifiers of the N reference signal ports can have a correspondence with the beam corresponding to the first vector. For example, the identifier of one of the N reference signal ports can correspond to a beam corresponding to the first vector. In this way, when the network device determines the role of the beam corresponding to the first vector, it can distinguish different beams based on the identifier of the reference signal port.

[0016] In one possible embodiment, the vector corresponding to the first reference signal port among the N reference signal ports is similar to the vector corresponding to at least one reference signal port in the reference signal port set other than the N reference signal ports, and the information of the first vector does not include the information of the vector corresponding to the at least one reference signal port. For example, one reference signal port may correspond to one beam, and if multiple beams corresponding to multiple reference signal ports in the reference signal port set all point to the same scatterer (physical environment, such as a building), the path loss and phase delay experienced by the reference signals sent through these multiple beams when reaching the scatterer will be relatively close, so the physical channels corresponding to these multiple beams are relatively similar, and therefore the vectors corresponding to these multiple reference signal ports may be similar. For multiple reference signal ports with similar corresponding vectors, the terminal device can report the information of the vector corresponding to one of the reference signal ports, without having to report the information of the vectors corresponding to these multiple reference signal ports, so as to save transmission overhead.

[0017] In one possible implementation, the first information is further used to indicate the frequency domain granularity at which the terminal device calculates and reports the first vector information. For example, the first vector corresponding to each of four resource blocks (RBs) is reported. In this implementation, transmission overhead can be dynamically controlled based on communication requirements.

[0018] In one possible implementation, the first information is further used to instruct the terminal device to report the first vector in a time slot and / or symbol. In this implementation, the network device instructs the terminal device to report the first vector in a specified time domain resource through the first information, so that the time domain resource corresponding to the first vector is not occupied by other types of data transmission, thereby effectively ensuring normal transmission of the first vector.

[0019] In a possible embodiment, the method further includes: receiving second information from the terminal device, wherein the second information is used to indicate the measurement results of the reference signals corresponding to the N reference signal ports. The measurement results may include but are not limited to at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP), channel quality indicator (CQI), or reference signal received quality (RSRQ). In this embodiment, the terminal device reports the measurement results of the reference signal to the network device, and the measurement results can characterize the performance of the beam corresponding to the first vector, so that the network device can determine the reflection weight of the IRS in combination with the measurement results and the first vector.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the first information is further used to indicate that the terminal device reports the first vector information to the network device at a different period than the period at which the terminal device reports the measurement results to the network device. In this implementation, considering the large amount of information feedback for the first vector, the network device indicates to the terminal device through the first information that the reporting period for the first vector information and the measurement results are different. For example, the reporting period for the first vector information is set to be greater than the reporting period for the measurement results, thereby reducing transmission overhead.

[0021] In one possible embodiment, the first vector is used to determine the reflection weight of the first device, including: the reflection weight is determined based on the first beam and / or the second beam, the first beam and the second beam are beams corresponding to the first vector, and the first beam and / or the second beam are determined based on the measurement result. In this embodiment, the first beam and / or the second beam can be determined in the beam corresponding to the first vector based on the first vector and / or the measurement result. Furthermore, since the first vector can represent the UE best reception vector of the network device-first device-terminal device (e.g., BS-IRS-UE) without considering interference and noise, by comparing the UE first vector of the BS-IRS-UE with the UE best reception vector of the BS-UE, the role of the first beam and / or the second beam can be determined. Then, the network device can indicate the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam and / or the second beam to the corresponding first device to meet the communication requirements of the terminal devices corresponding to different first devices. For example, if the network device recognizes that there is an obstruction between the network device and the terminal device by objects such as buildings and walls, it determines that there may be no LoS ​​path between the terminal device and the network device. If the network device determines that the first beam can be used to improve the signal coverage range, the network device can indicate the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam to the first device, so that the first device can improve the signal coverage range of the network device according to the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam. For another example, the network device determines that the channel between the terminal device and the network device is a low-rank channel by analyzing the characteristics of the channel between the terminal device and the network device. If the network device determines that the second beam can be used for channel rank increase (for example, for increasing the number of transmission streams between the network device and the terminal device), the network device can indicate the reflection weight corresponding to the second beam to the corresponding first device, so that the first device can achieve channel rank increase between the terminal device and the network device according to the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam.

[0022] On the second aspect, the present application implements a communication method, which can be executed by a terminal device or by a chip or chip system corresponding to the terminal device, without limitation. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method may include: the terminal device receives configuration information from a network device, the configuration information is used to indicate a reference signal port set; the terminal device receives first information from the network device, the first information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports; wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set, the first vector is used to determine the reflection weight of the first device, and the first device is used to adjust the direction of the beam according to the reflection weight; the number of elements of each vector in the first vector is the same as the number of receiving antenna ports of the terminal device; the terminal device sends information of the first vector to the network device.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner, the first vector corresponds to identifiers of N reference signal ports.

[0024] In one possible implementation, the vector corresponding to the first reference signal port among the N reference signal ports is similar to the vector corresponding to at least one reference signal port in the reference signal port set other than the N reference signal ports, and the information of the first vector does not include information of the vector corresponding to the at least one reference signal port.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner, the first information is further used to indicate the frequency domain granularity for the terminal to calculate and report the information of the first vector.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the first information is further used to instruct the terminal device to report information of the first vector in a time slot and / or symbol.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending second information to the network device, where the second information is used to indicate measurement results of reference signals corresponding to the N reference signal ports.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the first information is further used to indicate that a period for the terminal device to report the first vector to the network device is different from a period for the terminal device to report the measurement result to the network device.

[0029] Regarding the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or various optional implementations, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the first aspect or corresponding implementations.

[0030] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which can be used to execute the method of the first aspect. The device can be a first device, or can be a component in the first device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit), or can be a logic module or software corresponding to the first device, or can be a device that can be used in combination with the first device.

[0031] In one possible implementation, the device may include a module or unit corresponding to each of the methods / operations / steps / actions described in the first aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one possible implementation, the device may include a processing unit (also referred to as a processing module) and a communication unit (also referred to as a communication module), wherein the communication unit may be used to perform the functions of receiving and / or sending, and the processing unit may be used to perform the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, which can be used to execute the method of the second aspect. The device can be a first terminal device, or can be a component in the first terminal device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit), or can be a logic module or software corresponding to the first terminal device, or can be a device that can be used in conjunction with the first terminal device.

[0033] In one possible implementation, the device may include a module or unit corresponding to each of the methods / operations / steps / actions described in the second aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In one possible implementation, the device may include a processing unit (also referred to as a processing module) and a communication unit (also referred to as a communication module), wherein the communication unit may be used to perform the functions of receiving and / or sending, and the processing unit may be used to perform the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0034] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a device comprising: at least one processor and a communication interface; wherein the communication interface is used to communicate with other devices; and the processor is used to run a set of programs so that the device can implement the method provided in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation method thereof, or so that the device can implement the method provided in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation method thereof.

[0035] In the sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes a first device, a first terminal device and a first network device, wherein the first device is used to implement the method provided by the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation method thereof, and the first terminal device is used to implement the method provided by the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation method thereof.

[0036] Optionally, the communication system may further include at least one second network device.

[0037] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer storage medium, which stores a software program. When the software program is read and executed by one or more processors, it can implement the method provided by the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation method thereof, or implement the method provided by the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation method thereof.

[0038] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when run on a computer, enables the execution of the method provided in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation method thereof, or enables the execution of the method provided in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation method thereof.

[0039] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a first device to implement the functions involved in the above-mentioned first aspect; or for supporting a first terminal device to implement the functions involved in the above-mentioned second aspect.

[0040] In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data for execution by the loading device. The chip system can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0041] It should be noted that the technical effects that can be achieved by any possible implementation method of the above-mentioned second to ninth aspects or the second to ninth aspects can be correspondingly described with reference to the technical effects that can be achieved by any possible implementation method of the above-mentioned first aspect; they will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] FIG1A is a schematic structural diagram of an IRS;

[0043] FIG1B is a schematic diagram of an angle on an IRS;

[0044] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of one type of communication via IRS;

[0045] FIG3A is a schematic diagram of an IRS for improving signal coverage;

[0046] FIG3B is a schematic diagram of an IRS for implementing channel rank increase;

[0047] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a process flow of an embodiment provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG6A is a second schematic diagram of communication via IRS;

[0050] FIG6B is a third schematic diagram of communication via IRS;

[0051] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a chip device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. The terms used in the following embodiments are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present application. As used in the specification and claims of this application, the singular expressions "one", "a kind of", "said", "above", "the" and "this" are intended to also include expressions such as "one or more", unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In the embodiments of the present application, for the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, it means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0055] References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" etc. described in this specification mean that one or more embodiments of the present application include specific features, structures or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment. Therefore, the phrases "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in other embodiments", etc. that appear in different places in this specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways, and the "implementation methods" in this specification are the same as above. The terms "including", "comprising", "having" and their variations all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways. Words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions, and any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. The use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

[0056] The multiple involved in the embodiments of the present application refers to greater than or equal to two. It should be noted that in the description of the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second", "1", "2" and so on (except for special cases used to express numerical values) are used to distinguish the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor can they be understood as indicating or implying order. In addition, the term "used to indicate" mentioned in the description of the embodiments of the present application can include being used for direct indication and being used for indirect indication. When describing a certain indication information for indicating A, it can include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and it does not mean that the indication information must carry A.

[0057] This application provides a communication method. To better understand the embodiments of this application, the following first explains the relevant technical features and names involved in the embodiments of this application. It should be noted that these explanations are intended to make the embodiments of this application easier to understand and should not be regarded as limiting the scope of protection claimed by this application.

[0058] Below, some terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0059] 1. A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities, which can be a fixed device, mobile device, handheld device, wearable device, vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device built into any of the above devices (e.g., a communication module or chip system, etc.). The terminal device is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. and can be widely used in various scenarios, including but not limited to the following scenarios: cellular communications, device-to-device communications (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, and other scenarios. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as user equipment (UE), terminal, access station, UE station, remote station, wireless communication device, or user device, etc.

[0060] 2. Network equipment (or, may be called network devices), for example, including access network devices (or, called access network equipment or access network elements), and / or core network elements (or, called core network equipment or core network elements).

[0061] (1) Access network device, which is a device with wireless transceiver function, used to communicate with the terminal device. The access network device includes but is not limited to the base station (BTS, Node B, eNodeB / eNB, or gNodeB / gNB) in the above-mentioned communication system, the transmission reception point (TRP), the base station of the subsequent evolution of the third generation partnership project (3GPP), the access node in the wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, the wireless relay node, the wireless backhaul node, the satellite or drone, etc. The base station can be: a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a small station, a relay station, etc. Multiple base stations can support the network of the same access technology mentioned above, or they can support the network of different access technologies mentioned above. The base station can include one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission and reception points. The access network device can also be a wireless controller, a centralized unit (CU), which can also be called a convergence unit, and / or a distributed unit (DU) in the cloud radio access network (C(R)AN) scenario. The access network device may also be a server, a wearable device, or an in-vehicle device. For example, the access network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The following description of the access network device takes a base station as an example. The multiple access network devices in the communication system may be base stations of the same type or different types. The base station may communicate with the terminal device or communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. The terminal device may communicate with multiple base stations using different access technologies.

[0062] (2) The core network device is used to implement at least one of the functions of mobility management, data processing, session management, policy and billing. The names of the devices that implement the core network functions in systems with different access technologies may be different, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. Taking the fifth generation (5G) system as an example, the core network device includes: access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), PCF or user plane function (UPF), etc.

[0063] 3. Device, which can be a software module, a hardware module (such as a chip), a single device, or a device that integrates multiple devices.

[0064] 4. Beam, which can be understood as a spatial filter or spatial parameters. The beam used to transmit signals can be called a transmit beam, a transmission beam (Tx beam), a spatial domain transmit filter, or spatial transmit parameters (spatial Tx parameters). The transmit beam can also refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted through the antenna. From this perspective, the transmit beam can also be a spatial transmission angle (such as azimuth (also called horizontal angle), zenith angle (also called elevation angle)) or a spatial transmission angle range (such as azimuth center angle and offset, azimuth uncertainty, azimuth protection range, zenith center angle and offset, zenith angle uncertainty, zenith angle protection range), etc. Accordingly, the beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), a spatial domain receive filter, or spatial receive parameters (spatial Rx parameters). A receive beam can also refer to the signal strength distribution of wireless signals received from an antenna in different directions in space. From this perspective, a receive beam can also be a spatial receiving angle (such as the azimuth angle and the zenith angle) or a spatial receiving angle range (such as the azimuth center angle and offset, azimuth uncertainty, azimuth protection range, zenith center angle and offset, zenith angle uncertainty, zenith angle protection range), etc.

[0065] 5. IRS is an array composed of multiple phase-adjustable passive reflective elements (i.e., antenna elements). It lacks a signal receiving module or power amplifier, and only has the ability to control the reflection phase of each reflective element. It can change the direction of the reflected beam by adjusting the phase distribution on the reflective surface, thereby reflecting the signal transmitted by the network device to the IRS in the desired direction, thereby achieving functions such as improving the channel environment in weak coverage areas. Because IRS can improve channel conditions in weak coverage areas at a low cost, it is considered one of the key technologies for the next generation of mobile communication networks.

[0066] The IRS adjusts the phase distribution of multiple passive reflective elements to change the direction of the reflected beam. The specific working principle is: using multiple passive reflective elements to adjust the phase of the incident beam, so that the reflected beam is reflected in a specified direction. This adjustment is essentially a phase compensation of the signal based on the relationship between the incident angle and the exit angle.

[0067] Since the relationship between the incident angle and the outgoing angle can be represented by the IRS's reflection weight, the IRS can switch reflection weights based on instructions from the network device. Prior to this, the network device must first perform beam management on the IRS to determine a reflection beam that provides gain for the terminal device. When the IRS switches between different reflection weights, the terminal device measures and reports the quality of the downlink reference signal. The network device can then determine the impact of the IRS's switching between different reflection weights on the terminal device's received signal quality, thereby selecting the reflection weight that significantly improves the terminal device's received signal quality for subsequent communications. The specific process of beam management is as follows: the base station points its beam toward the IRS and instructs the IRS to use different beams on multiple reference signal ports (such as CSI-RS and SSB). The UE then measures the RSRP, CQI, and RSRQ of the reference signal ports. Typically, a reference signal port with an RSRP greater than a certain threshold is selected and reported with its CRI and related measurement information. The base station can then determine the impact of the IRS's switching between different beams on the UE's received signal quality, thereby selecting the beam that significantly improves the UE's received signal quality for subsequent communications.

[0068] As shown in (1) of FIG1A , the IRS may include a control unit and an array of reflectors. In addition, the control unit may receive control information from the base station through the communication module therein. As shown in (2) of FIG1A , when the base station needs to perform uplink and downlink data transmission, it will send or indicate the IRS's beam information (e.g., beam #0, beam #1, beam #2, beam #3) and the effective time slot information of each beam in advance through control signaling, such as downlink control information (DCI); thereafter, when the base station can send corresponding uplink and downlink signals / data to different terminal devices in different time slots, the IRS will switch the corresponding beam in the corresponding time slot according to the instruction of the base station, so that the base station's signal can be reflected to the desired direction (i.e., sent to the corresponding terminal device).

[0069] The reflection weight of IRS can be expressed as the dot product of the steering vector of the incident angle of the IRS array and the steering vector of the exit angle, that is, Φ = a r ⊙a t ,in Where N and M are the number of IRS elements in the vertical and horizontal planes respectively. The incident angle includes the horizontal incident angle and vertical incidence angle θ r , as shown in Figure 1B. Represents the angle between the projection of the incident direction on the horizontal plane and the x-axis of the array, θ r It represents the angle between the incident direction and the z-axis of the array; the same applies to the exit angle.

[0070] If the input and output angles are given, then for the horizontal m-th element and the vertical n-th element of the IRS array, the corresponding phase can be expressed as:

[0071] Where dz and dy are the vertical and horizontal element spacings of the IRS, respectively, and λ is the carrier wavelength. Then the IRS reflection weight Φ can be expressed as:

[0072] In a possible implementation, taking downlink transmission as an example, the signal received by the terminal device through the IRS can be expressed as: Y=(H UB +H IU ΦG)WX;

[0073] Among them, Y represents the signal received by the terminal device, H UB H represents the direct transmission channel from the base station to the terminal equipment (UE), IU represents the channel from the IRS to the terminal equipment (UE), Φ is the reflection weight of the IRS, G is the channel from the base station to the IRS, X represents the pilot signal, and W represents the precoding matrix.

[0074] 6. Singular value decomposition (SVD) is a matrix decomposition technique widely used in mathematics and engineering. Singular value decomposition can reveal important features of the matrix and effectively reduce the data dimension. For a real or complex matrix A of any size, if it is a matrix with m rows and n columns, it can be decomposed into the product of three matrices: [A = UΣV T ]

[0075] Where U is an orthogonal matrix with m rows and m columns, whose column vectors form a set of standard orthogonal bases and are the left singular vectors of the complex matrix A; Σ is a diagonal matrix with m rows and n columns, and the elements on the diagonal are called the singular values ​​of the complex matrix A. They are non-negative and arranged in descending order; V is an orthogonal matrix with n rows and n columns, whose column vectors also form a set of standard orthogonal bases and are the right singular vectors of the complex matrix A.

[0076] The following describes the technical solutions involved in the embodiments of this application.

[0077] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method for improving communication performance between a network device and a terminal device. In this method, a method for determining a reflection weight of an IRS is provided. Specifically, the network device instructs the terminal device to report a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports through first information, and receives the first vector from the terminal device, so that the network device can determine the reflection weight of a first device (e.g., an IRS) based on the first vector.

[0078] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, and world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, etc., without limitation.

[0079] In addition, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to satellite communication systems, wherein the satellite communication system can be integrated with the above-mentioned communication system. Of course, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to other communication systems, as long as the communication system has a demand for improved communication performance. In addition, the communication system can be applicable to future-oriented communication technologies. The system described in the embodiments of the present application is to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. It is known to those skilled in the art that with the evolution of network architecture, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

[0080] FIG2 shows a possible communication system architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG2 , the communication system includes a network device, a terminal device, and a first device (such as an IRS). The network device can communicate with the terminal through the first device. When the obstruction of buildings or walls causes the absence of a LOS path between the terminal device and the network device, the first device can improve the NLOS path to a LOS path by changing the direction of the NLOS path, thereby improving the channel environment in the weak coverage area and enhancing the communication performance of the terminal and other equipment in the channel environment in the weak coverage area. For the specific implementation and description of the network device, terminal device, and IRS, please refer to the previous text and will not be repeated here.

[0081] As shown in Figure 3A, taking a base station (BS) as an example, when the line-of-sight (LOS) path from the BS to the UE is blocked, without an IRS, the BS signal can only reach the UE via the NLOS path, resulting in weak received signal strength at the UE. With the IRS deployed, the BS can properly adjust the IRS phase to create a stronger path along the BS-IRS-UE path, thereby enhancing coverage in areas with weak coverage.

[0082] As shown in Figure 3B, when there is a LOS path between the BS and the UE but the channel condition number (i.e., the ratio of the maximum eigenvalue to the minimum eigenvalue) is large, the BS can achieve overall channel rank increase between the BS and the UE by adjusting the IRS phase. In Figure 3B, the channel between the BS and the UE (i.e., the low-rank channel) is assumed to be matrix H1, and the channel between the BS, IRS, and the UE (i.e., the high-rank channel) is assumed to be matrix H2. The IRS changes the propagation direction and amplitude of the wireless signal by adjusting the phase of each array element in the IRS, thereby actively and dynamically optimizing the wireless channel. This can make the entire channel H1+H2, after SVD decomposition, show a significant improvement in smaller singular values ​​compared to H1. In this way, the number of transmission streams from the BS to the UE can be increased, achieving improved throughput. In a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system, although the IRS itself does not generate new data streams, it can improve the channel capacity and link reliability by reconfiguring the wireless channel to enhance signal quality and increase the diversity of effective channels.

[0083] The technical solution of this application is introduced below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

[0084] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable to but not limited to the communication system shown in Figure 2. The method can be executed by a network device and a terminal device; or the method can be executed by components (modules, chips, etc.) corresponding to the network device and the terminal device; or the method can be executed by a device corresponding to the network device and the terminal device; the present application does not make specific restrictions on the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application and the number of each execution subject. As long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the interaction between the network device and the terminal device will be used as an example for explanation. The order of steps in the following processes is only an example. In actual applications, the execution order of the steps in each process can be adjusted. Please refer to Figure 4. The specific process of the method is as follows:

[0085] S401: A network device sends configuration information, where the configuration information is used to configure a reference signal port set. Correspondingly, a terminal device receives the configuration information.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present application, the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal port set indicated by the network device to the terminal device is used for beam management. The reference signal port set includes N reference signal ports, the N reference signal ports correspond to N beams and N reference signals, one reference signal among the N reference signals corresponds to one beam, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. Accordingly, "the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal port set is used for beam management" can be understood as the network device controlling the first device to switch N beams, and one reference signal among the N reference signals is forwarded to the terminal device through its corresponding beam, so that the terminal device receives the N reference signals corresponding to the N beams. The terminal device can perform channel estimation, data demodulation, channel quality measurement and other tasks based on the N reference signals.

[0087] S402: The network device sends first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to report information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports, where the N reference signal ports belong to a reference signal port set. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0088] The information of the first vector may indicate the first vector, or the information of the first vector may indicate an index of the first vector. The first vector is used to determine a reflection weight of the first device, and the reflection weight is used to adjust the beam direction of the first device. The number of elements in the first vector is the same as the number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device.

[0089] In an embodiment of the present application, the first device is, for example, an IRS, or other device including functions such as reflecting and / or forwarding signals, or may be a node with similar functions to an IRS, such as a network controlled repeater (NCR) or an integrated access and backhaul (IAB). In an embodiment of the present application, the first device is used to reflect signals (for example, to reflect signals from a network device or a terminal device) as an example, and the transmission beam of the first device may be referred to as a reflection beam, and the first device may be considered to be used to adjust the direction of the reflection beam (also referred to as the reflection direction). The direction of the reflection beam of the first device may be related to the reflection weight of the first device, for example, the angle between the reflection beam of the first device and the orientation of the first device may be related to the reflection weight of the first device.

[0090] Optionally, the first vector is a vector calculated by a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) equivalent channel. The CSI-RS equivalent channel may be a virtual channel determined by the terminal device by measuring the CSI-RS. The virtual channel may be determined based on an actual physical channel between the network device and the first apparatus, an actual physical channel between the first apparatus and the terminal apparatus, a weight of the network device, and a weight of the first apparatus. The virtual channel may include characteristic information of the actual physical channel between the network device and the first apparatus and the actual physical channel between the first apparatus and the terminal apparatus.

[0091] In this embodiment of the present application, "the number of elements in the first vector is the same as the number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device." The number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device is determined by the terminal device's own capabilities, and the number of elements in the first vector can be determined based on the number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device. The first vector includes one or more vectors. For example, if the terminal device has 8 receive antenna ports, each vector in the first vector may include 8 elements.

[0092] In the embodiment of the present application, “N reference signal ports belong to a reference signal port set” can be understood as the reference signal port set including N reference signal ports, that is, the number of reference signal ports in the reference signal port set is greater than or equal to the number of reference signal ports corresponding to the N reference signal ports.

[0093] When S402 is specifically implemented, the network device may send the first information in a unicast or broadcast manner. For example, when the network device sends the first information in a broadcast manner, the first information may be a system information block (SIB) or a master information block (MIB).

[0094] In an embodiment of the present application, the first vector may be corresponded to the identifiers of N reference signal ports. The first vector corresponds to one or more beams. Thus, by setting a correspondence between the identifiers of the N reference signal ports and the first vector, the identifiers of the N reference signal ports may have a correspondence with the beams corresponding to the first vector. For example, the identifier of one of the N reference signal ports corresponds to a beam corresponding to the first vector. The identifiers of the N reference signal ports may be, for example, a CSI-RS resource indicator (CSI-RS resource indicator, CRI) or a channel sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI). In this way, when the network device determines the role of the beam corresponding to the first vector, it can distinguish different beams based on the identifier of the reference signal port.

[0095] In this embodiment of the present application, the first information may further instruct the terminal device to report the first vector in frequency domain resources and / or time domain resources. In this way, the network device instructs the terminal device to report the first vector in the specified frequency domain resources and / or time domain resources through the first information, so that the frequency domain resources and / or time domain resources corresponding to the first vector are not occupied by other types of data transmission, thereby effectively ensuring that the first vector can be transmitted normally.

[0096] In one possible implementation, the first information is further used to indicate the frequency domain granularity at which the terminal device calculates and reports the first vector. For example, the terminal device calculates and reports the corresponding first vector for every four RBs. Another example is that the terminal device calculates and reports the corresponding first vector for every eight RBs. In this way, transmission overhead can be dynamically controlled based on communication needs.

[0097] In one scenario, the first information may also be used to instruct the terminal device to report the first vector in a time slot and / or symbol. For example, the network device may use the first information to instruct the terminal device to report the first vector in time slots 1 through 4. For another example, the network device may use the first information to instruct the terminal device to report the first vector in symbol 1 through symbol 12.

[0098] Optionally, the first information may also be used to indicate a period for the terminal device to report the information of the first vector in a time slot and / or symbol, wherein the reporting period may be, for example, 40ms, 80ms, or 160ms.

[0099] S403: The network device receives the first vector information from the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device sends the first vector information to the network device.

[0100] In one possible implementation, the network device may further receive second information from the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate measurement results of reference signals corresponding to the N reference signal ports. The measurement results may indicate the transmission quality of the beam corresponding to the first vector, so that the network device can determine the reflection weight of the first device based on the measurement results and / or the first vector. The measurement results may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: RSRP, CQI, or RSRQ.

[0101] In one possible implementation, the first information is further used to indicate that the terminal device reports the first vector information to the network device at a different period than the period at which the terminal device reports the measurement results to the network device. In this way, considering the large amount of first vector information feedback, the network device indicates to the terminal device through the first information that the reporting period for the first vector information and the measurement results are different. For example, the reporting period for the first vector information may be set to be greater than the reporting period for the measurement results, thereby reducing transmission overhead.

[0102] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can select a beam that can improve the performance of the communication network from the beam corresponding to the first vector, and the network device can further determine the role of these beams. In one possible implementation, the process of using the first vector to determine the reflection weight of the first device can be: the terminal device can determine the first beam and / or the second beam from the beam corresponding to the first vector based on the first vector and / or the measurement result; and the network device can determine the reflection weight of the first device based on the first beam and / or the second beam. Since the first vector can represent the UE best reception vector of the network device-first device-terminal device (for example, BS-IRS-UE) without considering interference and noise, by comparing the UE first vector of the BS-IRS-UE with the UE best reception vector of the BS-UE, the role of the first beam and / or the second beam can be determined, and then the network device can indicate the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam and / or the second beam to the corresponding first device to meet the communication needs of the terminal devices corresponding to different first devices. For example, if the network device recognizes that there is an obstruction between the network device and the terminal device by objects such as buildings and walls, it determines that there may be no LoS ​​path between the terminal device and the network device. If the network device determines that the first beam can be used to improve the signal coverage range, the network device can indicate the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam to the first device, so that the first device can improve the signal coverage range of the network device according to the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam. For another example, the network device determines that the channel between the terminal device and the network device is a low-rank channel by analyzing the characteristics of the channel between the terminal device and the network device. If the network device determines that the second beam can be used for channel rank increase (for example, for increasing the number of transmission streams between the network device and the terminal device), the network device can indicate the reflection weight corresponding to the second beam to the corresponding first device, so that the first device can achieve channel rank increase between the terminal device and the network device according to the reflection weight corresponding to the first beam.

[0103] The embodiment of the present application is described in more detail below with reference to FIG5 . In FIG5 , the network device is taken as an example of a BS, the terminal device is taken as an example of a UE, and the first device is taken as an example of an IRS. Referring to FIG5 , the specific process of the method is as follows:

[0104] S501. A BS sends configuration information to a UE, where the configuration information is used to configure a reference signal port set. Correspondingly, the UE receives the configuration information.

[0105] S502. The BS sends first information to the UE, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to report information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports, where the N reference signal ports belong to a reference signal port set. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0106] For example, the reference signal port set includes port 1 to port 8, the N reference signal ports include port 1 to port 4, and the BS instructs the terminal device, through the first information, to report the first vector corresponding to the reference signals corresponding to ports 1 to port 4. For another example, the reference signal port set includes port 0 to port 3, the N reference signal ports include port 0 to port 3, and the BS instructs the terminal device, through the first information, to report the first vector corresponding to the reference signals corresponding to ports 0 to port 3.

[0107] S503: The BS sends N downlink reference signals, which are reflected toward the UE via N IRS beams, where N is a positive integer. Accordingly, the UE receives the N downlink reference signals via the N IRS beams at the corresponding N reference signal ports.

[0108] In an embodiment of the present application, the downlink reference signal may be any one of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), or a tracking reference signal (TRS).

[0109] In one possible implementation, the BS further notifies the IRS of information about the N beams and the effective time slot information corresponding to each of the N beams. In the embodiment of the present application, the widths of the beams of the N IRSs may be the same or different, and this is not limited to this. In addition, the beam coverage areas of the N IRSs may or may not overlap, and this is also not limited to this.

[0110] For example, the reference signal port set includes port 1 to port N, and the N beams of the IRS are θ1, θ2, …, θ N The time domain positions of the N beams are: t1, t2, ..., t N (Corresponding to frame / time slot / symbol). In time slot t1, the BS sends downlink reference signal 1 and forwards it to the UE via IRS beam θ1. The UE receives downlink reference signal 1 via IRS beam θ1 at port 1. In time slot t2, the BS sends downlink reference signal 2 and forwards it to the UE via IRS beam θ2. The UE receives downlink reference signal 2 via IRS beam θ2 at port 2. Similarly, in time slot t N Up, send downlink reference signal N and pass IRS beam θ N Forwarded to the UE, the UE receives the beam θ passing through the IRS at port N NDownlink reference signal N.

[0111] In one possible implementation, the BS may broadcast a downlink reference signal in any of the N valid time slots, so that all UEs within the cell managed by the BS can receive the downlink reference signal. Step S503 uses a UE as an example; other UEs within the cell can follow the same steps as the UE, and will not be described in detail here.

[0112] S504: The UE sends a first vector corresponding to N downlink reference signals to the BS. Correspondingly, the BS receives the first vector corresponding to the N downlink reference signals.

[0113] As can be seen from the foregoing description, the first vector includes one or more vectors. In S504, the UE receives downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2, ..., downlink reference signal N from the BS and can calculate N vectors based on downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2, ..., downlink reference signal N.

[0114] In a possible implementation manner, the BS instructs the terminal device to report the broadband / subband channel of the first vector as where N R N is the number of receiving antenna ports of the terminal device. f is the channel on each RE in the subband in the frequency domain. H is combined with its conjugate matrix H H Multiplying and then performing SVD decomposition can be obtained as follows: HH H =USU H

[0115] Among them, the first vector is U H The specific number of rows can be pre-configured by the BS.

[0116] When S504 is specifically implemented, the UE may send a first vector of N reference signals to the BS on the PUSCH / PUCCH.

[0117] In an embodiment of the present application, one reference signal port may correspond to one beam, and if the multiple beams corresponding to the multiple reference signal ports in the reference signal port set all point to the same scatterer (physical environment, such as buildings, vehicles and other objects), the path loss and phase delay experienced by the reference signals sent through these multiple beams when reaching the scatterer will be relatively close, so the physical channels corresponding to these multiple beams are relatively similar, and therefore the vectors corresponding to these multiple reference signal ports may be similar. For multiple reference signal ports with similar corresponding vectors, the terminal device can report the information of the vector corresponding to one of the reference signal ports, without having to report the information of the vectors corresponding to these multiple reference signal ports, so as to save transmission overhead.

[0118] For example, as shown in Figure 6A, the three beams corresponding to the IRS are simultaneously directed toward the same scatterer, and the power parameter thresholds at the UE corresponding to these three beams are all greater than the set value. In this case, the first vectors corresponding to these three beams are similar, and feedback of all three is unnecessary. These three beams correspond to three reference signal ports. One possible implementation is for the UE to only report the vector corresponding to any one of these three reference signal ports to the BS. It should be understood that the scatterer in Figure 6A refers to the physical environment, such as buildings, vehicles, and other objects in real-world scenarios.

[0119] As shown in FIG6B , the BS sends reference signals 1 to N2 to the IRS and controls the IRS to Switching in order to enable the UE to receive the beam The reflected reference signals 1 to N2, among which the beams corresponding to the reference signals 1 to N1 point to the same scatterer, the UE only needs to report the vector corresponding to any one of the reference signals 1 to N1 to the BS; similarly, the beams corresponding to the reference signals N1+1 to N2 point to the same scatterer, the UE only needs to report the vector corresponding to any one of the reference signals N1+1 to N2 to the BS.

[0120] S505: The UE determines a beam with better transmission quality among the N beams corresponding to the N downlink reference signals.

[0121] In an embodiment of the present application, the measurement results of N downlink reference signals can represent the energy of the beams corresponding to the N reference signals. Therefore, the UE can filter out the beams with better transmission quality among the N beams corresponding to the N downlink reference signals based on the measurement results corresponding to the N reference signals.

[0122] In a possible implementation, the measurement result takes RSRP as an example. The UE receives beams θ1, θ2, ..., θ N The corresponding downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2, ..., downlink reference signal N from the BS, and based on downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2 ... downlink reference signal N, the RSRP of the corresponding reference signal is measured as: α 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1N , and α 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1N Report to the BS. The UE sorts the RSRP of the N downlink reference signals of the N IRS beams, that is, α 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1NEnergy sorting is performed to select the M downlink reference signals with the top M RSRP positions. The M beams corresponding to these M downlink reference signals are the beams with better transmission quality among the N beams. Here, M is a positive integer less than N.

[0123] For example, as shown in Table 1, N=3, M=1, beam 1 corresponds to eigenvector 1, and the RSRP of beam 1 is RSRP1; beam 2 corresponds to eigenvector 2, and the RSRP of beam 2 is RSRP2; beam 3 corresponds to eigenvector 3, and the RSRP of beam 3 is RSRP3; the UE sorts the RSRPs of beams 1 to beam 3, and finds that RSRP1 corresponding to beam 1 is the highest, then beam 1 is used as the beam with better transmission quality.

[0124] Table 1

[0125] In another possible implementation, the measurement result takes RSRP as an example. The UE receives beams θ1, θ2, ..., θ N The corresponding downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2, ..., downlink reference signal N from the BS, and based on downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2 ... downlink reference signal N, the RSRP of the corresponding reference signal is measured as: α 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1N The UE can first determine an RSRP threshold 1, and then 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1N One or more αs that reach the threshold 1 (greater than or equal to the threshold 1) are selected, and then the beams corresponding to the one or more αs can be determined.

[0126] For example, as shown in Table 1, N=3, beam 1 corresponds to eigenvector 1, and the RSRP of beam 1 is RSRP1; beam 2 corresponds to eigenvector 2, and the RSRP of beam 2 is RSRP2; beam 3 corresponds to eigenvector 3, and the RSRP of beam 3 is RSRP3; among them, if RSRP2 and RSRP3 are greater than threshold 1, beam 2 and beam 3 are regarded as beams with better transmission quality.

[0127] In another possible implementation, the measurement result takes RSRP as an example. The UE receives beams θ1, θ2, ..., θ N The corresponding downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2, ..., downlink reference signal N from the BS, and based on downlink reference signal 1, downlink reference signal 2 ... downlink reference signal N, the RSRP of the corresponding reference signal is measured as: α 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1NThe UE can first determine an RSRP threshold 1, and then 11 ,α 12 ,…,α 1N H beams that meet threshold 1 (greater than or equal to threshold 1) are selected from the N beams. The RSRPs of the H beams are then ranked, and the G downlink reference signals with the top G RSRPs are selected. The G beams corresponding to these G downlink reference signals are the beams with better transmission quality among the N beams. H is a positive integer less than N and greater than G, and G is also a positive integer.

[0128] For example, as shown in Table 1, N=3, H=2, G=1, beam 1 corresponds to eigenvector 1, and the RSRP of beam 1 is RSRP1; beam 2 corresponds to eigenvector 2, and the RSRP of beam 2 is RSRP2; beam 3 corresponds to eigenvector 3, and the RSRP of beam 3 is RSRP3; among them, RSRP2 and RSRP3 are greater than threshold 1, RSRP2 and RSRP3 are sorted, and if RSRP2 is greater than RSRP3, beam 2 is used as the beam with better transmission quality.

[0129] S506: The UE sends the measurement results of the beam with better transmission quality among the N beams to the BS. Correspondingly, the BS receives the measurement results of the N downlink reference signals corresponding to the N IRS beams.

[0130] S507: The UE sends an uplink reference signal to the BS. Correspondingly, the BS receives the uplink reference signal from the UE.

[0131] In the embodiment of the present application, the uplink reference signal may be, for example, a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

[0132] S508 : The BS performs channel estimation based on the uplink reference signal to determine channel information of a direct channel from the BS to the UE.

[0133] In a possible implementation, the channel information of the direct channel from the BS to the UE is obtained through the channel matrix To express it. Where N R is the number of UE receiving antenna ports, N T is the number of receiving ports of BS, N F The number of REs measured for uplink.

[0134] S509 : The BS determines the role of a beam with better transmission quality among the N beams according to the direct channel information from the BS to the UE and the first vector.

[0135] When S509 is specifically implemented, the direct channel information from the BS to the UE is represented by the channel matrix For example, the BS can calculate the channel matrix Perform SVD decomposition:

[0136] On the measurement subband corresponding to the first vector Doing SVD decomposition gives:

[0137] in, It is the result of multiplying the channel corresponding to the sub-band RE of the first vector by its conjugate transpose.

[0138] For example, the beams with better transmission quality among the N beams include beam 1 and beam 2. The BS can further determine the role of beam 1 and beam 2. Specifically, when beam 1 and the channel matrix of the first vector When the columns in are orthogonal, it can be determined that beam 1 can be used for channel rank increase; when beam 2 and the channel matrix of the first vector When the orthogonality of any column in is poor, if the difference between the singular value corresponding to any column and the singular value corresponding to the first column is less than the preset threshold, it can be determined that beam 2 can be used for coverage improvement; or, if the difference between the singular value corresponding to any column and the singular value corresponding to the first column is greater than the preset threshold, it can be determined that beam 2 can be used for channel rank increase.

[0139] S510. The BS determines an IRS reflection weight corresponding to a beam with better transmission quality among the N beams.

[0140] Specifically, the BS may calculate the reflection weight corresponding to each beam with better transmission quality through an existing formula.

[0141] S511. The BS sends the IRS reflection weight corresponding to the beam with better transmission quality among the N beams to the IRS. Correspondingly, the IRS receives the IRS reflection weight corresponding to each beam with better transmission quality.

[0142] Exemplarily, the beams with better transmission quality among the N beams include beam 1 and beam 2. Optionally, the BS may also send relevant information of beam 1 and / or beam 2 to the IRS, wherein the relevant information of beam 1 and / or beam 2 may include but is not limited to angle information and identification information (such as an index) corresponding to beam 1 and / or beam 2.

[0143] After receiving the IRS reflection weights corresponding to beam 1 and / or beam 2, the IRS performs / assists communication between the BS and the UE based on the IRS reflection weights corresponding to beam 1 and / or beam 2. In one possible implementation, the IRS also receives indication information from the BS indicating the effective time / use time of the IRS reflection weights corresponding to beam 1 and / or beam 2. At the effective time / use time of target weight 2, the IRS uses the IRS reflection weights corresponding to beam 1 and / or beam 2 to assist the BS and the UE in uplink and downlink data transmission.

[0144] For example, the IRS receives the downlink signal from the BS using the IRS reflection weight corresponding to beam 1 during the effective time / use time of the IRS reflection weight corresponding to beam 1, and sends the downlink signal from the BS to the UE. The signal received by the UE can satisfy the following formula: Y = ((H UB +H UI diag(W * )H IB )w)X+N;

[0145] Among them, Y represents the signal received by UE, H UB Indicates the direct channel from BS to UE, H UI Indicates the channel from IRS to UE, H IB represents the channel from BS to IRS, X represents the downlink data sent by BS, N represents noise, and W * represents the weight of IRS, diag(W * ) is a diagonal matrix, each of which is a diagonal element of W * The value in , w represents the weight of BS.

[0146] It should be understood that the above instructions use UE as an example of a terminal device served by the BS. Other UEs served by the BS can communicate with each other in accordance with the implementation method of the above UE, which will not be described in detail here.

[0147] Different embodiments or some steps in different embodiments (for example, any one or more steps) in this application can be combined with each other to form a new embodiment. It is not limited that any one or more steps in different embodiments may include optional steps in a certain embodiment, may also include mandatory steps in a certain embodiment, and may also include optional steps and mandatory steps in a certain embodiment, and this application does not limit it. Unless otherwise specified and there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other. This application does not limit the order of the steps in the embodiments of this application. This application does not limit the order of the judgment of different conditions in the embodiments of this application. The "after" and "when" in this application do not strictly limit the time point. The nouns, terms, etc. involved in this application are merely examples, and they can also be other names, which are not limited by this application.

[0148] In the embodiments provided in the present application, the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application are introduced from the perspective of interaction between various devices. In order to implement the various functions in the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application, the first device or the first terminal device or the first network device may include a hardware structure and / or a software module to implement the above functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module. Whether a function of the above functions is executed in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0149] The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. Furthermore, the functional modules in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module. The aforementioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0150] Similar to the above concept, as shown in FIG7 , an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device 700 for implementing the functions of the first device, first terminal device, or first network device in the above method. For example, the communication device 700 may be a software module or a chip system. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components. The communication device 700 may include: a communication unit 701 and a processing unit 702.

[0151] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication unit 701 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, and may include a sending unit and / or a receiving unit, each configured to execute the sending and receiving steps of the first apparatus, terminal device, or network device in the above method embodiments. The processing unit 702 may be configured to read instructions and / or data from the storage module to enable the communication apparatus 700 to implement the above method embodiments.

[0152] Optionally, the communication device 700 may further include a storage unit 703 , which is equivalent to a storage module and may be used to store instructions and / or data.

[0153] The communication device provided in the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below with reference to Figures 7 to 9. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment. Therefore, for matters not described in detail, reference can be made to the embodiments and implementation methods described in Figures 4 and 5 above. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0154] Communication unit 701 may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver, or transceiver device. A processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing module, or processing device. Alternatively, the device in communication unit 701 that implements the receiving function may be considered a receiving unit, and the device in communication unit 701 that implements the transmitting function may be considered a transmitting unit. That is, communication unit 701 includes both a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. A communication unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver, or transceiver circuit. A receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, receiver, or receiving circuit. A transmitting unit may also be referred to as a transmitter, transmitter, or transmitting circuit.

[0155] When the communication device 700 executes the network device in the process shown in Figure 4 of the above embodiment: the communication unit 701 is used to send configuration information, which is used to configure a reference signal port set, and the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal port set is used for beam management; the communication unit 701 sends first information, which is used to instruct the terminal device to report information of the first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports; wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set; the first vector is used to determine the reflection weight of the first device, and the reflection weight is used to adjust the beam direction of the first device; the number of elements of each vector in the first vector is the same as the number of receiving antenna ports of the terminal device; the communication unit 701 receives information of the first vector from the terminal device.

[0156] When the communication device 700 executes the terminal device in the process shown in Figure 4 of the above embodiment: the communication unit 701 is used to receive configuration information from the network device, the configuration information is used to indicate a reference signal port set, and the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal port set is used for beam management; receive first information from the network device, the first information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports; wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set; the first vector is used to determine the reflection weight of the first device, and the reflection weight is used to adjust the beam direction of the first device; the number of elements of each vector in the first vector is the same as the number of receiving antenna ports of the terminal device; and, send information of the first vector to the network device.

[0157] The above is just an example. The processing unit 702 and the communication unit 701 can also perform other functions. For more detailed descriptions, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown in Figures 4 and 5, which are not repeated here.

[0158] FIG8 shows a communication device 800 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device shown in FIG8 may be a hardware circuit implementation of the communication device shown in FIG8 . The communication device 800 can be used in the flowchart shown above to perform the functions of the first device, first terminal device, or first network device in the above-described method embodiment. For ease of illustration, FIG8 only shows the main components of the communication device.

[0159] As shown in Figure 8, communication device 800 includes a communication interface 801 and a processor 802. Communication interface 801 and processor 802 are coupled to each other. It is understood that communication interface 801 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface, or an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit. Optionally, communication device 800 can also include a memory 803 for storing instructions executed by processor 802, input data required by processor 802 to execute instructions, or data generated by processor 802 after executing instructions.

[0160] When the communication device 800 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , the communication interface 801 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned communication unit 701 , and the processor 802 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned processing unit 702 .

[0161] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 801, processor 802, and memory 803 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 8, the embodiment of the present application shows that the memory 803, processor 802, and communication interface 801 are connected via a communication bus 804. The communication bus 804 is represented by a bold line in Figure 8. The connection methods between other components are only for schematic illustration and are not limiting. The communication bus 804 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one bold line is used in Figure 8, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0162] When the communication device is a chip, FIG9 shows a simplified schematic diagram of the chip structure, wherein the chip 900 includes an interface circuit 901 and one or more processors 902. Optionally, the chip 900 may further include a bus.

[0163] The processor 902 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above-mentioned method for determining service node information can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits or software instructions in the processor 902. The above-mentioned processor 902 can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. It can implement or execute the various methods and steps disclosed in the embodiments of this application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0164] The interface circuit 901 can be used to send or receive data, instructions or information. The processor 902 can use the data, instructions or other information received by the interface circuit 901 to process it, and can send the processing completion information through the interface circuit 901.

[0165] Optionally, the chip further includes a memory 903, which may include a read-only memory and a random access memory, and provides operation instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory 903 may also include a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM).

[0166] Optionally, the memory stores an executable software module or a data structure, and the processor can perform corresponding operations by calling an operation instruction stored in the memory (the operation instruction may be stored in an operating system).

[0167] Optionally, the chip can be used in the first apparatus, first terminal device, or first network device involved in the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the interface circuit 901 can be used to output the execution result of the processor 902. For the communication method provided in one or more embodiments of the present application, reference can be made to the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0168] It should be noted that the corresponding functions of the interface circuit 901 and the processor 902 can be implemented through hardware design, software design, or a combination of hardware and software, which is not limited here.

[0169] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which computer instructions for implementing the method executed by the first apparatus, the first terminal device, or the first network device in the above method embodiment are stored.

[0170] For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement the method executed by the first apparatus, the first terminal device, or the first network device in the above method embodiment.

[0171] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to implement the method executed by the first apparatus, the first terminal device, or the first network device in the above method embodiment.

[0172] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip, including a processor, for calling the computer program or computer instructions stored in the memory so that the processor executes the method of the embodiment / implementation method shown in Figures 4 and 5 above.

[0173] In one possible implementation, the input of the chip corresponds to the receiving operation in the embodiment / implementation shown in Figures 4 and 5 above, and the output of the chip corresponds to the sending operation in the embodiment / implementation shown in Figures 4 and 5 above.

[0174] Optionally, the processor is coupled to the memory via an interface.

[0175] Optionally, the chip further includes a memory in which computer programs or computer instructions are stored.

[0176] The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a general-purpose central processing unit, a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of a program of a communication method in the embodiments / implementations shown in Figures 4 and 5. The memory mentioned in any of the above may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0177] It should be noted that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the explanation and beneficial effects of the relevant contents in any of the above-mentioned communication devices may refer to the corresponding service node information determination method embodiments provided above, which will not be repeated here.

[0178] In the present application, the communication devices may further include a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on top of the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer may include hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and memory (also known as main memory). The operating system of the operating system layer may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes, such as the Linux operating system, Unix operating system, Android operating system, iOS operating system, or Windows operating system. The application layer may include applications such as browsers, address books, word processing software, and instant messaging software.

[0179] The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. Furthermore, the functional modules in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module. The aforementioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0180] Through the description of the above embodiments, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. When software is used for implementation, the above functions can be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein the communication media include any medium that facilitates the transmission of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access. For example, but not limited to: a computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store a desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection can be appropriately a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the fixing of the medium to which it belongs. As used in the embodiments of the present application, disks and discs include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where disks generally reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. The above combinations should also be included in the scope of protection of computer-readable media. In short, the above description is only an embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made based on the disclosure of the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending configuration information, where the configuration information is used to configure a reference signal port set; Sending first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to report information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports; wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set; the first vector is used to determine a reflection weight of a first device, and the reflection weight is used to adjust the beam direction of the first device; the number of elements in each vector of the first vector is the same as the number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device; Receive information about the first vector from the terminal device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first vector corresponds to the identifiers of the N reference signal ports.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that A vector corresponding to a first reference signal port among the N reference signal ports is similar to a vector corresponding to at least one reference signal port in the reference signal port set other than the N reference signal ports, and information about the first vector does not include information about the vector corresponding to the at least one reference signal port.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The first information is also used to instruct the terminal device to calculate and report the frequency domain granularity of the first vector.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The first information is also used to instruct the terminal device to report information of the first vector in a time slot and / or symbol.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive second information from the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate measurement results of reference signals corresponding to the N reference signal ports.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The first information is further used to indicate that a period for the terminal device to report the information of the first vector to the network device is different from a period for the terminal device to report the measurement result to the network device.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that The first vector is used to determine a reflection weight of the first device, including: The reflection weight is determined according to the first beam and / or the second beam, the first beam and the second beam are beams corresponding to the first vector, and the first beam and / or the second beam are determined according to the measurement result.

9. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving configuration information from a network device, where the configuration information is used to indicate a reference signal port set; receiving first information from a network device, the first information being used to instruct a terminal device to report information of a first vector corresponding to N reference signal ports; wherein the N reference signal ports belong to the reference signal port set, the first vector being used to determine a reflection weight of a first device, and the reflection weight being used to adjust a beam direction of the first device; and the number of elements in each of the first vectors being the same as the number of receive antenna ports of the terminal device; Sending information about the first vector to the network device.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first vector corresponds to the identifiers of the N reference signal ports.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that A vector corresponding to a first reference signal port among the N reference signal ports is similar to a vector corresponding to at least one reference signal port in the reference signal port set other than the N reference signal ports, and information about the first vector does not include information about the vector corresponding to the at least one reference signal port.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that: The first information is also used to indicate the frequency domain granularity of the terminal device in calculating and reporting the information of the first vector.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that: The first information is also used to instruct the terminal device to report information of the first vector in a time slot and / or symbol.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Sending second information to the network device, where the second information is used to indicate measurement results of reference signals corresponding to the N reference signal ports.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The first information is further used to indicate that a period for the terminal device to report the information of the first vector to the network device is different from a period for the terminal device to report the measurement result to the network device.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises: A module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8; or A module for executing the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive signals from devices other than the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to devices other than the communication device, and the processor executes code instructions through a logic circuit to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

18. A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that When the instruction is executed by a communication device, the communication device is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

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

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