Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a related apparatus, used for solving the problem of a time delay difference and a phase difference between multiple carriers used for transmitting a reference signal, so as to obtain more accurate channel information. The method comprises: a terminal device generates an uplink reference signal, and transmits the uplink reference signal to a network device on N first carriers, wherein at least two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfy that a time delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value, and N is an integer greater than 1; correspondingly, the network device receives the uplink reference signal on the N first carriers, and measures the uplink reference signal to obtain channel information.

Description

Communication method and related device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on February 23, 2024, with application number 202410204259.1 and application name “Communication Methods and Related Devices”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

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

[0003] In mobile communication systems, if the network needs to obtain more accurate channel information, the terminal device must send a reference signal with a larger bandwidth. Specifically, the larger the reference signal bandwidth, the more accurate the channel information the network obtains based on it. Conversely, the smaller the reference signal bandwidth, the greater the deviation in the channel information obtained by the network based on it.

[0004] However, the bandwidth of a single carrier is limited by the communication protocol. Therefore, if a wide bandwidth is required to send reference signals, multiple carriers must be aggregated to achieve this bandwidth. However, simply sending reference signals over a wider bandwidth may not reap the benefits of multi-carrier aggregation, resulting in a lack of accurate channel information. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and related devices to obtain more accurate channel information.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method that can be applied to a communication device. For example, the communication device can be a terminal device, or a component configured in the terminal device (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device functions, which is not limited by the present application. For ease of understanding and explanation, the following describes the method using a terminal device as an example of a communication device.

[0007] Exemplarily, the method includes: generating an uplink reference signal; sending the uplink reference signal to a network device on N first carriers, at least two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfying: a delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value, and N is an integer greater than 1.

[0008] The first preset value is the maximum delay difference between carriers that the network can accept when multi-carrier synchronization is in progress. In other words, in a multi-carrier synchronization scenario, if the delay difference between multiple carriers is within the error range indicated by the first preset value, the performance of multi-carrier synchronization will be minimally impacted. Similarly, the second preset value is the maximum phase difference between carriers that the network can accept when multi-carrier synchronization is in progress. In other words, in a multi-carrier synchronization scenario, if the phase difference between multiple carriers is within the error range indicated by the second preset value, the performance of multi-carrier synchronization will be minimally impacted.

[0009] Based on this solution, the terminal device sends an uplink reference signal on multiple carriers including at least two carriers whose delay difference is smaller than a first preset value and / or whose phase difference is smaller than a second preset value. This ensures that the multiple carriers that send the uplink reference signal have a smaller delay difference and / or phase difference on the terminal device side. That is, the problem of delay difference and / or phase difference existing in multi-carrier aggregation is solved from the source of sending the reference signal. Compared with the method of estimating and compensating the delay and / or phase of multiple carriers corresponding to the received uplink reference signal on the network device side, the gain of multi-carrier aggregation can be better obtained and more accurate channel information can be obtained.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving a downlink reference signal from the network device on M second carriers, the M second carriers including the N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N; obtaining N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers, each of the N measurement results including a time domain offset and a frequency domain offset; determining the delay of the N second carriers based on the N time domain offsets; and determining the phase of the N second carriers based on the N frequency domain offsets.

[0011] Exemplarily, the terminal device may obtain N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers in the following two ways:

[0012] In method 1, the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal received on the M second carriers to obtain M measurement results; and determines N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers from the M measurement results.

[0013] In a second method, the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal received on N second carriers to obtain N measurement results, where the N second carriers belong to the above-mentioned M second carriers.

[0014] The method for obtaining N measurement results based on the second approach can reduce the computational complexity of the terminal device.

[0015] The time domain offset in this application is the difference between the time when the terminal device receives the downlink reference and the time when the network device sends the downlink reference signal. This difference is the delay of the second carrier carrying the downlink reference signal.

[0016] The frequency domain offset in this application is the difference between the frequency of the downlink reference received by the terminal device and the frequency of the downlink reference signal sent by the network device. The phase of the second carrier carrying the downlink reference signal can be obtained by integrating the difference.

[0017] It can be understood that the terminal device can obtain N time domain offsets and N frequency domain offsets based on N measurement results. Since the N measurement results correspond to N carriers, the correspondence between the N time domain offsets and the N carriers and the correspondence between the N frequency domain offsets and the N carriers can be obtained.

[0018] Exemplarily, determining the time delay of the N second carriers based on N time domain offsets includes: determining the time domain offset corresponding to each carrier in the N carriers based on the correspondence between the N time domain offsets and the N carriers; and determining the time domain offset corresponding to each carrier as the delay of each carrier.

[0019] Similarly, the phases of the N second carriers are determined based on the N frequency domain offsets, including: determining the frequency domain offset corresponding to each of the N carriers based on the correspondence between the N frequency domain offsets and the N carriers; and integrating the frequency domain offset corresponding to each carrier to obtain the phase of each carrier.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the delay difference between at least one of the at least two first carriers and the reference carrier is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference between the at least one first carrier and the reference carrier is less than or equal to the second preset value.

[0021] The reference carrier is one of the M second carriers. Therefore, the reference carrier may belong to the N second carriers or may not belong to the N second carriers.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving first information from the network device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier.

[0023] Optionally, the first information may be carried in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or physical layer signaling.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: acquiring the delay and phase of the reference carrier according to the first information.

[0025] Exemplarily, when the reference signal belongs to N second carriers and the terminal device has obtained the delay and phase of the N second carriers, the terminal device can directly obtain the delay of the reference carrier from the obtained delay of the N second carriers, and obtain the phase of the reference carrier from the obtained phase of the N second carriers based on the first information.

[0026] Exemplarily, when the reference carrier belongs to N second carriers, but the terminal device has not obtained the delay and phase of the N second carriers (or, when the reference signal does not belong to N second carriers), the terminal device can measure the downlink reference signal received on the reference carrier based on the first information to obtain a measurement result; then determine the delay of the reference signal based on the time domain offset included in the obtained measurement result; and determine the phase of the reference signal based on the frequency domain offset included in the obtained measurement result.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving second information from the network device, the second information being used to indicate P second carriers, the P second carriers being used by the terminal device to send signals, where P is an integer greater than or equal to M; wherein the P second carriers include the M second carriers.

[0028] The P second carriers include the M second carriers. That is, the network device may send downlink reference signals on the M second carriers among the indicated P second carriers.

[0029] Exemplarily, the P carriers may be indicated by P transmission configuration indications (TCIs). For example, the network device sends the P TCIs to the terminal device through RRC signaling.

[0030] Optionally, the second information may be carried in RRC signaling.

[0031] With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the N first carriers are sent simultaneously or in a time-division manner.

[0032] The simultaneous transmission means that the N time domain resources corresponding to the N first carriers are the same, and the time-division transmission means that the N time domain resources corresponding to the N first carriers are different.

[0033] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method that can be applied to a communication device. For example, the communication device can be a network device, or a component configured in the network device (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions, which is not limited by the present application. For ease of understanding and explanation, the following describes the method using a network device as an example of a communication device.

[0034] Exemplarily, the method includes: receiving an uplink reference signal from a terminal device on N first carriers, at least two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfying: a delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value, and N is an integer greater than 1; measuring the uplink reference signal to obtain channel information.

[0035] For the description of the first preset value and the second preset value, reference can be made to the description of the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0036] Based on this solution, the network device receives a reference signal sent from the terminal device on multiple carriers including at least two carriers with a delay difference less than a first preset value and / or a phase difference less than a second preset value, and measures the received reference signal. This method does not need to estimate and compensate for the delay and phase of the multiple carriers corresponding to the received uplink reference signal. This solves the problem of delay difference and phase difference existing in multi-carrier aggregation from the source of sending the reference signal (i.e., the terminal device side). Compared with the method of estimating and compensating the delay and phase of the multiple carriers corresponding to the received uplink reference signal on the network device side, it can better obtain the gain of multi-carrier aggregation and obtain more accurate channel information.

[0037] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending a downlink reference signal to the terminal device on M second carriers, where the M second carriers include the N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N.

[0038] It can be understood that the delay difference between the M second carriers used by the network device to send the downlink reference signal may be greater than the first preset value, and the phase difference between the M second carriers may also be greater than the second preset value.

[0039] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the delay difference between at least one of the at least two first carriers and a reference carrier is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference with the reference carrier is less than or equal to the second preset value, and the reference carrier is one of the M second carriers.

[0040] For the description of the reference signal, please refer to the description of the first aspect above and will not be repeated here.

[0041] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier.

[0042] Optionally, the first information may be carried in RRC signaling or physical layer signaling.

[0043] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending second information to the terminal device, the second information being used to indicate P second carriers, the P second carriers being used by the terminal device to send signals, and P being an integer greater than 1; wherein the P second carriers include the M second carriers.

[0044] For the description of the second information and the P second carriers, reference may be made to the description of the first aspect above, which will not be repeated here.

[0045] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the N first carriers are received simultaneously or in a time-sharing manner.

[0046] The simultaneous reception means that the N time domain resources corresponding to the N first carriers are the same, and the time-division reception means that the N time domain resources corresponding to the N first carriers are different.

[0047] In combination with the first and second aspects, in some implementations, the N first carriers are obtained by adjusting the delays and / or phases of the N second carriers.

[0048] The time delays and phases of the N second carriers may be obtained by measurement by the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may obtain the time delays and phases of the N second carriers by measuring downlink reference signals received on the N second carriers.

[0049] It can be understood that in the process of adjusting the delay and / or phase of N second carriers, the terminal device can use the delay and phase of n (n is an integer greater than 0 and less than N) second carriers among the N second carriers as a reference to adjust the delay and / or phase of the remaining second carriers among the N second carriers to obtain N first carriers; or, the terminal device can use the delay and phase of other m (m is an integer greater than 0 and less than N) carriers outside the N second carriers as a reference to adjust the delay and phase of the N second carriers to obtain N first carriers.

[0050] It can also be understood that, in the process of adjusting the N second carriers, at least two second carriers are adjusted based on the same carrier among the n second carriers (or other m carriers).

[0051] In combination with the first and second aspects, in some implementations, any two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfy: the delay difference is less than or equal to the first preset value, and / or the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value.

[0052] Based on this, the delay difference between any two first carriers among the N first carriers is less than or equal to the first preset value and / or the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value. Compared with the fact that there are at least two first carriers among the N first carriers with a delay difference less than or equal to the first preset value and / or a phase difference less than or equal to the second preset value, the gain of multi-carrier aggregation can be better obtained and more accurate channel information can be obtained.

[0053] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising modules or units for implementing the method in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation of any of the aspects. It should be understood that each module or unit can implement the corresponding function by executing a computer program.

[0054] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute the method described in any one of the above aspects and any possible implementation manner of any one of the aspects.

[0055] The apparatus may further include a memory for storing instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and when the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, the method described in the above aspects may be implemented.

[0056] The apparatus may further include a communication interface, where the communication interface is used for the apparatus to communicate with other devices. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, or other types of communication interfaces.

[0057] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a chip system comprising at least one processor for supporting the implementation of the functions involved in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation of any of the aspects, for example, receiving or processing the data and / or information involved in the above method.

[0058] In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory, which is used to store program instructions and data, and the memory is located inside or outside the processor.

[0059] The chip system can be composed of chips, or can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0060] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to implement the method in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation of any of the aspects.

[0061] In the seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions), which, when executed, enables a computer to execute the method in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation of any of the aspects.

[0062] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication system comprising the aforementioned terminal device and network device, wherein the terminal device is configured to execute the method of the aforementioned first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and the network device is configured to execute the method of the aforementioned second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0063] It should be understood that the third to eighth aspects of the present application correspond to the technical solutions of the first or second aspect of the present application, and the beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation methods are similar and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0064] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applicable to the method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of delay difference and phase difference between multiple carriers;

[0066] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing the variation of channel delay and power based on air interface multipath estimation;

[0067] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG5 is a schematic comparison diagram of N first carriers and N second carriers provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG6 is a schematic block diagram of a device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG7 is another schematic block diagram of the apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0073] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0074] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following points are first explained:

[0075] First, in the embodiments of this application, prefixes such as "first" and "second" are used solely to distinguish between different items belonging to the same category and do not constrain the order, size, or quantity of the items. For example, "first preset value" and "second preset value" are simply different preset values; there is no temporal, size, or priority relationship between the two.

[0076] Second, "sending" and "receiving" in the embodiments of the present application indicate the direction of signal transmission. The communication between different devices involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to direct communication between different devices (i.e., no other devices are required to transfer or forward), or it may refer to communication between different devices through other devices (i.e., other devices are required to transfer or forward), or it may refer to the functional unit inside the device communicating with other devices through another functional unit. That is to say, "sending an uplink reference signal to a network device" in the present application may be understood as the destination end of the reference signal being the network device, and may include sending information directly or indirectly to the network device. "Receiving first information from a network device" may be understood as the source end of the first information being the network device, and may include receiving information directly or indirectly from the network device. The information may be subjected to necessary processing between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format change, digital-to-analog conversion, amplification, filtering, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0077] Third, in the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship, but does not exclude the situation where the previous and next associated objects are in an "and" relationship. The specific meaning can be understood in conjunction with the context. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0078] Fourth, in the embodiments of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (such as the indication information described below) is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated may also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein the other information has an association relationship with the information to be indicated; or only a part of the information to be indicated may be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information may be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (such as predefined by the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The present application does not limit the specific method of indication.

[0079] It can be understood that, for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the information to be indicated, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the information to be indicated.

[0080] Fifth, in the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the device (such as a network device or a terminal device) will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, and does not require the device (such as a network device or a terminal device) to have a judgment action when implementing it, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0081] Sixth, the predefined in this application can be understood as: define, predefine, store, pre-store, pre-negotiate, pre-configure, solidify, or pre-burn.

[0082] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, sidelink (SL) communication system, world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system or new radio access technology (NR), satellite communication system, etc. Among them, the 5G mobile communication system can include non-standalone (NSA) and / or standalone (SA) networking.

[0083] The technical solution provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as the sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, etc. This application does not limit this.

[0084] The network device in this application may be a radio access network (RAN) device. A RAN device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities. A RAN device can provide wireless communication services and connect terminal devices to a wireless network. A RAN device can be a node in a radio access network, referred to as a RAN node.

[0085] In one possible scenario, a RAN node may be a base station (BS), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a home evolved NodeB (HNB), an access point (AP) for wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), a mobile switching center, a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system.

[0086] RAN nodes can also be devices that perform base station functions in device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication systems, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems. RAN nodes can also be RAN nodes in non-terrestrial networks (NTN), that is, RAN nodes can be deployed on high-altitude platforms or satellites. RAN nodes can be macro base stations, micro base stations, or indoor stations, relay nodes, donor nodes, etc., or wireless controllers in cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenarios, or nodes in open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN) scenarios. Optionally, RAN nodes can also be servers, wearable devices, vehicles, or onboard devices. For example, the RAN node in V2X technology can be a road side unit (RSU). Of course, RAN nodes can also be nodes in the core network.

[0087] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0088] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may be referred to as Open CU (O-CU), DU may be referred to as Open DU (O-DU), CU-CP may be referred to as Open CU-CP (O-CU-CP), CU-UP may be referred to as Open CU-UP (O-CU-UP), and RU may be referred to as Open RU (O-RU).

[0089] Among them, any unit among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. That is, the wireless access network device in this application can be a virtualized device, for example, implemented by general hardware and instantiated virtualization functions, or by dedicated hardware and instantiated virtualization functions. Among them, the general hardware can be a server, such as a cloud server.

[0090] The terminal device in this application may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0091] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data connectivity to users, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminal devices may include: mobile phones, tablet computers, computers with wireless transceiver functions (such as laptops, PDAs, etc.), mobile internet devices (MIDs), virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, drones, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication functions, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). Mobile network, PLMN) terminal equipment, etc.

[0092] Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for wearable devices that use wearable technology to intelligently design and develop wearable devices for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices that are worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not just hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve full or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0093] Furthermore, terminal devices can also be end devices in IoT systems. IoT is a crucial component of future information technology development. Its primary technical feature is connecting objects to the internet through communication technologies, thereby enabling intelligent networks that interconnect humans and machines, and objects and things. IoT technology, for example, utilizes narrowband (NB) technology to achieve massive connectivity, deep coverage, and power-saving terminals.

[0094] Terminal devices can also include sensors such as smart printers, train detectors, and gas stations. Their main functions include collecting data (part of the terminal equipment), receiving control information and downlink data from network devices, and sending electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to network devices.

[0095] The terminal device in this application may be a virtualized device, for example, implemented by general-purpose hardware and instantiated virtualization functions, or by dedicated hardware and instantiated virtualization functions. The general-purpose hardware may be a server, for example, a cloud server.

[0096] It should be understood that the present application does not limit the specific forms of the wireless access network device and the terminal device.

[0097] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 100 applicable to the method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , the communication system 100 includes a radio access network 10 and a core network 20. Optionally, the communication system 100 may also include the Internet 30. The radio access network 10 may include at least one radio access network device (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1 ) and at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1 ).

[0098] Terminal devices can connect to radio access network equipment wirelessly, and radio access network equipment can connect to the core network wirelessly or via wired connections. Core network equipment and radio access network equipment can be independent, distinct physical devices, or they can integrate the core network equipment's functions and the radio access network equipment's logical functions into the same physical device. Alternatively, a single physical device can integrate some core network equipment functions and some radio access network equipment functions. Terminal devices and radio access network equipment can connect to each other via wired or wireless connections.

[0099] Wireless access network devices and terminal devices, as well as wireless access network devices and terminal devices, can communicate via licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both. They can communicate via spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or both. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communications.

[0100] The wireless access network device may be a base station deployed in the air, such as a satellite base station 110a; or a base station deployed indoors, such as a micro base station or an indoor station 110b.

[0101] The terminal device can be a terminal device deployed in the air, such as the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1; it can also be a terminal deployed on the ground, such as the mobile phones 120a, 120e, 120f and 120j, vehicle 120b, computer 120g, printer 120h, etc. in Figure 1.

[0102] Wireless access network equipment and terminals can be fixed or mobile. For example, they can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or in the air on aircraft, balloons, and satellites.

[0103] The roles of radio access network devices and terminal devices can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile base station. For devices 120j accessing the radio access network 10 via 120i, 120i is a base station; however, for 110a, 120i is a terminal. That is, communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via an interface protocol between radio access network devices. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, radio access network devices and terminal devices can be collectively referred to as communication devices. Devices 110a, 110b, and 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices having their respective functions, such as base station functions or terminal functions.

[0104] It should be understood that FIG1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system may further include other devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG1 .

[0105] In mobile communication systems, if network equipment needs to obtain more accurate channel information, it requires the terminal device to send a reference signal with a larger bandwidth. In other words, the larger the bandwidth of the reference signal sent by the terminal device, the more accurate the channel information obtained by the network device based on the reference signal; conversely, the smaller the bandwidth of the reference signal sent by the terminal device, the greater the deviation in the channel information obtained by the network device based on the reference signal. However, the bandwidth of a single carrier of the reference signal is limited by the communication protocol, which makes it impossible for the terminal device and network equipment to customize a carrier with a larger bandwidth to send the reference signal. Therefore, if a larger bandwidth is required to send the reference signal, it is necessary to expand the bandwidth by aggregating multiple carriers.

[0106] However, in mobile communication systems, different carriers may have different delays and phases (as shown in Figure 2). Therefore, when using multi-carrier aggregation to expand the bandwidth of the reference signal, it is first necessary to resolve the delay and phase differences between the multiple carriers sending the reference signal. Otherwise, it will be difficult to obtain the benefits brought by multi-carrier aggregation.

[0107] Currently, to reap the benefits of multi-carrier aggregation, terminal devices transmit reference signals for multiple carriers to network equipment. The network equipment then estimates the delay and phase differences between the multiple carriers and compensates for them, eliminating the delay and phase differences between the compensated carriers. Channel estimation is then performed using the signals carried by the compensated carriers. However, because the reference signals sent by terminal devices are affected by the air interface multipath channel, it is difficult for network equipment to accurately estimate the delay and phase of each carrier transmitting the reference signal. Consequently, it is unable to accurately determine the delay and phase differences between the multiple carriers, resulting in a lack of more accurate channel estimation results.

[0108] For example, when a network device estimates carrier delay and phase by estimating the air interface first path, it is very easy for the network device to miss the first path as shown in Figure 3. If the first path is missed, the network device's estimation results of the carrier delay and phase will be greatly affected, resulting in the network device being unable to obtain the actual delay difference and phase difference between multiple carriers, and thus unable to accurately compensate for the multiple carriers that transmit reference signals.

[0109] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method and related devices. In this method, the delay and phase of multiple carriers used to send reference signals are adjusted at the source of sending the reference signal (i.e., the transmitting end), so that the delay difference and phase difference between the adjusted multiple carriers are within a preset error range, and the reference signal is sent on the adjusted multiple carriers. This method of compensating for the delay difference and phase difference between multiple carriers from the source of sending the reference signal effectively avoids the problem of large errors when the receiving end estimates the delay and phase of multiple carriers, and can better obtain the benefits of multi-carrier aggregation and obtain more accurate channel information.

[0110] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figure 4. The method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

[0111] The flowchart shown in FIG4 illustrates the method from the perspective of the interaction between a terminal device and a network device, but this application does not limit the subject of the method. For example, the terminal device in FIG4 can be replaced by a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal device to implement the method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device's functions; the network device in FIG4 can be replaced by a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the network device to implement the method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device's functions.

[0112] Figure 4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4, the method 400 may include steps S401 to S403. Each step in the method 400 is described in detail below.

[0113] S401: The terminal device generates an uplink signal.

[0114] The uplink reference signal in this application may be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase-tracking reference signal (PTRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a positioning reference signal (PRS), among other reference signals. DMRS may include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) reference signal and a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) reference signal.

[0115] S402: The terminal device sends an uplink reference signal to the network device on N first carriers, where N is an integer greater than 1. Correspondingly, the network device receives the uplink reference signal from the terminal device on the N first carriers.

[0116] At least two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfy: a delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value.

[0117] Among them, the first preset value is the maximum delay difference between carriers that the network can accept when multi-carrier synchronization is performed; in other words, in a multi-carrier synchronization scenario, if the delay difference between multiple carriers is within the error range indicated by the first preset value, it will have little impact on the performance of multi-carrier synchronization.

[0118] The first preset value may be 3 nanoseconds (ns) or other values, which are not limited in this application.

[0119] Similarly, the second preset value is the maximum phase difference between carriers that the network can accept when multi-carrier synchronization is performed; in other words, in a multi-carrier synchronization scenario, if the phase difference between multiple carriers is within the error range indicated by the second preset value, it will have little impact on the performance of multi-carrier synchronization.

[0120] The second preset value may be 3 degrees (°) or other values, which is not limited in this application.

[0121] S403: The network device measures the uplink reference signal to obtain channel information. The channel information may also be replaced by channel state information.

[0122] The process can be referred to the description of the existing technology and will not be described again here.

[0123] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device sends a reference signal on multiple carriers including at least two carriers whose delay difference is smaller than a first preset value and / or whose phase difference is smaller than a second preset value. This ensures that the multiple carriers that send uplink reference signals have a smaller delay difference and / or phase difference on the terminal device side, that is, the problem of delay difference and / or phase difference between multiple carriers is solved from the source of sending the reference signal. Compared with the method of estimating and compensating the delay difference and / or phase difference between multiple carriers used to carry uplink reference signals on the network device side, the gain of multi-carrier aggregation can be better obtained and more accurate channel information can be obtained.

[0124] Optionally, the N first carriers may be sent simultaneously or in a time-division manner.

[0125] The simultaneous transmission means that the N time domain resources corresponding to the N first carriers are the same, and the time-division transmission means that the N time domain resources corresponding to the N first carriers are different.

[0126] Optionally, any two first carriers among the above-mentioned N first carriers meet: the delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or the phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value.

[0127] For the description of the first preset value and the second preset value, reference may be made to the description in S402 , which will not be repeated here.

[0128] Based on this, the delay difference between any two first carriers among the N first carriers is less than or equal to the first preset value, and / or the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value. Compared with the fact that there are at least two first carriers among the N first carriers with a delay difference less than or equal to the first preset value, and / or the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value, the gain of multi-carrier aggregation can be better obtained and more accurate channel information can be obtained.

[0129] Optionally, the N first carriers are obtained by adjusting the delays and / or phases of the N second carriers.

[0130] The time delays and phases of the N second carriers may be obtained by measurement by the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may obtain the time delays and phases of the N second carriers by measuring downlink reference signals received on the N second carriers.

[0131] It can be understood that in the process of adjusting the delay and / or phase of N second carriers, the terminal device can use the delay and phase of n (n is an integer greater than 0 and less than N) second carriers among the N second carriers as a reference to adjust the delay and / or phase of the remaining second carriers among the N second carriers to obtain N first carriers; or, the terminal device can use the delay and phase of other m (m is an integer greater than 0 and less than N) carriers outside the N second carriers as a reference to adjust the delay and phase of the N second carriers to obtain N first carriers.

[0132] It should be noted that, in the process of adjusting N second carriers, at least two second carriers are adjusted based on the same carrier among the n second carriers (or other m carriers). For example, the three first carriers obtained include the first carrier #1, the first carrier #2, and the first carrier #3. The delay difference between the first carrier #1 and the first carrier #2 is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value. The first carrier #1 can be the second carrier #1 among the n second carriers, or the delay difference between the first carrier #1 and the second carrier #1 among the n second carriers is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value; and the first carrier #3 can be the second carrier #2 among the n second carriers, or the delay difference between the first carrier #3 and the second carrier #2 among the n second carriers is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value. That is, two of the three first carriers are adjusted based on the same second carrier #1, and one first carrier is adjusted based on a second carrier #2 that is different from the second carrier #1.

[0133] During the above adjustment process, the terminal device may determine which carrier delays and phases are used as references based on its own capabilities or as instructed by the network device.

[0134] Figure 5 shows a comparison diagram of N first carriers and N second carriers provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in (a) and (b) of Figure 5, N = 3, the horizontal axis represents frequency, the vertical axis represents phase, and the slope of each carrier represents the delay of the corresponding carrier.

[0135] As shown in (a) of Figure 5, the slopes of second carrier 1, second carrier 2, and second carrier 3 are different from each other, that is, the delays of the three second carriers are different and the delay difference between any two second carriers is greater than the first preset value, and the phase difference between any two second carriers among the three second carriers is greater than the second preset value. By adjusting the delay and phase of the second carrier, the present application can obtain the three first carriers shown in (b) of Figure 5.

[0136] As shown in (b) in Figure 5, the slopes of the first carrier 1, the first carrier 2 and the first carrier 3 are all the same, that is, the delays of the three first carriers are all the same, that is, the delay difference between any two of the three first carriers is less than the above-mentioned first preset value; and, the phases of the three first carriers are all the same, that is, the phase difference between any two of the three first carriers is less than the above-mentioned second preset value.

[0137] Optionally, before S402, the method 400 further includes: the network device sends a downlink reference signal to the terminal device on M second carriers, where the M second carriers include the above-mentioned N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N.

[0138] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a downlink reference signal from the network device on M second carriers; and obtains N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers, each of the N measurement results including a time domain offset and a frequency domain offset; based on the N time domain offsets, determines the delay of the N second carriers; based on the N frequency domain offsets, determines the phase of the N second carriers.

[0139] The downlink reference signal may be a synchronization signal block (SSB), a tracking reference signal (TRS), a DMRS, a PTRS, or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), among other reference signals. DMRS may include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reference signal, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) reference signal, and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) reference signal.

[0140] Exemplarily, the terminal device may obtain N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers in the following two ways:

[0141] In method 1, the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal received on the M second carriers to obtain M measurement results; and determines N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers from the M measurement results.

[0142] In a second method, the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal received on N second carriers to obtain N measurement results, where the N second carriers belong to the above-mentioned M second carriers.

[0143] It is understood that, in mode 2, the terminal device does not need to measure the downlink reference signals received on the remaining second carriers other than the N second carriers among the M second carriers. Therefore, the method of obtaining N measurement results based on mode 2 can reduce the computational complexity of the terminal device.

[0144] It can also be understood that the above-mentioned N second carriers can be determined by the terminal device from the M second carriers according to its own capabilities, or can be indicated to the terminal device by the network device, or can be predefined.

[0145] The time domain offset in this application is the difference between the time when the terminal device receives the downlink reference and the time when the network device sends the downlink reference signal. This difference is the delay of the second carrier carrying the downlink reference signal.

[0146] The frequency domain offset in this application is the difference between the frequency of the downlink reference received by the terminal device and the frequency of the downlink reference signal sent by the network device. The phase of the second carrier carrying the downlink reference signal can be obtained by integrating the difference.

[0147] Each of the above-mentioned N measurement results includes a time domain offset and a frequency domain offset, so N time domain offsets and N frequency domain offsets can be obtained based on the N measurement results; secondly, the N measurement results correspond to N second carriers, so a time domain offset and a frequency domain offset corresponding to each second carrier in the N second carriers can be obtained.

[0148] Exemplarily, taking the second carrier #1 among N second carriers (the second carrier #1 can be any one of the N second carriers) as an example, the process of the terminal device determining the delay of the N second carriers based on N time domain offsets is introduced: the terminal device determines the measurement result corresponding to the second carrier #1 from the N measurement results, and then obtains the time domain offset #1 corresponding to the second carrier #1; the time domain offset #1 is determined as the delay of the second carrier #1.

[0149] Similarly, taking the second carrier #1 among N second carriers as an example, the process of the terminal device determining the phase of N second carriers based on N time domain offsets is introduced: the terminal device determines the measurement result corresponding to the second carrier #1 from the N measurement results, and then obtains the frequency offset #1 corresponding to the second carrier #1; the frequency domain offset #1 is integrated to obtain the delay of the second carrier #1.

[0150] Optionally, at least one first carrier among at least two of the N first carriers has a delay difference with a reference carrier that is less than or equal to a first preset value, and a phase difference with the reference carrier that is less than or equal to a second preset value. The reference carrier may be one of the M second carriers.

[0151] Similar to the terminal device determining the N second carriers, the reference carrier may also be determined by the terminal device according to its own capabilities, or indicated by the network device, or predefined.

[0152] As mentioned above, the M second carriers include N second carriers, so the reference carrier may belong to the N second carriers (or, the reference carrier is one of the N second carriers), or it may not belong to the N second carriers (or, the reference carrier belongs to the remaining carriers of the M second carriers except the N second carriers, or, the reference carrier is one of the remaining carriers of the M second carriers except the N second carriers).

[0153] The reference carrier belongs to the N second carriers, which can be understood as the terminal device using the delay and phase of one of the N second carriers as a reference to adjust the delay and / or phase of the N second carriers.

[0154] The reference carrier does not belong to the N second carriers. It can be understood that the terminal device uses the delay and phase positions of other carriers outside the N second carriers as a reference to adjust the delay and / or phase of the N second carriers.

[0155] It can be understood that the delay and phase of the reference carrier can be obtained by the terminal device through measuring the downlink reference signal received on the reference carrier.

[0156] Optionally, the method 400 further includes: the terminal device obtains the delay and phase of the reference carrier.

[0157] Example 1: When the reference signal belongs to N second carriers and the terminal device has obtained the delay and phase of the N second carriers, the terminal device can directly obtain the delay of the reference carrier from the obtained delay of the N second carriers, and obtain the phase of the reference carrier from the obtained phase of the N second carriers.

[0158] Example 2: When the reference carrier belongs to N second carriers, but the terminal device has not obtained the delay and phase of the N second carriers, the terminal device first measures the downlink reference signal received on the reference carrier to obtain a measurement result; then determines the delay of the reference signal based on the time domain offset included in the obtained measurement result; and determines the phase of the reference signal based on the frequency domain offset included in the obtained measurement result.

[0159] Regarding how to obtain the carrier delay and phase based on the time domain offset and frequency domain offset in the measurement results, please refer to the relevant description above and will not be repeated here.

[0160] Example three: When the reference signal does not belong to the N second carriers, the terminal device can obtain the delay and phase of the reference signal according to the method shown in Example two.

[0161] It is understood that if the reference carrier is indicated by the network device to the terminal device, then before the terminal device obtains the delay and phase of the reference carrier, method 400 further includes: the network device sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0162] The first information may be carried in RRC signaling or physical layer signaling (eg, downlink control information (DCI)).

[0163] Optionally, before the terminal device obtains the delay and phase of the reference carrier, the method 400 further includes: the terminal device determines the reference carrier from the M second carriers according to the first information.

[0164] Optionally, when the network device sends first information indicating a reference carrier to the terminal device, the terminal device obtains the delay and phase of the reference carrier, which may include: the terminal device obtains the delay and phase of the reference carrier according to the first information.

[0165] Optionally, before sending a downlink reference signal to the terminal device on the M second carriers, the method 400 further includes: the network device sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate P second carriers, where the P second carriers are used for the terminal device to send signals, where P is an integer greater than or equal to M. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second information from the network device.

[0166] The P second carriers include the M second carriers mentioned above. That is, the network device may send downlink reference signals on M second carriers among the indicated P second carriers.

[0167] Optionally, the second information may be carried in RRC signaling.

[0168] It can be understood that the second information and the above-mentioned first information can be sent simultaneously, for example, both are carried in the same RRC signaling; or sent separately, for example, the first information and the second information are carried in different RRC signaling, or the first information is carried in the RRC signaling and the second information is carried in the DCI.

[0169] Exemplarily, the P carriers may be indicated by P TCIs. For example, the network device sends the P TCIs to the terminal device via RRC signaling. Similarly, the reference carriers may also be indicated by TCIs. For example, the network device sends the TCIs to the terminal device via RRC signaling or physical layer signaling.

[0170] The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 1 to 5 , and the device provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 6 to 9 .

[0171] Figures 6 and 7 are schematic diagrams of possible devices provided by embodiments of the present application. These devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments.

[0172] FIG6 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG6 , the apparatus 600 includes a processing module 610 and a transceiver module 620 .

[0173] In one possible design, apparatus 600 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG4 . For example, apparatus 600 may correspond to the terminal device in FIG4 or a chip used in the terminal device. When apparatus 600 is a terminal device, the transceiver module may be a transceiver; when apparatus 600 is a chip, the transceiver module may be an input / output circuit, where the input circuit can be used for receiving and the output interface can be used for sending.

[0174] Exemplarily, the processing module 610 is used to: generate an uplink reference signal; the transceiver module 620 is used to: send the uplink reference signal to the network device on N first carriers, and at least two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfy: the delay difference is less than or equal to the first preset value, and / or the phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value, and N is an integer greater than 1.

[0175] Optionally, the transceiver module 620 is also used to: receive a downlink reference signal from the network device on M second carriers, where the M second carriers include the N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N; the processing module 610 is also used to: obtain N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers, each of the N measurement results including a time domain offset and a frequency domain offset; determine the delay of the N second carriers based on the N time domain offsets; and determine the phase of the N second carriers based on the N frequency domain offsets.

[0176] Optionally, the transceiver module 620 is further configured to: receive first information from the network device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier.

[0177] Optionally, the processing module 610 is further configured to: acquire the delay and phase of the reference carrier according to the first information.

[0178] Optionally, the transceiver module 620 is also used to: receive second information from the network device, the second information is used to indicate P second carriers, the P second carriers are used for the terminal device to send signals, P is an integer greater than or equal to M; wherein the P second carriers include the M second carriers.

[0179] A more detailed description of the processing module 610 and the transceiver module 620 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the embodiment shown in FIG4 , and is not repeated here.

[0180] Another possible design is that the apparatus 600 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG4 . For example, the apparatus 600 may correspond to the network device in FIG4 or a chip used in the network device. When the apparatus 600 is a network device, the transceiver module may be a transceiver; when the apparatus 600 is a chip, the transceiver module may be an input / output circuit, where the input circuit can be used for receiving and the output interface can be used for sending.

[0181] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 620 is used to: receive an uplink reference signal from a terminal device on N first carriers, where at least two of the N first carriers satisfy: the delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, the phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value, and N is an integer greater than 1; the processing module 610 is used to: measure the uplink reference signal to obtain channel information.

[0182] Optionally, the transceiver module 620 is further used to: send a downlink reference signal to the terminal device on M second carriers, where the M second carriers include the N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N.

[0183] Optionally, the transceiver module 620 is further used to: send first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier.

[0184] Optionally, the transceiver module 620 is also used to: send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate P second carriers, and the P second carriers are used by the terminal device to send signals, where P is an integer greater than 1; wherein the P second carriers include the M second carriers.

[0185] A more detailed description of the processing module 610 and the transceiver module 620 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the embodiment shown in FIG4 , and will not be repeated here.

[0186] It should be noted that device 600 may include a sending module but not a receiving module. Alternatively, device 600 may include a receiving module but not a sending module. This may depend on whether the above-mentioned solution executed by device 600 includes both sending and receiving actions. It is understood that because device 600 has communication functionality, it can also be referred to as a communication device.

[0187] FIG7 is another schematic block diagram of an apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7 , apparatus 700 includes one or more processors 710. Processor 710 may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor. For example, it may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit may be used to control an apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, a network device, or a chip), execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

[0188] The processor 710 may also be sometimes referred to as a processing unit, which controls a device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0189] Optionally, in one design, the processor 710 may include a program (also referred to as code or instructions), which may be executed on the processor 710 to cause the apparatus 700 to perform the method performed by the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiment. In another possible design, the apparatus 700 includes a circuit (not shown in FIG. 7 ) configured to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiment.

[0190] Exemplarily, the processor 710 may be configured to execute a computer program or instruction in a memory to implement the steps performed by the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4 .

[0191] Optionally, the device 700 may include one or more memories 720 on which programs (sometimes also referred to as codes or instructions) are stored. The programs can be run on the processor 710 so that the device 700 executes the method executed by the terminal device or network device in the above embodiment.

[0192] Optionally, data may be stored in the processor 710 and / or the memory 720. The processor and memory may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0193] Optionally, the apparatus 700 may further include a communication interface 730. The communication interface 730 may also be sometimes referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, or an input / output interface, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function of the apparatus.

[0194] The communication interface 730 is coupled to the processor 710. It is understood that the communication interface 730 may be a transceiver.

[0195] It is understandable that, since the device 700 has a communication function, it can also be called a communication device.

[0196] When apparatus 700 is used to implement the method of FIG4 , processor 710 is used to execute the functions of the processing module, and communication interface 730 is used to execute the functions of the transceiver module. Whether communication interface 730 is used for sending or receiving can be determined by whether it is used for sending or receiving in the solution implemented by apparatus 700.

[0197] When the apparatus 700 is a chip implemented in a terminal device, the chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment described above. The chip of the terminal device receives signals from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), which may be signals sent by a network device to the terminal device; or the chip of the terminal device sends signals to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), which may be signals sent by the terminal device to a network device.

[0198] When the apparatus 700 is a chip used in a network device, the chip implements the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment. The chip of the network device receives a signal from another module in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the signal may be sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the chip of the network device sends a signal to another module in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the signal may be sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0199] It is understood that when the apparatus 700 is a terminal device or a network device, the communication interface 730 may be a transceiver, specifically including a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter is used to transmit signals and the receiver is used to receive signals. When the apparatus 700 is a chip used in a terminal device or a network device, the communication interface 730 may be an input / output circuit, where the input circuit can be used for receiving and the output interface can be used for transmitting.

[0200] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 8, the terminal device 800 can be applied to the system shown in Figure 1 to perform the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. As shown in the figure, the terminal device 800 includes a processor 810 and a transceiver 820. Optionally, the terminal device 800 also includes a memory 830. The processor 810, the transceiver 820 and the memory 830 can communicate with each other through an internal connection path to transmit control and / or data signals. The memory 830 is used to store computer programs, and the processor 810 is used to call and run the computer program from the memory 830 to control the transceiver 820 to send and receive signals. Optionally, the terminal device 800 may also include an antenna 840 for transmitting the uplink data, uplink reference signal or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 820 via a wireless signal.

[0201] The processor 810 and the memory 830 may be combined into a processing device, and the processor 810 is configured to execute program codes stored in the memory 830 to implement the aforementioned functions. In a specific implementation, the memory 830 may also be integrated into the processor 810 or independent of the processor 810. The processor 810 may correspond to the processing module in FIG6 or the processor in FIG7.

[0202] The transceiver 820 may correspond to the transceiver module in FIG6 or the communication interface in FIG7 , and may also be referred to as a transceiver unit. The transceiver 820 may include a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). The receiver is used to receive signals, and the transmitter is used to transmit signals.

[0203] It should be understood that the terminal device 800 shown in FIG8 is capable of implementing each step related to the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG4 . The operations and / or functions of each module in the terminal device 800 are respectively for implementing the corresponding processes in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description of the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, detailed description is omitted here.

[0204] The processor 810 can be used to execute the actions implemented within the terminal device described in the previous method embodiments, while the transceiver 810 can be used to execute the actions of the terminal device sending to or receiving from the network device described in the previous method embodiments. For details, please refer to the description of the previous method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0205] Optionally, the terminal device 800 may further include a power supply 850 for providing power to various devices or circuits in the terminal device 800 .

[0206] In addition, in order to make the functions of the terminal device more complete, the terminal device 800 can also include one or more of an input unit 860, a display unit 870, an audio circuit 880, a camera 890 and a sensor 891, and the audio circuit can also include a speaker 881, a microphone 882, etc.

[0207] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a radio access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application, for example, a base station. The base station 900 can be used in the system shown in Figure 1 to perform the functions of the network device in the above-described method embodiment. As shown in the figure, the base station 900 may include one or more of the following: one or more (DU+RU) units 910 and one or more CUs 920. The CU 920 can communicate with the next generation core (NG core). The DU may include at least one antenna 911, at least one radio frequency unit 912, at least one processor 913, and at least one memory 914. The DU portion is primarily used for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals, converting radio frequency signals into baseband signals, and performing partial baseband processing. The CU 920 may include at least one processor 922 and at least one memory 921. The CU 920 and the DU may communicate via an interface. The control plane (CP) interface may be an Fs-C, such as F1-C, and the user plane (UP) interface may be an Fs-U, such as F1-U. The DU and RU may collaborate to implement physical (PHY) layer functions. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and RU can be configured in various ways according to the design. For example, the DU is configured to implement baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement mid-RF functions. For another example, the DU is configured to implement high-layer functions in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement low-layer functions and RF functions in the PHY layer. The high-layer functions in the PHY layer may include a portion of the functions of the PHY layer that is closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the PHY layer may include another portion of the functions of the PHY layer that is closer to the mid-RF side.

[0208] The CU 920 is primarily used for baseband processing and base station control. The DU and CU 920 may be physically located together or separately, i.e., in a distributed base station. The CU 920 is the control center of the base station and may correspond to the processing module in FIG6 or the processor in FIG7 , and may also be referred to as a processing unit. It is primarily used to perform baseband processing functions. For example, the CU 920 may be used to control the base station to execute the operation flow regarding the access network device in the above-described method embodiment.

[0209] Specifically, baseband processing on the CU and DU can be divided according to the protocol layers of the wireless network. For example, the functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and above are set in the CU, while the functions of the protocol layers below PDCP, such as the RLC layer and the MAC layer, are set in the DU. For another example, the CU implements the functions of the RRC layer and the PDCP layer, while the DU implements the functions of the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the PHY layer.

[0210] In addition, optionally, the base station 900 may include one or more radio frequency units (RUs), one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. The DU may include at least one processor 913 and at least one memory 914, the RU may include at least one antenna 911 and at least one radio frequency unit 912, and the CU may include at least one processor 922 and at least one memory 921.

[0211] In one example, the CU 920 may be composed of one or more single boards, and the multiple single boards may jointly support a wireless access network with a single access indication (such as a 5G network), or may respectively support wireless access networks with different access standards (such as an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The memory 921 and the processor 922 may serve one or more single boards. That is, a memory and a processor may be separately set on each single board. It is also possible that multiple single boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may be provided on each single board. The DU may be composed of one or more single boards, and the multiple single boards may jointly support a wireless access network with a single access indication (such as a 5G network), or may respectively support wireless access networks with different access standards (such as an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The memory 914 and the processor 913 may serve one or more single boards. That is, a memory and a processor may be separately set on each single board. It is also possible that multiple single boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may be provided on each single board.

[0212] It should be understood that base station 900 shown in FIG9 is capable of implementing the various processes involving network devices in the method embodiment shown in FIG4 . The operations and / or functions of the various modules in base station 900 are respectively for implementing the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description of the aforementioned method embodiment; to avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0213] It should be understood that the base station 900 shown in FIG9 is only one possible architecture of a radio access network device and does not constitute any limitation on the present application. The method provided in the present application is applicable to network devices of other architectures. For example, radio access network devices including CUs, DUs, and AAUs are not limited in the present application to the specific architecture of the radio access network device.

[0214] It should be understood that FIG9 is merely an example and not a limitation, and the radio access network device may not rely on the structure shown in FIG9. For example, the radio access network device may also include an AAU, a CU, and / or a DU, or the radio access network device may also include a BBU and an adaptive radio unit (ARU). This application is not limited to this.

[0215] The CU and / or DU described above can be used to perform the actions implemented within the radio access network device described in the previous method embodiments, while the AAU can be used to perform the actions described in the previous method embodiments where the radio access network device sends or receives information to or from the terminal device. For details, please refer to the description in the previous method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0216] It should be noted that the above method embodiments can be applied to or implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method embodiments can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in the processor or by software instructions.

[0217] The processor may 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 device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0218] The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly implemented and executed by a hardware decoding processor, or by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium well-known in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method.

[0219] The memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0220] The methods provided in the above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, they can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product may include one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic disk), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state disk (SSD)).

[0221] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the functions of the above-mentioned method embodiment are realized.

[0222] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product containing instructions, which implements the functions of the above method embodiment when executed by a computer.

[0223] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device.

[0224] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0225] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0226] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0227] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0228] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0229] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0230] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: generating an uplink reference signal; The uplink reference signal is sent to the network device on N first carriers, where at least two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfy: a delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value, and N is an integer greater than 1.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Any two first carriers among the N first carriers satisfy: a delay difference is less than or equal to the first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to the second preset value.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The N first carriers are obtained by adjusting the time delays and / or phases of the N second carriers.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving a downlink reference signal from the network device on M second carriers, where the M second carriers include the N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N; Obtaining N measurement results corresponding to the N second carriers, each of the N measurement results including a time domain offset and a frequency domain offset; Determining the delays of the N second carriers according to the N time domain offsets; The phases of the N second carriers are determined according to the N frequency domain offsets.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The delay difference between at least one first carrier of the at least two first carriers and a reference carrier is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference between the first carrier and the reference carrier is less than or equal to the second preset value, and the reference carrier is one of the M second carriers.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: First information is received from the network device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: According to the first information, the delay and phase of the reference carrier are acquired.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that The first information is carried in radio resource control RRC signaling or physical layer signaling.

9. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving second information from the network device, where the second information is used to indicate P second carriers, where the P second carriers are used for the terminal device to send signals, where P is an integer greater than or equal to M; The P second carriers include the M second carriers.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The second information is carried in RRC signaling.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that The N first carriers are sent simultaneously or in a time-division manner.

12. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receiving an uplink reference signal from a terminal device on N first carriers, where at least two first carriers of the N first carriers satisfy: a delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value, where N is an integer greater than 1; The uplink reference signal is measured to obtain channel information.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that Any two carriers among the N first carriers satisfy: a delay difference is less than or equal to a first preset value, and / or a phase difference is less than or equal to a second preset value.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that The N first carriers are obtained by adjusting the time delays and / or phases of the N second carriers.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: A downlink reference signal is sent to the terminal device on M second carriers, where the M second carriers include the N second carriers, and M is an integer greater than or equal to N.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The delay difference between at least one first carrier of the at least two first carriers and a reference carrier is less than or equal to the first preset value, and the phase difference between at least one first carrier of the at least two first carriers and the reference carrier is less than or equal to the second preset value; The reference carrier is one of the M second carriers.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate the reference carrier.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The first information is carried in radio resource control RRC signaling or physical layer signaling.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate P second carriers, where the P second carriers are used for the terminal device to send signals, where P is an integer greater than 1; The P second carriers include the M second carriers.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The second information is carried in RRC signaling.

21. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 20, characterized in that The N first carriers are received simultaneously or in a time-division manner.

22. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises one or more functional units, and is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 12 to 21.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises a processor configured to execute a program code so as to enable the communication device to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 12 to 21.

24. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 12 to 21 is executed.

25. A computer program product, characterized in that The invention comprises a computer program which, when being executed, causes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 to be performed, or causes the method according to any one of claims 12 to 21 to be performed.

26. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, and the network device is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 12 to 21.

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