Apparatus and method for downlink resource allocation in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G communication system or a 6G communication system for supporting higher data rates than 4G communication systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). The present disclosure provides a user equipment, a base station, methods performed by the same, wherein a communication method performed by a user equipment include: receiving configuration information for downlink data reception, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit; and receiving the downlink data based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

Description

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DOWNLINK RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication field and specifically, to a user equipment, a base station, a method performed by a user equipment, a method performed by a base station and a computer readable storage medium. The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for downlink resource allocation in wireless communication system.

[0002] Considering the development of wireless communication from generation to generation, the technologies have been developed mainly for services targeting humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. Following the commercialization of 5th-generation (5G) communication systems, it is expected that the number of connected devices will exponentially grow. Increasingly, these will be connected to communication networks. Examples of connected things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machines, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various form-factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the 6th-generation (6G) era, there have been ongoing efforts to develop improved 6G communication systems. For these reasons, 6G communication systems are referred to as beyond-5G systems.

[0003] 6G communication systems, which are expected to be commercialized around 2030, will have a peak data rate of tera (1,000 giga)-level bps and a radio latency less than 100μsec, and thus will be 50 times as fast as 5G communication systems and have the 1 / 10 radio latency thereof.

[0004] In order to accomplish such a high data rate and an ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in a terahertz band (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands). It is expected that, due to severer path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz bands than those in mmWave bands introduced in 5G, technologies capable of securing the signal transmission distance (that is, coverage) will become more crucial. It is necessary to develop, as major technologies for securing the coverage, radio frequency (RF) elements, antennas, novel waveforms having a better coverage than orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multiantenna transmission technologies such as large-scale antennas. In addition, there has been ongoing discussion on new technologies for improving the coverage of terahertz-band signals, such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).

[0005] Moreover, in order to improve the spectral efficiency and the overall network performances, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: a full-duplex technology for enabling an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resource at the same time; a network technology for utilizing satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and the like in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and enabling network operation optimization and automation and the like; a dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on a prediction of spectrum usage; an use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wireless communication for improvement of overall network operation by utilizing AI from a designing phase for developing 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and a next-generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limit of user equipment (UE) computing ability through reachable super-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as mobile edge computing (MEC), clouds, and the like) over the network. In addition, through designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing a hardware-based security environment and safe use of data, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, attempts to strengthen the connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote softwarization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communications are continuing.

[0006] It is expected that research and development of 6G communication systems in hyper-connectivity, including person to machine (P2M) as well as machine to machine (M2M), will allow the next hyper-connected experience. Particularly, it is expected that services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram, and digital replica could be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery for security and reliability enhancement, industrial automation, and emergency response will be provided through the 6G communication system such that the technologies could be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles, and home appliances.

[0007] The present disclosure provides method and apparatus for downlink resource allocation in wireless communication system.

[0008] According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided method and apparatus for downlink resource allocation in wireless communication system.

[0009] Aspects of the present disclosure provide efficient communication methods in a wireless communication system.

[0010] The drawings herein incorporated into the specification form part of the specification, show example embodiments that conform to the present disclosure, and are used together with the specification to explain the principles of the present disclosure, and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present disclosure.

[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0012] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0014] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method performed by a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0015] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of subband configurations according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of subband configurations according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of subband configurations according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of subband configurations according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating subband configuration adjustment and restoration according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method performed by a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method performed by a user equipment, the communication method includes: receiving configuration information for downlink data reception, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit; and receiving the downlink data based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

[0024] Alternatively, the receiving of the configuration information for downlink data reception includes: receiving downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception; or receiving high-layer signaling, wherein the high-layer signaling comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception.

[0025] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception includes at least one of: index information for indicating a predefined subband configuration; at least one of following items corresponding to the predefined subband configuration: a mapping type of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s); starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit; information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment; a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands; index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration; size information of a subband bandwidth; and a subband index allocated to the user equipment.

[0026] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception further includes index information for a time unit requiring a second additional DMRS; or the predefined subband configuration includes location information for the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS.

[0027] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception further includes: invalid index related information for configuring one or more unavailable subbands for the user equipment.

[0028] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception further includes at least one of: indication information for indicating whether a subband configuration is changed; index information of a scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed, wherein the scheduling unit comprises a plurality of time units; a number of subbands and indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed; information relating to a duration for which the subband configuration is changed; and indication information for restoring the subband configuration.

[0029] Alternatively, the predefined subband configuration includes: a first number of time units in time units used for a data channel in a scheduling unit corresponds to N subbands, and a second number of time units in time units used for the data channel corresponds to M subbands, wherein both N and M are positive integers greater than 1, and N and M are the same or different.

[0030] Alternatively, the receiving of the downlink data based on the DMRS on the at least one of the plurality of subbands includes: determining, based on the configuration information, a subband allocated to the user equipment on each of the at least one time unit, and receiving the downlink data by performing channel estimation for each subband based on the DMRS on each subband allocated to the user equipment.

[0031] According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method performed by a base station, the communication method includes: transmitting configuration information for downlink data reception to a user equipment, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit; transmitting the downlink data to the user equipment, wherein the downlink data is received by the user equipment based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

[0032] Alternatively, the transmitting of the configuration information for downlink data reception to the user equipment includes: transmitting downlink control information to the user equipment, wherein the downlink control information comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception; or transmitting high-layer signaling to the user equipment, wherein the high-layer signaling comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception.

[0033] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception includes at least one of: index information for indicating a predefined subband configuration; at least one of following items corresponding to the predefined subband configuration: a mapping type of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s); starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit; information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment; a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands; index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration; size information of a subband bandwidth; and a subband index allocated to the user equipment.

[0034] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception further includes index information for a time unit requiring a second additional DMRS; or the predefined subband configuration includes location information for the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS.

[0035] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception further includes: invalid index related information for configuring one or more unavailable subbands for the user equipment.

[0036] Alternatively, the configuration information for downlink data reception further includes at least one of: indication information for indicating whether a subband configuration is changed; index information of a scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed, wherein the scheduling unit comprises a plurality of time units; a number of subbands and indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed; information relating to a duration for which the subband configuration is changed; and indication information for restoring the subband configuration.

[0037] Alternatively, the predefined subband configuration includes: a first number of time units in time units used for a data channel in a scheduling unit corresponds to N subbands, and a second number of time units in time units used for the data channel corresponds to M subbands, wherein both N and M are positive integers greater than 1, and N and M are the same or different.

[0038] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment, the user equipment includes: a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform a communication method performed by a user equipment as described above.

[0039] According to a fourth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station, the base station includes: a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform a communication method by a base station as described above.

[0040] According to a fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when run by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform any communication method as described above.

[0041] According to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, scheduling flexibility of downlink data may be improved, and resource allocation may be adjusted timely according to service requirements of the user equipment, thereby improving overall performance of a network.

[0042] It should be understood that the above general description and the detailed descriptions that follow are exemplary and explanatory only and do not limit the present disclosure.

[0043] Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase "associated with," as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The term "controller" means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of," when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, "at least one of: A, B, and C" includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C. Likewise, the term "set" means one or more. Accordingly, a set of items can be a single item or a collection of two or more items.

[0044] Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

[0045] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0046] The figures included herein, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Further, those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged wireless communication system.

[0047] FIGS. 1-3 below describe various embodiments of the present disclosure implemented in wireless communication systems. The descriptions of FIGS. 1-3 are not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations to the manner in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably-arranged communication system.

[0048] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0049] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network includes a base station (next generation nodeB, gNB or gNodeB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0050] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which may be located in a small business; a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R1); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R2); and a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116, as well as subscriber stations (SS, for example, UEs) 117, 118 and 119. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using existing wireless communication techniques, and one or more of the UE 111-119 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., UEs 117-119) using other existing or proposed wireless communication techniques.

[0051] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced (or "evolved") base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a base station-type apparatus and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" (UE) can refer to any component such as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station (SS), remote terminal, wireless terminal, receive point, or user device. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a user equipment-type device and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normally considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0052] Dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0053] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-119 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gNBs 101-103 includes circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof.

[0054] Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the wireless network could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0055] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

[0056] As shown in FIG 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 200a-200n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 201a-201n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 203, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 204. The gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 205, a memory 206, and a backhaul or network interface 207.

[0057] The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive, from the antennas 200a-200n, incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100. The RF transceivers 201a-201n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to the RX processing circuitry 204, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 204 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 205 for further processing.

[0058] The TX processing circuitry 203 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, electronic mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 205. The TX processing circuitry 203 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TX processing circuitry 203 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 201a-201n.

[0059] The controller / processor 205 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 205 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 201a-201n, the RX processing circuitry 204, and the TX processing circuitry 203 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 205 could support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.

[0060] For instance, the controller / processor 205 could support beam forming or directional routing operations in which outgoing signals from multiple antennas 200a-200n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 205.

[0061] The controller / processor 205 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 206, such as an operating system (OS). The controller / processor 205 can move data into or out of the memory 206 as required by an executing process.

[0062] The controller / processor 205 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 207. The backhaul or network interface 207 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The interface 207 could support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The interface 207 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0063] The memory 206 is coupled to the controller / processor 205. Part of the memory 206 could include a random access memory (RAM), and another part of the memory 206 could include a Flash memory or other read only memory (ROM).

[0064] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of each component shown in FIG. 2. As a particular example, an access point could include a number of interfaces 207, and the controller / processor 205 could support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, while shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 203 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 204, the gNB 102 could include multiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver). Also, various components in FIG. 2 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs.

[0065] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 and 117-119 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0066] As shown in FIG. 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, TX processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 305. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller or processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 308, an input device 309, a touchscreen display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an OS 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0067] The RF transceiver 302 receives, from the antenna 301, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuitry 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to the processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0068] The TX processing circuitry 303 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 307. The TX processing circuitry 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0069] The processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 307 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuitry 305, and the TX processing circuitry 303 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0070] The processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 311, such as processes for CSI reporting on uplink channel. The processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 307 is configured to execute the applications 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from gNBs or an operator. The processor 307 is also coupled to the I / O interface 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 308 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 307.

[0071] The processor 307 is also coupled to the touchscreen display 310. The user of the UE 116 can use the touchscreen display 310 to enter data into the UE 116. The touchscreen display 310 may be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0072] The memory 311 is coupled to the processor 307. Part of the memory 311 could include RAM, and another part of the memory 311 could include a Flash memory or other ROM.

[0073] Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, various components in FIG. 3 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 307 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while FIG. 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0074] The 5th generation communication technology, which is mainly characterized by a millimeter-wave technology, has greatly improved throughput of a communication network and brought about improvement of user experience, and has gradually become a mainstream technology of wireless communication worldwide. Due to a large path loss of wireless transmission in a millimeter-wave band, in order to ensure transmission performance, a large-scale antenna technology of analog beam forming has been introduced to ensure coverage performance of millimeter-wave communication by enhancing an antenna gain. A principle of this technology to enhance the coverage is to increase a number of antenna units in an array and increase a phase shifter for each antenna unit, then a "narrower" transmission or reception beam may be formed by adjusting a phase of each antenna unit, the narrow beam makes an energy of a transmission signal more focused in a desired direction of wireless transmission, and thus the coverage capacity may be enhanced. However, the premise of achieving this goal is that a base station and a user equipment may achieve beam pairing, e.g., when the base station communicates downlink with a user equipment, the base station needs to transmit a downlink signal using a transmission beam that is aligned to the user in a spatial direction, and the user equipment needs to receive the downlink signal using a reception beam that is aligned to the base station in the spatial direction. Notably, for communication in the millimeter-wave band, the optimal beam pairing for communication between the base station and the user equipment may be unique.

[0075] Since a beam is generated in an analog domain by adjusting a phase shifter of each antenna unit, this implies that the generated beam is a time-domain beam, i.e., the same antenna panel may only generate one beam at the same time, at which point the base station may only serve user equipments with different beam directions in a time-division manner. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure that the same transmission beam or reception beam is used for a continuous period of time, especially when there are more user equipments and their locations are scattered. The lack of consecutive time resources for repeated transmission of physical signals / channels under the same transmission and / or reception beam conditions is a bottleneck that hinders further improvement of the coverage capability of the millimeter-wave band. A novel antenna technology may improve this problem for the millimeter-wave communication, which is called a Joint Phased and Timed Array (JPTA) technology. The basic principle is that, in addition to the phase shifter of each antenna array element, a delayer is added, transmitting multiple beams or receiving multiple beams in the same time may be achieved by adjusting a phase and / or a delay of each antenna array element, wherein those transmission beams or reception beams are allocated to different frequency subbands that do not overlap each other. The use of the JPTA may support generation of multiple transmission beams or multiple reception beams at the same time without increasing the antenna panel of the communication device. With this technique, it is possible to ensure that the same beam is allocated continuous time resources without interrupting the uplink and / or downlink communications of the user equipment in different beam directions, thereby enhancing the coverage capability of the uplink and / or downlink. Considering that the addition of the delayer requires an increase in the cost of the equipment as well as an increase in the hardware size of the equipment, the JPTA is more suitable for application in the base station.

[0076] Since the JPTA is capable of emitting multiple frequency-division beams at the same time, this technique provides more flexibility for millimeter-wave downlink scheduling, and this flexibility may reduce user delay and thus increase User Perceived Throughput (UPT). However, the current downlink resource allocation method is still only adapted to such millimeter-wave communication that may only emit a beam covering all frequency bands in one direction at the same time, and there is no downlink resource allocation method adapted to a similar technology to the JPTA. In order to fully utilize the scheduling flexibility that may be provided by the JPTA, the present disclosure proposes a downlink resource allocation and a resource allocation method that enable the scheduling flexibility provided by, for example, the JPTA technology or the like. Specifically, in the present disclosure, at least one time unit corresponds to a plurality of subbands, and by including, in configuration information for downlink data reception, information associated with the at least one time unit, information associated with the plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit, the user equipment may, after receiving the configuration information, receive downlink data based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands, so that it is able to make full use of the advantages of the JPTA technique or the like that emits a plurality of frequency-division beams at the same time, thereby improving the continuity of time-domain resources for the user to receive the downlink data, lowering the user latency, and thereby improving the UPT.

[0077] Specifically, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication method performed by a user equipment and a communication method performed by a base station are provided.

[0078] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method performed by a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0079] Referring to FIG. 4, at step S410, configuration information for downlink data reception is received. According to embodiments, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit. According to embodiments, the at least one time unit may be a time unit included in a scheduling unit. As an example, the scheduling unit may be a slot, a micro slot, and the like, but is not limited thereto. According to embodiments, the time unit may be a time domain symbol, e.g., the time unit may be a symbol included in the slot, e.g., an OFDM symbol.

[0080] According to embodiments, step S410 may include: receiving downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information includes the configuration information for downlink data reception; or, receiving high-layer signaling, wherein the high-layer signaling includes the configuration information for downlink data reception. That is, the downlink configuration information may be in the downlink control information or in the high-layer signaling, depending on whether downlink resources are allocated in a dynamic manner. If the downlink resources are allocated in a dynamic manner, the downlink configuration information may be received in the downlink control information. Whereas, if the downlink resources are allocated in a static or semi-static manner, the downlink configuration information may be received in the high-layer signaling.

[0081] According to embodiments, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include at least one of: index information for indicating a predefined subband configuration; at least one of following items corresponding to the predefined subband configuration: a mapping type of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s); starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit; information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment; a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands; index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration; size information of a subband bandwidth; a subband index allocated to the user equipment, but not limited thereto.

[0082] According to embodiments, the subband configuration (the "subband configuration" may also be referred to as "subband allocation", "subband configuration mode", "subband allocation mode ", "subband allocation situation", "subband configuration situation", etc.) may be predefined. For example, the subband configuration of at least one time unit in a scheduling unit may be defined by a predefined method.

[0083] According to embodiments, the predefined subband configuration may include at least one of: starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to at least one time unit; information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment; a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands; index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration; size information of a subband bandwidth; a subband index allocated to the user equipment, but not limited thereto. Optionally, for example, the predefined subband configuration may also include information associated with DMRS(s) on at least one subband.

[0084] According to embodiments, the DMRS(s) on the at least one subband may be used for receiving downlink data. The information associated with the DMRS(s) may be predefined, e.g., the information associated with the DMRS(s) on the at least one subband may be defined in the predefined subband configuration, as described above. Optionally, the information associated with the DMRS(s) on the at least one subband may also be configured by other configuration information (e.g., time domain configuration information), e.g., the user equipment may receive time domain configuration information that may include type information of the DMRS(s), but not limited thereto. For example, the information associated with the DMRS(s) on the at least one subband, such as location(s) of the DMRS(s) on the subband, may be obtained based on the type information of the DMRS(s).

[0085] Optionally, according to embodiments, the predefined subband configuration may include: a first number of time units in time units used for a data channel in a scheduling unit corresponds to N subbands, and a second number of time units in time units used for the data channel corresponds to M subbands, wherein both N and M are positive integers greater than 1, and N and M are the same or different. For example, if the downlink resources are allocated in a dynamic manner, N and M may be different, e.g., N may be 2 and M may be 4. Further, for example, if the downlink resources are allocated in a static or semi-static manner, N and M may be the same. According to embodiments, the first number and the second number may also be the same or different. Optionally, the scheduling unit may include a time unit used for a control channel in addition to the time unit used for the data channel. For example, the time unit used for the control channel may be located before the time unit used for the data channel, but not limited to. For example, the time unit used for the control channel may also be located in or after the data channel. For example, in a case where the number of time units used for the control channel is 2, the first number and the second number may be 6. For another example, in a case where the number of time units used for the control channel is 3, the first number may be 6 and the second number may be 5.

[0086] According to embodiments, the predefined subband configuration may be predefined in a form of a subband configuration pattern, or may also be predefined in other forms, e.g., information that may be used to determine the subband configuration may be predefined, for example, as mentioned above, the predefined subband configuration may include at least one of: starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to at least one time unit; information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment; a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands; index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration; size information of a subband bandwidth; a subband index allocated to the user equipment, but not limited thereto.

[0087] For example, in a case where the downlink resources are allocated in a dynamic manner, an example of the predefined subband configuration may be a subband configuration pattern as shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 or FIG. 7.

[0088] As shown in FIG. 5, the scheduling unit may be a slot, the time unit may be a symbol, and for a slot structure in which the first two symbols are used for the control channel and the remaining symbols are used for the data channel, the predefined subband configuration may include: a way of 4-subband allocation is applied to the first half of the symbols used for the data channel (hereinafter, the symbol used for the data channel may also be referred to as a "data symbol ") , while a way of 2-subband allocation is applied to the second half of the data symbols. That is, each data symbol in the first half of the data symbols corresponds to 4 subbands, and each data symbol in the second half of the data symbols corresponds to 2 subbands.

[0089] As shown in FIG. 6, for a slot structure in which the first two symbols are used for the control channel and the remaining symbols are data symbols, the predefined subband configuration may include: a way of 2-subband allocation is applied to the first half of the data symbols and a way of 4-subband allocation is applied to the second half of the data symbols. That is, each data symbol in the first half of the data symbols corresponds to 2 subbands, and each data symbol in the second half of the data symbols corresponds to 4 subbands.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 7, for a slot structure in which the first three symbols are used for the control channel and the remaining symbols are data symbols, the predefined subband configuration may include: a way of 2-subband allocation is applied to the first 6 data symbols and a way of 4-subband allocation is applied to the remaining data symbols. That is, each of the first 6 data symbols corresponds to 2 subbands, and each of the remaining data symbols corresponds to 4 subbands.

[0091] Optionally, the predefined subband configuration may include, in addition to information about what number of subbands are applied to which data symbols, information related to a bandwidth of a subband corresponding to each data symbol, etc., as mentioned above in the description of the predefined subband configuration.

[0092] It should be noted that the subband configuration methods illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 7 are only examples, and the subband configuration methods according to the present disclosure are not limited to the above examples, but any form of the subband configuration may be defined according to communication requirements.

[0093] In a case where the subband configuration is predefined, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include: index information for indicating the predefined subband configuration. The index information may correspond to each information included in the predefined subband configuration mentioned above, and which predefined subband configuration is to be used may be determined based on the index information. As an example, the index information for indicating the predefined subband configuration may be index information of a predefined subband configuration pattern, but not limited thereto. For example, information associated with the subband configuration pattern such as that shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6, or FIG. 7 may be configured in the downlink control information or the high-layer signaling by means of an index. For example, the subband configuration pattern shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6, or FIG. 7 may be allocated indexes 0, 1, and 2, respectively. In such case, the user equipment, upon acquiring the index information for indicating the predefined subband configuration in the downlink control information at step S410, may determine which predefined subband configuration is to be used based on the index information.

[0094] Optionally, in a case where the subband configuration is predefined, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include at least one of following items corresponding to the predefined subband configuration: a mapping type of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s). For example, in a case where the subband configuration is predefined, a correspondence relationship between the predefined subband configuration and at least one of the mapping type of the PDSCH, the number of first additional DMRS(s), and the location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s) may be further predefined, e.g., a correspondence relationship between a subband configuration pattern index and at least one of the mapping type of the PDSCH, the number of first additional DMRS(s), and the location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s) may be predefined, and such correspondence relationship may be defined in a form of a table, for example, as shown in Table 1 below.

[0095]

[0096] In a case where the subband configuration, and the correspondence relationship between the predefined subband configuration and at least one of the mapping type of the PDSCH, the number of first additional DMRS(s), and the location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s) are predefined, if the user equipment acquires, at step S410, configuration information including at least one of the mapping type of the PDSCH, the number of first additional DMRS(s), and the location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s), it may determine which predefined subband configuration is to be used based on the correspondence relationship between the predefined subband configuration and the at least one of the mapping type of the PDSCH, the number of first additional DMRS(s), and the location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s). For example, the subband configuration pattern index may be determined by looking up Table 1, and the predefined subband configuration corresponding to the subband configuration pattern index is determined in turn. This way of the predefined subband configuration facilitates ensuring that there is a DMRS on each subband, e.g., if the number of first additional DMRSs is sufficient or the locations of the first additional DMRSs are reasonable, it is possible to ensure that there is a DMRS on each subband, and thus channel estimation may be performed for each subband based on the DMRS on the subband. Optionally, the predefined subband configuration may also include at least one of a mapping type of a PDSCH, a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s), i.e., it may also configure at least one of the above as part of the predefined subband configuration.

[0097] Optionally, it may also not predefine the subband configuration, e.g., not predefine the subband configuration pattern. In a case where the subband configuration is not predefined, for example, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include: starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit. For example, the base station may perform subband configuration directly by including a starting symbol index and a subband index for each subband in the downlink control information. For example, the configuration information for downlink data reception included in the downlink control information may include an array including the starting symbol index of the subband, a number of subbands, and the subband index as array elements, such as {{l0,N0,i0},…,{lM-1,NM-1,iM-1}}, wherein lk,k=0,…,M-1 denotes a starting symbol index of the kth subband segment; Nk,k=0,...,M-1 denotes a number of subbands on the kth subband segment; ik,k=0,…,M-1 denotes an index of a subband used by the user equipment on the kth subband segment; and M is a number of subband segments. As an example, M may be notified via the downlink control information or be notified according to the high-layer signaling in a static or semi-static manner. According to embodiments, in a case where the user equipment obtains the starting time unit index information and the subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit included in the configuration information for downlink data reception at step S410, the subband configuration corresponding to at least one symbol may be determined, and the downlink data may thus be received on at least one subband.

[0098] Optionally, in a case where the subband configuration is not predefined, for example, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include: information related to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment.

[0099] For example, possible subband segmentation methods may be specified by means of predefinition. For example, the possible subband segmentation methods may be predefined as shown in Table 2 below, with an index of each subband segmentation method indicating a different subband segmentation method.

[0100]

[0101] Wherein the meanings of M, l and N in Table 2 are the same as the meanings of M, l and N mentioned above and will not be repeated herein.

[0102] According to embodiments, the information related to the subband segmentation method may include an index of the subband segmentation method. In this case, the user equipment may determine the subband segmentation method based on the index of the subband segmentation method included in the configuration information for downlink data reception acquired at step S410, and determine the subband configuration corresponding to at least one time unit based on the determined subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment included in the configuration information for downlink data reception.

[0103] Optionally, it is also possible that the subband segmentation method is not predefined, but the subband segmentation method is directly configured by the base station in the downlink control information. In this case, the information related to the subband segmentation method may include a number of subband segments, a starting time unit index of the segment, and a number of subbands on the segment. The user equipment may determine the subband segmentation method based on the number of subband segments, the start time unit index of the segment, and the number of subbands on the segment included in the configuration information for downlink data reception acquired at step S410, and determine the subband configuration corresponding to the at least one time unit based on the determined subband segmentation method and the index information of the subbands on the at least one subband segment included in the configuration information for downlink data reception .

[0104] Optionally, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include information associated with a subband bandwidth configuration. For example, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include at least one of: a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands; index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration; and size information of a subband bandwidth.

[0105] For example, no matter for which kind of the subband configuration methods mentioned above (e.g., the predefined subband configuration method, or the direct subband configuration method), subband bandwidth configuration may be further performed, and thus, optionally, the configuration information for downlink data reception may also include information associated with the subband bandwidth configuration. For example, the information associated with the subband bandwidth configuration may include at least one of: the number of subbands and the total bandwidth size of all the subbands; the index information for indicating the subband bandwidth configuration; and the size information of the subband bandwidth, but not limited thereto.

[0106] According to embodiments, the subband bandwidths may be the same or different. For a case where the subband bandwidths are the same, the information associated with the subband bandwidth configuration may include the number of subbands and the total bandwidth size of all the subbands, but not limited thereto. For example, the user equipment may calculate a bandwidth of each subband based on the configured number of subbands and the total bandwidth size. Alternatively, a relationship between the total bandwidth size, the number of subbands, and the subband bandwidth may be predefined, for example, as shown in Table 3. In this case, the user equipment may obtain the subband bandwidth by looking up Table 3 based on the number of subbands and the total bandwidth size included in the configuration information for downlink data reception .

[0107]

[0108] According to embodiments, the bandwidth may be an absolute bandwidth or may also be configured in units of physical resource blocks.

[0109] For a case where the subband bandwidths are different, the information associated with the subband bandwidth configuration may include index information for indicating the subband bandwidth configuration, but not limited thereto. For example, subband bandwidth configurations for different total bandwidths may be predefined, e.g., as shown in Table 4 below. The base station may notify, by including the index for indicating the subband bandwidth configuration in the downlink control information, the user equipment of the subband bandwidth configuration, e.g., notify the user equipment of the index in Table 4. The user equipment may determine a corresponding subband bandwidth configuration based on the index.

[0110]

[0111] Alternatively, the subband bandwidth may be configured directly, either for the case where the subband bandwidths are the same or the case where the subband bandwidths are different. In this case, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include size information of the subband bandwidth. For example, in a case where the subband bandwidth is an absolute bandwidth, the size of the subband bandwidth may be directly configured, and in a case where the subband bandwidth is configured in units of physical resource blocks, information such as a starting physical resource block index may be configured.

[0112] Optionally, the configuration information for downlink data reception may include a subband index allocated to the user equipment. For example, as mentioned above, if downlink resources are allocated in a static or semi-static manner, the high-layer signaling may be received at step S410, and the high-layer signaling may include the configuration information for downlink data reception. According to embodiments, the configuration information for downlink data reception in the high-layer signaling may include the subband index allocated to the user equipment, but not limited thereto. For example, in a case where downlink resources are allocated in a static or semi-static manner, the subband configuration may also be pre-defined, e.g., a subband configuration pattern or information used to define the subband configuration pattern may be pre-defined. As an example, the predefined subband configuration may be a subband configuration pattern as shown in FIG. 8, but not limited thereto. Different colors in FIG. 8 represent different subbands. FIG. 8 only illustrates a subband configuration of time units used for a data channel in a scheduling unit. Optionally, for the example subband configuration of FIG. 8, the scheduling unit may also include a time unit used for a control channel, or may not include the time unit used for the control channel, but only include the time unit used for a data channel. In the example of the subband configuration of FIG. 8, all the time units used for the data channel correspond to the same subband configuration. In a case where the subband configuration is pre-defined, the configuration information for downlink data reception included in the high-layer signaling may include only the subband index allocated to the user equipment, and the user equipment may receive the downlink data on the corresponding subband according to the subband index. Optionally, if the subband configuration is not predefined, the configuration information for downlink data reception included in the high-layer signaling may also include, in addition to the subband index allocated to the user equipment, information related to the predefined subband configuration, for example, information such as the number of subbands, etc. The information related to the predefined subband configuration has already been described above and will not be repeated here.

[0113] According to embodiments, no matter for which kind of subband configuration methods as mentioned above, it may occur that it is not possible to ensure there is a DMRS on each subband, however, for better downlink data reception, it is necessary to ensure that there is a DMRS on each subband in order to ensure that it is possible to perform independent channel estimation on each subband. To this end, optionally, the configuration information for downlink data reception as mentioned above may also include index information for a time unit requiring a second additional DMRS. For example, if the information related to the first additional DMRS(s) (e.g., the number of first additional DMRS(s) and / or the location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s)) is not defined in the predefined subband configuration, or if it is not possible to ensure that there is a DMRS on each subband even though the information related to the first additional DMRS(s) is defined, the configuration information for downlink data reception may also include the index information for the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS. Optionally, it is also possible to make the predefined subband configuration include location information of the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS, i.e., the location information of the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS may be configured in a manner of being predefined as part of the subband configuration.

[0114] In addition, no matter for which kind of subband configuration method as mentioned above, optionally, the configuration information for downlink data reception may further include: invalid index related information for configuring one or more unavailable subbands for the user equipment. For example, the invalid index related information may be directly index(s) of one or more subbands that the user equipment cannot use. Alternatively, the invalid index related information may be a threshold for the index of the subband that the user equipment cannot use. For example, if the subband index does not satisfy requirement for the threshold, for example, if the subband index is less than 0 or greater than / equal to the maximum number of subbands of a current subband segment, the subband index is an invalid index, and the user equipment cannot use the subband corresponding to the subband index for downlink data reception. In other words, the user equipment may determine whether the subband index allocated to it is valid or not based on the invalid index related information, and the user equipment can only use the subband corresponding to the valid index for downlink data reception.

[0115] In a communication process, due to some special events, such as a sudden high-priority event in downlink, or a change in amount of service data, it may be impossible to continue to use the current subband configuration, and the base station needs to notify the user equipment to adjust the current subband configuration by way of configuration. In this case, the configuration information for downlink data reception may further include at least one of: indication information for indicating whether a subband configuration is changed; index information of a scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed, wherein the scheduling unit comprises a plurality of time units; a number of subbands and indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed. For example, the base station may notify, in the downlink control information, the indication information for indicating whether the subband configuration is changed, together with an index of the scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed, and the number of subbands and the indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed.

[0116] For example, the indication information for indicating whether the subband configuration has changed may be a 1-bit indication in the downlink control information by which it may be determined whether the subband configuration is changed.

[0117] For example, the index information of the scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed may be a slot index for which the subband configuration is changed. The slot index may be an absolute slot index or a relative slot index. The relative slot index may be an index difference between a slot in which it occurs that the subband configuration method is changed in the user equipment and a slot in which the downlink control information is currently received.

[0118] According to embodiments, by configuring the number of subbands and the indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed, the user equipment may determine whether a subsequent subband is valid. A possible example is that if a subband index previously allocated to the user equipment is not less than 0 while being less than the configured number of subbands, it indicates that the subsequent subband is valid and the user equipment continues to receive downlink data based on the configured number of subbands and the configured subband indexes. If the subband index previously allocated to the user equipment is not less than the configured number of subbands or is less than 0, it indicates that the subsequent subband is invalid and the user equipment does not receive downlink data on the subsequent subband.

[0119] As mentioned above, the bandwidth of each subband may be the same or different, and the subband bandwidth configuration may also be performed in the subband configuration adjustment. For example, information associated with the subband bandwidth configuration may be included in the downlink configuration information. The subband bandwidth configuration has been described above and will not be repeated here.

[0120] Optionally, after the subband configuration adjustment is performed, due to the completion or disappearance of a special event, it may be necessary to configure the user equipment to adopt the subband configuration before being adjusted for downlink data reception. For example, a possible configuration method may be to:

[0121] 1. Re-perform subband configuration. The specific configuration method may be done by using the subband configuration method described above and will not be repeated here.

[0122] 2. Include, in the configuration information for downlink data reception, indication information for restoring the subband configuration (also referred to as "restoration subband configuration adjustment information") to inform the user equipment to adopt the subband configuration before being adjusted for downlink data reception. For example, the base station may insert the indication information for restoring the subband configuration in the downlink control information, and if the user equipment receives the indication information, the downlink data reception is performed according to the subband configuration before being adjusted. According to embodiments, the indication information for restoring the subband configuration may be a 1-bit indication, e.g., it indicates to maintain the current subband configuration by a bit 0 and it indicates to restore the original subband configuration by a bit 1. Alternatively, the indication information for restoring the subband configuration may be indicated by whether the 1-bit indication information in the downlink control information is flipped. For example, if this 1-bit indication information is the same as the previously received indication information (both bit 0 or both bit 1), the current subband configuration is maintained; if this 1-bit indication information is flipped compared to the previously received indication information (previously bit 0, currently bit 1, or previously bit 1, currently bit 0), the original subband configuration is restored.

[0123] 3. Include, in the configuration information for downlink data reception, information related to a duration for which the subband configuration is changed. The information related to the duration for which the subband configuration is changed may be a number of scheduling units (e.g., a number of slots, or a number of mini slots), or a number of time units (e.g., a number of symbols), etc. The user equipment may use the adjusted subband configuration for data reception and count the number of scheduling units or the number of time units until the count value reaches the configured duration of the subband configuration and the user equipment restores the subband configuration before being adjusted.

[0124] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating subband configuration adjustment and restoration according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, the user equipment may perform subband configuration adjustment based on subband configuration adjustment information when the user equipment obtains the subband configuration adjustment information, and subsequently, the user equipment may restore the previous subband configuration if restoration subband configuration adjustment information is received.

[0125] Referring back to FIG. 4, at step S420, the downlink data is received based on a DMRS on at least one of the plurality of subbands. According to embodiments, the step S420 may include: determining, based on the above configuration information for downlink data reception , a subband allocated to the user equipment on each of the at least one time unit, and receiving the downlink data by performing channel estimation for each subband based on a DMRS on each subband allocated to the user equipment. As mentioned above, the downlink data may be downlink data sent by the base station using the JPTA. For example, the downlink data may be allocated to the user equipment in a dynamic manner, or the downlink data may be allocated to the user equipment in a static or semi-static manner. For example, the user equipment may determine, based on the configuration information for downlink data reception, a subband allocated to the user equipment on each of at least one symbol in the scheduling unit, and perform channel estimation based on a DMRS on each subband, thereby realizing the downlink data reception.

[0126] The communication method performed by a user equipment has been described above with reference to FIG. 4 and in conjunction with FIGS. 5 to 9. According to the above communication method, since the at least one time unit corresponds to the plurality of subbands, and since the information associated with the at least one time unit, and the information associated with the plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit are included in the configuration information for downlink data reception , the user equipment, after receiving the configuration information, may receive the downlink data according to the DMRS on at least one subband of the plurality of subbands, so that it is able to make full use of the advantages of the JPTA technique or the like that emits a plurality of frequency-division beams at the same time, thereby improving the continuity of time-domain resources for the user to receive the downlink data, lowering the user latency, and thereby improving the UPT.

[0127] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, there is also provided a communication method performed by a base station. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method performed by a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0128] Referring to FIG. 10, at step S1010, configuration information for downlink data reception may be transmitted to a user equipment. As described above, the configuration information for downlink data reception includes information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit. According to embodiments, at step S1010, downlink control information may be transmitted to the user equipment, wherein the downlink control information includes the configuration information for downlink data reception, or, high-layer signaling may be transmitted to the user equipment, wherein the high-layer signaling includes the configuration information for downlink data reception. In the above, the relevant content of the configuration information for downlink data reception has been described, and the relevant details may be found in the description above, and will not be repeated here.

[0129] At step S1020, the downlink data may be transmitted to the user equipment. For example, the downlink data may be transmitted using the JPTA or a similar technique. According to embodiments, the downlink data is received by the user equipment based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

[0130] The various communication methods provided according to the present disclosure as described above are capable of improving scheduling flexibility of the downlink data (e.g., improving scheduling flexibility of transmiting the downlink data using the JPTA or a similar technique), and are capable of timely adjusting resource allocations according to the service requirements of the user equipment, thereby improving the overall performance of the network.

[0131] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a user equipment and a base station are also provided.

[0132] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 11, the user equipment 1100 may include a transceiver 1110, a processor 1120 and a memory, wherein the processor 1120 is coupled to the transceiver 1110 and configured to perform a communication method performed by a user equipment as described above. The transceiver 1110, the memory, and the processor 1120 of the UE may operate according to a communication method of the UE described above. However, the components of the UE are not limited thereto. For example, the UE may include more or fewer components than those described above. In addition, the processor 1120, the transceiver 1110, and the memory may be implemented as a single chip. Also, the processor 1120 may include at least one processor.

[0133] By way of example, the user equipment may be a PC computer, a tablet apparatus, a personal digital assistant, a smartphone, or other device capable of executing a set of instructions described above. In addition, the user equipment does not have to be a single user equipment, but may also be any collection of apparatuses or circuits capable of executing instructions (or sets of instructions) individually or jointly. The user equipment may also be part of an integrated control system or system manager, or may be any portable electronic device.

[0134] In the user equipment, the processor 1120 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphic processing unit (GPU), a programmable logic apparatus, a dedicated processor system, a microcontroller, or a microprocessor, etc. By way of example and not limitation, the processor may also include an analog processor, a digital processor, a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, a processor array, and the like.

[0135] The transceiver 1110 collectively refers to a UE receiver and a UE transmitter, and may transmit / receive a signal to / from a base station or a network entity. The signal transmitted or received to or from the base station or a network entity may include control information and data. The transceiver 1110 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for amplifying low-noise and down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, this is only an example of the transceiver 1110 and components of the transceiver 1110 are not limited to the RF transmitter and the RF receiver.

[0136] Also, the transceiver 1110 may receive and output, to the processor 1120, a signal through a wireless channel, and transmit a signal output from the processor 1120 through the wireless channel.

[0137] The memory may store a program and data required for operations of the UE. Also, the memory may store control information or data included in a signal obtained by the UE. The memory may be a storage medium, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media.

[0138] The processor 1120 may control a series of processes such that the UE operates as described above. For example, the transceiver 1110 may receive a data signal including a control signal transmitted by the base station or the network entity, and the processor 1120 may determine a result of receiving the control signal and the data signal transmitted by the base station or the network entity.

[0139] FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 12, the base station 1200 may include a transceiver 1210, a processor 1220 and a memory, wherein the processor 1220 is coupled to the transceiver 1210 and configured to perform a communication method performed by a base station as described above. The transceiver 1210, the memory, and the processor 1220 of the base station may operate according to a communication method of the base station described above. However, the components of the base station are not limited thereto. For example, the base station may include more or fewer components than those described above. In addition, the processor 1220, the transceiver 1210, and the memory may be implemented as a single chip. Also, the processor 1220 may include at least one processor.

[0140] The transceiver 1210 collectively refers to a base station receiver and a base station transmitter, and may transmit / receive a signal to / from a terminal or a network entity. The signal transmitted or received to or from the terminal or a network entity may include control information and data. The transceiver 1210 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for amplifying low-noise and down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, this is only an example of the transceiver 1210 and components of the transceiver 1210 are not limited to the RF transmitter and the RF receiver.

[0141] Also, the transceiver 1210 may receive and output, to the processor 1220, a signal through a wireless channel, and transmit a signal output from the processor 1220 through the wireless channel.

[0142] The memory may store a program and data required for operations of the base station. Also, the memory may store control information or data included in a signal obtained by the base station. The memory may be a storage medium, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media.

[0143] The processor 1220 may control a series of processes such that the base station operates as described above. For example, the transceiver 1210 may receive a data signal including a control signal transmitted by the terminal, and the processor 1220 may determine a result of receiving the control signal and the data signal transmitted by the terminal. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium storing instructions is also provided. The instructions, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform any of the communication methods as mentioned above. Examples of computer-readable storage media herein include: Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Programmable Read Only Memory (RAPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), flash memory, non-volatile memory, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW, CD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-R LTH, BD-RE, Blue-ray or optical disk storage, Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD), card storage (such as multimedia cards, secure digital (SD) cards or extremely fast digital (XD) cards), magnetic tapes, floppy disks, magneto-optical data storage devices, optical data storage devices, hard disks, solid state disks, and any other devices that are configured to store computer programs and any associated data, data files and data structures in a non-transitory manner and provide the computer programs and any associated data, data files and data structures to a processor or computer so that the processor or computer can execute the computer programs. The instructions or computer programs in the computer-readable storage medium described above may be executed in an environment deployed in a computer device, such as client, host, proxy device, server, etc. In addition, in one example, the computer programs and any associated data, data files, and data structures are distributed on a networked computer system, so that the computer programs and any associated data, data files, and data structures are stored, accessed and executed through one or more processors or computers in a distributed manner.

[0144] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily be conceived by those skill in the art after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. The present disclosure is intended to cover any variation, use, or adaptation of the present disclosure that follows the general principle of the present disclosure and includes commonly known or customary technical means in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and embodiments are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of the disclosure is limited by the claims.

Claims

1.A communication method performed by a user equipment comprising:receiving configuration information for downlink data reception, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit;receiving the downlink data based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.2.The communication method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises:receiving downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception; orreceiving high-layer signaling, wherein the high-layer signaling comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception.3.The communication method of claim 2, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises at least one of:index information for indicating a predefined subband configuration;at least one of following items corresponding to the predefined subband configuration: a mapping type of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s);starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit;information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment;a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands;index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration;size information of a subband bandwidth;a subband index allocated to the user equipment.4.The communication method of claim 3, whereinthe configuration information for downlink data reception further comprises index information for a time unit requiring a second additional DMRS; orthe predefined subband configuration comprises location information for the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS.5.The communication method of claim 3, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception further comprises:invalid index related information for configuring one or more unavailable subbands for the user equipment.6.The communication method of claim 3, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception further comprises at least one of:indication information for indicating whether a subband configuration is changed;index information of a scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed, wherein the scheduling unit comprises a plurality of time units;a number of subbands and indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed;information relating to a duration for which the subband configuration is changed;indication information for restoring the subband configuration.7.The communication method of claim 3, wherein the predefined subband configuration comprises:a first number of time units in time units used for a data channel in a scheduling unit corresponds to N subbands, and a second number of time units in time units used for the data channel corresponds to M subbands, wherein both N and M are positive integers greater than 1, and N and M are the same or different.8.A communication method performed by a base station comprising:transmitting configuration information for downlink data reception to a user equipment, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit;transmitting the downlink data to the user equipment, wherein the downlink data is received by the user equipment based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.9.The communication method of claim 8, wherein the transmitting of the configuration information for downlink data reception to the user equipment comprises:transmitting downlink control information to the user equipment, wherein the downlink control information comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception; ortransmitting high-layer signaling to the user equipment, wherein the high-layer signaling comprises the configuration information for downlink data reception.10.The communication method of claim 9, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises at least one of:index information for indicating a predefined subband configuration;at least one of following items corresponding to the predefined subband configuration: a mapping type of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a number of first additional DMRS(s), and location(s) of the first additional DMRS(s);starting time unit index information and subband index information for each subband corresponding to the at least one time unit;information relating to a subband segmentation method and index information of subbands on at least one subband segment;a number of subbands and a total bandwidth size of all the subbands;index information for indicating a subband bandwidth configuration;size information of a subband bandwidth;a subband index allocated to the user equipment.11.The communication method of claim 10, whereinthe configuration information for downlink data reception further comprises index information for a time unit requiring a second additional DMRS; orthe predefined subband configuration comprises location information for the time unit requiring the second additional DMRS.12.The communication method of claim 10, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception further comprises:invalid index related information for configuring one or more unavailable subbands for the user equipment.13.The communication method of claim 10, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception further comprises at least one of:indication information for indicating whether a subband configuration is changed;index information of a scheduling unit in which the subband configuration is changed, wherein the scheduling unit comprises a plurality of time units;a number of subbands and indexes of the subbands allocated to the user equipment after the subband configuration is changed;information relating to a duration for which the subband configuration is changed;indication information for restoring the subband configuration.14.A user equipment comprising:a transceiver; anda processor coupled to the transceiver;the processor configured to:receive configuration information for downlink data reception, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit;receive the downlink data based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.15.A base station comprising:a transceiver; anda processor coupled to the transceiver;the processor configured to:transmit configuration information for downlink data reception to a user equipment, wherein the configuration information for downlink data reception comprises information associated with at least one time unit, information associated with a plurality of subbands corresponding to the at least one time unit;transmit the downlink data to the user equipment, wherein the downlink data is received by the user equipment based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

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