Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and an apparatus. The method comprises: a first communication apparatus receives configuration information on a first cell, then receives a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and receives a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource, and then may send channel state information (CSI), wherein the RAT used by the first cell is a first RAT, the configuration information can be used for configuring the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource complies with the protocol specifications of a second RAT, and the CSI is obtained on the basis of the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal. The first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are configured for the first communication apparatus, such that the first communication apparatus can measure the reference signals of different RATs, so as to help to improve the performance of beam management / channel measurement, thereby reducing reference signal resource overheads, and improving spectrum sharing efficiency.

Description

A communication method and apparatus

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410551239.1, filed on April 30, 2024, entitled “A communication method and apparatus”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0004] Spectrum sharing is an effective means to improve spectrum utilization and spectrum efficiency. Spectrum sharing includes static spectrum sharing and dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS). Among them, static spectrum sharing refers to providing dedicated carriers for different radio access technologies (RATs) in the same frequency band. This approach is “simple and transparent”, but the spectrum utilization is relatively low. Dynamic spectrum sharing refers to dynamically and flexibly allocating spectrum resources for different RATs in the same frequency band. This approach can improve spectrum efficiency and is conducive to the smooth evolution between different RATs, such as the smooth evolution between the 4th generation (4G) and the 5th generation (5G) RATs, and the smooth evolution between the 5G and the 6th generation (6G) RATs.

[0005] For example, taking the dynamic spectrum sharing between long term evolution (LTE) in 4G and new radio (NR) in 5G as an example. In order to solve the problem of poor coverage of the high frequency band of NR (i.e., the frequency band above 6 gigahertz (GHz), such as the millimeter wave frequency band), NR also hopes to be able to communicate using certain low frequency bands of LTE to ensure coverage requirements. Based on this, the existing standard introduces dynamic spectrum sharing between LTE and NR. Among them, dynamic spectrum sharing can transmit 4G data and 5G data in the same frequency band through frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing. For example, the dynamic sharing of resources can be performed in the time domain with a millisecond level granularity and in the frequency domain with a resource block (RB) level granularity according to the traffic volume of 4G and 5G. In this way, by introducing dynamic spectrum sharing, the smooth evolution between different RATs can be realized, which helps to ensure the performance experience of existing 4G users, minimizes the impact on existing 4G users, and accelerates the pace of 5G deployment.

[0006] Based on this, how to improve the spectrum sharing efficiency still needs further research. SUMMARY

[0007] The present application provides a communication method and device to reduce the reference signal resource overhead and improve the spectrum sharing efficiency.

[0008] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a first communication device. The first communication device can be a terminal device or a module (such as a processor, processing unit, chip system, circuit or chip, etc.) in the terminal device. The method can include the following steps: the first communication device receives configuration information on a first cell, then the first communication device can receive a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource, and then the first communication device can send channel state information (CSI), wherein the first cell adopts a first radio access technology (RAT), the configuration information can be used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource is subject to the protocol specification of a second RAT, and the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal.

[0009] In the method, by configuring the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource for the first communication device, the first communication device can measure the reference signals of different RATs (i.e., the first communication device can jointly use the first reference signal and the second reference signal), which helps the first communication device to perform beam measurement (or channel measurement (or can be called CSI measurement)) using the first reference signal and to perform beam measurement (or channel measurement) using the second reference signal, which helps to improve the performance of beam management / channel measurement, thereby reducing the reference signal resource overhead and improving the spectrum sharing efficiency.

[0010] Correspondingly, in a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a second communication device. The second communication device can be a network device or a module (such as a processor, processing unit, chip system, circuit or chip, etc.) in the network device. The method can include the following steps: the second communication device sends configuration information on a first cell, then the second communication device can send a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource, and then the second communication device can receive CSI, wherein the first cell adopts a first RAT, the configuration information can be used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource is subject to the protocol specification of a second RAT, and the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal.

[0011] The technical effects achieved by the second aspect can refer to the technical effects achieved by the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, the CSI can include first CSI and second CSI, where the first CSI is obtained by measuring the first reference signal, and the second CSI is obtained by measuring the second reference signal.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the configuration information can include first resource configuration, and the first resource configuration can include a first resource set and a second resource set, where the first resource set can be used to configure the first reference signal resource, and the second resource set can be used to configure the second reference signal resource.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the configuration information can further include reporting configuration, where the reporting configuration can be used to configure parameters for sending the CSI; and the reporting configuration can be associated with the first resource set and the second resource set.

[0015] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second communication device sends first information, and the first communication device correspondingly receives the first information, where the first information can be used to indicate that the CSI is sent based on a first mode or a second mode, the first mode refers to that the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and the second mode refers to that the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal or the second reference signal.

[0016] In the implementation, the first information can be used to explicitly indicate the first communication device to send the CSI according to which mode (for example, the first mode or the second mode), that is, to indicate the first communication device to perform reference signal measurement and CSI reporting according to which mode, and the explicit indication does not increase the restriction on configuration, and is more flexible. In addition, the method can also be indicated semi-statically or dynamically, to flexibly control the reference signal measurement and CSI reporting process.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the antenna port number corresponding to the first reference signal resource can be the same as the antenna port number corresponding to the second reference signal resource.

[0018] In the implementation, when the antenna ports are the same, the measurement result can be obtained based on the reference signals of the two RATs, or the measurement result can be obtained based on the reference signals of one RAT, which can improve the measurement accuracy or reduce the feedback period (or feedback delay), and is helpful to save resource overhead.

[0019] Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first reference signal resource can correspond to N1 antenna ports, and the second reference signal resource can correspond to N2 antenna ports, where the N1 antenna ports are different from the N2 antenna ports. In this way, when the antenna ports are different, the measurement result corresponding to more antenna ports can be obtained based on the reference signals of the two RATs, so that the existing reference signals in the network can be fully utilized, and resource overhead can be saved.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first communication apparatus sends capability information, and the second communication apparatus correspondingly receives the capability information, where the capability information can be used to indicate support for configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0021] In the above implementation manner, by feeding back the capability information, the second communication apparatus can timely and effectively configure the corresponding reference signal resource for the first communication apparatus.

[0022] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the measurement result can include at least one of the following: a reference signal resource indication, a layer 1-reference signal received power, a layer 1-signal to interference plus noise ratio, a channel quality indication, a precoding matrix indication, a rank indication, or a layer indication.

[0023] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has the functions of the first aspect to the second aspect, for example, the communication apparatus includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the operations of the first aspect to the second aspect, and the functions or units or means can be implemented by software or by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0024] In a possible implementation manner, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver unit (or can be referred to as a communication module or a transceiver module or a communication module, used for transmitting and receiving data) and a processing unit (or can be referred to as a processing module), where the transceiver unit can be used to transceive signals to realize communication between the communication apparatus and other apparatuses, for example, the transceiver unit is used to transmit data to the cloud; the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication apparatus. The functions performed by the transceiver unit and the processing unit can correspond to the operations of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0025] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor that can be coupled to a memory. The memory can store necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions described in the first to second aspects above. The processor can execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, causing the communication device to implement the methods in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects above, when the computer programs or instructions are executed.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, the memory of which may store necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions involved in the first to second aspects described above. The processor may execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, cause the communication device to implement the methods in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

[0027] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit (or communication interface), wherein the processor is used to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and to execute the methods in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above. The interface circuit is used to enable communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor of the communication device to other communication devices, such as the transmission or reception of data and / or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface.

[0028] It is understood that, in the third aspect mentioned above, the processor can be implemented in hardware or software. When implemented in hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, integrated circuit, etc.; when implemented in software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor that reads software code stored in memory. Furthermore, there can be one or more processors, and one or more memories. The memory can be integrated with the processor or separated from it. In specific implementations, the memory can be integrated with the processor on the same chip or disposed on different chips. This application does not limit the type of memory or the arrangement of the memory and processor.

[0029] Fourthly, this application provides a possible communication system, which may include the first communication device and the second communication device mentioned in the first or second aspect above. The functional implementation of the first or second communication device can be found in the relevant descriptions mentioned in the first or second aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0030] For example, the communication system may include one or more first communication devices and one or more second communication devices.

[0031] Fifthly, this application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0032] In a sixth aspect, this application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0033] In a seventh aspect, this application provides a chip that may include a processor and may also include a memory (or the chip may be coupled to the memory). The chip executes program instructions in the memory to enable the chip to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation of the second aspect described above. Here, "coupling" refers to two components being directly or indirectly connected to each other, such as coupling referring to an electrical connection between two components.

[0034] Eighthly, this application also provides a chip system including a processor for supporting a computer device in implementing the methods of any possible implementation of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. In one possible implementation, the chip system further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0035] Based on the implementation methods provided in the above aspects, this application can be further combined to provide more implementation methods. Attached Figure Description

[0036] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of the beam coverage area of ​​a network device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0037] Figure 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0038] Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of beam measurement feedback provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 5a illustrates an exemplary schematic diagram of a reference signal period and measurement result reporting provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0041] Figure 5b illustrates, exemplarily, another schematic diagram of reference signal period and measurement result reporting provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0042] Figure 6a illustrates an exemplary CSI reporting diagram provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0043] Figure 6b illustrates, exemplarily, another CSI reporting schematic diagram provided by an embodiment of this application;

[0044] Figure 6c illustrates, exemplarily, another CSI reporting schematic diagram provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0045] Figure 7 illustrates a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0046] Figure 8 illustrates a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0047] Figure 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of a possible communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0048] Figure 10 illustrates a schematic diagram of another possible communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0049] Before introducing the technical solutions provided in this application, some of the terms used in this application will be explained in order to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0050] (1) Beam: refers to the main lobe of the directional array pattern. Network devices (such as base stations) can adjust the antenna weights so that the network device's beam can point in different directions, resulting in different coverage areas (or coverage regions or geographical coverage ranges). In this application, the coverage range of the beam can refer to the coverage area of ​​the beam on the ground. For example, the coverage range of the beam can include at least one location point. As the satellite moves and the weights are adjusted, the coverage range of the beam will also change.

[0051] Understandably, a beam can be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or other types of beam. The technology used to form the beam can be beamforming technology or other technologies. Specifically, beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology, etc. Beams can be associated with resources. For example, during beam measurement, network devices can measure different beams using different resources. The terminal device provides feedback on the measured resource quality, allowing the network device to determine the quality of the corresponding beam. In data transmission, beam information is also indicated through its corresponding resources. For example, network devices use the transmission configuration indicator (TCI) field in downlink control information (DCI) to indicate the information of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam on the terminal device.

[0052] For example, network devices can generate different beams pointing in different transmission directions. In downlink data transmission, when a network device sends data to a terminal device using a specific beam, it needs to inform the terminal device of the transmit beam information so that the terminal device can use the corresponding receive beam to receive the data sent by the network device.

[0053] Optionally, in some embodiments, multiple beams having the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as a single beam. A beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and probe signals, etc. One or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

[0054] In this application, unless otherwise specified, a beam refers to the transmit beam of a network device. In beam measurement, each beam of a network device corresponds to a resource, and therefore the beam corresponding to that resource can be uniquely identified by the resource index.

[0055] (2) Resources: The protocol does not directly use the term "beam" to characterize beams, but uses other methods to implicitly describe beam-related operations. For example, in beam measurement, there is a correspondence between beams and resources (network devices use a beam to transmit their corresponding resources), and the quality of the resource measured by the terminal device is equivalent to the quality of the beam. Resources in the embodiments of this application may include, for example, the resources of reference signals.

[0056] The resources in the embodiments of this application may include at least one of time-domain resources or frequency-domain resources.

[0057] Time-domain resources may include at least one of the following: radio frames, subframes, slots, mini slots, or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. A radio frame may include multiple subframes, a subframe may include one or more slots, and a slot may include at least one symbol. Alternatively, a radio frame may include multiple slots, and a slot may include at least one symbol. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, an OFDM symbol may also be simply referred to as a symbol.

[0058] Frequency domain resources may include at least one of resource element (RE), RB, channel, subchannel, carrier, or bandwidth part (BWP). In the embodiments of this application, a channel may also be equivalently replaced by a resource block set (RB set), and the frequency domain bandwidth of an RB set may be 20 megahertz (MHz).

[0059] (3) Synchronization Signal and PBCH Block (SSB) (or Synchronization Signal Block): The SSB consists of three parts: primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), and PBCH. Both PSS and SSS are synchronization signals. PSS can be used to transmit the cell number, and SSS can be used to transmit the cell group number. The cell number and cell group number together determine the multiple physical cell identities (PCIs) in the communication system. PBCH can be used by terminal devices to obtain information about the cell they are accessing. For example, a terminal device can receive the main information block (MIB) through the SSB, thereby obtaining the system information block (SIB1) associated with the SSB. It is understood that the SSB can be used by terminal devices to perform time-frequency tracking (or time-frequency synchronization), beam management, radio resource measurement, or radio link monitoring (RLM), etc.

[0060] (4) Relationship between SSB and beam: Network devices (such as base stations or satellites) may use multiple antennas to enhance coverage, but using multiple antennas results in very narrow beams, which are difficult to cover the entire cell with a single narrow beam. Furthermore, due to hardware limitations, network devices often cannot simultaneously transmit signals through multiple beams to cover the entire cell. Therefore, communication systems have introduced beam scanning technology, allowing network devices to transmit signals through different beams at different times. Thus, communication systems employ beam scanning to cover the entire cell; that is, network devices can cover a portion of the cell with a portion of the beams at one time, and then cover another portion of the cell with a different portion of the beams at another time.

[0061] Referring to Figure 1, a network device can send a beam in a specific direction at a given time, and cover the entire cell by sending beams in different directions at multiple times. It can be understood that each beam can be indicated by the index of the SSB transmitted on that beam (called the SSB index). For example, the network device covers the entire cell using beam 0 (for sending SSB#0), beam 1 (for sending SSB#1), ..., beam N-1 (for sending SSB#N-1), and beam N (for sending SSB#N). It can be seen that any two beams can have different directions, and the SSB indices corresponding to the two SSBs transmitted through any two beams will also be different.

[0062] (5) Quasi-co-location (QCL): Two signals transmitted from the same antenna port will theoretically experience the same wireless channel, while two signals transmitted from two different antenna ports will theoretically experience different wireless channels. According to the protocol definition, in some cases, signals transmitted from two different antenna ports will experience wireless channels with common characteristics; such antenna ports are called quasi-co-locations, or QCLs. Alternatively, it can be described as signals transmitted from such antenna ports having a QCL relationship. For example, when two ports have a QCL relationship, the channel estimation result obtained from one port can be used for the other port.

[0063] In downlink data transmission, when a network device sends data to a terminal device using a specific beam, it needs to inform the terminal device of the transmit beam information it is using. This way, the terminal device can use the receive beam corresponding to that transmit beam to receive the data sent by the network device.

[0064] In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 15 / R16 protocols, network devices use the TCI field in the DCI (Digital Channel Interface) to indicate to terminal devices information about the transmit beam they are using. For example, the TCI field is 3 bits in size and can represent 8 different codepoints. Each value in the TCI field corresponds to an index of a TCI-state, which uniquely identifies a TCI-state. A TCI-state includes several parameters that determine the transmit beam information. Each TCI-state includes its own index (TCI-state identifier) ​​and two QCL (Quality Channel Information) entries (QCL-Info). Each QCL-Info includes a cell field and a bwp-Id, indicating which cell and which bwp (bandwidth part) the TCI-state applies to; different cells or different bwps within the same cell can be configured with different QCL-Infos. The QCL-Info also includes a reference signal, indicating which reference signal resource constitutes the QCL relationship.

[0065] It should be understood that the term "beam" generally does not appear directly in the R15 / R16 protocols; it is usually replaced by other terms. For example, in data transmission and channel measurement, beams correspond to reference signal resources, with one beam corresponding to one reference signal resource. Therefore, when it is said that a QCL relationship is formed with a reference signal resource, it essentially means that a QCL relationship is formed with a beam. A QCL relationship means that multiple reference signal resources (or multiple antenna ports) have certain common spatial parameters. Which spatial parameters are the same depends on the type of the QCL-Info, namely another field of the QCL-Info, QCL-Type. QCL-Type can have four values: {typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD}. Taking typeD as an example, typeD indicates that two reference signal resources have the same spatial reception parameter information, that is, two beams have the same reception beam. At most one of the two QCL-Infos included in the TCI-state can be typeD.

[0066] Furthermore, the embodiments of this application involve the transmission of some reference signals. Reference signals, also known as "pilot" signals, are known signals sent from the transmitter to the receiver for channel estimation or channel sounding. Functionally, reference signals can include demodulation reference signals (DMRS), SSB, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), and sounding reference signals (SRS), etc. Reference signals are generally used for measurements (such as channel state measurements or signal quality measurements), channel estimation, auxiliary signal demodulation, and detection. For example, DMRS and CSI-RS can be used to acquire channel information, and PTRS can be used to acquire phase change information.

[0067] For example, reference signals with a QCL relationship correspond to the same parameters; or, the parameters corresponding to one reference signal (also called QCL parameters) can be used as a QCL source to determine the parameters corresponding to another reference signal with a QCL relationship; or, two reference signals correspond to the same parameters; or, the difference between the parameters corresponding to two reference signals is less than a certain threshold. These parameters can include one or more of the following: delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay, average gain, and spatial Rx parameters. Spatial Rx parameters can include one or more of the following: angle of arrival (AOA), average AOA, AOA spread, angle of departure (AOD), average departure angle AOD, AOD spread, receive antenna spatial correlation parameters, transmit antenna spatial correlation parameters, transmit beam, receive beam, and resource identifier.

[0068] In the NR protocol, QCL relationships can be categorized into four types based on different parameters, as shown below:

[0069] QCL-type A, QCL-type B, and QCL-type C are applicable to all frequency bands, while QCL-type D is only used for high-frequency bands (such as above 6 GHz).

[0070] (6) CSI-RS: In NR, network devices are configured with a downlink reference signal CSI-RS, which terminal devices can use to perform measurements. There are various purposes for measuring the reference signal, such as: channel quality measurement (also known as CSI measurement), beam management, time / frequency tracking, or mobility management, etc.

[0071] The reference signal resources used for CSI measurements and beam management include non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS, the reference signal used for time-frequency tracking is called the tracking reference signal (TRS) (or CSI-RS for Tracking), and the reference signal used for mobility management is called CSI-RS for mobility. It is evident that CSI-RS can be used for different purposes depending on the configuration.

[0072] For example, when CSI-RS is used for measurement, the terminal device can measure the CSI-RS from the network device, estimate the CSI, and feed the estimated CSI back to the network device, for example, in the form of a CSI measurement report. Then, the network device can obtain accurate channel state information based on the CSI reported by the terminal device, thereby selecting appropriate precoding, modulation, and coding schemes to make the CSI more suitable for the current channel (e.g., physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / PDSCH). Optionally, the CSI (or CSI measurement report) can be sent by the terminal device to the network device via the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0073] For example, the CSI (or CSI measurement report) reported by the terminal device includes, but is not limited to, one or more of the following information:

[0074] (a) Channel Quality Indicator (CQI). The CQI indicates the channel quality. The terminal device can determine the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for transmitting data based on the CQI.

[0075] (b) Precoding Matrix Indication (PMI). The PMI is an index to the precoding matrix recommended by the terminal device. The network device can determine the precoding for sending data to the terminal device based on the PMI. The PMI indicates the codebook basis and codebook coefficients. The codebook basis can be a domain matrix, such as a spatial domain matrix, a frequency domain matrix, or a space-frequency domain matrix.

[0076] (c) Channel State Information Reference Signal Resource Indicator (CSI-RS Resource Indicator, CRI). The CRI is an index of recommended CSI-RS resources, corresponding to recommended beams. For example, network devices may send CSI-RS to terminal devices using different beams on CSI-RS resources. The terminal device can then report the resource indication of the CSI-RS corresponding to the optimal beam to the base station, thus completing the optimal beam selection.

[0077] (d) Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator (SS / PBCH block resource indicator, SSBRI). SSBRI is the resource index corresponding to the SSB.

[0078] (e) Layer indicator (LI). The LI indicates a column of the precoding matrix corresponding to the reported PMI, which corresponds to the strongest layer of the codeword with a large bandwidth CQI.

[0079] (f) Rank indicator (RI). Network devices can determine the number of data streams sent to terminal devices based on the RI.

[0080] (g) Layer 1 reference signal receiving power (L1-RSRP). L1-RSRP can represent the linear average power of the resource element (RE) (or resource cell or resource particle) carrying the RS, and can be used to evaluate downlink transmission performance.

[0081] (h) Layer 1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (L1-SINR). Wherein, L1-SINR refers to the ratio of the strength of the received useful signal to the strength of the received interference signal (noise and interference).

[0082] For example, the time-domain characteristics of CSI-RS resources may include periodicity, semi-persistence (or semi-static), or aperiodicity. The time-domain characteristics of CSI-reported resources may also include periodicity, semi-persistence, or aperiodicity.

[0083] When CSI-RS is used for time-frequency synchronization, terminal devices can achieve precise time-frequency synchronization through CSI-RS. For example, when trs-info is set to True in NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet, the TRS in NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet uses the same port. TRS must be configured in radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

[0084] For example, the Resource Set of a TRS can be configured as periodic or aperiodic. For aperiodic TRS, the time-domain resources and frequency-domain bandwidth are consistent with those of periodic TRS, and they share QCL Type-A and Type-D transitive relationships. Aperiodic TRS can be triggered via DCI.

[0085] (7) Antenna Port: An antenna port can be simply referred to as a port. It can be understood as a transmitting antenna that is recognized by the receiving device, or a transmitting antenna that can be distinguished in space. An antenna port can be pre-configured for each virtual antenna. Each virtual antenna can be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas. Each antenna port can correspond to a reference signal. Therefore, each antenna port can be called a port of a reference signal, such as a CSI-RS port. In the protocol, antenna ports are usually characterized by "antenna port" or "port", or they can be characterized by resources (such as CSI-RS resources, SSB resources, etc.).

[0086] In this embodiment, the network device can configure one or more reference signal resource sets (such as CSI-RS resource sets, which can be configured by the network device via RRC signaling) for the terminal device. For example, taking a CSI-RS resource set as an example, each CSI-RS resource set can contain one or more CSI-RS resources. Each CSI-RS resource can be configured with one or more antenna ports, and each CSI-RS resource can be mapped to one or more OFDM symbols. For example, currently in 3GPP versions R15 to R18, each CSI-RS resource can be configured with a maximum of 32 different antenna ports.

[0087] It's understandable that channels with the same antenna port can be considered identical for a short period (because the channel doesn't have time to change). Each antenna port corresponds to a resource grid in terms of time-frequency resources. Furthermore, the principle behind supporting larger antenna ports is that as the number of antennas increases, network devices (such as base stations) and terminal devices can support more layers of spatial multiplexing, thus supporting more antenna ports.

[0088] (8) CSI Configuration: This may include one or more of the following: CSI Report Configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) or CSI Resource Configuration (CSI-ResourceConfig). The CSI Report Configuration is primarily used to configure parameters related to CSI reporting, such as the reporting type and the reported measurement quantity (i.e., reporting quantity configuration). The CSI Resource Configuration is used to configure relevant information about CSI-RS resources, such as CSI-RS time-frequency resources, code domain resources, spatial resources, antenna ports, power resources, or scrambling codes. For example, the CSI-RS resource configuration information corresponding to each CSI-RS resource may include the identifier of the CSI-RS resource and the resource configuration of the CSI-RS resource (e.g., time-frequency resource configuration). In this application, the CSI Report Configuration can be replaced by the CSI Reporting Configuration.

[0089] The following is a brief explanation of the fields included in CSI report configuration and CSI resource configuration.

[0090] For example, CSI report configuration may include one or more of the following fields:

[0091] (a) CSI Report Configuration Identifier (CSI-ReportConfigId): Used to identify a CSI report configuration.

[0092] (b) Channel Measurement Resources (resourcesForChannelMeasurement): CSI-RS resources used to configure channel measurements. They are associated with resource configurations via CSI-ResourceConfigId. For example, resourcesForChannelMeasurement can carry the identifier (CSI-ResourceConfigId) of the CSI resource configuration used for channel measurements.

[0093] (c) Report Configuration Type (reportConfigType): This is used to configure the CSI reporting type. Reporting types can be categorized as periodic, semi-persistent, and aperiodic; semi-persistent reporting can also be described as semi-continuous reporting. For periodic CSI reporting, parameters such as the period (or reporting cycle) and resource mapping can be configured by the network device to the terminal device via RRC signaling. Furthermore, parameters such as the CSI reporting cycle and the PUCCH resources used for reporting can also be configured by the network device to the terminal device via RRC signaling. For semi-persistent CSI reporting, measurement parameters such as measurement quantity and measurement bandwidth can be configured by the network device to the terminal device via RRC signaling. For aperiodic CSI reporting, the network device can semi-statically configure multiple CSI reporting parameters for the terminal device via RRC signaling.

[0094] (d) Report Quantity Configuration: This field indicates the amount of CSI reported and may include at least one of the following: CRI, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, RI, PMI, or CQI.

[0095] Optionally, the CSI resource configuration may indicate one or more CSI-RS resource sets, or it may indicate one or more SSB resource sets. A CSI-RS resource set may include one or more CSI-RS resources, and an SSB resource set may include one or more SSB resources.

[0096] For example, CSI resource configuration may include one or more of the following fields:

[0097] (a) CSI Resource Configuration Identifier (CSI-ResourceConfigId): Used to identify the resource configuration of a CSI.

[0098] (b) CSI Resource Set List: This field configures the queue of resource sets, which may include CSI-RS resource sets used for channel measurements. The CSI-RS-ResourceSetList can be associated with the configuration of an NZP-CSI-RS resource set (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet) via the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId. An NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet includes one or more NZP-CSI-RS-Resources.

[0099] (c) Resource Type: Used to configure the type of CSI-RS resource. CSI-RS resource types can be divided into periodic resources, semi-persistent resources, and aperiodic resources.

[0100] (d) Codebook Configuration: Used to configure a subset of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) codebook and related information.

[0101] It should be understood that CSI report configuration or CSI resource configuration may include other fields, which will not be listed here.

[0102] The embodiments of this application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0103] The following describes the communication system architecture to which the communication method provided in this application is applicable. It should be noted that this description is for the convenience of those skilled in the art and does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection claimed in this application.

[0104] The communication scheme provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as Internet of Things (IoT) systems, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) systems, 4G communication systems (e.g., LTE systems), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5G communication systems (e.g., NR systems), and future mobile communication systems (e.g., 6G communication systems).

[0105] In a communication system, one network element can send signals to or receive signals from another network element. These signals can include information, signaling, or data. The term "network element" can also be replaced with entities, network entities, devices, communication equipment, communication modules, nodes, communication nodes, etc.

[0106] Figure 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture applicable to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 2, the communication system architecture 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. Optionally, the communication system architecture may also include an Internet 300. RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (110a and 110b in Figure 2, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal device (120a-120j in Figure 2, collectively referred to as 120). RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 2). Terminal device 120 is wirelessly connected to RAN node 110. RAN node 110 is connected to core network 200 wirelessly or via wired connection. The core network equipment in core network 200 and RAN node 110 in RAN 100 can be different physical devices, or they can be the same physical device that integrates core network logical functions and radio access network logical functions, or they can be a single physical device that integrates some core network logical functions and some radio access network logical functions.

[0107] RAN100 can be a cellular system related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 4G, 5G mobile communication systems, or future-oriented evolution systems (such as 6G mobile communication systems). RAN100 can also be an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. RAN100 can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0108] RAN node 110, sometimes also referred to as access network equipment, RAN entity, network equipment, or access node, constitutes part of the communication system and is used to help terminal equipment achieve wireless access. Multiple RAN nodes 110 in communication system 10 can be of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of RAN node 110 and terminal equipment 120 are relative. For example, network element 120i in Figure 2 can be a helicopter or drone, which can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminal equipment 120j accessing RAN 100 through network element 120i, network element 120i is a base station; but for base station 110a, network element 120i is a terminal equipment. RAN node 110 and terminal equipment 120 are sometimes both referred to as communication devices. For example, network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 2 can be understood as communication devices with base station functions, and network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication devices with terminal equipment functions. Optionally, the RAN node 110 can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on water; or it can be deployed in the air on aircraft, drones, balloons and satellites. This application embodiment does not limit the application scenarios of the RAN node.

[0109] In one possible scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), an NR, a next-generation NodeB (gNB), or a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. The RAN node can be a macro base station (as shown in Figure 2, 110a), a micro base station or indoor station (as shown in Figure 2, 110b), a relay node or donor node, or a radio controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, wearable device, vehicle, or in-vehicle equipment. For example, network equipment in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology can be a roadside unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of the RAN node in this application can also be implemented through software functions running on hardware, or through virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The RAN node in this application can also be a logical node, logical module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the RAN node functions.

[0110] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing some of the base station's functions. For example, RAN nodes can be central units (CUs), distributed units (DUs), CUs (control planes, CPs), CUs (user planes, UPs), or radio units (RUs). CUs and DUs can be set up separately or included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU). Here, the CU performs the functions of the base station's RRC layer and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and can also perform the functions of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU performs the functions of the base station's radio link control (RLC) layer and media access control (MAC) layer, and can also perform some or all of the physical layer (PHY) functions. For specific descriptions of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant 3GPP technical specifications. The RU can be included in radio frequency equipment or radio frequency units, such as in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). In this network architecture, signaling generated by the CU can be sent to the terminal device via the DU, or signaling generated by the terminal device can be sent to the CU via the DU. The DU can directly encapsulate the signaling through the protocol layer and transmit it to the terminal device or CU without parsing it. In this network architecture, the CU is classified as a network device on the radio access network side. Alternatively, the CU can also be classified as a network device on the core network side; this application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0111] The above division of CU and DU processing functions according to protocol layers is merely an example; other methods can also be used. For instance, CUs or DUs can be divided into those with more protocol layer functions, or they can be divided into those with partial protocol layer processing functions. In one possible implementation, some functions of the RLC layer and the protocol layer functions above the RLC layer are located in the CU, while the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the protocol layer functions below the RLC layer are located in the DU. In another possible implementation, the functions of CUs or DUs can be divided according to service type or other system requirements, such as by latency. Functions that need to meet latency requirements are located in the DU, while functions that do not need to meet this latency requirement are located in the CU. In yet another possible implementation, the CU can also have one or more core network functions. For example, the CU can be located on the network side for convenient centralized management. In yet another possible implementation, the RU of the DU is remotely located. Optionally, the RU can have radio frequency functionality.

[0112] Optionally, DU and RU can be partitioned at the physical layer. For example, DU can implement higher-level functions in the physical layer, and RU can implement lower-level functions. Specifically, for transmission, the physical layer functions may include at least one of the following: adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, precoding, resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, or radio frequency (RF) transmission functions. For reception, the physical layer functions may include at least one of the following: CRC check, channel decoding, rate matching de-scrambling, demodulation, layer mapping de-mapping, channel detection, resource demapping, physical antenna demapping, or RF reception functions. The higher-level functions in the physical layer may include a subset of the physical layer's functions, for example, functions closer to the MAC layer, while the lower-level functions may include another subset of the physical layer's functions, for example, functions closer to RF functions. For example, higher-level functions in the physical layer may include adding CRC codes, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping, while lower-level functions may include precoding, resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, and RF transmission functions, etc.

[0113] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, in an ORAN system, CU can also be called O-CU (open CU), DU can also be called O-DU (open DU), CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU (open RU). For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0114] In this embodiment, the network device can adopt a CU-DU separation architecture, which can also be called a distributed deployment architecture, or a CU-DU-RU separation architecture. For example, the network device can logically include one CU and one or more DUs. Each DU can be connected to the CU through an F1 interface, and information exchange between different DUs can be completed based on the forwarding of the CU. The CU and DU can be physically set together or physically separated, without limitation. The CU can support the functions of RRC layer protocols, PDCP protocol, and SDAP protocol; the DU can support RLC layer protocols, MAC layer protocols, and some or all PHY layer functions. For specific descriptions of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant 3GPP technical specifications. As another example, the network device can logically include a CU, DU, and RU. The CU and DU can be physically set together or physically separated, without limitation. The CU can support the functions of RRC layer protocols, PDCP protocol, and SDAP protocol; the DU can support the functions of RLC layer protocols and MAC layer protocols, and can also support some PHY layer protocols; the RU can support some or all PHY layer functions. For example, the DU is mainly responsible for higher-level protocol functions such as data encryption and integrity protection, while the RU is mainly responsible for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals. It can be understood that in the CU-DU-RU separation architecture, the interface between the DU and RU can be called fronthaul, the interface between the CU and DU can be called midhaul, and the interface between the CU and the core network can be called backhaul.

[0115] A terminal device is a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a user. It can also be an Internet of Things (IoT) device, and is also referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminal devices can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. This application does not limit the specific technology or device form used in the terminal device embodiments.

[0116] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device can be fixed in location or mobile, and this application does not limit the location. For example, the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted, or it can be deployed on water (such as a ship) or in the air (such as on an airplane, balloon or satellite).

[0117] It is understood that RAN nodes and terminal devices can communicate using licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both simultaneously. Network devices and terminal devices can communicate using spectrum below 6 GHz, spectrum above 6 GHz, or both simultaneously. This application does not limit the spectrum resources used between RAN nodes and terminal devices.

[0118] In this embodiment, the functions of a network device (such as a base station) can be executed by a module (such as a chip) within the network device, or by a control subsystem that includes base station functions. This control subsystem with base station functions can be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. Similarly, the functions of a terminal device can be executed by a module (such as a chip or modem) within the terminal device, or by a device that includes terminal functions.

[0119] In this embodiment, communication between the terminal device and the network device refers to the terminal device sending uplink signals or uplink information to the network device, with the uplink information carried on the uplink channel, and / or the network device sending downlink signals or downlink information to the terminal device, with the downlink information carried on the downlink channel. For the terminal device to communicate with the network device, it needs to establish a wireless connection with a cell controlled by the network device (i.e., the terminal device resides in a cell controlled by the network device). The cell with which the terminal device establishes a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal device (i.e., the cell that provides service to the terminal device).

[0120] It should be noted that the communication system and business scenarios described in the embodiments of this application are for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0121] As described in the background section, under 4G and 5G spectrum sharing, terminal devices using different Reference Arrays (RATs) employ reference signals corresponding to their own RATs to perform beam management and CSI measurement / reporting processes. Therefore, in future 5G and 6G spectrum sharing systems, following the existing 4G-5G DSS principle, 6G terminal devices can only use 6G reference signals to perform beam management / CSI measurement processes, and cannot fully utilize 5G reference signals. To address this, if 6G terminals cannot utilize 5G reference signals, 6G network equipment (such as base stations) needs to configure reference signals with higher resource consumption (e.g., shorter periods) under high load or high mobility conditions to meet the performance requirements of 6G users. This increases system resource overhead and reduces spectrum sharing efficiency. Therefore, this application provides a communication method to effectively reduce reference signal resource overhead and improve spectrum sharing efficiency.

[0122] Based on the communication system architecture shown in Figure 2, the specific implementation of the communication method in the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0123] Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. This method is applicable to the communication system architecture shown in Figure 2. It is understood that the communication method shown in Figure 3 is illustrated using a first communication device and a second communication device as examples of the execution entities in the interaction illustration, but this application does not limit the execution entities in the interaction illustration. For example, the first communication device can be a terminal device (e.g., UE) or a module (e.g., processor, processing unit, chip system, circuit, or chip, etc.) in the terminal device; the second communication device can be a network device (e.g., base station) or a module (e.g., processor, processing unit, chip system, circuit, or chip, etc.) in the network device. For example, the first communication device can be the terminal device 120a shown in Figure 2, and the second communication device can be the RAN node 110a shown in Figure 2. It should be understood that the method executed by the first communication device in this application can also be implemented by a logical node, logical module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the first communication device; the method executed by the second communication device in this application can also be implemented by a logical node, logical module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the second communication device.

[0124] As shown in Figure 3, the method includes:

[0125] Step 301: The second communication device sends configuration information on the first cell. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives configuration information on the first cell.

[0126] Optionally, in the embodiments of this application, if the first communication device is a functional module such as a chip, the functional module may not be aware of which device the received information comes from; if the second communication device is a functional module such as a chip, the functional module may also not be aware of which device the sent information is sent to.

[0127] For example, consider a network device as the second communication device. If the network device has a distributed architecture, such as including a CU and / or a DU, or including one or more of CU-CP, CU-UP, or DU, when the network device includes a DU, the network device sends configuration information; specifically, the DU included in the network device may send configuration information. Optionally, the network device including a DU may also include a CU; or, the network device including a DU may also include a CU-CP and / or CU-UP.

[0128] In this embodiment, the RAT used by the first cell is the first RAT (e.g., the 6G RAT). It is understood that the RAT used by the second communication device corresponding to the first cell can also be the first RAT. For example, the first cell can be one of the following: the serving cell, or a neighboring cell of the serving cell (e.g., the cell corresponding to an additional physical cell identifier (PCI)). It is understood that the PCI of a non-serving cell can be called an additional PCI. Optionally, the first cell can also be one of the following: a primary cell (Pcell), a secondary cell (Scell), or a primary secondary cell (PScell). For example, the RAT can include, but is not limited to, 4G RAT, 5G RAT, 6G RAT, or other forms of RAT, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0129] Configuration information (such as CSI configuration) can be used to configure a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal resource. The first reference signal resource can be a reference signal resource conforming to the protocol specification of a first RAT (such as a 6G RAT). The second reference signal resource can be a reference signal resource conforming to the protocol specification of a second RAT (such as a 5G RAT). For example, reference signal resources (such as 5G reference signal resources or 6G reference signal resources, etc.) can include CSI-RS resources, SSB resources, NZP-CSI-RS resources, or ZP-CSI-RS resources, etc.

[0130] It is understandable that in various RAT spectrum sharing scenarios (such as 5G-6G spectrum sharing scenarios), the second communication device (such as a base station) has already configured a second reference signal resource (such as 5G reference signal resources) for the first communication device (such as a UE) supporting the second RAT in the first cell. Thus, the second reference signal resource already exists in the first cell. Therefore, the second communication device can also configure the second reference signal resource for the first communication device supporting the first RAT in the first cell, avoiding the need for the first communication device supporting the first RAT to additionally configure other reference signal resources besides the first reference signal resource (such as 6G reference signal resources) and the second reference signal resource. It should also be understood that the second communication device can also configure the first reference signal resource for the first communication device supporting the first RAT in the first cell.

[0131] Furthermore, it is understood that the second cell is a cell employing the second RAT. Optionally, the second reference signal resource may have the same time-frequency resources as the reference signal resource in the second cell, but a different beam; or, the second reference signal resource may have the same time-frequency resources as the reference signal resource in the second cell, but a different code domain resource; or, the second reference signal resource may have the same time domain resources as the reference signal resource in the second cell, but a different frequency domain resource; or, the second reference signal resource may have the same frequency domain resources as the reference signal resource in the second cell, but a different time domain resource.

[0132] The following examples illustrate the configuration information.

[0133] Example 1: Configuration information may include primary resource configuration (such as CSI resource configuration).

[0134] The first resource configuration may include multiple resource sets (or a list of resource sets, or a resource list or set). For example, the multiple resource sets may include a first resource set and a second resource set. The first resource set can be used to configure a first reference signal resource, and the second resource set can be used to configure a second reference signal resource.

[0135] For example, let's take the first resource configuration as a CSI resource configuration. As shown in Table 1, a CSI resource configuration can configure one or more resource set lists (ResourceSetList). Each ResourceSetList includes one or more resource sets (ResourceSet).

[0136] Table 1

[0137] For example, taking a 6G reference signal resource as the first reference signal resource and a 5G reference signal resource as the second reference signal resource, the first resource configuration includes csi-RS-ResourceSetList and csi-RS-ResourceSetList-5G. csi-RS-ResourceSetList is used to configure 6G reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources), and csi-RS-ResourceSetList-5G is used to configure 5G reference signal resources (such as 5G CSI-RS resources).

[0138] For example, taking a first reference signal resource as a 6G reference signal resource and a second reference signal resource as a 5G reference signal resource, the first resource configuration includes nzp-CSI-RS-SSB and nzp-CSI-RS-SSB-5G. Here, nzp-CSI-RS-SSB is used to configure the 6G reference signal resource (e.g., 6G nzp-CSI-RS), and nzp-CSI-RS-SSB-5G is used to configure the 5G reference signal resource (e.g., 5G nzp-CSI-RS).

[0139] Optionally, the configuration information in Example 1 may also include reporting configuration (or CSI report configuration or CSI reporting configuration). The reporting configuration can be used to configure parameters for sending (or reporting) CSI. When the configuration information in Example 1 includes reporting configuration, the reporting configuration is associated with the first resource configuration (or can be understood as the reporting configuration being associated with the first resource set and the second resource set). It should be understood that the association between the reporting configuration and the first resource configuration can mean that there is a corresponding relationship (or mapping relationship) between the identifier (or index, number, or name) of the reporting configuration and the first resource configuration, or it can mean that the reporting configuration supports associating with the identifier of the first resource configuration. For example, the reporting configuration does not need to be modified relative to the 5G protocol; it only needs to be associated with a CSI resource configuration number ((CSI-ResourceConfigid)), as shown in Table 2.

[0140] Table 2

[0141] It is understood that, based on the scheme provided in Example 1, when the first reference signal resource and / or the second reference signal resource are used in a beam management (or beam training) scenario, the CSI sent by the first communication device may include a reference signal resource index (or reference signal resource identifier or reference signal resource number), L1-RSRP, and L1-SINR, etc.

[0142] Optionally, the second communication device can also be configured so that the first communication device does not report CSI. For example, taking the first communication device as the UE and the second communication device as the base station as an example. During P3, the base station's transmit beam remains unchanged, while the UE updates its receive beam.

[0143] Example 2: Configuration information may include second resource configuration and third resource configuration.

[0144] The second resource configuration can be used to configure the first reference signal resource, and the third resource configuration can be used to configure the second reference signal resource.

[0145] For example, taking a first reference signal resource as a 6G CSI-RS resource, a second reference signal resource as a 5G CSI-RS resource, a second resource configuration as a 6G CSI resource configuration, and a third resource configuration as a 5G CSI resource configuration as an example. In the 6G protocol, the 6G CSI resource configuration (such as RRC information element (IE) CSI-ResourceConfig) is used to configure the 6G CSI-RS resource, and the 5G CSI resource configuration (such as RRC IE CSI-ResourceConfig-5G) is used to configure the 5G CSI-RS resource.

[0146] Optionally, the configuration information in Example 2 may also include reporting configuration. The reporting configuration can be used to configure parameters for sending CSI. When the configuration information in Example 2 includes reporting configuration, the reporting configuration is associated with at least two resource configurations (e.g., a second resource configuration and a third resource configuration). It should be understood that associating the reporting configuration with at least two resource configurations can mean that the reporting configuration corresponds to the identifiers of at least two resource configurations, or that the reporting configuration supports association with the identifiers of at least two resource configurations. For example, taking the reporting configuration in Example 2 as CSI-ReportConfig-1, and the identifiers of the two resource configurations as CSI-ResourceConfigId1 and CSI-ResourceConfigId2, CSI-ReportConfig-1 corresponds to CSI-ResourceConfigId1 and CSI-ResourceConfigId2.

[0147] It should be understood that, by designing the above two resource configuration methods, the embodiments of this application can clearly define and enable how to configure the reference signal resources of the two RATs.

[0148] Optionally, the second communication device (e.g., a network device) can determine (or decide) whether only one of the first reference signal resource (e.g., 6G reference signal resource) and the second reference signal resource (e.g., 5G reference signal resource) needs to be configured based on the location information, movement speed, and reported measurement results of the first communication device (e.g., the UE). For example, taking the UE as the first communication device, the network device as the second communication device, the 6G reference signal resource as the first reference signal resource, and the 5G reference signal resource as the second reference signal resource, when the UE is located in the center of the cell, or the UE's movement speed is low, or the UE is stationary, or the channel quality reported by the UE is good, the network device can configure only one of the 6G reference signal resource and the 5G reference signal resource, thus saving resource overhead.

[0149] The following examples illustrate situations where only one of the first and second reference signal resources needs to be configured, using the first reference signal resource as a 6G SSB resource and the second reference signal resource as a 5G SSB resource and the second reference signal resource as an example.

[0150] Example 1: Only 6G SSB resources and 5G CSI-RS resources need to be configured. At this time, the QCL RS of the 5G CSI-RS resources can be configured as 6G SSB resources.

[0151] Example 2: Only 6G SSB resources and 6G CSI-RS resources need to be configured.

[0152] Example 3: Only 5G SSB resources and 5G CSI-RS resources need to be configured.

[0153] Example 4: Only 5G SSB resources and 6G CSI-RS resources need to be configured. At this time, the QCL RS of the 6G CSI-RS resource can be configured as the 5G SSB resource.

[0154] It should be understood that the circumstances under which the second communication device sends capability information are not limited in the embodiments of this application. For example, in one example, before the first communication device receives configuration information on the first cell, the first communication device may send capability information to the second communication device. Afterwards, the second communication device can send configuration information to the first communication device on the first cell based on the capability information corresponding to the first communication device. In another example, before the first communication device receives configuration information on the first cell, the second communication device obtains the capability information of the first communication device by interacting with the first communication device in advance, or the first communication device provides its capability information to the second communication device by interacting with the second communication device in advance. The capability information can be used to indicate that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource, or it can be used to indicate that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0155] The following examples illustrate the indication of the above capability information.

[0156] Example 1: Whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource can be indicated by corresponding changes in capability information (such as changes in content, format, length, or fields).

[0157] For example, consider a change in the length of capability information. When the length of the capability information is a first length, it can be used to indicate that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the length of the capability information is a second length, it can be used to indicate that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0158] Example 2: Whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource can be indicated by occupying (or using) 1 bit of capability information.

[0159] For example, when the bit value of the capability information is 1, the capability information can be used to indicate that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the bit value of the capability information is 0, the capability information can be used to indicate that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0160] Understandably, in some cases, capability information can also be understood as a parameter. For example, consider a capability information represented by a first parameter. The first parameter uses 1 bit to implement the corresponding indication. When the first parameter is present, there are two different parameter values ​​(or bit values, such as 0 and 1) used to represent different indications. For example, when the first parameter is 1, this value 1 can indicate that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the second parameter is 0, this value 0 can indicate that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0161] Example 3: Whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource can be indicated by the type of capability information.

[0162] For example, when the capability information is type 1, it indicates that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the capability information is type 2, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0163] Understandably, in some cases, capability information can also be understood as a parameter. For example, consider capability information represented by a second parameter. When the type of the second parameter carried in the information or message sent by the first communication device to the second communication device is type 1, it indicates that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the type of the second parameter carried in the information or message sent by the first communication device to the second communication device is type 2, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0164] Example 4: Whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource can be indicated by whether capability information appears.

[0165] For example, when capability information appears, it indicates that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When capability information does not appear, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0166] Understandably, in some cases, capability information can also be interpreted as a parameter. For example, consider a scenario where capability information is represented by a third parameter. When the first communication device sends a message or information to the second communication device that includes the third parameter, it indicates that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the first communication device sends a message or information to the second communication device that does not include the third parameter, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuring the second reference signal resource.

[0167] Step 302: The second communication device transmits a first reference signal on the first reference signal resource and transmits a second reference signal on the second reference signal resource. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first reference signal on the first reference signal resource and receives the second reference signal on the second reference signal resource.

[0168] The following describes the implementation process of the first communication device measuring the first reference signal and the second reference signal through several possible implementation methods.

[0169] Implementation Method 1: The first communication device measures the first reference signal carried on the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal carried on the second reference signal resource respectively to obtain the first CSI of the first reference signal and the second CSI of the second reference signal.

[0170] For example, the implementation method described above will be illustrated below with the following possible examples, taking the first reference signal resource as a 6G CSI-RS resource and the second reference signal resource as a 5G CSI-RS resource, or the first reference signal as a 6G CSI-RS and the second reference signal as a 5G CSI-RS resource.

[0171] Example 1: When 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are used in a beam management scenario, the first communication device can measure 6G CSI-RS on the 6G CSI-RS resources to obtain measurement result 1 (or the measurement result of 6G CSI-RS), and measure 5G CSI-RS on the 5G CSI-RS resources to obtain measurement result 2 (or the measurement result of 5G CSI-RS). Measurement result 1 can be used as the first CSI, and measurement result 2 can be used as the second CSI.

[0172] For example, in Example 1, Measurement Result 1 may include the index of 6G CSI-RS resources and the corresponding L1-RSRP and L1-SINR, etc. Measurement Result 2 may include the index of 5G CSI-RS resources and the corresponding L1-RSRP and L1-SINR, etc.

[0173] It should be understood that in this Example 1, 6G CSI-RS is transmitted using 6G beams on 6G CSI-RS resources, and 5G CSI-RS is transmitted using 5G beams on 5G CSI-RS resources. Thus, measurement result 1 can also be referred to as the measurement result of the 6G beam (or the measurement result obtained by measuring the 6G beam), and measurement result 2 can also be referred to as the measurement result of the 5G beam (or the measurement result obtained by measuring the 5G beam).

[0174] Example 2: When 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are used in a channel measurement scenario (or a CSI measurement scenario), the first communication device can measure 6G CSI-RS on the 6G CSI-RS resources to obtain measurement result 3 (or the measurement result of 6G CSI-RS), and measure 5G CSI-RS on the 5G CSI-RS resources to obtain measurement result 4 (or the measurement result of 5G CSI-RS). Measurement result 3 can be used as the first CSI, and measurement result 4 can be used as the second CSI.

[0175] For example, in Example 1, measurement result 3 may include CQI, PMI, and RI corresponding to 6G CSI-RS. Measurement result 4 may include CQI, PMI, and RI corresponding to 5G CSI-RS.

[0176] It should be understood that in this Example 2, the antenna ports configured for 6G CSI-RS resources on the network side (e.g., the second communication device) are the same as those configured for 5G CSI-RS resources. For example, the same antenna ports for 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources could mean that the antenna port number (or antenna port identifier or antenna port index) corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS resource is the same as the antenna port number corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource, or it could mean that the number of antenna ports corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS resource is the same as the number of antenna ports corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource.

[0177] Implementation Method 2: The first communication device performs joint measurement on the first reference signal carried on the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal carried on the second reference signal resource to obtain the CSI.

[0178] It should be understood that the above-described implementation method two is applied to channel measurement scenarios. For example, continuing with the example of the first reference signal resource being a 6G CSI-RS resource and the second reference signal resource being a 5G CSI-RS resource, the first reference signal being a 6G CSI-RS and the second reference signal being a 5G CSI-RS, the first communication device can perform joint measurement (which can be understood as measuring together) of the 6G CSI-RS carried on the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS carried on the 5G CSI-RS resource, obtaining measurement result 5. This measurement result 5 can be used as the aforementioned CSI. For example, measurement result 5 may include CQI, PMI, and RI, etc.

[0179] In this second implementation, the antenna ports configured for the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource on the network side (e.g., the second communication device) are different, or they can be consecutive (i.e., the number of antenna ports for the first reference signal resource is superimposed on the number of antenna ports for the second reference signal resource). For example, the difference between the antenna ports for the first and second reference signal resources could mean that the antenna port number corresponding to the first and second reference signal resources is different, or it could mean that the number of antenna ports corresponding to the first and second reference signal resources is different. For instance, the first reference signal resource is configured with N1 antenna ports, and the second reference signal resource is configured with N2 antenna ports, resulting in a total of (N1+N2) antenna ports. For example, consider a 6G CSI-RS resource as the first reference signal resource and a 5G CSI-RS resource as the second reference signal resource. The network side allocates antenna port numbers 1-16 to 5G CSI-RS resources and 17-32 to 6G CSI-RS resources, merging the two types of CSI-RS resources to form a 32-port CSI-RS. Alternatively, the network side allocates antenna port numbers 1-32 to 5G CSI-RS resources and 33-64 to 6G CSI-RS resources, merging the two types of CSI-RS resources to form a 64-port CSI-RS.

[0180] Optionally, the interval between the time unit containing the first reference signal resource and the time unit containing the second reference signal resource is less than or equal to an interval threshold. This method avoids situations where large variations in the reference signal measurement results (such as large-scale fading, phase, or Doppler changes) prevent the merging of measurement results, thus ensuring the accuracy of the reference signal measurement. For example, a time unit can refer to an OFDM symbol, time slot, subframe, or frame.

[0181] For example, taking a 6G CSI-RS resource as the first reference signal resource and a 5G CSI-RS resource as the second reference signal resource, with a time slot as the time unit, the interval between the time slot containing the 6G CSI-RS resource and the time slot containing the 5G CSI-RS resource is less than or equal to a set interval threshold. For instance, the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource can be located in the same time slot, or they can be located in adjacent or nearby time slots.

[0182] Step 303: The first communication device sends the CSI. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the CSI.

[0183] In this embodiment, the CSI reporting method can be determined by the first communication device based on indication information (such as first information) from the second communication device, or it can be pre-negotiated with the second communication device, or it can be pre-defined by a protocol. The first information can be used to instruct the transmission of CSI based on a first mode, or it can be used to instruct the transmission of CSI based on a second mode. The first mode refers to CSI obtained based on a first reference signal and a second reference signal, while the second mode refers to CSI obtained based on either the first or the second reference signal. Optionally, the first information can also be used to instruct the measurement results of the first and second reference signals to be carried in the same information (or the same message) and reported, or it can be used to instruct the measurement results of the first and second reference signals to be carried in different information (or different messages) and reported respectively.

[0184] It should be understood that CSI transmitted based on the first mode may include a first CSI and a second CSI, or it may be a CSI obtained by combining the first CSI and the second CSI, or it may be a CSI obtained by jointly measuring the first reference signal and the second reference signal. CSI transmitted based on the second mode may be either the first CSI or the second CSI.

[0185] For example, consider a CSI reporting method where the first communication device determines the CSI based on first information received from the second communication device. Before sending configuration information or receiving CSI from the first communication device, the second communication device can send the first information to the first communication device. After receiving the first information, the first communication device can determine whether to send the CSI based on a first mode or a second mode, according to the content indicated by the first information. For example, the first information could refer to DCI, RRC signaling, or MAC control element (CE) signaling, etc.

[0186] The following describes the implementation process of the first communication device sending CSI through several possible implementation methods.

[0187] Method 1: The CSI transmitted by the first communication device includes a first CSI and a second CSI. The first CSI is obtained by the first communication device measuring the first reference signal, and the second CSI is obtained by the first communication device measuring the second reference signal.

[0188] It is understandable that when the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are used in a beam management scenario, in this mode one, the second communication device can instruct the first communication device to perform beam measurement and report the beam measurement results (i.e., report the measurement results of the reference signal corresponding to the beam) according to the scheme of this mode one through the first information, or it can also stipulate through the protocol that the first communication device performs beam measurement and reports the beam measurement results according to the scheme of this mode one.

[0189] For example, taking the first communication device as the UE, the second communication device as the base station, the first reference signal resource as the 6G CSI-RS resource, and the second reference signal resource as the 5G CSI-RS resource, when the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used in a beam management scenario, the aforementioned CSI includes measurement result 1 (which can be used as the first CSI, such as CSI-1) and measurement result 2 (which can be used as the second CSI, such as CSI-2). Thus, this method can perform beam management not only using the 6G CSI-RS resource but also using the 5G CSI-RS resource, enabling the measurement of more beams (such as 5G and 6G beams) (which can be understood as measuring the reference signals corresponding to more beams respectively). This helps the base station select more refined beams for subsequent data transmission, thereby improving beam management performance and reducing reference signal resource overhead.

[0190] For example, as shown in Figure 4, the beams transmitted by the base station include four 6G beams (such as 6G beam 1, 6G beam 2, 6G beam 3 and 6G beam 4) and four 5G beams (such as 5G beam 1, 5G beam 2, 5G beam 3 and 5G beam 4). Each 6G beam corresponds to one 6G CSI-RS resource (e.g., 6G beam 1 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 1, 6G beam 2 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 2, 6G beam 3 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 3, and 6G beam 4 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 4), which is equivalent to one 6G CSI-RS resource. Similarly, each 5G beam corresponds to one 5G CSI-RS resource (e.g., 5G beam 1 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 1, 5G beam 2 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 2, 5G beam 3 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 3, and 5G beam 4 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 4), which is equivalent to one 5G CSI-RS resource. Therefore, Measurement Result 1 includes measurement results corresponding to the four 6G beams, and Measurement Result 2 includes measurement results corresponding to the four 5G beams.

[0191] In one example, as shown in Figure 4(a), the UE can select at least one measurement result greater than or equal to a measurement result threshold from the measurement results corresponding to the four 6G beams and the four 5G beams (e.g., the measurement result corresponding to 6G beam 2, 6G beam 3, and 5G beam 3), and can report this at least one measurement result to the base station in a single CSI report. After receiving the at least one measurement result, the base station can select one beam (e.g., 6G beam 2) from the beams corresponding to the at least one measurement result for subsequent data transmission.

[0192] In another example, as shown in Figure 4(b), the UE can select at least one measurement result greater than or equal to a measurement result threshold from the measurement results corresponding to the four 6G beams and the four 5G beams (e.g., the measurement results corresponding to 6G beam 2, 6G beam 3, and 5G beam 3), and can report this at least one measurement result to the base station in a single CSI report. After receiving this at least one measurement result, the base station can derive (or determine) a new beam for subsequent data transmission based on it. For example, the base station can perform interpolation processing (e.g., linear interpolation) on the measurement results corresponding to the four 6G beams and the four 5G beams to derive a new beam. Then, the base station can send relevant information about the new beam (e.g., reference signal resource information associated with the new beam, the weights corresponding to the new beam, or the direction of the new beam) to the UE. For example, the base station can send the relevant information about the new beam to the UE via DCI so that the UE and the base station can pre-align the new beam derivation process.

[0193] In another example, the UE can report the measurement results corresponding to four 6G beams and four 5G beams together to the base station in a single CSI report. Upon receiving these measurement results, the base station can select one beam (e.g., the optimal beam) from the four 6G and four 5G beams for subsequent data transmission. Optionally, the base station can also derive a new beam for subsequent data transmission based on the measurement results of the four 6G and four 5G beams. For example, the base station can perform interpolation (e.g., linear interpolation) on the measurement results of the four 6G and four 5G beams to derive a new beam. Then, the base station can send the relevant information of the new beam to the UE, for example, through DCI, so that the UE and base station can pre-align the new beam derivation process.

[0194] Optionally, when a base station needs to transmit a downlink channel (e.g., 6G PDSCH1), the base station can determine the beam used to transmit the downlink channel and determine which reference signal resources (e.g., one or more 5G reference signal resources) the QCL information of that beam supports associating with. Then, the base station can send second information to the UE. Upon receiving the second information, the UE can then receive the downlink channel based on the second information. Optionally, the UE can also transmit an uplink channel (e.g., 6G PUSCH1) based on the second information. The second information is used to indicate the reference signal resource information associated with the downlink channel (e.g., reference signal resource index or the beam index (or beam identifier or beam number) associated with the reference signal resource index). For example, the second information can be a DCI.

[0195] It should be understood that in the existing 5G protocol, the RS associated with QCL information only includes RS of one RAT, such as the 5G reference signal. However, in the new 6G protocol, the RS associated with QCL information can include RS of two RATs, such as the 5G reference signal and the 6G reference signal, as shown in Table 3.

[0196] Table 3

[0197] For example, let's take a downlink channel that the base station needs to transmit as 6G PDSCH1. The base station can first determine which beam (or transmission beam) matches 6G PDSCH1, such as 6G beam 2. Then, the base station can determine the reference signal resource information associated with the QCL information of 6G beam 2 (such as the index of 6G CSI-RS resource 2 or the index of 6G beam 2 corresponding to 6G CSI-RS resource 2), and can include the associated reference signal resource information in the DCI and send it to the UE. After receiving the DCI, the UE can receive 6G PDSCH1 based on the reference signal resource information contained in the DCI. Optionally, the UE can also transmit a specific uplink channel based on the reference signal resource information contained in the DCI.

[0198] Optionally, when the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are used in a channel measurement scenario, in this mode one, the second communication device can also instruct the first communication device to perform channel measurement and report the channel measurement results according to the scheme of this mode one through the first information, or it can also stipulate through the protocol that the first communication device performs channel measurement and reports the channel measurement results according to the scheme of this mode one.

[0199] Method 2: The CSI transmitted by the first communication device includes either the first CSI or the second CSI.

[0200] Example 1: When 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are used in beam management scenarios, the above CSI includes measurement result 1 (which can be used as the first CSI, such as CSI-1) or measurement result 2 (which can be used as the second CSI, such as CSI-2).

[0201] It is understandable that in this example, the base station can instruct the UE to perform beam measurement and report beam measurement results according to the scheme of this example through the first information, or it can stipulate through the protocol that the UE should perform beam measurement and report beam measurement results according to the scheme of this example.

[0202] For example, after receiving measurement result 1, the UE can report measurement result 1 to the base station in a single CSI report, including it in the third information. After receiving measurement result 2, the UE can report measurement result 2 to the base station in a second CSI report, including it in the fourth information. This method can perform beam management using both 6G and 5G CSI-RS resources, enabling the measurement of more beams (e.g., 5G and 6G beams) (which can be understood as measuring the reference signals corresponding to more beams). This helps the base station select more precise beams for subsequent data transmission and allows the first communication device (e.g., the UE) to provide beam measurement results more promptly. It also helps the second communication device (e.g., the base station) to update the transmission beam more timely in subsequent data transmission, thereby improving beam management performance and reducing reference signal resource overhead.

[0203] Optionally, in one example, the period (or reporting period) of the uplink resource used to carry the third information can be the same as the period of the uplink resource used to carry the fourth information. For example, the uplink resource used to carry the third information and the uplink resource used to carry the fourth information may be located in different time slots within the same period (e.g., adjacent or nearby time slots). In another example, the period of the uplink resource used to carry the third information may also be different from the period of the uplink resource used to carry the fourth information. For example, the uplink resource used to carry the third information and the uplink resource used to carry the fourth information may be located in different periods.

[0204] For example, as shown in Figure 5a, the resource period (or transmission period) of 6G CSI-RS is 40ms, and the resource period of 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms. The 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are configured in a staggered time domain; for example, the time domain of the 6G CSI-RS resources is 20ms apart from that of the 5G CSI-RS resources. The CSI reporting resource period is 20ms, meaning the UE reports CSI every 20ms; CSI reporting is periodic. Optionally, CSI reporting can also be non-periodic. Thus, in one CSI reporting session, the UE can report the measurement result obtained based on 5G CSI-RS (i.e., measurement result 2) to the base station, and after 20ms, in another CSI reporting session, it can report the measurement result obtained based on 6G CSI-RS (i.e., measurement result 1) to the base station. Thus, this method can achieve beam tracking and recovery more quickly, helping the base station to update the beam in a timely manner, improving the UE's SINR, thereby reducing inter-beam interference between different users and improving data transmission performance. Optionally, the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) shown in Figure 5a can correspond to different carriers (frequency division duplexing (FDD)) or the same carrier (time division duplexing (TDD)).

[0205] Optionally, when a base station needs to transmit a downlink channel (e.g., 6G PDSCH1), the base station can determine the beam used to transmit the downlink channel and determine which reference signal resources (e.g., one or more 5G reference signal resources) the QCL information of that beam supports associating with. Then, the base station can send second information to the UE. After receiving the second information, the UE can then receive the downlink channel based on the second information. Optionally, the UE can also transmit an uplink channel (e.g., 6G PUSCH1) based on the second information.

[0206] Example 2: When 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are used for channel measurement scenarios, the above CSI includes measurement result 3 (which can be used as the first CSI, such as CSI-3) or measurement result 4 (which can be used as the second CSI, such as CSI-4).

[0207] For example, after receiving measurement result 3, the UE can include measurement result 3 in the fifth information and report it to the base station in a single CSI report. After receiving measurement result 4, the UE can include measurement result 4 in the sixth information and report it to the base station in a second CSI report. In this way, by feeding back measurement result 3 and measurement result 4 to the base station separately, the UE can effectively reduce the feedback cycle (or feedback latency) and reduce the impact of CSI aging.

[0208] Optionally, in one example, the period to which the uplink resource used to carry the fifth information belongs can be the same as the period to which the uplink resource used to carry the sixth information belongs. For example, the uplink resource used to carry the fifth information and the uplink resource used to carry the sixth information may be located in different time slots within the same period (e.g., adjacent or nearby time slots). In another example, the period to which the uplink resource used to carry the fifth information belongs can also be different from the period to which the uplink resource used to carry the sixth information belongs. For example, the uplink resource used to carry the fifth information and the uplink resource used to carry the sixth information may be located in different periods.

[0209] For example, in Example 2, the resource period for both 6G CSI-RS and 5G CSI-RS is 40ms, as shown in Figure 5a. The 6G CSI-RS and 5G CSI-RS resources are configured with time-domain offsets, for example, a 20ms interval between the time domains of the 6G and 5G CSI-RS resources. This ensures a certain offset between the two resources in the time domain. Therefore, only when the offset exceeds a certain threshold (e.g., 15ms) is the second mode (measurement and CSI reporting based on the first or second reference signal) indicated by configuring the CSI reporting period to be shorter than either the 5G CSI-RS or 6G CSI-RS resource period. This is reasonable.

[0210] As shown in Figure 6a, the CSI reporting resource period is 20ms, meaning the UE reports a CSI every 20ms. In this way, the UE can report CSI-4 (i.e., the measurement result based on 5G CSI-RS) to the base station in one CSI report, and after another 20ms, report CSI-3 (i.e., the measurement result based on 6G CSI-RS) to the base station in another CSI report. This short-period CSI reporting allows the base station to obtain CSI more promptly, thus facilitating more efficient subsequent data transmission. Furthermore, the reference signal resource period remains long, saving resource overhead.

[0211] Optionally, in this second example, the base station can instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this second example (i.e., reference signal measurement and CSI reporting based on the second mode) through the first information. This allows for explicit indication of which scheme the UE should use to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting, and the explicit indication does not impose any restrictions on the configuration, making it more flexible. In addition, embodiments of this application can also flexibly control the reference signal measurement and CSI reporting process through semi-static or dynamic indication.

[0212] Optionally, in this second example, the base station can also instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this second example through implicit indication (or implicit indication). This can save signaling overhead and avoid introducing new signaling designs. For example, the base station can configure the following in the CSI reporting configuration or send configuration information including the following: the CSI reporting resource is associated with both 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS, and the reporting period of the CSI reporting configuration indication is less than the resource period of 5G CSI-RS or 6G CSI-RS. This can implicitly instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this second example.

[0213] Method 3: The CSI sent by the first communication device is obtained by merging the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0214] Understandably, the above method three is used in channel measurement scenarios.

[0215] Optionally, in this third method, the interval between the time unit (e.g., time slot) where the first reference signal resource (e.g., 6G CSI-RS resource) is located and the time unit where the second reference signal resource (e.g., 5G CSI-RS resource) is located is less than or equal to a set interval threshold. For example, the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource can be located in the same time unit, or they can be located in adjacent or close time units. In this way, this method can avoid the inability to merge measurement results due to large variations in the reference signal measurement results (e.g., large variations in large-scale fading, phase, Doppler, etc.), which would compromise the accuracy of the reference signal measurement.

[0216] For example, in this method three, the resource period for 6G CSI-RS is 40ms, and the resource period for 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms, as shown in Figure 5b. The 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are configured with time-domain offsets; for example, the time domain of the 6G CSI-RS resources is 20ms apart from that of the 5G CSI-RS resources. This ensures a certain offset between the 6G and 5G CSI-RS resources in the time domain. The CSI reporting resource period is 40ms, meaning the UE reports CSI every 40ms; CSI reporting is periodic. Optionally, CSI reporting can also be non-periodic. In this way, the UE can report the merged result 1, which is the result of merging measurement result 4 and measurement result 3, to the base station in one CSI report. After 40ms, the UE can report the merged result 2, which is the result of merging measurement result 4' (obtained by measuring the 5G CSI-RS sent after the 5G CSI-RS corresponding to measurement result 4) and measurement result 3' (obtained by measuring the 6G CSI-RS sent after the 6G CSI-RS corresponding to measurement result 3), to the base station in another CSI report.

[0217] For example, taking the first communication device as the UE, the second communication device as the base station, the first reference signal resource as the 6G CSI-RS resource, and the second reference signal resource as the 5G CSI-RS resource as an example. When the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used in a channel measurement scenario, the aforementioned CSI includes measurement result 3 (which can be used as the first CSI, such as CSI-3) or measurement result 4 (which can be used as the second CSI, such as CSI-4). After obtaining measurement result 3 and measurement result 4, the UE can merge measurement result 3 and measurement result 4 to obtain a merged measurement result, such as CSI-1'. Then, the UE can report the merged measurement result (such as CSI-1') to the base station in a single CSI report. For example, as shown in Figure 6b, the UE can report CSI-1' to the base station in one CSI report, and after 40ms, it can report CSI-2' to the base station in another CSI report (based on the merging and processing of the measurement results of the 5G CSI-RS sent after the 5G CSI-RS corresponding to measurement result 4 and the measurement results of the 6G CSI-RS sent after the 6G CSI-RS corresponding to measurement result 3). In this way, the method can achieve unified feedback of the measurement results of 6G CSI-RS and 5G CSI-RS, which helps to improve the feedback accuracy.

[0218] For example, the UE can use layer 1 filtering to merge measurement results 3 and 4, thus achieving a certain degree of uniformity in the measurement results. For instance, the UE can average or weighted average measurement results 3 and 4 to merge the results. Optionally, the UE can also use the new measurement result and the previously weighted average result to perform a further weighted average to merge the measurement results. For example, taking the new measurement result as measurement result 4 and the weighted average measurement result reported in the previous CSI as result a, the UE can perform a weighted average of measurement result 4 and result a to obtain result b. Then, when the UE obtains measurement result 3, it can perform a weighted average of measurement result 3 and result b to obtain result c. Then, the UE can report result c to the base station in the current CSI report. As another example, taking the new measurement result as measurement result 4 and measurement result 3, and the weighted average measurement result reported in the previous CSI as result a, the UE can perform a weighted average of measurement result 4, measurement result 3, and result a to obtain result d. Afterwards, the UE can report the result d to the base station in this CSI report.

[0219] Optionally, in this third method, the base station can instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this third method (i.e., to measure 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS separately and then report the combined measurement results of 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS). This allows for explicit indication to the UE of which scheme to use for channel measurement and CSI reporting, and explicit indication does not impose restrictions on the configuration, making it more flexible. Furthermore, embodiments of this application can also flexibly control the reference signal measurement and CSI reporting process through semi-static or dynamic indication.

[0220] Optionally, in this third method, the base station can also implicitly instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this third method. This can save signaling overhead and avoid introducing new signaling designs. For example, the base station can configure the following in the CSI reporting configuration or send configuration information including the following: the CSI reporting resource is associated with both 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS, and the reporting period indicated by the CSI reporting configuration is equal to the resource period of 5G CSI-RS or the resource period of 6G CSI-RS. This can implicitly instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this third method.

[0221] Method 4: The CSI transmitted by the first communication device is obtained based on the joint measurement of the first reference signal and the second reference signal.

[0222] Understandably, the above method four is used in channel measurement scenarios.

[0223] Optionally, in this fourth method, the interval between the time unit (e.g., time slot) where the first reference signal resource (e.g., 6G CSI-RS resource) is located and the time unit where the second reference signal resource (e.g., 5G CSI-RS resource) is located is less than or equal to a set interval threshold. For example, the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource can be located in the same time unit, or they can be located in adjacent or close time units. In this way, this method can avoid the inability to merge measurement results due to large variations in the reference signal measurement results (e.g., large variations in large-scale fading, phase, Doppler, etc.), which would compromise the accuracy of the reference signal measurement.

[0224] For example, taking the first communication device as the UE, the second communication device as the base station, the first reference signal resource as the 6G CSI-RS resource, and the second reference signal resource as the 5G CSI-RS resource as an example. When the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used in a channel measurement scenario, the aforementioned CSI includes measurement result 5. After obtaining measurement result 5, the UE can report measurement result 5 to the base station in a single CSI report. Then, after 40ms, the UE can report measurement result 5' (obtained by jointly measuring the 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS sent after the corresponding 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS) to the base station in another CSI report. In this way, by combining the measurement results of 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS, this method can measure the CSI of more spatially divided antenna ports, which helps to increase the number of spatial measurement layers and improve measurement accuracy without increasing resource overhead. This also helps to increase the number of single-user multiple-input multiple-output (SU-MIMO) / multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) layers for the UE.

[0225] For example, in this method four, the resource period for 6G CSI-RS is 40ms, and the resource period for 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms. As shown in Figure 6c, the period for CSI reporting resources is 40ms, meaning the UE reports CSI every 40ms, making CSI reporting periodic. Optionally, CSI can also be reported non-periodically. In this way, after the UE performs joint measurement on the 6G CSI-RS carried on the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS carried on the 5G CSI-RS resource to obtain CSI-1", it can report CSI-1" to the base station in one CSI report. After 40ms, it can report CSI-2" (obtained by joint measurement on the 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS sent after CSI-1" in another CSI report) to the base station. In this configuration, the antenna ports for 5G CSI-RS are numbered 1-16, and those for 6G CSI-RS are numbered 17-32. This method enables joint measurements using both 6G and 5G CSI-RS, allowing for the measurement of CSI on more spatially divided antenna ports and thus increasing the number of spatial measurement layers.

[0226] Optionally, in this fourth method, the base station can instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this fourth method (i.e., joint measurement and CSI reporting based on 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS) through the first information. This can explicitly indicate to the UE which scheme to use for channel measurement and CSI reporting, and the explicit indication does not impose any restrictions on the configuration, making it more flexible. In addition, the embodiments of this application can also flexibly control the reference signal measurement and CSI reporting process through semi-static or dynamic indication.

[0227] Optionally, in this fourth method, the base station can also implicitly instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this fourth method. This can save signaling overhead and avoid introducing new signaling designs. For example, the base station can configure the following in the CSI reporting configuration or send configuration information including the following: the CSI reporting resource is associated with both 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS, and the 5G CSI-RS resource and 6G CSI-RS resource are configured with different antenna ports, and the reporting period indicated by the CSI reporting configuration is equal to the resource period of 5G CSI-RS or 6G CSI-RS. This can implicitly instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of this fourth method.

[0228] As can be seen from steps 301 to 303 above, by configuring a first reference signal resource (which can conform to the protocol specifications of the first RAT) and a second reference signal resource (which can conform to the protocol specifications of the second RAT) for the first communication device, the first communication device can measure the reference signals of different RATs (i.e., the first communication device can jointly utilize the first reference signal and the second reference signal). This helps the first communication device to perform beam measurement (or channel measurement) using either the first reference signal or the second reference signal, which helps improve the performance of beam management / channel measurement, thereby reducing the overhead of reference signal resources and improving spectrum sharing efficiency.

[0229] Based on the implementation scheme of the communication method shown in Figure 3 above, the communication method shown in Figure 3 will be described in detail below through specific examples shown in Figures 7 and 8. In the specific examples shown in Figures 7 and 8, the first RAT is a 6G RAT, the second RAT is a 5G RAT, the first communication device is a UE using a 6G RAT (hereinafter referred to as 6G UE), the second communication device is a base station using a 6G RAT (hereinafter referred to as 6G base station), the configuration information is the configuration information of the 6G RAT (hereinafter referred to as 6G configuration information), the first reference signal is 6G CSI-RS, the second reference signal is 5G CSI-RS, the first reference signal resource is the 6G reference signal resource used to carry 6G CSI-RS, the second reference signal resource is the 5G reference signal resource used to carry 5G CSI-RS, the first CSI is the 6G measurement result (i.e., the 6G CSI-RS measurement result), and the second CSI is the 5G measurement result (i.e., the 5G CSI-RS measurement result). It should be understood that in the specific example shown in Figure 7, the 6G measurement result can also be referred to as the 6G beam measurement result, and the 5G measurement result can also be referred to as the 5G beam measurement result. Thus, in a single CSI report (or CSI measurement report submission), the measurement result (or CSI) sent by the 6G UE can be the 6G beam measurement result and / or the 5G beam measurement result. In the specific example shown in Figure 8, in a single CSI report (or CSI measurement report submission), the measurement result (or CSI) sent by the 6G UE can be either the 6G measurement result or the 5G measurement result, or it can be the measurement result obtained by merging the 6G and 5G measurement results, or it can be the measurement result obtained based on the joint measurement of 6G CSI-RS and 5G CSI-RS.

[0230] Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication method shown in Figure 7 can be applied to beam management scenarios. As shown in Figure 7, the specific flow of this method may include:

[0231] Step 701: The 6G base station sends 6G configuration information. Correspondingly, the 6G UE receives the 6G configuration information.

[0232] Optionally, the implementation process of step 701 can refer to the relevant implementation process of step 301 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0233] Step 702: The 6G base station transmits 6G CSI-RS on the 6G reference signal resources and 5G CSI-RS on the 5G reference signal resources. Correspondingly, the 6G UE receives 6G CSI-RS on the 6G reference signal resources and 5G CSI-RS on the 5G reference signal resources.

[0234] In this embodiment of the application, 6G CSI-RS is transmitted using 6G beams on 6G reference signal resources, and 5G CSI-RS is transmitted using 5G beams on 5G reference signal resources.

[0235] Optionally, the implementation process of step 702 can refer to the relevant implementation process of reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources) used in beam management scenarios in step 302 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0236] Step 703: The 6G UE transmits the measurement results of the 6G beam and / or the 5G beam. Accordingly, the 6G base station receives the measurement results of the 6G beam and / or the 5G beam.

[0237] Optionally, the implementation process of step 703 can refer to the relevant implementation process of reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources) used in beam management scenarios in step 303 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0238] Step 704: The 6G base station determines the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1 based on the measurement results of the 6G beam and / or the measurement results of the 5G beam.

[0239] Optionally, the implementation process of step 704 can refer to the relevant implementation process of the base station determining the reference signal resource information associated with the downlink channel in step 303 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0240] For example, reference signal resource information can refer to the index (or identifier or number, etc.) of a reference signal resource (such as a 5G SSB resource or a 5G CSI-RS resource). For instance, taking a 5G SSB resource as the reference signal resource, the index of the 5G SSB resource is 1, meaning the 5G SSB resource information can refer to 5G SSB resource #1. Therefore, the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1 can be 5G SSB resource #1. As another example, taking a 5G CSI-RS resource as the reference signal resource, the index of the 5G CSI-RS resource is 1, meaning the 5G CSI-RS resource information can refer to 5G CSI-RS resource #1. Therefore, the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1 can be 5G CSI-RS resource #1.

[0241] Step 705: The 6G base station sends the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1. Correspondingly, the 6G UE receives the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1.

[0242] Step 706: The 6G base station sends 6G PDSCH1 based on the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1. Correspondingly, the 6G UE receives 6G PDSCH1 based on the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1.

[0243] Steps 704 to 706 above are optional steps.

[0244] For example, taking 5G CSI-RS resource #1 as the reference signal resource associated with 6G PDSCH1, the 6G base station can determine the beam information (such as beam index or beam direction) corresponding to 5G CSI-RS resource #1, for example, beam index 1. Then, the 6G base station can use the 5G CSI-RS resource corresponding to 5G CSI-RS resource #1 to transmit 6G PDSCH1 on the beam corresponding to beam index 1. Correspondingly, since the UE already knows the CSI-RS resource #1 associated with 6G PDSCH1, and the beam measurement results obtained by the base station are reported by the UE, the UE can determine the corresponding CSI-RS resource based on CSI-RS resource #1, and can determine the beam information corresponding to CSI-RS resource #1. Thus, the UE can receive 6G PDSCH1 carried by the 5G CSI-RS resource corresponding to 5G CSI-RS resource #1 on the beam corresponding to beam index 1. Optionally, the UE may also use the 5G CSI-RS resource corresponding to 5G CSI-RS resource #1 to send a certain uplink channel (such as a certain 6G PUSCH).

[0245] As can be seen from steps 701 to 706 above, a 6G UE can perform beam management not only using 6G reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources) but also using 5G reference signal resources (such as 5G CSI-RS resources). This allows for the measurement of more beams (such as 5G and 6G beams), which helps the base station select more precise beams or update beams more quickly. This improves the SINR of the 6G UE, reduces inter-beam interference between different users, thereby improving beam management performance and reducing reference signal resource overhead.

[0246] Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication method shown in Figure 8 can be applied to channel measurement scenarios. As shown in Figure 8, the specific flow of this method may include:

[0247] Step 801: The 6G base station sends 6G configuration information. Correspondingly, the 6G UE receives the 6G configuration information.

[0248] Optionally, the implementation process of step 801 can refer to the relevant implementation process of step 301 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0249] Step 802: The 6G base station transmits 6G CSI-RS on the 6G reference signal resources and 5G CSI-RS on the 5G reference signal resources. Correspondingly, the 6G UE receives 6G CSI-RS on the 6G reference signal resources and 5G CSI-RS on the 5G reference signal resources.

[0250] Optionally, the implementation process of step 802 can refer to the relevant implementation process of the reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources) used in the channel measurement scenario in step 302 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0251] Step 803: The 6G UE sends the measurement results. Correspondingly, the 6G base station receives the measurement results.

[0252] Optionally, the implementation process of step 803 can refer to the relevant implementation process of the reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources) used in the channel measurement scenario in step 303 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0253] Step 804: The 6G base station determines the first weight based on the measurement results.

[0254] Among them, the first weight (such as the weight corresponding to the beam) is used for data transmission between the 6G base station and the 6G UE.

[0255] Optionally, the implementation process of the 6G base station determining the first weight based on the measurement results in step 804 can refer to existing schemes, and will not be elaborated here.

[0256] Step 805: The 6G base station transmits data with the 6G UE according to the first weight.

[0257] Optionally, the implementation process of the 6G base station transmitting data with the 6G UE according to the first weight in step 805 can refer to existing solutions, and will not be repeated here.

[0258] Steps 804 and 805 above are optional steps.

[0259] As can be seen from steps 801 to 805 above, a 6G UE can not only use 6G reference signal resources (such as 6G CSI-RS resources) to perform channel measurements, but also use 5G reference signal resources (such as 5G CSI-RS resources) to perform channel measurements. This can help reduce feedback latency and the impact of CSI aging, or it can help improve feedback accuracy, or it can help to measure the CSI of more spatially divided antenna ports, thereby increasing the number of spatial measurement layers.

[0260] It is understood that, in order to achieve the functions in the above embodiments, the first communication device (e.g., a terminal device) and the second communication device (e.g., a network device) include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, based on the units and method steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or by computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0261] Figures 9 and 10 are schematic diagrams of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of this application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the first communication device (e.g., UE) or the second communication device (e.g., base station) in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of this application, the communication device can be the terminal device 120a shown in Figure 2, or the RAN node 110a shown in Figure 2, or a module (e.g., a chip) applied to the terminal device or RAN node.

[0262] The communication device 900 shown in Figure 9 includes a processing unit 910 (or a processing module) and a transceiver unit 920 (or a communication module, used for sending and receiving data). The communication device 900 can be used to implement the functions of the first communication device (e.g., a UE) or the second communication device (e.g., a base station) in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3, 7, or 8. For example, the transceiver unit 920 can perform the receiving and sending actions performed by the first or second communication device in the method embodiments described above. The processing unit 910 can perform other actions besides the sending and receiving actions performed by the first or second communication device in the method embodiments described above.

[0263] When the communication device 900 is used to implement the functions of the first communication device (e.g., UE) in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3, 7, or 8: the transceiver unit 920 is used to receive configuration information on the first cell. The first cell uses a first RAT, and the configuration information can be used to configure a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource conforming to the protocol specification of the second RAT. The transceiver unit 920 is also used to receive a first reference signal on the first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on the second reference signal resource. The transceiver unit 920 is also used to transmit a CSI. The CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal. The processing unit 910 is used to perform corresponding processing operations, such as measuring the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal.

[0264] When the communication device 900 is used to implement the function of the second communication device (e.g., a base station) in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3, 7, or 8: the transceiver unit 920 is used to transmit configuration information on the first cell. The first cell uses a first RAT, and the configuration information can be used to configure a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal resource. The second reference signal resource conforms to the protocol specification of the second RAT. The transceiver unit 920 is also used to transmit a first reference signal on the first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on the second reference signal resource. The transceiver unit 920 is also used to receive a CSI. The CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal. The processing unit 910 is used to perform corresponding processing operations, such as deriving a new beam based on the CSI, updating the beam based on the CSI, or determining weights for data transmission based on the CSI.

[0265] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 910 and the transceiver unit 920, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3, 7 or 8 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0266] It should be understood that the transceiver unit 920 in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by an interface circuit or interface circuit-related circuit components, and the processing unit 910 can be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit components.

[0267] It should be noted that the module division in the embodiments of this application is illustrative and only represents one logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, exist as separate physical entities, or have two or more units integrated into one unit. The integrated units described above can be implemented in hardware or as software functional units.

[0268] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, or a server, etc.) or processor to execute all or part of the steps of the methods of the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as a USB flash drive, a portable hard drive, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0269] The communication device 1000 shown in Figure 10 includes a processor 1010 and an interface circuit 1020. The processor 1010 and the interface circuit 1020 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 1020 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1000 may also include a memory 1030 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1010, or storing input data required by the processor 1010 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 1010 executes instructions.

[0270] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the method embodiments shown in FIG3, FIG7 or FIG8, the processor 1010 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 910, and the interface circuit 1020 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 920.

[0271] For example, taking the first communication device as a terminal device and the second communication device as a base station as an example. When the aforementioned communication device is a chip applied to the terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The terminal device chip receiving information from the base station can be understood as the information being first received by other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the terminal device, and then sent to the terminal device chip by these modules. The terminal device chip sending information to the base station can be understood as the information being first sent to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the terminal device, and then sent to the base station by these modules.

[0272] When the aforementioned communication device is a chip used in a base station, the base station chip implements the functions of the base station in the above method embodiments. The base station chip receives information from the terminal device, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules in the base station (such as an RF module or antenna), and then sent to the base station chip by these modules. The base station chip sends information to the terminal device, which can be understood as the information being sent down to other modules in the base station (such as an RF module or antenna), and then sent to the terminal device by these modules.

[0273] In this application, entity A sends information to entity B, either directly or indirectly through other entities. Similarly, entity B receives information from entity A, either directly or indirectly through other entities. Entities A and B can be RAN nodes or terminal devices, or modules within RAN nodes or terminal devices. Information transmission and reception can be between RAN nodes and terminal devices, such as between a base station and a terminal device; between two RAN nodes, such as between a CU and a DU; or between different modules within a single device, such as between a terminal device chip and other modules of the terminal device, or between a base station chip and other modules of the base station.

[0274] Based on the same concept, embodiments of this application also provide a possible communication system. This communication system includes a first communication device (e.g., a UE) and a second communication device (e.g., a base station). The first communication device can be used to implement the technical solutions related to the first communication device in the above embodiments, and the second communication device can be used to implement the technical solutions related to the second communication device in the above embodiments.

[0275] Based on the same concept, this application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions that, when run on a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the methods provided in the above embodiments.

[0276] Based on the same concept, embodiments of this application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the methods provided in the above embodiments.

[0277] The storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access. For example, but not limited to, a computer-readable medium can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

[0278] Based on the same concept, embodiments of this application also provide a chip, which may include a processor and a memory (or the chip may be coupled to the memory). The processor executes program instructions in the memory to cause the chip to perform the methods provided in the above embodiments. Here, "coupling" means that two components are directly or indirectly connected to each other, such as coupling can refer to an electrical connection between two components.

[0279] Based on the same concept, embodiments of this application also provide a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer device in implementing the functions involved in the first or second communication device in the above embodiments. In one possible implementation, the chip system further includes a memory for storing necessary programs and data of the computer device. This chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete components.

[0280] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application can be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0281] The method steps in the embodiments of this application can be implemented in hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can consist of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disks, portable hard disks, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor, enabling the processor to read information from and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Alternatively, the ASIC can reside in a UE or base station. Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in a network device or terminal device.

[0282] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. A computer program is a set of instructions that directs each step of an action of an electronic computer or other device with message processing capabilities. It is typically written in a programming language and runs on a target architecture. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are performed, in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; it can also be an optical medium, such as a digital video optical disc; or it can be a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium can be volatile or non-volatile, or it can include both types of storage media.

[0283] In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0284] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between the preceding and following related objects; in the formulas of this application, the character " / " indicates a "division" relationship between the preceding and following related objects.

[0285] It is understood that the various numerical designations used in the embodiments of this application are merely for descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the process numbers described above does not imply the order of execution; the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a first communication device, the method includes: Configuration information is received in the first cell, where the radio access technology RAT used by the first cell is the first RAT. The configuration information is used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, where the second reference signal resource conforms to the protocol specification of the second RAT. A first reference signal is received on the first reference signal resource, and a second reference signal is received on the second reference signal resource; Transmit Channel State Information (CSI), which is obtained based on the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, When the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, the CSI includes a first CSI and a second CSI, wherein the first CSI is obtained by measuring the first reference signal and the second CSI is obtained by measuring the second reference signal.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The configuration information includes a first resource configuration, which includes a first resource set and a second resource set. The first resource set is used to configure the first reference signal resource, and the second resource set is used to configure the second reference signal resource.

4. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The configuration information also includes a reporting configuration, which is used to configure the parameters for sending the CSI; The reported configuration is associated with the first resource set and the second resource set.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive first information, the first information being used to instruct the CSI to be sent based on a first mode or based on a second mode; The first mode refers to the CSI being obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, while the second mode refers to the CSI being obtained based on either the first reference signal or the second reference signal.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The antenna port number corresponding to the first reference signal resource is the same as the antenna port number corresponding to the second reference signal resource.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send capability information, which indicates support for configuring the second reference signal resource.

8. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a second communication device, the method includes: Configuration information is sent on the first cell, which uses the first RAT. The configuration information is used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, which conform to the protocol specification of the second RAT. A first reference signal is transmitted on the first reference signal resource, and a second reference signal is transmitted on the second reference signal resource; Receive CSI, which is obtained based on the first reference signal and / or the second reference signal.

9. The method as described in claim 8, characterized in that, When the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, the CSI includes a first CSI and a second CSI, wherein the first CSI is obtained by measuring the first reference signal and the second CSI is obtained by measuring the second reference signal.

10. The method as described in claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The configuration information includes a first resource configuration, which includes a first resource set and a second resource set. The first resource set is used to configure the first reference signal resource, and the second resource set is used to configure the second reference signal resource.

11. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The configuration information also includes a reporting configuration, which is used to configure the parameters for sending the CSI; The reported configuration is associated with the first resource set and the second resource set.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8-11, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a first message, the first message being used to instruct whether to send the CSI based on a first mode or a second mode; The first mode refers to the CSI being obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, while the second mode refers to the CSI being obtained based on either the first reference signal or the second reference signal.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8-12, characterized in that, The antenna port number corresponding to the first reference signal resource is the same as the antenna port number corresponding to the second reference signal resource.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8-13, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive capability information, which is used to indicate support for configuring the second reference signal resource.

15. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes modules or units for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1-7, or modules or units for performing the method as described in any one of claims 8-14.

16. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes processor and interface circuitry; The interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices. The processor is configured to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-7 or the method as described in any one of claims 8-14 through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

17. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-7 or any one of claims 8-14.

18. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-7 or any one of claims 8-14.

19. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processor coupled to a memory, the processor being configured to execute program instructions stored in the memory to cause the chip to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-7 or the method as described in any one of claims 8-14.

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