Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus. A network device uses a weighting matrix related to channel information in an environment to weight a CSI RS used for downlink channel estimation; the weighting matrix can transform a channel from a sending antenna array dimension to a multipath dimension, so that a terminal device can accurately estimate a fixed component and a variable component in a downlink channel, and then perform channel estimation and feedback in a mode combining long and short periods, thereby improving CSI precision without increasing a transmitting port for the CSI RS. In addition, the channel estimation and feedback method that combines long and short periods reduces CSI RS resource overheads and CSI feedback overheads as a whole.

Description

Communication method and communication apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202410720434.2, filed on June 4, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and communication apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to a communication method and a communication apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) is a commonly used data transmission mode in wireless communication, which can realize simultaneous air interface transmission of multiple different data streams. In order to realize efficient MIMO transmission, the network device needs to calculate a precoding matrix matched with the air interface channel. In an existing scheme, in order to enable the network device to obtain a precoding matrix matched with the air interface channel of the terminal device, a codebook mechanism is defined in the standard protocol, and the terminal device needs to measure the downlink channel and perform corresponding calculation and compression processing. The terminal device needs to comprehensively consider the accuracy after compression processing, reference signal resource overhead, feedback overhead and the like. However, the number of ports for sending reference signals is constrained in the current protocol, and a maximum of 32 ports is supported. However, in future communication systems, with the increase of the number of antenna ports of the network device, the current constraint of 32 ports is far from enough, and if the number of antenna ports is increased, it will inevitably lead to an increase in time-frequency domain resource overhead, thereby affecting the transmission capability of the data channel. In another existing scheme, in a time division duplexing (TDD) system, due to the reciprocity of the uplink and downlink channels, the network device can directly obtain the downlink channel by estimating the uplink channel of the terminal device, and calculate the precoding matrix and other information based on the downlink channel. However, in this scheme, since the terminal device may only send uplink reference signals at part of the antenna ports, but the actual downlink reception may use all the antenna ports, which leads to a mismatch between the estimated channel state information (CSI) and the actual channel state. In addition, when there are a large number of terminal devices sending uplink reference signals in the network, in order to ensure the accuracy of the network device for estimating the uplink channel, a large amount of time-frequency resources need to be consumed to carry a large amount of uplink reference signals of the terminal devices, which has a significant impact on the uplink transmission efficiency.

[0004] In summary, in the case of a large-scale antenna array, the number of antenna ports for sending reference signals is insufficient, which leads to a decrease in the accuracy of the CSI fed back by the terminal device. SUMMARY

[0005] The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can improve the accuracy of CSI fed back by a terminal device while reducing the requirement for the number of antenna ports. In addition, the resource overhead of a reference signal and the CSI feedback overhead can be reduced.

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a communication device or a module (for example, a processor, a chip, a chip system, an integrated circuit, etc., which can also be a logic module, hardware and / or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the communication device) applied to the communication device, and the communication device can be a network device in the method embodiment. The method can include: generating a weighting matrix based on channel information in an environment, the channel information including information of M multipaths, the weighting matrix being used to map a transmitting antenna array to the M multipaths, wherein each transmitting port corresponds to a multipath, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; and transmitting a reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix.

[0007] In the embodiments of the application, the network device uses a weighting matrix related to the channel information in the environment to weight the reference signal used for downlink channel estimation, the weighting matrix converts the channel from the transmitting antenna array dimension to the multipath dimension, so that the terminal device can accurately estimate the fixed component and the variable component in the downlink channel, and then can perform channel estimation and feedback for the fixed component and the variable component respectively with different periods, without increasing the transmitting ports of the reference signal, the accuracy of the CSI fed back by the terminal device can be improved.

[0008] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: transmitting first configuration information related to channel estimation, the first configuration information including a first mode identifier, the first mode identifier being used to indicate that the mode of the channel estimation is a first mode in which a first period and a second period are combined, and the first period is greater than the second period.

[0009] In this implementation, the network device includes the first mode identifier (that is, the identifier of the mode in which the long period and the short period are combined) in the configuration related to channel estimation transmitted to the terminal device. Further, whether the first mode is effective can be indicated by the value of the first mode identifier, so as to indicate whether the terminal device starts the channel estimation and feedback of the first mode, thereby configuring whether the terminal device adopts the mode in which the long period and the short period are combined for channel estimation and feedback according to different environmental requirements.

[0010] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first configuration information further includes one or more of the following information: the first period, the second period, or the number of transmitting ports.

[0011] In the implementation, the network device can configure the terminal device with information such as a long period, a short period, or a number of transmission ports, and can flexibly configure the periods of corresponding channel estimation and feedback for the time-invariant part and the time-varying part of the channel, so as to minimize the time-frequency resource overhead of the reference signal and the CSI feedback overhead.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the generating the weighting matrix based on the channel information in the environment comprises: generating an initial weighting matrix on each resource block (RB) corresponding to the reference signal based on an information vector E k of each of the M multipaths d is an index of the RB, k = 1, …, M, M is the number of the multipaths, E k has a dimension of a number of physical antennas of the network device x 1, is a phase difference of the multipath k on the channels of adjacent RBs.

[0013] In the implementation, the weighting matrix corresponding to each RB is generated respectively for the RBs on which the network device actually transmits the reference signal. The terminal devices in the same environment share the same reference signal measurement resource, and the number of transmission ports of the antenna array is only related to the number of targets (referring to targets in the perception system) or multipaths in the environment, so that the time-frequency domain resource overhead can be reduced.

[0014] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the generating the weighting matrix based on the channel information in the environment comprises: generating an initial weighting matrix on each resource block (RB) corresponding to the reference signal based on an information vector E k of each of the M multipaths d is an index of the RB, k = 1, …, M, M is the number of the multipaths, E k has a dimension of a number of physical antennas of the network device x 1, is a phase difference of the multipath k on the channels of adjacent RBs; and performing eigenvector decomposition on the initial weighting matrix W d on each of the RBs respectively to obtain a feature vector V d corresponding to each RB as the weighting matrix of the RB.

[0015] In the implementation, the weighting matrix W d obtained in the previous implementation can be used as the initial weighting matrix, and the feature vector V d extracted from the initial weighting matrix can be used as the final weighting matrix. Compared with the previous implementation, this method can reduce the storage overhead of the weighting matrix and the computational complexity.

[0016] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving first feedback information of channel estimation from a terminal device, the first feedback information corresponding to a first period, the channel estimation being obtained based on a reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix; recovering the receive port response matrix based on the first feedback information; and reconstructing the downlink channel based on the receive port response matrix and the weighting matrix of each RB.

[0017] In this implementation, the terminal device estimates the "time-invariant" portion of the channel in the first cycle and provides feedback. Based on the feedback from the terminal device, the network device can recover (or reconstruct) the downlink channel with high accuracy. Subsequent calculation of the CSI based on the recovered downlink channel can improve the accuracy of the CSI, thereby enhancing downlink transmission efficiency.

[0018] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first feedback information includes a set A = [A1, ..., A2] of the receiver port response vectors of M transmitting ports. M A k Let A be the response vector of the receiving port corresponding to the transmitting port k. k The dimension is 1×N, where N is the number of receiving ports, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. k It includes one or more of the following feedback quantities: phase, amplitude, or power.

[0019] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving second feedback information of channel estimation from a terminal device, the second feedback information corresponding to a second period, the channel estimation being obtained based on a reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix; recovering the receiver port response matrix based on the second feedback information and the most recent first feedback information; and reconstructing the downlink channel based on the recovered receiver port response matrix and the weighting matrix of each RB.

[0020] In this implementation, the terminal device estimates the "time-varying" portion of the channel using a second period and provides feedback. Based on the terminal device's feedback, and combined with the most recent long-period channel feedback, the network device can accurately recover (or reconstruct) the downlink channel. Subsequent calculation of the Channel Identity (CSI) based on the recovered downlink channel improves CSI accuracy, thereby enhancing downlink transmission efficiency.

[0021] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second feedback information includes the change in the feedback amount of each of the M transmission ports included in the most recent first feedback information.

[0022] In this implementation, compared to the long-period feedback of the channel parameters of the transmit port, the short-period feedback is of the change in the channel parameters of the transmit port, which can reduce the feedback overhead.

[0023] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the variation of the feedback quantity corresponding to the transmission port k of the M transmission ports comprises: a variation of a feedback quantity of one of the N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k; or a variation of a feedback quantity of each of the N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k.

[0024] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, after the first configuration information is sent, the method further comprises: receiving first information from the terminal device, the first information being used to indicate a type of a reception antenna array of the terminal device, the type of the reception antenna array comprising any one of: a regular planar array, a regular linear array, or an irregular array.

[0025] In this implementation, the terminal device can further compress the data quantity of the CSI feedback according to the type of the reception antenna array, and reduce the feedback overhead.

[0026] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further comprises: estimating channel state information (CSI) of the downlink channel based on the reconstructed downlink channel.

[0027] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further comprises: performing data transmission based on the estimated CSI.

[0028] The second aspect provides a communication method, which can be executed by a communication device or a module (for example, a processor, a chip, a chip system, an integrated circuit, etc., which can also be a logic module, hardware and / or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the communication device) applied to the communication device, which can be the terminal device in the method embodiment. The method can comprise: receiving a reference signal weighted by a weighting matrix, the weighting matrix being related to channel information in an environment, the channel information comprising information of M multipaths, the weighting matrix being used to map a transmission antenna array to the M multipaths, wherein each transmission port corresponds to one multipath, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; and performing channel estimation based on the reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix.

[0029] The beneficial technical effects of the second aspect and the implementations of the second aspect can refer to the corresponding descriptions of the first aspect, and will not be described herein again.

[0030] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further comprises: receiving first configuration information related to channel estimation, the first configuration information comprising a first mode identifier, the first mode identifier being used to indicate that a mode of the channel estimation is a first mode combining a first period and a second period, and the first period is greater than the second period.

[0031] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first configuration information may further include one or more of the following: the first cycle, the second cycle, or the number of transmission ports.

[0032] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: transmitting first feedback information of the channel estimation based on a first period, wherein the first feedback information includes a set A = [A1, ..., A2] of the receive port response vectors of M transmit ports. M A k Let A be the response vector of the receiving port corresponding to the transmitting port k, where k = 1, ..., M. k The dimension is 1×N, where N is the number of receiving ports, A k It includes one or more of the following feedback quantities: phase, amplitude, or power.

[0033] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: transmitting second feedback information of the channel estimation based on a second period, the second feedback information including the changes in the feedback quantities of the M transmission ports included in the most recent first feedback information.

[0034] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the change in the feedback quantity corresponding to the transmission port k among the M transmission ports includes: the change in the feedback quantity of one of the N receiving ports corresponding to the transmission port k; or, the change in the feedback quantity of each of the N receiving ports corresponding to the transmission port k.

[0035] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending first information to a network device, the first information being used to indicate the type of receiving antenna array, the type of receiving antenna array including any of the following: regular planar array, regular linear array, or irregular array.

[0036] In some implementations of the first or second aspect, the types of the receiving antenna arrays are different, and the changes in the feedback quantity included in the first feedback information and / or the feedback quantity included in the second feedback information are processed differently at the receiving end.

[0037] In some implementations of the first or second aspect, the first feedback information includes a feedback quantity of the transmission port k, and the second feedback information includes a change in the feedback quantity of the transmission port k; wherein...

[0038] The type of the receiving antenna array is a regular surface array, the feedback quantity of the transmitting port k includes two phase values of the receiving antenna array, channel phase information and amplitude information of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas respectively, and the change quantity of the feedback quantity of the transmitting port k includes channel phase information and amplitude information of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas respectively; or

[0039] The receiving antenna array is a regular linear array, the feedback quantity of the transmitting port k includes one phase value of the receiving antenna array, channel phase information and amplitude information of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas respectively, and the change quantity of the feedback quantity of the transmitting port k includes channel phase information and amplitude information of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas respectively; or

[0040] The receiving antenna array is a non-regular array, the feedback quantity of the transmitting port k includes phase information of all N receiving ports corresponding to the transmitting port k, and amplitude information of the N receiving ports, and the change quantity of the feedback quantity of the transmitting port k includes phase information and amplitude information of all N receiving ports corresponding to the transmitting port k, or phase information and amplitude information of one receiving port in the N receiving ports corresponding to the transmitting port k.

[0041] In some implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, the channel information in the environment is obtained from a perception system and / or historical information of the channel.

[0042] In this implementation, the channel information in the environment is obtained from a perception system or historical information of the channel, and the transmitting antenna array is mapped to the multipath dimension based on the channel information, so that the accuracy of CSI feedback is improved and the time-frequency resource overhead of the CSI RS is reduced without increasing the demand for the number of ports of the CSI RS.

[0043] In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which has the function of implementing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect; or has the function of implementing the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

[0044] In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which comprises at least one processor configured to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof; or perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Optionally, the at least one processor is coupled with at least one memory for storing computer program or instructions, and the at least one processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program or instructions from the at least one memory, so as to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof; or perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Optionally, the at least one processor can be included in the communication apparatus, or can be configured outside the communication apparatus.

[0045] In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which comprises a communication interface configured to receive information and / or data to be processed, and transmit the information and / or data to a circuit; and the circuit configured to process the information and / or data, so as to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof; or perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Optionally, the communication interface is further configured to output the processed information and / or data.

[0046] As an example, the communication apparatus can be a chip (or chip system).

[0047] In a sixth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores computer program codes or instructions, when the computer instructions are run on a computer, so as to cause the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be implemented; or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be implemented.

[0048] In a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises computer program codes or instructions, when the computer program codes or instructions are run on a computer, so as to cause the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be implemented; or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be implemented.

[0049] In an eighth aspect, a wireless communication system is provided, which comprises the communication apparatus in the first aspect and the communication apparatus in the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0050] FIG. 1 is an architecture diagram of a communication system suitable for embodiments of the present application.

[0051] FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by the present application.

[0052] FIG. 3 is an example of a communication method provided by the present application.

[0053] FIG. 4 is another example of a communication method provided by the present application.

[0054] FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus provided by the present application.

[0055] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication apparatus provided by the present application.

[0056] FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0057] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0058] The technical solutions provided by the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, a 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) system, a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, a satellite communication system, a future communication system such as a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, or a converged system of multiple systems, etc. The technical solutions provided by the present application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and internet of things (IoT) communication system or other communication systems.

[0059] A device in a communication system can send a signal to another device or receive a signal from another device. The signal can include information, signaling, or data, etc. The device can also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a network element, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc. The present application describes the device as an example. For example, the communication system can include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device can send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send an uplink signal to the network device.

[0060] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application includes various devices with wireless communication functions, which can be used to connect people, things, machines, etc. The terminal device can also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent or a user device.

[0061] At present, examples of the terminal device can include, but are not limited to, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a mobile internet device (MID), a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc.

[0062] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip, a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a combination of hardware circuit and software module. The device can be installed in the terminal device or used with the terminal device. The chip system can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the function of the terminal device is taken as an example for description.

[0063] The network device in the embodiments of the present application can include a device for communicating with a terminal device, and the network device can include an access network device or a radio access network device, for example, the network device can be a base station. The access network device in the embodiments of the present application can refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network. The base station can broadly cover the following various names or be replaced by the following names, for example: Node B (NodeB), evolved Node B (eNB), next generation Node B (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), primary station, secondary station, motor slide retainer (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), radio unit (RU), positioning node, etc. In a possible design, the processing unit in the BBU for implementing baseband functions is called a base band high (BBH) unit, and the processing unit in the RRU / AAU / RRH for implementing baseband functions is called a base band low (BBL) unit. The base station can be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node or a combination thereof. The base station can also refer to a communication module, modem or chip used in the aforementioned device or apparatus. The base station can also be a mobile switching center and a device that performs the function of a base station in D2D, V2X, M2M communication, a device that performs the function of a base station in future communication systems, etc. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the access network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU). The base station can support networks of the same or different access technologies. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device. The base station can be fixed or mobile.For example, a helicopter or a drone can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move according to the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or a drone can be configured to act as a device that communicates with another base station.

[0064] In some deployments, the network device can also be a device including a CU, or a DU, or a device including a CU and a DU, or a control plane CU node (central unit-control plane (CU-CP)) and a user plane CU node (central unit-user plane (CU-UP)) and a DU node. For example, the network device can include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP and a gNB-DU.

[0065] In some deployments, wireless access is assisted for a terminal by cooperation of multiple RAN nodes, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, the RAN node can be a CU, a DU, a CU-CP, a CU-UP, or an RU, etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can also be included in the same network element, for example, in a BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, included in an RRU, an AAU or an RRH.

[0066] In different systems, the CU (or the CU-CP and the CU-UP), the DU or the RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open RAN (ORAN / O-RAN) system, the CU can also be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), and the DU can also be referred to as an open DU (O-DU). The CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. Any one of the CU (or the CU-CP, the CU-UP), the DU and the RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0067] In the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device; or can be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a combination of a hardware circuit and a software module. The apparatus can be installed in the network device or used in combination with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example for description, and the scheme of the embodiments of the present application is not limited in this way.

[0068] The network device and the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water surface; and can also be deployed on airplanes, airships and satellites in the air. The scene where the network device and the terminal device are located is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In addition, the terminal device and the network device can be hardware devices, or software functions running on special hardware, software functions running on general hardware, such as virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform), or entities including special or general hardware devices and software functions, and the like, without limitation.

[0069] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application. One network element in the communication system 100 can send or receive signals to or from another network element. The signals can include information, signaling or data, etc. The network element can also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a device, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc. The embodiments of the present application are described by taking a device as an example. For example, the communication system can include a network device (for example, the network device 110) and at least one terminal device (for example, the terminal device 101 to the terminal device 106).

[0070] It should be noted that FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding, for example, the communication system 100 can further include other devices, for example, can further include a wireless relay device and / or a wireless backhaul device, a core network device, etc., which are not shown in FIG. 1. In actual applications, the communication system can include multiple network devices, and can also include multiple terminal devices. The number of network devices and terminal devices is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0071] In future communication systems, with the increase of the number of base station (BS) antenna ports, the currently supported 32-port channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) constraint is far from enough, and increasing the number of CSI RS ports will inevitably increase the time-frequency domain resource overhead, thereby affecting the transmission capability of the data channel.

[0072] In a TDD system, since there is uplink-downlink channel reciprocity, the BS can directly obtain the downlink channel by estimating the uplink channel of the UE, and calculate the downlink precoding, channel quality indicator (CQI) and rank indicator (RI) and other information based on the downlink channel. There can be the following problems in the technology:

[0073] (1) Uplink channel acquisition: UE transmits uplink reference signals on all antenna ports, so that the BS can acquire the complete uplink channel. For the UE, it can only transmit uplink reference signals on part of the antenna ports, while actually using all the antenna ports in downlink reception, thus causing CSI mismatch. In addition, due to the constraints of UE transmit power, uplink interference, etc., the accuracy of the uplink channel estimated by the BS can be low, which cannot be used for accurate CSI calculation.

[0074] (2) Resource overhead of uplink reference signals: When there are a large number of UEs in the network, each UE needs to transmit uplink reference. In order to ensure the accuracy of the UE's uplink channel estimation, a large amount of time-frequency domain resources need to be consumed to carry a large number of UE uplink reference signals, which has a significant impact on uplink transmission efficiency.

[0075] Based on the above technical status, the present application aims to solve the following technical problems:

[0076] 1. Under a large-scale antenna array, the number of CSI RS ports is insufficient, causing the accuracy of UE feedback CSI to decrease. In the present application, information from a heterogeneous system (such as a sensing system) is used to convert the environmental channel from the antenna dimension to the multipath dimension, aiming to improve the accuracy of feedback CSI under the condition of reducing the demand for the number of antenna ports of CSI RS;

[0077] 2. For UEs with time-varying channel characteristics, a shorter CSI RS period needs to be configured to ensure the accuracy of their feedback CSI, resulting in a large CSI RS time-frequency resource overhead and feedback overhead. The composition of the channel is divided into "time-invariant" and "time-varying" parts, the "time-invariant" part is measured and fed back through a long period, and the "time-varying" part is measured and fed back through a short period, thereby reducing the overall CSI overhead and the amount of data fed back.

[0078] The technical solution of the present application is applicable to future communication system new air interface transmission scenarios, such as supporting communication enhancement scenarios based on multi-user MIMO systems. Overall, the present application mainly involves the following improvements:

[0079] 1. UE realizes long and short period channel parameter estimation of each antenna port under the existing CSI RS resource configuration mode. Specifically, the BS maps the antenna array to the multipath by designing a conversion matrix, and each multipath is mapped to one CSI RS port. The UE measures the downlink channel of each CSI RS port, and calculates the channel parameters of each CSI RS port according to a longer period, and calculates the change amount of the channel parameters of each CSI RS port according to a shorter period;

[0080] 2. UE feeds back long period channel parameters: UE feeds back the channel parameters of each CSI RS port according to a longer period;

[0081] 3. UE feeds back short period channel parameters: UE feeds back the channel parameter variation of each CSI RS port in a shorter period.

[0082] The communication method provided in the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The technical solutions or embodiments provided in the following embodiments can be applied to a communication system including the communication system shown in FIG. 1, without limitation.

[0083] FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 200 provided in the present application. The communication method 200 can be executed by a first device, which can be a communication device or a device (such as a chip, a chip system, a processor, or an integrated circuit, etc.) for a communication device. As an example, the communication device can be a network device. Alternatively, the method 200 can also include a second device. Similarly, the second device can be a communication device or a device (such as a chip, a chip system, a processor, or an integrated circuit, etc.) for a communication device. As an example, the communication device corresponding to the second device can be a terminal device. The following will be described by taking the first device as a network device and the second device as a terminal device as an example.

[0084] 210. The network device generates a weighting matrix based on channel information in an environment, wherein the channel information in the environment includes information of M multipaths, and the weighting matrix is used to map a transmit antenna array to the M multipaths, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0085] In the embodiments of the present application, the weighting matrix converts the channel information in the environment from the dimension of the transmit antenna array to the dimension of the multipath, specifically, each transmit port is mapped to one multipath.

[0086] Optionally, the channel information in the environment can come from multiple channels.

[0087] As an example, the channel information can come from a perception system. For example, through scanning of the environment by the perception system, information of all possible targets in the environment can be obtained, which can include but is not limited to the information of the target such as the angle of departure, the time delay, the power, etc. The target in the perception system can refer to a perceived object. The information of one target can correspond to one multipath information. Thus, in the perception system, the information of the target is obtained, and the information of the multipath is obtained.

[0088] As another example, the channel information in the environment can come from historical data of the channel. For example, historical channel samples are obtained through measurement of the network device and / or reporting of the terminal device, and the multipath information possibly existing is extracted based on the historical channel samples. The multipath information can include but is not limited to the information of the multipath such as the angle of departure, the angle of arrival, the time delay, the power, etc.

[0089] In an implementation, the network device generates a weight matrix on each resource block (RB) corresponding to the reference signal based on the information vector E k of the M multipaths. That is, a weight matrix is generated for each RB. The weight matrix on the RB with index (or sequence number) d can be represented as: k = 1, …, M, M is the number of multipaths, E k has a dimension of the number of physical antennas of the network device x 1, is the phase difference of the target or multipath k on the channels of adjacent RBs. Optionally, the information vector of each multipath includes but is not limited to a vector of the following information of each multipath: angle of departure, angle of arrival, time delay, Doppler frequency offset, etc.

[0090] In another implementation, the network device generates a weight matrix W d on each RB based on the implementation above as the initial weight matrix. Further, the network device performs eigenvector decomposition on the initial weight matrix W d on each RB respectively to obtain the eigenvector V d corresponding to each RB respectively. The eigenvector V d is used as the weight matrix of each RB.

[0091] 220. The network device transmits the reference signal weighted by the weight matrix.

[0092] As described in step 210, the weight matrix on the RB with index d can be W d or V d For the reference signal transmitted on the RB with index d, the network device weights the reference signal by W d or V d , so that each transmission port is mapped to a multipath. As an example, the reference signal can be a CSI RS. The network device transmits the weighted CSI RS.

[0093] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the reference signal weighted by the weight matrix from the network device.

[0094] The process of the terminal device performing channel measurement and channel feedback based on the received weighted reference signal is described below.

[0095] Optionally, the method 200 further includes steps and / or operations performed by the terminal device.

[0096] 230. The terminal device performs channel estimation based on the reference signal weighted by the weight matrix.

[0097] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device (for example, the network device) generates a weighting matrix by obtaining channel information in the environment, uses the weighting matrix to weight the reference signal, and can map the transmitting antenna array to the multipath, thereby improving the accuracy of the CSI fed back by the terminal device while reducing the requirement for the number of reference signal ports.

[0098] Optionally, the method 200 can further include step 240.

[0099] 240. The network device sends channel estimation related first configuration information to the terminal device, and the first configuration information includes a first mode identifier.

[0100] The first mode identifier is used to indicate that the mode of channel estimation is a first mode in which a first period and a second period are combined, and the first period is greater than the second period.

[0101] The first mode in which the first period and the second period are combined can mean that the terminal device performs channel estimation (or channel measurement) and channel feedback with the first period, and simultaneously performs channel estimation and channel feedback with the second period. Since the first period is greater than the second period, the "time-invariant" part of the channel is estimated and fed back with the first period, and the "time-varying" part of the channel is estimated and fed back with the second period.

[0102] Whether the first mode is enabled or takes effect can be configured by the network device. As an example, the first mode identifier can include two states of enablement and disablement. The network device can indicate the terminal device to enable the channel estimation of the first mode by setting the first mode identifier to the enablement state in the first configuration information, and indicate the terminal device to disable the channel estimation of the first mode by setting the first mode identifier to the disablement state in another piece of first configuration information during the period in which the terminal device performs channel estimation and channel feedback in the first mode. As an example, the first configuration information can be a radio resource control (RRC) message, and specifically, a field can be added to the RRC message to carry the first mode identifier, and different values of the added field can represent the enablement or disablement of the first mode. For example, the added field takes a value of 1, indicating that the first mode is enabled; the added field takes a value of 0, indicating that the first mode is disabled. Optionally, the first mode identifier information can also be carried in other types of messages, which is not limited.

[0103] As an example, the first configuration information can include one or more of the following: the first period, the second period, or the number of transmission ports. For example, the first configuration information includes the first period, the second period, and the number of transmission ports. For another example, the first period and the second period can be protocol specified, predefined, or preconfigured, and the number of transmission ports is included in the first configuration information. In addition, other implementation manners can also be adopted, which are not limited in the present application.

[0104] Optionally, the method 200 further includes steps 250-260.

[0105] 250. The terminal device sends first feedback information of channel estimation based on the first period.

[0106] Correspondingly, the network device receives the first feedback information.

[0107] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device periodically performs channel estimation and sends corresponding channel feedback. The channel feedback sent in the first period is the first feedback information, which includes the channel parameters of each transmission port estimated by the terminal device through weighted reference signals. The network device recovers the receive port response matrix based on the first feedback information, and can reconstruct the downlink channel according to the receive port response matrix and the weighting matrix of each RB.

[0108] 260. The terminal device sends second feedback information of channel estimation based on the second period.

[0109] Correspondingly, the network device receives the second feedback information.

[0110] As described above, in the first mode, the terminal device performs channel estimation and channel feedback in the first period and performs channel estimation and channel feedback in the second period. The channel feedback sent by the terminal device in the second period is the second feedback information. Unlike the first feedback information, the second feedback information is used to indicate the change amount of the channel parameters of the transmission ports. It should be understood that the change amount of the channel parameters reflects the change of the channel parameters of the transmission ports in the time period from the last channel estimation corresponding to the first period to the current channel estimation corresponding to the second period. The network device recovers the receive port response matrix based on the second feedback information, and combines the last first feedback information and the weighting matrix corresponding to each RB to reconstruct the downlink channel.

[0111] After reconstructing the downlink channel, the network device estimates the reconstructed downlink channel to obtain CSI. Further, based on the estimated CSI, the network device performs data transmission. For example, the network device calculates a precoding matrix based on the estimated CSI, and sends data precoded using the precoding matrix to the terminal device.

[0112] The indication of the change amount of the channel parameter of the transmission port obtained based on the channel estimation is short-period feedback. The second feedback information is obtained by the terminal device measuring (or estimating) the channel with a second period.

[0113] According to the description of the first feedback information and the second feedback information, in the first mode, on the one hand, the terminal device performs channel estimation and channel feedback with a long period to feed back the channel parameter of the transmission port, which reflects the "time-invariant" part of the channel; on the other hand, the terminal device also performs channel estimation and channel feedback with a short period to feed back the change amount of the channel parameter of the transmission port, which reflects the "time-varying" part of the channel. Based on the mode of long-period + short-period channel estimation and feedback of the terminal device, the network device can reconstruct the downlink channel, and then estimate the reconstructed downlink channel to obtain the CSI, thereby improving the accuracy of the CSI. In addition, the overall feedback overhead of the CSI can be reduced.

[0114] In addition, before step 260, the terminal device can adopt different processing manners to process the channel estimation result to generate the first feedback information and / or the second feedback information based on the type of the receiving antenna array of the terminal device, so as to further compress the feedback information and reduce the feedback overhead. Therefore, before the terminal device transmits the feedback information, the method 200 can further include step 270.

[0115] 270. The terminal device transmits first information, and the first information is used to indicate the type of the receiving antenna array of the terminal device.

[0116] The type of the receiving antenna array can include a regular surface array, a regular linear array, and an irregular array. For the three different types of receiving antenna arrays, the terminal device can include different information in the feedback information (for example, the first feedback information and the second feedback information), which will be described in detail in the following embodiments.

[0117] Correspondingly, the network device receives the first information.

[0118] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device adopts a weighting matrix related to the channel information in the environment to weight the CSI RS used for downlink channel estimation, so that the terminal device can accurately estimate the fixed component and the variable component in the downlink channel, and then feed back the fixed component and the variable component with different periods, which can improve the accuracy of the CSI without increasing the transmission ports of the CSI RS. In addition, the mode of long-period and short-period channel estimation and feedback can reduce the CSI RS resource overhead and the feedback overhead of the CSI in the case of a large-scale antenna array, and high-precision feedback can be obtained.

[0119] The following gives several examples of the method 200.

[0120] Example 1

[0121] In Example 1, the BS indicates the measurement configuration of the CSI RS of long period and short period to the UE, and sends the weighted CSI RS. The UE estimates the downlink channel of each port based on the weighted CSI RS, and feeds back the channel estimation results of long period and / or short period of the downlink channel.

[0122] FIG. 3 is an example of a communication method provided by the present application.

[0123] 301, after the UE accesses the cell, receives the RRC configuration from the BS, and the RRC configuration includes a first field, and the first field includes a first mode identifier. Optionally, the first field further includes one or more of the following information: the number of CSI RS ports, the long period feedback period T L and the short period feedback period T S .

[0124] It should be understood that T L is the first period in the above embodiments, and T S is the second period in the above embodiments. The first mode identifier is included in the first field, and if the first mode identifier is valid, it indicates that the BS instructs the UE to start the channel estimation and channel feedback of the first mode. Optionally, if the first mode identifier is invalid, the UE can use an existing mode other than the first mode for channel estimation and feedback, for example, based on the fixed period configured by the BS for channel estimation and feedback.

[0125] 302, the BS obtains the channel information in the environment.

[0126] 303, the BS generates a weighting matrix according to the obtained channel information in the environment.

[0127] The weighting matrix fuses the channel information in the environment. As described in step 210, the generation method of the weighting matrix includes but is not limited to:

[0128] Method 1: define the information vector of each target in the multipath or sensing system as E k , k = 1, …, M, E k is calculated based on the information of the departure angle, power, etc. of the multipath or target, and the dimension is the number of antennas at the BS side x 1. The weighting matrix on each RB is generated as follows: where d is the index of the RB, is the phase difference of the target or multipath k on the channel of adjacent RBs, which can be calculated by the time delay.

[0129] Method 2: on the basis of W d , perform eigenvector decomposition to obtain the eigenvector V d , and the eigenvector Vd as a weighting matrix.

[0130] 304、The BS transmits the weighted CSI RS.

[0131] The UE receives the weighted CSI RS.

[0132] 305、The UE calculates long-period parameters of the channel based on the weighted CSI RS.

[0133] The UE performs channel estimation on each transmit port based on the weighted CSI RS to obtain a response vector of the receive port. The set of response vectors of the receive port of all transmit ports is A = [A1, …, AM], where A M The dimension of A k is 1 x N, N is the number of receive ports of the UE, and M is the number of transmit ports of the BS.

[0134] 306、The UE feeds back the long-period parameters of the channel.

[0135] 307、The UE calculates short-period parameters of the channel based on the weighted CSI RS.

[0136] 308、The UE feeds back the short-period parameters of the channel.

[0137] It should be understood that the long-period parameters fed back by the UE can correspond to the first feedback information in the above embodiments, and the short-period parameters can correspond to the second feedback information in the above embodiments.

[0138] In steps 305-308:

[0139] a) Channel estimation and feedback of the long period.

[0140] The triggering condition is the first measurement or the time interval from the last long-period channel estimation and feedback is T L The UE feeds back A k , which can include N quantized phase values, N quantized amplitude values or power values.

[0141] b) Channel estimation and feedback of the short period.

[0142] The triggering condition is that the time interval from the last long-period channel estimation and feedback is an integer multiple of T S , and the channel estimation and feedback of the long period cannot be triggered at the same time. Assuming that the feedback value of the BS transmit port k in the last (i.e., the most recent) long-period feedback is A 0,k , the feedback value of the short period is the change amount Δ k = A k / A 0,kwhere. denotes the point division operation of vectors. According to the point division operation, the change amount of the transmitting port k is k with the dimension of 1xN, containing the change amount of each receiving port of the UE. As an example, if the feedback phase value and the amplitude value, the phase value and the amplitude value of one receiving port in k may be fed back, for example, the first phase value and the amplitude value of k ; or, as another example, the phase value and the amplitude value (or the power value) of each of the N receiving ports are fed back, that is, N phase values and N amplitude values (or power values) are fed back.

[0143] As an example, when the UE feeds back the channel parameters of each transmitting port, the UE can feed back the quantized values of the channel parameters. Optionally, the number of quantization bits of the short-period feedback can be different from the number of quantization bits of the long-period feedback. Generally, since the short-period feedback only reflects the change amount, the value range is relatively small, and thus the number of quantization bits of the short-period feedback is lower than the number of quantization bits of the long-period feedback.

[0144] 309. The BS recovers the downlink channel according to the feedback information received from the UE, and calculates the CSI based on the recovered downlink channel.

[0145] Specifically, after the UE receives the feedback information, the UE can perform the following processing:

[0146] 1) After the BS receives the feedback of the long-period channel estimation, the BS recovers the set A (matrix A) of the response vectors of the receiving ports, and recovers the downlink channel in combination with the weighting matrix of each RB, and calculates the CSI based on the recovered downlink channel.

[0147] 2) After the BS receives the feedback of the short-period channel estimation, the BS recovers the response matrix A of the receiving ports in combination with the most recent long-period feedback (i.e., the most recent first feedback information), recovers the downlink channel in combination with the weighting matrix of each RB, and calculates the CSI based on the recovered downlink channel.

[0148] 310. The BS performs downlink data transmission based on the CSI obtained in the above steps.

[0149] It can be found that in Example 1, the following improvements are made: 1) the UEs in the same environment share the same CSI-RS measurement resource, and the number of ports is only related to the number of targets or multipaths in the environment, and the time-frequency domain resource overhead of the CSI RS is reduced; 2) the combination of the long-period feedback (high feedback overhead) and the short-period feedback (low feedback overhead) can reduce the overall feedback overhead.

[0150] Therefore, by weighting the CSI-RS by the channel information in the environment by the BS, the air interface channel is dimensionally transformed so that the UE can accurately estimate the fixed component and the changing component in the channel and feed back to the BS. The BS can reconstruct the real-time downlink channel based on the feedback information and calculate accurate CSI based on the reconstructed downlink channel, thereby improving the CSI accuracy and further improving the downlink transmission rate.

[0151] Example 2

[0152] In Example 2, the BS indicates the long-period and short-period CSI RS measurement configurations to the UE and sends the weighted CSI-RS. The UE estimates the downlink channel of each port based on the CSI-RS and feeds back the long-period and / or short-period channel estimation results of the downlink channel. In addition, compared with Example 1, the UE can further compress the feedback information based on its own antenna form.

[0153] FIG. 4 is another example of the communication method provided by the present application.

[0154] 401. After the UE accesses the cell, the UE receives the RRC configuration from the BS, and the RRC configuration includes a first field, and the first field includes a first mode identifier.

[0155] Step 401 can refer to the description in step 301, and will not be repeated here.

[0156] 402. After the UE receives the RRC configuration from the BS, if the first mode identifier is valid, the UE sends first information to the BS, and the first information is used to indicate the type of the receiving antenna array. Optionally, the type of the receiving antenna array can include: regular surface array (number of rows and columns, number of polarizations), regular linear array (number of columns, number of polarizations), or irregular array (number of receiving antenna ports).

[0157] 403. The BS side acquires the channel information in the environment and generates a weighting matrix.

[0158] 404. The BS sends the weighted CSI-RS.

[0159] 405. The UE calculates the long-period parameter of the channel based on the weighted CSI RS.

[0160] 406. The UE feeds back the long-period parameter of the channel.

[0161] 407. The UE calculates the short-period parameter of the channel based on the weighted CSI RS.

[0162] 408. The UE feeds back the short-period parameter of the channel.

[0163] Steps 403-408 can refer to the description of steps 303-308, respectively, and will not be repeated here.

[0164] Furthermore, unlike in Example 1, in steps 405-408, the UE side performs different quantization processing of the feedback information for its different antenna array types.

[0165] 1) Long-period channel estimation and feedback

[0166] With the A of the transmission port k Taking long-cycle feedback as an example, the quantification process is as follows:

[0167] a) Regular array: Contains two quantized array phase values, two quantized channel phase values, and two quantized channel amplitude values ​​(or power values). The array phase values ​​include the channel phase difference between horizontally adjacent antenna ports and the channel phase difference between vertically adjacent antenna ports. Based on these array phase values, the channels of other receiving antenna ports can be deduced from the channel of one receiving antenna port. There are two channel phase values ​​and two amplitude (or power) values, representing the channel information corresponding to the two polarized antennas.

[0168] b) Regular linear array: Contains one quantized array phase value, two quantized channel phase values, and two quantized channel amplitude values ​​(or power). The array phase values ​​include the channel phase differences between horizontally adjacent antenna ports and the channel phase differences between vertically adjacent antenna ports. Based on this array phase, the channels of other receiving antenna ports can be deduced from the channel of one receiving antenna port. Since a linear array has only one dimension, it contains only one quantized array phase value.

[0169] c) Irregular matrix: N quantized phase values ​​and N quantized amplitude (power) values.

[0170] 2) Short-period channel estimation and feedback

[0171] With the A of the transmission port k Taking short-cycle feedback as an example, the quantification process is as follows:

[0172] a) Regular area array / linear array: Extract Δ k The two receiving dual-polarized antennas in the diagram correspond to two phase values ​​and two amplitude values ​​(or power values).

[0173] b) Irregular matrix: Feedback Δ k The phase and amplitude (or power) values ​​of one receiving port, or the phase and amplitude (or power) values ​​of each of the N receiving ports.

[0174] 409. The BS recovers the downlink channel based on the feedback information received from the UE, and calculates the CSI based on the recovered downlink channel.

[0175] 410. BS performs downlink data transmission based on computed CSI.

[0176] It can be seen that, example 2 is based on example 1, for the UE with a regular planar array or linear array of receive antennas, the feedback data amount can be further compressed.

[0177] The communication method provided in the present application is described in detail above, and the communication apparatus provided in the present application is introduced below.

[0178] To implement the functions of the communication apparatus (for example, the first device or the second device) in the embodiments of the present application, the communication apparatus can implement the corresponding functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module.

[0179] FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus provided in the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the communication apparatus 1000 includes a processing module 1001 and a communication module 1002. The communication apparatus 1000 can be a communication device, or an apparatus applied to a communication device and capable of implementing the corresponding functions of the communication device, for example, a chip, a chip system, or a circuit, etc. Illustratively, the communication device can be a network device or a terminal device in the method embodiments, etc. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1000 can further include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing module 1001 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit, so that the communication apparatus 1000 implements the corresponding functions of the network device or the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[0180] The communication module 1002 can also be a transceiver module, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a transceiver apparatus, etc. The processing module 1001 can also be a processor, a processing board, a processing unit, or a processing apparatus, etc. Optionally, the communication module is used to perform the sending operation or the receiving operation of the network device or the terminal device in any one of the method embodiments. The device in the communication module used to implement the receiving function can be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device in the communication module used to implement the sending function can be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the communication module includes the receiving unit and the sending unit. The processing module is used to perform the internal implementation related operation / processing of the network device or the terminal device in any one of the method embodiments. The corresponding specific operations of each module can be seen from the description in the method embodiments, and will not be described herein.

[0181] In addition, the communication module and / or the processing module can be implemented by a virtual module, for example, the processing module can be implemented by a software function unit or a virtual device, and the communication module can be implemented by a software function or a virtual device. Alternatively, the processing module or the communication module can also be implemented by an entity device, for example, the communication device is implemented by a chip, such as a system on chip (SoC), a hardware circuit, etc., and the communication module can be an input / output circuit and / or a communication interface, which performs an input operation (corresponding to the aforementioned receiving operation) and an output operation (corresponding to the aforementioned sending operation); and the processing module is an integrated circuit or a logic circuit, etc.

[0182] The division of the modules in the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, another division manner can be used. In addition, each function module in each example in the present application can be integrated in one module, or can be a separate physical existence, or two or more modules can be integrated in one module. The integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of a software function module, or in the form of a hardware and software combined function module, without limitation.

[0183] As an example, the communication device corresponds to the network equipment in the method embodiment. Taking FIG. 2 as an example, the processing module 1001 performs the corresponding processing of step 210; and the communication module 1002 is configured to perform the sending operation in step 220 or step 240, and the receiving operation in steps 250-270.

[0184] As another example, the communication device corresponds to the terminal equipment in the method embodiment. Taking FIG. 2 as an example, the processing module 1001 performs the corresponding processing of step 230; and the communication module 1002 is configured to perform the receiving operation in step 220 or step 240, and the sending operation in steps 250-270.

[0185] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by the present application. The communication device 1100 can be used to implement the function of any one of the communication devices (for example, the terminal equipment or the network equipment) in the communication system described in the foregoing examples. The communication device 1100 can include at least one processor 1110. Optionally, the processor 1110 (or the processing device) is coupled with a memory, which can be located in the communication device, or the memory can be integrated with the processor, or the memory can also be located outside the communication device. For example, the communication device 1100 can further include at least one memory 1120. The memory 1120 stores computer programs, instructions or data necessary for implementing any one of the method embodiments described above; and the processor 1110 can execute the computer programs, instructions or data stored in the memory 1120, so as to complete the corresponding functions of the network equipment or the terminal equipment in any one of the embodiments described above.

[0186] Optionally, the communication device 1100 can further include a communication interface 1130, and the communication device 1100 can interact with other devices through the communication interface 1130. For example, the communication interface 1130 can be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or other types of communication interfaces. When the communication device 1100 is a chip-type device or a circuit, the communication interface 1130 in the device 1100 can also be an input / output circuit that can input (or receive) information and / or output (or send) information. The processor can be an integrated circuit or a logic circuit, and the processor can determine output information according to input information.

[0187] The coupling in the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, and is used for information interaction between devices, units, or modules. The processor 1110 can operate in cooperation with the memory 1120 and the communication interface 1130. The connection medium between the processor 1110, the memory 1120, and the communication interface 1130 is not limited in the present application.

[0188] For example, the processor 1110 can have the functions of the processing module 1001 in FIG. 5, and the communication interface 1130 can have the functions of the communication module 1002 in FIG. 5. The memory 1120 can have the function of a storage unit.

[0189] FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided by the present application. The chip 30 includes a circuit 31 and a communication interface 32. The circuit 31 can be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like, and the communication interface 32 can also be referred to as an input / output circuit, an input / output interface, an interface circuit, or the like, and can input (or receive) information or output (or send) information. The chip 30 can perform the methods performed by the network device or the terminal device in the embodiments of the present application, or realize part or all of the corresponding functions of the network device or the terminal device.

[0190] In addition, the present application also provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions run on a computer, the operations and / or processes performed by the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiments of the present application are performed.

[0191] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes computer program codes or instructions, and when the computer program codes or instructions run on a computer, the operations and / or processes performed by the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiments of the present application are performed.

[0192] Further, the present application also provides a chip, which comprises a processor. A memory for storing a computer program is arranged independently of the chip, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory, so that the operations and / or processes performed by the terminal device or the network device in any one of the method embodiments are performed. Further, the chip can further comprise a communication interface. The communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, or the like. Further, the chip can further comprise a memory.

[0193] The present application provides a communication system, comprising the terminal device and the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0194] The processor in the embodiments of the present application has signal processing capability, and can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be a general processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, and can implement or execute the disclosed methods, steps and logic block diagrams in the present application. The general processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the present application can be directly embodied as hardware processor execution, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a random memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register or other mature storage medium in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory, and combines the hardware to complete the steps of the above method.

[0195] In embodiments of the application, the memory can be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. In one embodiment, nonvolatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double-data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It is to be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, among other things, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0196] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are realized in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods to realize the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0197] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working processes of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here.

[0198] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other manners. For example, the described device embodiments are merely schematic. The division of the units is merely logical function division. There can be other division manners in actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0199] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separate, and the components shown as units can or can not be physical units, i.e., can be located in one place, or can be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment.

[0200] In addition, each functional unit in the various embodiments of the present application can be integrated into a processing unit, or each unit can be a physically separate unit, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0201] If the functions are realized in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes a number of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various program code storage media.

[0202] The above description is merely a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: generating a weighting matrix based on channel information in an environment, the channel information comprising information of M multipaths, the weighting matrix being used to map a transmitting antenna array to the M multipaths, wherein each transmitting port corresponds to one multipath, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; transmitting a reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: transmitting first configuration information related to channel estimation, the first configuration information comprising a first mode identifier, the first mode identifier being used to indicate that a mode of the channel estimation is a first mode in which a first period and a second period are combined, and the first period is greater than the second period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first configuration information further comprises one or more of the following: the first period, the second period, or the number of transmitting ports.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The generating of the weighting matrix based on the channel information in the environment comprises: an information vector E for each of the M multipaths k generating an initial weight matrix on each resource block RB corresponding to the reference signal d is the index of RB, k = 1, …, M, M is the number of the multipath, E k The dimension of the network device is the number of physical antennas x 1, a phase difference of a multipath k on channels of adjacent RBs. The initial weighting matrix W on the respective RB d Eigen vector decomposition is respectively performed to obtain the eigen vector V corresponding to each RB d is the weighting matrix of the respective RB 5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving first feedback information of channel estimation from a terminal device, the first feedback information corresponding to a first period, and the channel estimation being obtained based on a reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix; based on the first feedback information, recovering a receiving port response matrix; based on the receiving port response matrix and the weighting matrix of each RB, reconstructing a downlink channel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The first feedback information includes a set of receive port response vectors A = [A1, …, A M ] of M transmit ports, A k is a receive port response vector corresponding to transmit port k, and a dimension of A k is 1 x N, N is a number of receive ports, N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and A k includes one or more of the following feedback quantities: phase, amplitude, or power.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, The method further comprises: receiving second feedback information of channel estimation from a terminal device, the second feedback information corresponding to a second period, and the channel estimation being obtained based on a reference signal weighted by the weighting matrix; based on the second feedback information and the last first feedback information, recovering a receiving port response matrix; based on the recovered receiving port response matrix and the weighting matrix of each RB, reconstructing a downlink channel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The second feedback information comprises a change amount of a feedback amount of each of M transmitting ports included in the last first feedback information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The change amount of the feedback amount corresponding to a transmitting port k in the M transmitting ports comprises: a change amount of a feedback amount of one receiving port in all N receiving ports corresponding to the transmitting port k; or change amounts of feedback amounts of all N receiving ports corresponding to the transmitting port k.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that, After the transmitting of the first configuration information, the method further comprises: receiving first information from a terminal device, the first information being used to indicate a type of a receiving antenna array of the terminal device, and the type of the receiving antenna array comprising any one of the following: a regular planar array, a regular linear array, or an irregular array.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, The type of the receiving antenna array is different, and a processing manner of a feedback amount included in the first feedback information and / or a change amount of a feedback amount included in the second feedback information is different at a receiving end.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, The channel information in the environment is from a perception system and / or historical information of a channel.

13. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving a reference signal weighted by a weighting matrix, the weighting matrix being related to channel information in an environment, the channel information comprising information of M multipaths, the weighting matrix being used to map a transmitting antenna array to the M multipaths, wherein each transmitting port corresponds to one multipath, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; Perform channel estimation based on the reference signal weighted by the weighted matrix.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein, The method further includes: receiving first configuration information related to channel estimation, the first configuration information including a first mode identifier, the first mode identifier indicating that the mode of the channel estimation is a first mode in which a first period and a second period are combined, the first period being greater than the second period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, The first configuration information further includes one or more of the following information: The first period, the second period, or the number of transmission ports.

16. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the first period, the channel estimation is transmitted with first feedback information, which includes a set A = [A1, ..., A2] of the receive port response vectors of M transmit ports. M A k Let A be the response vector of the receiving port corresponding to the transmitting port k, where k = 1, ..., M. k The dimension is 1×N, where N is the number of receiving ports, A k It includes one or more of the following feedback quantities: phase, amplitude, or power.

17. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that, The method further includes: sending second feedback information of the channel estimation based on the second period, the second feedback information including a change in the feedback amount of each of the M transmission ports included in the most recent first feedback information.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein, The change in the feedback amount of the transmission port k in the M transmission ports includes: The change in the feedback amount of one of the total N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k; or The change in the feedback amount of each of the total N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, characterized in that, The method further includes: sending first information to a network device, the first information indicating the type of a receiving antenna array, the type of the receiving antenna array including any one of the following: a regular planar array, a regular linear array, or an irregular array.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, The type of the receiving antenna array is different, and the feedback amount included in the first feedback information and / or the change in the feedback amount included in the second feedback information is processed differently at the receiving end.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein, The first feedback information includes the feedback amount of the transmission port k, and the second feedback information includes the change in the feedback amount of the transmission port k; wherein When the type of the receiving antenna array is a regular planar array, the feedback amount of the transmission port k includes: 2 phase values of the receiving antenna array, channel phase information and amplitude information of each of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas; and the change in the feedback amount of the transmission port k includes: channel phase information and amplitude information of each of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas; or When the type of the receiving antenna array is a regular linear array, the feedback amount of the transmission port k includes: 1 phase value of the receiving antenna array, channel phase information and amplitude information of each of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas; and the change in the feedback amount of the transmission port k includes: channel phase information and amplitude information of each of the two receiving dual-polarized antennas; or When the type of the receiving antenna array is an irregular array, the feedback amount of the transmission port k includes: phase information of the total N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k, and amplitude information of the N reception ports; and the change in the feedback amount of the transmission port k includes: phase information and amplitude information of the total N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k, or phase information and amplitude information of one of the N reception ports corresponding to the transmission port k.

22. A communications device, characterized by The method includes a module or unit for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 12; or a module or unit for performing the method of any one of claims 13 to 21.

23. A communications device, characterized by comprising at least one processor configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in a memory to cause the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 to be performed; or to cause the method of any one of claims 13 to 21 to be performed.

24. A chip, characterized by comprising a circuit and a communication interface configured to receive information and / or data to be processed and send the information and / or data to be processed to the circuit; and the circuit is configured to process the received information and / or data to cause the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 to be performed; or to cause the method of any one of claims 13 to 21 to be performed.

25. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores computer programs or instructions which, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12; or to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 21.

26. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product comprises computer programs or instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 or performing the method of any one of claims 13 to 21.

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