Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and a related apparatus. In the method, first information received by a first communication apparatus is used for indicating that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals. The first reference signal is located in one frequency range, and the N reference signals are located in another frequency domain range. In addition, after the first communication apparatus receives the first reference signal, the first communication apparatus may receive a first signal in a second frequency domain range on the basis of the first reference signal and the first information. In other words, the first communication apparatus can receive a signal in another frequency domain range on the basis of a reference signal in one frequency domain range and an association between the reference signal in said one frequency domain range and a reference signal in the other frequency domain range. Thus, a communication apparatus can, on the basis of a signal receiving process in one frequency domain range, assist a signal receiving process in another frequency domain range, thereby improving communication efficiency of the communication apparatus in the other frequency range.

Description

Communication method and related apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410732437.8, filed on June 6, 2024, and entitled "A communication method and related apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication, and in particular, to a communication method and related apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Wireless communication can be transmission communication between two or more communication devices without propagating through a conductor or cable. Generally, the two or more communication devices include a network device and a terminal device, or the two or more communication devices include different terminal devices.

[0004] Currently, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology is used in the communication process of different communication devices to meet the demand for high-speed transmission. Among them, the communication beam between different communication devices can be determined through the measurement result of the reference signal, and subsequent high-speed data transmission can be performed through the communication beam. Generally, the overhead of the reference signal is related to the number of ports of the communication device transmitting the reference signal.

[0005] However, as the frequency band increases and the demand for high-speed communication increases, the number of ports of the communication device transmitting the reference signal is likely to increase gradually, which will increase the overhead of the reference signal used to determine the communication beam and occupy more transmission resources, thereby increasing the power consumption of the communication device. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and related apparatus to improve communication efficiency.

[0007] The first aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is performed by a first communication device. The first communication device can be a communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device or a network device), or the first communication device can be a part of the communication apparatus (e.g., a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions (e.g., a Modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core), etc.), or the first communication device can also be a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the communication apparatus. In the method, the first communication device receives first information, which is used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, where N is a positive integer; the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; the first communication device receives the first reference signal; and the first communication device receives a first signal in the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information.

[0008] Based on the above scheme, the first information received by the first communication device is used to indicate that the first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, where the first reference signal is located in a frequency range, and the N reference signals are located in another frequency domain range. In addition, after receiving the first reference signal, the first communication device can receive a first signal in the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information. In other words, the first communication device can receive a signal in another frequency domain range based on a reference signal in a frequency domain range and the association between the reference signal in the frequency domain range and the reference signal in the other frequency domain range. Thus, the communication device can assist the signal reception process in the other frequency domain range based on the signal reception process in a frequency domain range, which can improve the communication efficiency of the communication device in the other frequency range.

[0009] In addition, compared with the signal reception process achieved by the communication device in a certain frequency domain range (e.g., the second frequency domain range) through beam management, in the above scheme, the communication device can assist the signal reception process in the second frequency domain range based on the signal reception process in the first frequency domain range, which can reduce the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, and can also reduce the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, so as to improve the communication efficiency.

[0010] In this application, a certain reference signal is located in a certain frequency range, which can be understood as that the frequency domain resource carrying the reference signal is located in the frequency range. For example, the first reference signal is located in the first frequency range, which can be understood as that the frequency domain resource carrying the first reference signal is located in the first frequency range. For another example, N reference signals are located in the second frequency range, which can be understood as that the frequency domain resource carrying the N reference signals is located in the second frequency range; wherein different reference signals in the N reference signals can correspond to the same frequency range, or can correspond to different frequency ranges, which are not limited here.

[0011] In this application, one reference signal is associated with other reference signals, which can be understood as that the transmission parameters of the one reference signal and the transmission parameters of the other reference signals are the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold), or the one reference signal and the other reference signals are quasi co-location (QCL), or the transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state corresponding to the one reference signal and the other reference signals is the same. For example, the first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, which can be understood as that the transmission parameters of the first reference signal and the transmission parameters of the N reference signals are the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold), or the first reference signal and the N reference signals are QCL (or have QCL relationship), or the TCI state corresponding to the first reference signal and the N reference signals is the same.

[0012] Optionally, the above transmission parameters can include one or more of channel characteristic parameters, multiple path component (MPC) information, including direction of departure (DoD), direction of arrival (DoA), path loss, delay, number of multipath, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, or delay spread.

[0013] In this application, the first frequency range and the second frequency range can be the same, or not completely the same, or completely different. For example, the two frequency ranges satisfy one or more of the following: the starting frequency point of the first frequency range is different from the starting frequency point of the second frequency range, the bandwidth size occupied by the first frequency range is different from the bandwidth size occupied by the second frequency range, or the cutoff frequency point of the first frequency range is different from the cutoff frequency point of the second frequency range.

[0014] For example, the first frequency range is lower than the second frequency range. In this case, any frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is lower than any frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range, or any frequency domain unit index of a frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is smaller than any frequency domain unit index of a frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range. For example, the first frequency range is frequency range (FR) 1, and the second frequency range is FR2.

[0015] For example, the first frequency range is lower than the second frequency range. In this case, any frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is lower than any frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range, or any frequency domain unit index of a frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is smaller than any frequency domain unit index of a frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range. For example, the first frequency range is frequency range (FR) 1, and the second frequency range is FR2.

[0016] For example, the first frequency range is lower than the second frequency range. In this case, any frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is lower than any frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range, or any frequency domain unit index of a frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is smaller than any frequency domain unit index of a frequency domain position of a frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range. For example, the first frequency range is frequency range (FR) 1, and the second frequency range is FR2.

[0017] Optionally, the FR1 can be a frequency range lower than or equal to 6 gigahertz (GHz), or the FR1 can be a frequency range lower than or equal to 7.1 GHz.

[0018] Optionally, the FR2 can be a frequency range higher than 24 GHz and lower than 52.6 GHz, or the FR2 can be a frequency range higher than 24 GHz and lower than 71 GHz.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first signal includes part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal is associated with the N reference signals.

[0020] Based on the above scheme, the first information indicates that the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals, and therefore, the first signal received by the first communication device based on the first information can include part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal can be associated with the N reference signals, so that the first communication device can implement the reception of the N reference signals (or the signals associated with the N reference signals) in the second frequency range based on the indication of the first information.

[0021] Optionally, in the N reference signals, different reference signals can correspond to different transmission beams. Correspondingly, the association of the first signal and the N reference signals can be understood as that the transmission beam of the first signal is the same as that of one or more of the N reference signals.

[0022] In this application, the transmission beam can refer to that the sending end device transmits signals with certain beamforming weights, so that the transmitted signals form a beam with spatial directivity. Correspondingly, the receiving beam can refer to that the receiving end device receives signals with certain beamforming weights, so that the received signals form a beam with spatial directivity.

[0023] Optionally, the beam can be replaced by direction, angle, resource, resource index, reference signal resource, reference signal index, port resource, port resource index, spatial filter, TCI, QCL, reference signal or other terms.

[0024] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first communication device receives the first signal of the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information, including: the first communication device receives the first signal of the second frequency domain range according to the measurement result of the first reference signal and the first information.

[0025] Based on the above scheme, the measurement result of the first reference signal can be used to indicate the pros and cons of the reception quality of the first reference signal. To this end, the first communication device determines (or predicts, estimates, etc.) the reception beam information of the first signal according to the measurement result of the first reference signal and the first information, so that the first communication device can receive the first signal of the second frequency domain range based on the reception beam information using a specific reception beam, so as to improve the reception quality of the first signal.

[0026] Optionally, the measurement result of the first reference signal can include reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) or other parameters for characterizing the pros and cons of signal quality.

[0027] Optionally, the measurement result of the first reference signal is determined based on the channel information corresponding to the first reference signal.

[0028] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first information further indicates that the second reference signal is associated with P reference signals; the second reference signal is located in the first frequency domain range, and frequency domain locations of the P reference signals are located in the second frequency domain range; the method further includes: receiving, by the first communication device, the second reference signal; and receiving, by the first communication device, a second signal in the second frequency domain range according to the second reference signal and the first information.

[0029] According to the above scheme, in addition to indicating that the first reference signal in the first frequency domain range is associated with the N reference signals in the second frequency domain range, the first information can also indicate that another reference signal (for example, a second reference signal) in the first frequency domain range is associated with another reference signal (for example, the P reference signals) in the second frequency domain range. Accordingly, the first communication device can also receive the other reference signal in the second frequency domain range based on the other reference signal in the first frequency domain range, so that the communication device can assist the signal reception process in the other frequency domain range based on the signal reception process in one frequency domain range, and the communication efficiency of the communication device in the other frequency range can be improved.

[0030] Optionally, different reference signals in the P reference signals can correspond to the same frequency range, or can correspond to different frequency ranges, which is not limited here.

[0031] Optionally, any reference signal in the P reference signals and any reference signal in the N reference signals can correspond to the same frequency range, or can correspond to different frequency ranges, which is not limited here.

[0032] Optionally, the first communication device can determine that the second reference signal is associated with the P reference signals through indication of other information.

[0033] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the second signal includes part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal is associated with the P reference signals.

[0034] According to the above scheme, the first information indicates that the second reference signal is associated with the P reference signals, and therefore, the second signal received by the first communication device based on the second information can include part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal can be associated with the P reference signals, so that the first communication device can implement the reception of the P reference signals (or the signals associated with the P reference signals) in the second frequency domain range based on the indication of the first information.

[0035] Optionally, different reference signals in the P reference signals can correspond to different transmission beams. Accordingly, the second signal being associated with the P reference signals can be understood as that the second signal has the same transmission beam as one or more reference signals in the P reference signals.

[0036] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the N reference signals are contained in K reference signals, K being greater than or equal to N; the method further includes: receiving, by the first communication device, the K reference signals; sending, by the first communication device, second information, the second information being used to indicate M reference signals in the K reference signals, M being a positive integer less than or equal to K; and the second information being used to determine the transmission beam information of the second communication device.

[0037] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can receive K reference signals in a second frequency domain range, and the first communication device can send second information indicating M reference signals in the K reference signals, so that the receiver of the second information can determine the transmission beam information of the second communication device based on the second information.

[0038] Optionally, the K reference signals can include other reference signals in addition to the N reference signals, for example, the P reference signals described above.

[0039] The second aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is performed by a second communication device. The second communication device can be a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device), or the second communication device can be a part of a communication device (for example, a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.), or the second communication device can also be a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the communication device. In the method, the second communication device determines first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; and the second communication device sends the first information.

[0040] Based on the above scheme, the first information sent by the second communication device is used to indicate that the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals, wherein the first reference signal is located in one frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in another frequency domain range. In other words, after receiving the first information, the first communication device can determine the association relationship between the reference signals in one frequency domain range and the reference signals in another frequency domain range based on the first information. Thereafter, the first communication device can assist the signal reception process in the other frequency domain range based on the signal reception process in one frequency domain range, which can improve the communication efficiency of the communication device in the other frequency range.

[0041] Optionally, the first reference signal can be a reference signal sent by the second communication device to the first communication device, or the first reference signal can be a reference signal sent by another communication device to the first communication device, which is not limited here.

[0042] Optionally, the N reference signals can be reference signals sent by the second communication device to the first communication device, or the N reference signals can be reference signals sent by another communication device to the first communication device, which is not limited here.

[0043] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information is used by the first communication device to receive the first signal of the second frequency domain range.

[0044] Based on the above scheme, compared with the signal receiving process of the communication device in a certain frequency domain range (for example, the second frequency domain range) through beam management, the first communication device can assist the signal receiving process of the second frequency domain range based on the signal receiving process of the first frequency domain range, which can reduce the time delay generated by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, and can also reduce the power consumption generated by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, so as to improve the communication efficiency.

[0045] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information and the measurement result of the first reference signal are used by the first communication device to receive the first signal of the second frequency domain range.

[0046] Based on the above scheme, the measurement result of the first reference signal can be used to indicate the pros and cons of the reception quality of the first reference signal. Therefore, the first communication device can determine (or predict, estimate, etc.) the reception beam information of the first signal according to the measurement result of the first reference signal and the first information, so that the first communication device can use a specific reception beam to receive the first signal of the second frequency domain range based on the reception beam information, so as to improve the reception quality of the first signal.

[0047] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first signal includes part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal is associated with the N reference signals.

[0048] Based on the above scheme, the first information indicates that the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals. Therefore, the first signal received by the first communication device based on the first information can include part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal can be associated with the N reference signals, so that the first communication device can realize the reception of the N reference signals (or the signals associated with the N reference signals) in the second frequency domain range based on the indication of the first information.

[0049] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information is further used to indicate that the second reference signal is associated with P reference signals; the second reference signal is located in the first frequency domain range, and frequency domain locations of the P reference signals are located in the second frequency domain range. The first information is used for the first communication device to receive a second signal of the second frequency domain range.

[0050] Based on the above scheme, in addition to indicating that the first reference signal of the first frequency domain range is associated with the N reference signals of the second frequency domain range, the first information can also indicate that other reference signals (for example, the second reference signal) of the first frequency domain range are associated with other reference signals (for example, the P reference signals) of the second frequency domain range. Accordingly, the first communication device can also receive the other reference signals of the second frequency domain range based on the other reference signals of the first frequency domain range, so that the communication device can assist the signal reception process of the other frequency domain range based on the signal reception process of one frequency domain range, and the communication efficiency of the communication device in the other frequency range can be improved.

[0051] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the second signal includes part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal is associated with the P reference signals.

[0052] Based on the above scheme, the first information indicates that the second reference signal is associated with the P reference signals, and therefore, the second signal received by the first communication device based on the second information can include part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal can be associated with the P reference signals, so that the first communication device can implement the reception of the P reference signals (or the signals associated with the P reference signals) in the second frequency domain range based on the indication of the first information.

[0053] Optionally, in the P reference signals, different reference signals can correspond to different transmission beams. Accordingly, the second signal being associated with the P reference signals can be understood as that the second signal has the same transmission beam as one or more of the P reference signals.

[0054] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the N reference signals are included in K reference signals, and K is greater than or equal to N; the method further includes: the second communication device receives second information, the second information being used to indicate M reference signals in the K reference signals, M being a positive integer less than or equal to K; and the second information is used to determine the transmission beam information of the second communication device.

[0055] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can receive K reference signals in a second frequency domain range, and the first communication device can send second information indicating M reference signals of the K reference signals, so that the receiver of the second information can determine the transmission beam information of the second communication device based on the second information.

[0056] Optionally, the K reference signals can include other reference signals in addition to the N reference signals, such as the P reference signals described above.

[0057] The third aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is performed by a first communication device. The first communication device can be a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device), or the first communication device can be a part of the communication device (such as a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.), or the first communication device can also be a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the communication device. In the method, the first communication device receives third information, which is used to indicate the beam information of the transmission beam of the second communication device; and the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information.

[0058] Based on the above scheme, the third information received by the first communication device is used to indicate the beam information of the transmission beam of the second communication device, and thereafter, the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information. In other words, the first communication device can determine the beam information of the transmission beam of the signal sender (i.e. the second communication device) based on the second information, and communicate with the signal sender based on the beam information. Therefore, the communication device can communicate based on the beam information of the transmission beam indicated by the communication peer, which can improve the communication efficiency.

[0059] In addition, compared with the signal receiving process realized by the communication device through beam management in a certain frequency domain range, in the above scheme, the communication device can communicate based on the beam information of the transmission beam indicated by the communication peer, which can reduce the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the frequency domain range, and can also reduce the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the frequency domain range, so as to improve the communication efficiency.

[0060] Optionally, the beam information indicated by the third information can be used to determine at least one of the following: the receiving beam of the first communication device, the transmission beam of the first communication device, the receiving beam of the second communication device, or the transmission beam of the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device can realize the transmission of signals and / or the reception of signals based on the beam information of the transmission beam indicated by the communication peer.

[0061] It should be noted that the beam can be replaced by other terms, such as direction, angle, resource, resource index, reference signal resource, reference signal index, port resource, port resource index, spatial filter, TCI, QCL, reference signal, and the like.

[0062] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the beam information is beam information of a second frequency domain range; and the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information, including: the first communication device communicates with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range according to the reference signal of the first frequency domain range and the beam information.

[0063] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range according to the reference signal of the first frequency domain range and the beam information. In other words, the first communication device can assist the communication process in other frequency domain ranges based on the signal receiving process of the reference signal in one frequency domain range. Since different reference signals can correspond to different communication beams, in the above scheme, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device in other frequency domain ranges through the beam corresponding to the reference signal in one frequency domain range, which can reduce the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, and can also reduce the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range.

[0064] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the beam information includes at least one of the following: indication information indicating an association relationship between one or more beams and one or more reference signals, beam angle information, port information, or antenna array information.

[0065] Based on the above scheme, the beam information indicated by the third information can be implemented in the above-mentioned multiple ways to improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.

[0066] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information, including: the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information and fourth information; and the fourth information is used to indicate indication information indicating that the channel information between the first communication device and the second communication device in the first frequency domain range is associated with the channel information between the first communication device and the second communication device in the second frequency domain range.

[0067] In the present application, one channel information is associated with another channel information, which can be understood as that the one channel information is the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold) as the another channel information. For example, the channel information of the first frequency domain range is associated with the channel information of the second frequency domain range, and the channel information of the first frequency domain range is the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold) as the channel information of the second frequency domain range.

[0068] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can determine, based on the fourth information, that the channel information of the first frequency domain range is associated with the channel information of the second frequency domain range, so that the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device based on the reference signal of the first frequency domain range in the second frequency domain range.

[0069] The fourth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is performed by a second communication device. The second communication device can be a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device), or the second communication device can be a part of the communication device (for example, a circuit or a chip responsible for communication function (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core, etc.), or the second communication device can also be a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the communication device function. In the method, the second communication device determines third information, and the third information is used to indicate the beam information of the transmission beam of the second communication device; and the second communication device transmits the third information.

[0070] Based on the above scheme, the third information transmitted by the second communication device to the first communication device is used to indicate the beam information of the transmission beam of the second communication device, and thereafter, the first communication device can determine the beam information of the transmission beam of the signal sender (i.e. the second communication device) based on the second information, and communicate with the signal sender based on the beam information. Therefore, the communication device can communicate based on the beam information of the transmission beam indicated by the communication peer, which can improve the communication efficiency.

[0071] Optionally, the beam information is used for the first communication device to communicate with the second communication device. Therefore, compared with the signal receiving process realized by the communication device through beam management in a certain frequency domain range, in the above scheme, the communication device can communicate based on the beam information of the transmission beam indicated by the communication peer, which can reduce the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the frequency domain range, and can also reduce the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the frequency domain range, so as to improve the communication efficiency.

[0072] Optionally, the beam information indicated by the third information can be used to determine at least one of a receiving beam of the first communication device, a transmitting beam of the first communication device, a receiving beam of the second communication device, or a transmitting beam of the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device can implement signal transmission and / or signal reception based on the beam information of the transmitting beam indicated by the communication peer.

[0073] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the beam information is beam information of a second frequency domain range; and the beam information is used for the first communication device to communicate with the second communication device, including: the beam information and a reference signal of the first frequency domain range are used for the first communication device to communicate with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range.

[0074] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range according to the reference signal of the first frequency domain range and the beam information. In other words, the first communication device can assist the communication process in other frequency domain ranges based on the signal receiving process of the reference signal in one frequency domain range. Since different reference signals can correspond to different communication beams, in the above scheme, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device in other frequency domain ranges through the beam corresponding to the reference signal in one frequency domain range, which can reduce the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, and can also reduce the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range.

[0075] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the beam information includes at least one of the following: indication information indicating an association relationship between one or more beams and one or more reference signals, beam angle information, port information, or antenna array information.

[0076] Based on the above scheme, the beam information indicated by the third information can be implemented in the above-mentioned multiple ways to improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.

[0077] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: the second communication device sends fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate channel information between the first communication device and the second communication device in the first frequency domain range, and indication information that the channel information between the first communication device and the second communication device in the second frequency domain range is associated with the channel information between the first communication device and the second communication device in the first frequency domain range.

[0078] Based on the above scheme, the second communication device can further send fourth information to the first communication device, so that the first communication device can determine, based on the fourth information, that the channel information of the first frequency domain range and the channel information of the second frequency domain range have a correlation relationship, so that the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device based on the first frequency domain range of the reference signal in the second frequency domain range.

[0079] The fifth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a first communication device. The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the transceiver unit is used to receive first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; the transceiver unit is also used to receive the first reference signal; the processing unit is used to receive a first signal of the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information.

[0080] In the fifth aspect of the present application, the component modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps performed in the various possible implementation manners of the first aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects, which can be referred to the first aspect for details and will not be described here.

[0081] The sixth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a second communication device. The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the processing unit is used to determine first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; the transceiver unit is used to send the first information.

[0082] In the sixth aspect of the present application, the component modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps performed in the various possible implementation manners of the second aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects, which can be referred to the second aspect for details and will not be described here.

[0083] The seventh aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a first communication device. The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the transceiver unit is used to receive third information, the third information being used to indicate beam information of a transmission beam of a second communication device; the processing unit is used to communicate with the second communication device according to the beam information.

[0084] In the seventh aspect of the present application, the component modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps performed in the various possible implementation manners of the third aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects, which can be referred to the third aspect for details and will not be described here.

[0085] The eighth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a second communication device. The device comprises a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the processing unit is configured to determine third information, the third information being used to indicate beam information of a transmission beam of the second communication device; and the transceiver unit is configured to transmit the third information.

[0086] In the eighth aspect of the present application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be configured to perform the steps performed in the various possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects, which can be referred to the fourth aspect and will not be described herein.

[0087] The ninth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processor, which is configured to execute programs or instructions to enable the device to implement the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

[0088] In the ninth aspect of the present application, the at least one processor can be coupled with at least one memory; the at least one memory is configured to store programs or instructions.

[0089] The tenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the logic circuit is configured to execute the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

[0090] The eleventh aspect of the present application provides a communication system, which comprises the terminal device and the network device.

[0091] The twelfth aspect of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which is configured to store one or more computer execution instructions; when the computer execution instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

[0092] The thirteenth aspect of the present application provides a computer program product (or computer program), when a computer program in the computer program product is executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

[0093] The fourteenth aspect of the present application provides a chip or chip system, which comprises at least one processor, and is configured to support the communication device to implement the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

[0094] In a possible design, the chip or chip system can further include at least one memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication apparatus. The chip or chip system can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices. Optionally, the chip or chip system further includes an interface circuit that provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor.

[0095] Optionally, the chip or chip system is a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip that includes a modem core.

[0096] The technical effects brought by any one of the designs in the fifth aspect to the fourteenth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by the different designs in the first aspect to the fourth aspect, which will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0097] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in the present application;

[0098] FIGS. 2a to 2d are schematic diagrams of satellite communication processes provided in the present application;

[0099] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication process in a 5G system provided in the present application;

[0100] FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic diagrams of communication processes related to the present application;

[0101] FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic diagrams of communication methods provided in the present application;

[0102] FIGS. 8 to 11 are schematic diagrams of communication apparatuses provided in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0103] First, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0104] (1) Terminal device: can be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and indication information, and the wireless terminal device can be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device with wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem.

[0105] The terminal device can be various communication kits (a kit can include, for example, an antenna, a power supply template, a cable, and a Wi-Fi module, etc.) with wireless communication functions, and can also be a communication module with satellite communication functions, a satellite phone or its components, a very small aperture terminal (VSAT). The terminal device can be a mobile terminal device, such as a mobile phone (or called "cellular" phone, mobile phone), a computer and a data card, for example, it can be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, built-in computer or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges voice and / or data with a wireless access network. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets (Pads), computers with wireless transceiver functions, etc. The wireless terminal device can also be referred to as a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile station (MS), a remote station, an access point (AP), a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a subscriber station (SS), customer premises equipment (CPE), a terminal, user equipment (UE), a mobile terminal (MT), a drone, etc. The terminal device can also be a wearable device and a device in a future communication system, for example, a terminal device in a future communication system or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc. Of course, the terminal device in this application can also refer to a chip, a modem, a system on a chip (SoC) or a communication platform that can include a radio frequency (RF) part, etc. in the device mainly responsible for the relevant communication functions.

[0106] (2) Network device: can be a device in a wireless network, for example, the network device can be a RAN node (or device) for accessing a terminal device to a wireless network, which can also be referred to as a base station. At present, some examples of RAN devices are: base station (base station), evolved NodeB (eNodeB), base station gNB (gNodeB) in 5G communication system, transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), Node B (Node B, NB), home base station (for example, home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (baseband unit, BBU), or wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi) access point AP, etc. In addition, in a network structure, the network device can include a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) node, or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.

[0107] Optionally, the RAN node can also be a macro base station, a micro base station or an indoor station, a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario. 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 (vehicle to everything, V2X) technology can be a road side unit (road side unit, RSU).

[0108] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes cooperate to assist a terminal to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (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 baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0109] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN) system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an 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. For the convenience of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and 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.

[0110] The communication between the access network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer can include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer can include at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, or a physical (PHY) layer, etc. The user plane protocol layer can include at least one of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or a physical layer, etc.

[0111] For the correspondence between the network elements in the ORAN system and the protocol layer functions that can be implemented by the network elements, refer to Table 1 below.

[0112] Table 1

[0113] The network device can be another device that provides a wireless communication function for the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application do not limit.

[0114] The network device can also include a core network device, which can include, for example, a mobility management entity (MME), a home subscriber server (HSS), a serving gateway (S-GW), a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), a public data network gateway (P-GW) in a fourth generation (4G) network, an access and mobility management function (AMF), a user plane function (UPF), or a session management function (SMF) in a 5G network, and other network elements. In addition, the core network device can also include other core network devices in a 5G network and future communication networks.

[0115] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device can also be a network node with artificial intelligence (AI) capability, which can provide AI services for terminals or other network devices, for example, AI nodes, computing power nodes, AI-capable RAN nodes, AI-capable core network elements, etc. on the network side (access network or core network).

[0116] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device or a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0117] (3) Configuration and pre-configuration: In the present application, configuration and pre-configuration will be used simultaneously. Configuration refers to that the network device sends some parameter configuration information or parameter values to the terminal device through messages or signaling, so that the terminal device determines the communication parameters or transmission resources according to the values or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration, which can be parameter information or parameter values agreed by the network device and the terminal device in advance, or parameter information or parameter values adopted by the network device or the terminal device according to the standard protocol, or parameter information or parameter values pre-stored in the network device or the terminal device. The present application does not make any limitation.

[0118] Further, these values and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0119] (4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which means that A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc. mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, time sequence, priority or importance of the multiple objects.

[0120] (5) In embodiments of the present application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as that the destination of the information is XX, which can include direct sending through the air interface, or indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as that the source of the information is YY, which can include direct receiving from YY through the air interface, or indirect receiving from YY through the air interface by other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as "output" of a chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as "input" of a chip interface.

[0121] In other words, sending and receiving can be between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or within devices, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within a device through a bus, wire or interface.

[0122] It can be understood that the information can be processed as necessary between the source and the destination of the information transmission, such as encoding and modulation, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be similarly understood and will not be repeated here.

[0123] (6) In embodiments of the present application, "indicating" can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (indication information as described below) is referred to as to-be-indicated information. In the implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or an index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part of the to-be-indicated information, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance, for example, the arrangement order of each information can be used to indicate a specific information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The present application does not limit the specific manner of indication. It can be understood that for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the to-be-indicated information, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the to-be-indicated information.

[0124] (7) Reference signal (RS), also known as pilot signal. In a communication system, it is necessary to transmit and receive data, obtain system synchronization and feedback channel information, and estimate uplink channel or downlink channel. Channel estimation refers to the process of reconstructing or restoring received signals to compensate for signal distortion caused by channel fading and noise fading. It uses reference signals known by the transmitter and receiver to track the time domain and frequency domain changes of the channel. The above reference signals, also known as reference signals, are distributed in different resource elements (REs) in the time-frequency two-dimensional space within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and have known amplitude and phase.

[0125] At the physical layer, uplink communication can include transmission of uplink physical channels and uplink signals. Among them, the uplink physical channel includes a random access channel (PRACH), an uplink control channel (PUCCH), an uplink data channel (PUSCH), etc., and the uplink signal includes a channel sounding signal SRS, an uplink control channel demodulation reference signal (PUCCH-DMRS), an uplink data channel demodulation reference signal PUSCH-DMRS, an uplink phase noise tracking signal (PTRS), an uplink positioning signal (uplink positioning RS), etc.

[0126] At the physical layer, the downlink communication can include transmission of downlink physical channels and downlink signals. Among them, the downlink physical channels include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc., and the downlink signals include a primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a PDCCH-DMRS, a PDSCH-DMRS, a phase noise tracking signal (PTRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a cell reference signal (CRS) (NR does not have), a time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS) (LTE does not have), an LTE / NR positioning signal, etc.

[0127] (8) Antenna port: can be referred to as a port. It can be understood as a transmitting antenna identified by the receiving end or a transmitting antenna that can be distinguished in space. One antenna port can be pre-configured for each virtual antenna, each virtual antenna can be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas, and each antenna port can correspond to one reference signal. Therefore, each antenna port can be referred to as a port of a reference signal, such as a CSI-RS port, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), an SRS port, etc.

[0128] Among them, the antenna port is a logical concept, and one antenna port generally does not have a direct correspondence with one physical antenna. The antenna port is usually associated with a reference signal, and its meaning can be understood as a transceiving interface on the channel experienced by the reference signal. For low frequencies, one antenna port can correspond to one or more antenna elements, and these elements jointly transmit the reference signal, and the receiving end can treat them as a whole and does not need to distinguish these elements. For high-frequency systems, an antenna port can correspond to a beam, and similarly, the receiving end only needs to consider this beam as an interface and does not need to distinguish each element.

[0129] In addition, a port group can refer to a set of multiple antenna port pairs. In one way, multiple digital ports of a network device are grouped to form multiple port groups. In another way (especially in a hybrid digital-analog beam architecture), a port group can be multiple digital ports corresponding to a same analog beam, also referred to as a port group or a digital-analog port group. In another way, a port group can be a set of digital ports corresponding to multiple analog beams, also referred to as a port group or a digital-analog port group. In another way, multiple digital ports of a same analog beam are divided into multiple subsets, each of which is referred to as a port group or a digital-analog port group.

[0130] (9) Beam. Wherein, beam and beam pair link (BPL) are introduced into a communication system. A beam is a kind of communication resource. A beam can be divided into a transmission beam and a reception beam. The technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technical means. Beamforming includes transmission beamforming and reception beamforming.

[0131] Wherein, a beam is a kind of communication resource. A beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other types of beams. The technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technical means. Beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology. Different beams can be considered as different resources. The same information or different information can be transmitted through different beams. Alternatively, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as one beam. One beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and sounding signals, etc. For example, a transmission beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by an antenna, and a reception beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the wireless signal is received by an antenna. It can be understood that one or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be regarded as an antenna port set. The beam can be embodied in a protocol as a spatial filter.

[0132] Transmission beam: the transmission end device transmits a signal with certain beamforming weights, so that the transmitted signal forms a beam with spatial directivity. Wherein, in the uplink direction, the transmission end device can be a terminal; in the downlink direction, the transmission end device can be a network device.

[0133] Reception beam: the reception end device receives a signal with certain beamforming weights, so that the received signal forms a beam with spatial directivity. Wherein, in the uplink direction, the reception end device can be a network device; in the downlink direction, the reception end device can be a terminal.

[0134] Transmit beamforming: when a transmitting device with an antenna array transmits a signal, a specific amplitude and phase is set on each antenna element of the antenna array, so that the transmitted signal has a certain spatial directivity, i.e., the signal power is high in some directions and low in some directions, and the direction with the highest signal power is the direction of the transmit beam. The antenna array includes a plurality of antenna elements, and the specific amplitude and phase attached are beamforming weights.

[0135] Receive beamforming: when a receiving device with an antenna array receives a signal, a specific amplitude and phase is set on each antenna element of the antenna array, so that the power gain of the received signal has directionality, i.e., the power gain is high when receiving signals in some directions and low when receiving signals in some directions, and the direction with the highest power gain when receiving signals is the direction of the receive beam. The antenna array includes a plurality of antenna elements, and the specific amplitude and phase attached are beamforming weights.

[0136] Optionally, transmitting a signal using a certain transmit beam can be understood as transmitting a signal using a certain beamforming weight.

[0137] Optionally, receiving a signal using a receive beam can be understood as receiving a signal using a certain beamforming weight.

[0138] Generally, different beams can be considered as different resources. The same information or different information can be transmitted using (or through) different beams. Beam pair is established on the concept of beam. A beam pair usually includes a transmit beam of a transmitting device and a receive beam of a receiving device.

[0139] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between various embodiments can be mutually referred to. In this application, various embodiments, and various methods / designs / implementation manners in each embodiment, if there is no special specification and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments, and between various methods / designs / implementation manners in each embodiment are consistent and can be mutually referred to, and the technical features in different embodiments, and in various methods / designs / implementation manners in each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, methods, or implementation manners according to their inherent logical relationship. The implementation manners of the present application described below do not constitute a limitation on the protection scope of the present application.

[0140] The present application can be applied to a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a new radio vehicle to everything (NR V2X) system; can also be applied to a system in which LTE and 5G are hybrid networked; or a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), or a drone communication system; or a communication system supporting multiple wireless technologies, such as supporting LTE technology and NR technology; or a non-ground communication system, such as a satellite communication system, a high-altitude communication platform, and the like. In addition, the communication system can also be applied to a narrow band-internet of things (NB-IoT) system or other communication systems. The present application can be applied to a terminal device in a connected state or an active state, or a terminal device in an inactive state or an idle state.

[0141] Referring to FIG. 1, an architecture diagram of a communication system 1000 to which embodiments of the present application are applied is shown. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 can also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 can also include other RAN nodes, such as a wireless relay device and / or a wireless backhaul device (not shown in FIG. 1). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be independent and different physical devices, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the RAN node. Terminals and terminals, and RAN nodes and RAN nodes can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner.

[0142] It should be noted that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applicable to a ground communication system. Alternatively, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applicable to a communication system integrating ground communication and satellite communication, which can also be referred to as a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system. For example, the RAN 100 in FIG. 1 can include a ground base station, where the ground base station can include a TN cell (i.e., signals of the TN cell can be transmitted and received by the ground base station); and the RAN 100 in FIG. 1 can also include a non-ground base station, for example, a satellite, which can include an NTN cell (i.e., signals of the NTN cell can be transmitted and received by the satellite). The ground communication system can be, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a 5G communication system, a new radio (NR) system, or a next-generation communication system of the 5G communication system, without limitation.

[0143] The satellite communication has a wider coverage range than the traditional mobile communication system, the communication cost is independent of the transmission distance, and can overcome natural geographical obstacles such as oceans, deserts, and mountains. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional communication network, the satellite communication can be an effective supplement to the traditional network. It is generally believed that the non-terrestrial network communication has different channel characteristics compared with the ground network communication, such as large transmission delay and large Doppler frequency offset. For example, the round-trip delay of GEO satellite communication is 238-270 milliseconds (ms). The round-trip delay of LEO satellite communication is 8-20 ms. According to the orbital height, the satellite communication system can be divided into three types: a high-orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellite communication system, also known as a synchronous orbit satellite system; a medium-orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellite communication system; and a low-orbit (low earth orbit, LEO) satellite communication system.

[0144] Among them, GEO satellite is also commonly known as geostationary orbit satellite, and the orbit height can be 35786 kilometers (km). The main advantage is that it is relatively stationary on the ground and provides a large coverage area. However, the disadvantages of GEO satellite orbit satellite are also relatively prominent: such as the distance from the earth is too large, a larger diameter antenna is required; the transmission delay is large, about 0.5 seconds, which cannot meet the demand of real-time service; at the same time, the orbit resource is relatively scarce, the launch cost is high and cannot provide coverage for the two polar regions. MEO satellite, the orbit height is between 2000-35786km, has a relatively small number of satellites to achieve global coverage, but its transmission delay is higher than that of LEO satellite, and it is mainly used for positioning and navigation. In addition, the orbit height is between 300-2000km, which is called low earth orbit satellite (LEO). LEO satellite has lower orbit height than MEO and GEO, smaller data propagation delay, less power loss, and relatively lower launch cost. Therefore, LEO satellite communication network has made great progress in recent years and has attracted attention.

[0145] In a possible implementation, the satellite device can be divided into transparent mode and regenerative mode according to the working mode.

[0146] The two modes will be exemplarily illustrated by the implementation modes shown in FIG. 2a, FIG. 2b, FIG. 2c and FIG. 2d.

[0147] As shown in the implementation mode of the transparent mode in FIG. 2a, the satellite and the gateway (i.e. NTN Gateway in FIG. 2a) act as a relay, that is, the radio remote unit (Remote Radio Unit) shown in FIG. 2a, and the communication between the terminal device and the gNB needs to be realized through the relay process. In other words, in the transparent mode, the satellite has the function of relay forwarding.

[0148] For example, in the implementation mode of the transparent mode shown in FIG. 2b, when the satellite (including GEO satellite, MEO satellite, LEO satellite, etc.) works in the transparent mode, the satellite has the function of relay forwarding. The gateway (or gateway station) has the function of the base station or part of the base station function, at this time, the gateway can be regarded as the base station. Alternatively, the base station can be deployed separately from the gateway, and then the time delay of the feeder link includes the time delay of the satellite to the gateway and the time delay of the gateway to the gNB.

[0149] Optionally, the transparent mode can be taken as an example that the gateway and the gNB are together or close to each other. For the case that the gateway is far away from the gNB, the time delay of the feeder link can be obtained by adding the time delay of the satellite to the gateway and the time delay of the gateway to the gNB.

[0150] As shown in the implementation mode of the regenerative mode in FIG. 2c, the satellite and the gateway (i.e., NTN Gateway in FIG. 2c) can communicate with the terminal device as a gNB. In other words, in the regenerative mode, the satellite has the function of a base station or part of the function of a base station, and at this time, the satellite can be regarded as a base station.

[0151] For example, in the implementation mode of the regenerative mode shown in FIG. 2d, compared with the implementation mode shown in FIG. 2b, when the satellite (including GEO satellite, MEO satellite, LEO satellite, etc.) works in the regenerative mode, the satellite has the function of a base station or part of the function of a base station, and at this time, the satellite can be regarded as a base station (i.e., an air base station).

[0152] Optionally, in FIG. 2b and / or FIG. 2d, the satellite can be implemented in other ways, such as a drone or a high-altitude platform in the figure.

[0153] It should be noted that the base stations of the NTN and the ground network can be interconnected through a common core network. Higher timeliness assistance and interconnection can also be achieved through interfaces defined between base stations. In NR, the interface between base stations is called Xn interface, and the interface between the base station and the core network is called NG interface. In the fusion network, the NTN node and the ground node can realize interworking and cooperation through the foregoing interfaces.

[0154] In addition, the satellite as a network device can send ephemeris information, so that the receiver (such as a terminal device or a base station thereof or other satellites, etc.) can determine the relevant information of the running track of the satellite based on the ephemeris information. As an implementation example, the ephemeris information can include one or more information in Table 2 below. Alternatively, the terminal device can obtain one or more information in Table 2 through pre-configuration.

[0155] Table 2

[0156] It should be noted that in actual application, the last parameter in Table 2, the perigee time t p may be replaced by true anomaly or mean anomaly, which has the same effect, as shown in Table 3.

[0157] Table 3

[0158] It should be noted that the present application can be applied to a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a future communication network / system.

[0159] Taking 5G as an example, a 5G satellite communication system architecture is shown in FIG. 3. The ground terminal device accesses the network through the 5G new air interface, and the 5G base station is deployed on the satellite and connected to the ground core network through a wireless link. At the same time, there is a wireless link between the satellites to complete the signaling interaction and user data transmission between base stations. The description of the devices and interfaces in FIG. 3 is as follows:

[0160] 5G core network: user access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, charging and other services. It is composed of multiple functional units and can be divided into control plane and data plane functional entities. The access and mobility management unit (AMF) is responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management. The user plane unit (UPF) is responsible for managing user plane data transmission, traffic statistics and other functions. The session management function (SMF) is mainly used for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release.

[0161] Ground station: responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between satellite base stations and 5G core networks.

[0162] 5G new air interface: wireless link between terminal and base station.

[0163] Xn interface: interface between 5G base stations and base stations, mainly used for signaling interaction such as handover.

[0164] NG interface: interface between 5G base station and 5G core network, mainly interacting with non-access layer (NAS) signaling of core network and user service data.

[0165] In addition, the network devices in the ground network communication system and the satellites in the NTN communication system can be regarded as network devices. The device for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the network device. When describing the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example to describe the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. It can be understood that when the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is applied to the ground network communication system, the actions performed by the satellite can be applied to the base station or the network device to perform.

[0166] In embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device; or can be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device. In embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions provided in embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device is taken as an example of a terminal or UE to describe the technical solutions provided in embodiments of the present application.

[0167] In addition, the satellite described above can be a stationary satellite, a non-stationary satellite, an artificial satellite, a low-orbit satellite, a medium-orbit satellite, and a high-orbit satellite, etc., which are not specifically limited herein.

[0168] The above describes various scenarios of wireless communication involved in the present application, and it should be understood that the above is only an exemplary description of the scenarios in which the present application can be applied, and the present application can also be applied to other application scenarios, which are not limited herein. The wireless communication process involved in the present application will be described below.

[0169] In the communication system shown in FIG. 1 / FIG. 2a / FIG. 2b / FIG. 2c / FIG. 2d / FIG. 3, the communication process of different communication devices uses multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology, which can be used to meet the transmission requirement of high rate and make up for the path loss in the high frequency scenario. Among them, the communication beams between different communication devices can be determined through the process of beam management, and subsequent high-rate data transmission can be performed through the communication beams. Generally, the process of beam management generally depends on the transmission of reference signals.

[0170] However, as the frequency band is improved and the demand for high-rate communication is improved, the number of ports of the communication device transmitting the reference signal is likely to gradually increase, which will lead to an increase in the overhead of the reference signal used to determine the communication beam and occupy more transmission resources, and further lead to an increase in the power consumption of the communication device.

[0171] Taking the communication process of a terminal device and a network device as an example, when the terminal device accesses the network, a suitable serving beam pair needs to be selected for the transmission of uplink and downlink signals; when the position and channel state of the terminal device change, the serving beam also needs to be continuously adjusted. The process of selecting the optimal serving beam is achieved through beam management. Among them, beam management can include processes such as beam scanning, beam measurement, beam reporting, beam selection / indication, and beam recovery.

[0172] For example, taking beam scanning as an example, the signal transmitting end has multiple transmitting beams, and the signal receiving end generally has multiple receiving beams. In order to determine the optimal beam pair at both the transmitting and receiving ends, beam scanning needs to be performed.

[0173] As an implementation example of beam sweeping, as shown in FIG. 4, in this example, the signal sending end is a network device, the signal receiving end is a terminal device, and the signal transmitted between the two devices is taken as an example of a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB or S-SS / PSBCH block).

[0174] Suppose that the network device has 16 sending beams (such as beams 1-16 of the network device in FIG. 4) and the terminal device has 8 receiving beams (such as beams 1-8 of the terminal device in FIG. 4), then the transceiver needs to perform 16*8 times of beam measurement to determine the optimal transceiving beam pair. In one SSB period, the network device scans 16 SSB sending beams, and the terminal device receives using a certain receiving beam. Suppose that one SSB period is 20 milliseconds (ms), and since the terminal device has 8 receiving beams, a total of 160 ms (20 ms*8) is needed to determine the optimal transceiving beam pair. In other words, suppose that one SSB period is X (X is a positive number) ms, and since the terminal device has Y (Y is a positive integer) receiving beams, a total of X*Y ms is needed to determine the optimal transceiving beam pair. In a satellite communication scenario (such as the scenarios shown in FIGS. 2a / 2b / 2c / 2d / 3), when one SSB period is large, such as 640 ms, the terminal device needs 640 ms*Y number of receiving beams to complete the receiving beam sweeping. Due to the large delay, when the SSB sweeping is completed, the satellite position may have changed, causing the optimal SSB and receiving beam to also change. In the extreme case, it may cause the terminal device to fail to complete access.

[0175] As another implementation example of beam sweeping, in a scenario of carrier aggregation (CA) in both FR1 and FR2, multiple beam sweeping is required in the secondary cell activation process of FR2, and the time delay of the activation process is large. For example, assuming that the SSB period is 20 ms, since the terminal device has 8 receive beams, a total of 160 ms (20 ms*8) is required to complete the process of one beam sweeping; in the secondary cell activation process of FR2, multiple beam sweeping involved includes two beam sweeping processes involved in automatic gain control (AGC) calibration, one beam sweeping process involved in synchronization, and one beam sweeping process involved in Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP), a total of four beam sweeping processes, and the time delay is about 640 ms (160 ms*4). In addition to the time delay, in the process of beam sweeping, the power consumption of the terminal device is relatively high, which is not conducive to device energy saving. Therefore, how to reduce the number of transceiver beam pairs to reduce the time delay and power consumption of beam management is a technical problem to be solved.

[0176] In a possible implementation, in a satellite communication scenario, if the terminal device has completed access through the network device of FR1, the network device of FR1 can send the ephemeris information of the network device of FR2 to the terminal device through unicast / broadcast messages, and the terminal device can calculate the angle between the terminal device and the network device of FR2 based on the ephemeris information, and further calculate the receive beam direction between the terminal device and the network device of FR2. In other words, the terminal device can estimate / guess the position of the network device based on the ephemeris information of the satellite, and further determine the communication beam based on the relative position between the terminal device and the network device, so as to reduce the time delay and power consumption of the beam sweeping process. This method needs to assume that the direction of the transceiver beam pair is the same or similar to the direction of the line connecting the relative positions of the terminal device and the network device.

[0177] As shown in the example of FIG. 5, the above method is only applicable to a line of sight (LOS) scenario, and in a non-line of sight (NLOS) scenario, there will be a large difference between the direction of the transceiver beam pair and the direction of the line connecting the relative positions of the terminal device and the network device, and the communication beam determined by the above method is often not the optimal beam pair, thereby causing a decline in communication performance.

[0178] To solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method and related apparatus, which will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0179] Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a schematic diagram of an implementation of a communication method provided by the present application, and the method comprises the following steps.

[0180] It should be understood that the first communication device and the second communication device are taken as an example to illustrate the method in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 below, but the present application does not limit the execution subject of the interaction. For example, in FIG. 6, the execution subject of the method can be replaced by a circuit or a chip (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core) in the communication device, a processor, a logic module, or software, etc.

[0181] As an example, the first communication device can be a terminal device and the second communication device can be a network device. In this case, the reference signal (such as the first reference signal, the N reference signals, the P reference signals, the K reference signals, the second reference signal, etc.) received by the first communication device described below can be one or more of a downlink reference signal, such as an SSB, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a de-modulation reference signal (DMRS), a cell reference signal (CRS), a time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS), or a positioning RS, etc.

[0182] As another example, the first communication device can be a network device and the second communication device can be a terminal device. In this case, the reference signal (such as the first reference signal, the N reference signals, the P reference signals, the K reference signals, the second reference signal, etc.) received by the first communication device described below can be one or more of an uplink reference signal, such as a sounding reference signal (SRS), a DMRS, an uplink phase noise tracking signal (PTRS), or an uplink positioning RS, etc.

[0183] As another example, both the first communication device and the second communication device are terminal devices, i.e., the scheme shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 can be applied to a sidelink communication scenario.

[0184] Optionally, in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 described below, the first communication device or the second communication device can be a network device, for example, an access network device, which can be an ORAN network element.

[0185] For example, in the case that the first communication device is an access network device, the access network device can include an O-CU, an O-DU, and an O-RU. In step S601 or S602 or S701 described below, one or more information can be received through the O-RU. In step S603 or S702 described below, the processing of the information or the transceiving of the signal can be performed through the O-CU or the O-DU.

[0186] For another example, in the case that the first communication device is an access network device, the access network device can include an O-CU, an O-DU, and an O-RU. In step S601 or S602 or S701 described below, one or more information can be generated through the O-CU or the O-DU, and transmitted through the O-RU.

[0187] S601. The second communication device transmits first information, and correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first information. The first information is used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; and the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range.

[0188] In the present application, the first frequency domain range and the second frequency domain range can be the same, or not completely the same, or completely different. For example, the two frequency domain ranges satisfy one or more of the following: the starting frequency point of the first frequency domain range is different from the starting frequency point of the second frequency domain range, the bandwidth size occupied by the first frequency domain range is different from the bandwidth size occupied by the second frequency domain range, or the cutoff frequency point of the first frequency domain range is different from the cutoff frequency point of the second frequency domain range.

[0189] For example, in the case that the first frequency domain range and the second frequency domain range are completely different, in this case, the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency domain range is different from the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency domain range, and the frequency domain unit can be a subcarrier, a resource block (RB), or a resource block group (RBG).

[0190] As an example, the first frequency range is lower than the second frequency range. In this case, the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is lower than the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range, or the frequency domain unit index of the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is less than the frequency domain unit index of any frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range. For example, the first frequency range is frequency range (FR) 1, and the second frequency range is FR2.

[0191] As another example, the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range. In this case, the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is higher than the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range, or the frequency domain unit index of the frequency domain position of any frequency domain unit occupied by the first frequency range is greater than the frequency domain unit index of any frequency domain unit occupied by the second frequency range. For example, the second frequency range is FR2, and the second frequency range is FR1.

[0192] Optionally, the FR1 can be a frequency range lower than or equal to 6 gigahertz (GHz), or the FR1 can be a frequency range lower than or equal to 7.1 GHz.

[0193] Optionally, the FR2 can be a frequency range higher than 24 GHz and lower than 52.6 GHz, or the FR2 can be a frequency range higher than 24 GHz and lower than 71 GHz.

[0194] S602. The second communication device transmits a first reference signal, and the first communication device receives the first reference signal accordingly.

[0195] Optionally, step S602 is an optional step. The first reference signal can be a reference signal transmitted by the second communication device to the first communication device in step S602, or the first reference signal can be a reference signal transmitted by another communication device to the first communication device, which is not limited here.

[0196] Similarly, the other reference signals (such as N reference signals, P reference signals, K reference signals, a second reference signal, etc.) received by the first communication device described hereinafter can be reference signals transmitted by the second communication device to the first communication device, or the other reference signals can be reference signals transmitted by another communication device to the first communication device, which is not limited here. The other communication device and the second communication device can be co-site deployed or non-co-site deployed, which is not limited here.

[0197] S603. The first communication device receives a first signal of the second frequency range according to the first reference signal and the first information.

[0198] In the present application, a certain reference signal is located in a certain frequency range, which can be understood as that the frequency domain resource carrying the reference signal is located in the frequency range. For example, the first reference signal is located in the first frequency range, which can be understood as that the frequency domain resource carrying the first reference signal is located in the first frequency range. For another example, N reference signals are located in the second frequency range, which can be understood as that the frequency domain resource carrying the N reference signals is located in the second frequency range; wherein different reference signals in the N reference signals can correspond to the same frequency range, or can correspond to different frequency ranges, which are not limited here.

[0199] In the present application, one reference signal is associated with other reference signals, which can be understood as that the transmission parameters of the one reference signal and the transmission parameters of the other reference signals are the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold), or the one reference signal and the other reference signals are quasi co-located (QCL), or the transmission configuration indication (TCI) state corresponding to the one reference signal and the other reference signals is the same. For example, the first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, which can be understood as that the transmission parameters of the first reference signal and the transmission parameters of the N reference signals are the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold), or the first reference signal and the N reference signals are QCL (or have a QCL relationship), or the TCI state corresponding to the first reference signal and the N reference signals is the same.

[0200] Optionally, the above transmission parameters can include one or more of channel characteristic parameters, multiple path component (MPC) information, including direction of departure (DoD), direction of arrival (DoA), path loss, delay, number of multipaths, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, or delay spread.

[0201] For example, in the communication process of any two communication devices, the channel information of the communication channel between the two communication devices satisfies:

[0202] wherein, satisfies:

[0203] wherein, the parameters represented by each symbol (Notation) are shown in Table 4.

[0204] Table 4

[0205] In the above process, the first reference signal and the N reference signals are all reference signals transmitted by the second communication device. In the second communication device, the channel information (denoted as channel information 1) between the signal transceiving module (denoted as module 1) for transmitting the first reference signal in the first frequency range and the first communication device, and the channel information (denoted as channel information 2) between the signal transceiving module (denoted as module 2) for transmitting the N reference signals in the second frequency range and the first communication device, can be determined by the above formula. In the above formula, among the plurality of parameters, when the transmission parameters of module 1 and module 2 are the same (or similar, or differ by less than a threshold value), it can be considered that the channel information 1 and the channel information 2 are related. Correspondingly, since the first reference signal is transmitted by module 1 and the N reference signals are transmitted by module 2, in this case, it can be understood that the transmission parameters of the first reference signal and the N reference signals are the same (or similar, or differ by less than a threshold value), that is, the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals.

[0206] Optionally, in the above formula, the transmission parameters of module 1 and module 2 that are the same (or similar, or differ by less than a threshold value) can include one or more of the angle (such as θ n,m,ZOA , φ n,m,AOA , θ n,m,ZOD , φ n,m,AOD ), time delay (such as τ n ), spherical coordinate parameters (such as ), and transmission antenna direction parameters (such as F tx,s,θ ).

[0207] Optionally, in the above formula, the transmission parameters of module 1 and module 2 that are likely to be different (or differ by more than a threshold value) can include one or more of the cluster power (such as P rx,u,θ ), the receive antenna direction circle (such as F ), the antenna position information such as , and the cross-polarization information (K R ).

[0208] In a possible implementation of the step S603, the first signal includes part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal is associated with the N reference signals. Specifically, the first information indicates that the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals, and for this purpose, the first signal received by the first communication device based on the first information can include part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal can be associated with the N reference signals, so that the first communication device can implement the reception of the N reference signals (or the signals associated with the N reference signals) in the second frequency domain range based on the indication of the first information.

[0209] Optionally, in the N reference signals, different reference signals can correspond to different transmission beams. Correspondingly, the first signal being associated with the N reference signals can be understood as that the first signal has the same transmission beam as one or more of the N reference signals.

[0210] In this application, the transmission beam can refer to that the transmission end device transmits a signal with certain beamforming weights, so that the transmitted signal forms a beam with spatial directivity. Correspondingly, the reception beam can refer to that the reception end device receives a signal with certain beamforming weights, so that the received signal forms a beam with spatial directivity.

[0211] Optionally, the beam can be replaced by the terms of direction, angle, resource, resource index, reference signal resource, reference signal index, port resource, port resource index, spatial filter, TCI, QCL, reference signal, etc.

[0212] In a possible implementation of the step S603, the first communication device receives the first signal in the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information, including that the first communication device receives the first signal in the second frequency domain range according to the measurement result of the first reference signal and the first information. Specifically, the measurement result of the first reference signal can be used to indicate the pros and cons of the reception quality of the first reference signal, and for this purpose, the first communication device determines (or predicts, estimates, etc.) the reception beam information for receiving the first signal according to the measurement result of the first reference signal and the first information, so that the first communication device can use a specific reception beam to receive the first signal in the second frequency domain range based on the reception beam information, so as to improve the reception quality of the first signal.

[0213] Optionally, the measurement result of the first reference signal can include reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), or other parameters for characterizing the pros and cons of the signal quality.

[0214] Optionally, the measurement result of the first reference signal is determined based on the channel information corresponding to the first reference signal.

[0215] For example, consider a first frequency range of FR1, a second frequency range of FR2, and a reference signal measurement result of RSRP.

[0216] The measurement result of the first reference signal satisfies:

[0217] The meanings of each parameter are as follows:

[0218] RSRP1 represents the measurement result of the first reference signal;

[0219] denoted by p, which represents the index of the transmission beam vector of the second communication device in FR1, and q, which represents the index of the transmission beam vector in the horizontal direction. The matrix dimension is N1*1, where N1 is the number of some or all of the transmission ports of the second communication device in FR1;

[0220] Representation matrix transpose, The matrix dimension is 1*N1;

[0221] H1 represents the channel information (i.e., the channel information 1 described above) between the signal transceiver module of FR1 in the second communication device and the first communication device. The matrix dimension is N1*M1, where M1 is the number of receiving ports of the first communication device in part or all of FR1.

[0222] Let i represent the receiving beam vector of the first communication device in FR1, i represent the index of the transmitting beam vector in the horizontal direction, and j represent the index of the transmitting beam vector in the vertical direction. The matrix dimension is M1*1.

[0223] Similarly, the measurement results of N reference signals satisfy:

[0224] The meanings of each parameter are as follows:

[0225] RSRP2 represents the measurement result of one of the N reference signals;

[0226] denoted by p, where p represents the index of the transmission beam vector in the horizontal direction and q represents the index of the transmission beam vector in the vertical direction. The matrix dimension is N2*1, where N2 is the number of some or all of the transmission ports of the second communication device in FR2;

[0227] Representation matrix transpose, The matrix dimension is 1*N²;

[0228] H2 represents the channel information (i.e., the channel information 2 described above) between the signal transceiver module of FR2 in the second communication device and the first communication device. The matrix dimension is N2*M2, where M2 is the number of some or all of the receiving ports of the first communication device in FR2.

[0229] Let i represent the receiving beam vector of the first communication device in FR2, i represent the index of the transmitting beam vector in the horizontal direction, and j represent the index of the transmitting beam vector in the vertical direction. The matrix dimension is M2*1.

[0230] Optional, W θ (include as well as (etc.) refers to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) matrix, the Hadamard matrix, or other implementations. Using W... θ Taking a 1D DFT beam as an example, W θ satisfy:

[0231] Where N is the number of ports, θ represents the beam direction, e is the natural constant, and j is the imaginary number.

[0232] As shown in the example above, based on a certain value of θ and different numbers of ports, it is possible to obtain vectors associated with different numbers of ports and the value of θ. That is, it is possible to obtain beam vectors (e.g., receive vector or transmit vector) for different numbers of ports based on the same beam direction. For example, as well as All correspond to θ p,q ,express Corresponding beam direction and The corresponding beam directions are the same (or similar). For example, and All correspond to θi,j, representing Corresponding beam direction and The corresponding beam directions are the same (or similar).

[0233] In the above implementation process, the first information indicates that the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals, and accordingly, the first communication device can determine at least one of the following:

[0234] 1. and are equal (or approximately equal);

[0235] 2. and are equal (or approximately equal);

[0236] 3. and both correspond to θp,q;

[0237] 4. H1 and H2 are equal (or approximately equal).

[0238] To this end, the first communication device can determine that, in the case where and correspond to the same θi,j, RSRP1 and RSRP2 are equal or approximately equal.

[0239] As an example, after the first communication device receives the first reference signal in step S602, the first communication device can determine Since the first communication device can determine based on its own transmission parameters, the first communication device can determine The different vectors contained or corresponding or associated correspond to different receive beams of FR1. To this end, the first communication device can determine The different vectors contained or corresponding or associated correspond to the calculation results of , which can represent The RSRP corresponding to the different vectors; among these RSRPs, the vector corresponding to the highest-valued RSRP can be used to determine the vector of the optimal receive beam in FR2. Alternatively, among these RSRPs, the x (x is a positive integer) vectors corresponding to the highest-valued x RSRPs can be used to determine the vectors of the candidate receive beams in FR2.

[0240] For example, the vector corresponding to the highest-valued RSRP can be denoted as corresponding to a certain θ i,j , the first communication device can determine i,j to receive signals of FR2 based on the θ .

[0241] For example, the vector corresponding to the highest RSRP value can be denoted as a certain vector The subsequent first communication device can determine the optimal receiving beam direction based on the vector The first communication device can receive the signal in the FR2 based on the determined receiving beam direction.

[0242] For example, the first communication device can determine the RSRP corresponding to each receiving beam direction based on the 8 vectors and the calculation result of For example, the first communication device can determine the RSRP corresponding to each receiving beam direction based on the 8 vectors and the calculation result of For example, the first communication device can determine the RSRP corresponding to each receiving beam direction based on the 8 vectors and the calculation result of For example, the first communication device can determine the RSRP corresponding to each receiving beam direction based on the 8 vectors and the calculation result of i,j Thereafter, the first communication device can generate the first signal based on the vector i,j The first communication device can receive the first signal in the FR2 based on the generated first signal.

[0243] Optionally, the vector can be replaced by other implementations, such as an element.

[0244] Therefore, through the above process, the first communication device can determine (or predict) the measurement result of the signal transmitted by the second communication device in the second frequency range based on the first reference signal and the first information, and determine the optimal receiving beam information of the first communication device in the second frequency range. Subsequently, the first communication device can implement the reception of the first signal based on the optimal receiving beam information.

[0245] For example, the second communication device includes the module 1 and the module 2 described above. In the case that the transmission parameters of the module 1 and the module 2 are the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold value), the transmission path of the first reference signal and the transmission path of the N reference signals are also the same or similar.

[0246] For example, in the case that the transmission path of the first reference signal includes the LOS path, the transmission path of the N reference signals also includes the LOS path.

[0247] For example, in the case that the transmission path of the first reference signal includes the NLOS path, the transmission path of the N reference signals also includes the NLOS path.

[0248] For example, in the case that the transmission path of the first reference signal includes the LOS path and the NLOS path, the transmission path of the N reference signals also includes the LOS path and the NLOS path.​

[0249] To this end, compared with the implementation process shown in FIG. 5, the first communication device can more accurately determine (or predict) the measurement results of the N reference signals based on the first reference signal in step S603, and then receive the first signal of the second frequency range using the optimal communication beam.

[0250] Based on the scheme shown in FIG. 6, the first information received by the first communication device in step S601 is used to indicate that the first reference signal is associated with the N reference signals, wherein the first reference signal is located in one frequency range and the N reference signals are located in another frequency range. In addition, after receiving the first reference signal, in step S603, the first communication device can receive the first signal of the second frequency range according to the first reference signal and the first information. In other words, the first communication device can receive the signal in the other frequency range based on the reference signal in one frequency range and the association between the reference signal in the one frequency range and the reference signal in the other frequency range. Therefore, the communication device can assist the signal reception process in the other frequency range based on the signal reception process in one frequency range, which can improve the communication efficiency of the communication device in the other frequency range.

[0251] In addition, compared with the signal reception process implemented by the communication device in a certain frequency range (for example, the second frequency range) through beam management, in the above scheme, the communication device can assist the signal reception process in the second frequency range based on the signal reception process in the first frequency range, which can reduce the time delay generated by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency range, and can also reduce the power consumption generated by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency range, so as to improve the communication efficiency.

[0252] In a possible implementation of the method shown in FIG. 6, the first information received by the first communication device in step S601 further indicates that the second reference signal is associated with the P reference signals; the second reference signal is located in the first frequency range, and the frequency range of the P reference signals is located in the second frequency range; the method further includes: the first communication device receives the second reference signal; and the first communication device receives the second signal in the second frequency range according to the second reference signal and the first information. In other words, in addition to indicating that the first reference signal in the first frequency range is associated with the N reference signals in the second frequency range, the first information can also indicate that another reference signal (for example, the second reference signal) in the first frequency range is associated with another reference signal (for example, the P reference signals) in the second frequency range. Correspondingly, the first communication device can also receive another reference signal in the second frequency range based on another reference signal in the first frequency range, so that the communication device can assist the signal reception process in the other frequency range based on the signal reception process in one frequency range, and the communication efficiency of the communication device in the other frequency range can be improved.

[0253] Similarly, it can be known from the implementation processes of the above formula (1) and formula (2) that the first communication device can determine (or predict) the measurement result of the signal transmitted by the multiple transmission beams of the second communication device in the second frequency range based on the second reference signal and the first information, and determine the optimal reception beam information of the first communication device in the second frequency range, and subsequently, the reception of the second signal can be implemented based on the optimal reception beam information.

[0254] For example, taking the first communication device as the terminal device shown in FIG. 4 and the second communication device as the network device shown in FIG. 4, the first reference signal and the second reference signal can be reference signals transmitted by any two different beams (i.e., beams 1-8) of the 8 beams of the terminal device, the K reference signals can be reference signals respectively transmitted by the 16 beams (i.e., beams 1-16) of the network device (i.e., K=16), the N reference signals can be reference signals transmitted by some of the 16 beams of the network device, and the P reference signals can be reference signals transmitted by other beams of the 16 beams of the network device.

[0255] Optionally, different reference signals in the P reference signals can correspond to completely same frequency ranges, or can correspond to different frequency ranges, which are not limited here.

[0256] Optionally, any reference signal in the P reference signals and any reference signal in the N reference signals can correspond to completely same frequency ranges, or can correspond to different frequency ranges, which are not limited here.

[0257] Optionally, the first communication device can determine that the second reference signal is associated with the P reference signals through indication of other information.

[0258] Similarly, the second signal includes part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal is associated with the P reference signals. Wherein, the first information indicates that the second reference signal is associated with the P reference signals, and for this purpose, the second signal received by the first communication device based on the second information can include part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal can be associated with the P reference signals, so that the first communication device can realize the reception of the P reference signals (or the signals associated with the P reference signals) in the second frequency domain range based on the indication of the first information.

[0259] Optionally, in the P reference signals, different reference signals can correspond to different transmission beams. Correspondingly, the second signal is associated with the P reference signals can be understood as that the second signal has the same transmission beam as one or more of the P reference signals.

[0260] In a possible implementation of the method shown in FIG. 6, the N reference signals are contained in K reference signals, K is greater than or equal to N; the method further comprises: the first communication device receives the K reference signals; the first communication device transmits second information, the second information is used to indicate M reference signals in the K reference signals, M is a positive integer less than or equal to K; the second information is used to determine the transmission beam information of the second communication device. Specifically, the first communication device can receive the K reference signals in the second frequency domain range, and the first communication device can transmit the second information indicating M reference signals in the K reference signals, so that the receiver of the second information can determine the transmission beam information of the second communication device based on the second information.

[0261] Optionally, in addition to the N reference signals, the K reference signals can also include other reference signals, such as the P reference signals described in the foregoing.

[0262] Please refer to FIG. 7, another implementation schematic diagram of the communication method provided by the present application, the method comprises the following steps.

[0263] S701. The second communication device transmits third information, and the first communication device receives the third information accordingly.

[0264] S702. The first communication device communicates with the second communication device based on the beam information.

[0265] Optionally, the beam information indicated by the third information can be used to determine at least one of a receiving beam of the first communication device, a transmitting beam of the first communication device, a receiving beam of the second communication device, or a transmitting beam of the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device can implement signal transmission and / or signal reception based on the beam information of the transmitting beam indicated by the communication peer.

[0266] It should be noted that the beam can be replaced by terms such as direction, angle, resource, resource index, reference signal resource, reference signal index, port resource, port resource index, spatial filter, TCI, QCL, or reference signal.

[0267] In a possible implementation, the beam information is beam information of a second frequency domain range; and the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information, including: the first communication device communicates with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range according to a reference signal of a first frequency domain range and the beam information. Specifically, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range according to a reference signal of a first frequency domain range and the beam information. In other words, the first communication device can assist the communication process in other frequency domain ranges based on the signal reception process of the reference signal in one frequency domain range. Since different reference signals can correspond to different communication beams, in the above scheme, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device in other frequency domain ranges through the beam corresponding to the reference signal in one frequency domain range, thereby reducing the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range, and reducing the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the second frequency domain range.

[0268] In a possible implementation, the beam information includes at least one of the following: indication information indicating an association relationship between one or more beams and one or more reference signals, beam angle information, port information, or antenna array information. Specifically, the beam information indicated by the third information can be implemented in the above-mentioned multiple ways to improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.

[0269] In a possible implementation, the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information, including: the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information and fourth information; wherein the fourth information is used to indicate an indication information of an association relationship between channel information (i.e., the channel information 1 described above) in a first frequency domain range between the first communication device and the second communication device and channel information (i.e., the channel information 2 described above) in a second frequency domain range between the first communication device and the second communication device. Specifically, the first communication device can determine, based on the fourth information, that the channel information in the first frequency domain range and the channel information in the second frequency domain range have the association relationship, so that the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device based on the reference signal in the first frequency domain range in the second frequency domain range.

[0270] Optionally, the fourth information is preconfigured.

[0271] In this application, one channel information is associated with another channel information, which can be understood as that the one channel information is the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold) as the other channel information. For example, the channel information in the first frequency domain range and the channel information in the second frequency domain range have the association relationship, and the channel information in the first frequency domain range and the channel information in the second frequency domain range are the same (or similar, or the difference is less than a threshold).

[0272] In the above implementation process, the third information indicates the beam information of the transmission beam of the second communication device (i.e., H2 in formula (2) above) ), and correspondingly, since the fourth information indicates that the channel information 1 and the channel information 2 have the association, the first communication device can determine that H1 and H2 are equal (or, the first communication device can determine that H1 and H2 are approximately equal; or, the first communication device can determine that H1 and H2 are equal or approximately equal based on a preconfigured manner; or, the first communication device can determine that the channel parameters contained in H1 and H2 are related; or, the first communication device can determine that H1 and H2 are related). And, is the transmission parameter of the first communication device itself. Therefore, after receiving the third information and the fourth information, the first communication device can determine (or predict, estimate, etc.) the reception beam information of the reception signal of the first communication device in FR2 based on the third information and the fourth information, and the reception beam information of the reception signal of the first communication device in FR2 is the transmission beam information of the transmission signal of the second communication device in FR2. In other words, the first communication device can communicate with the second communication device according to the beam information indicated by the third information.

[0273] For example, in the case of For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the first communication device, and the 128 vectors correspond to or are associated with 128 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device.

[0274] For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. i,j For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. i,j For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. p,q For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. p,q For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. p,q For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device.

[0275] For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. For example, the 16 vectors correspond to or are associated with 16 transmit beam directions (or transmit vectors) of the first communication device, and the 8 vectors correspond to or are associated with 8 receive beam directions (or receive vectors) of the second communication device. or indicate the optimal transmit beam of the second communication device in FR2.

[0276] Alternatively, the above vector can be replaced by other implementations, such as elements.

[0277] Alternatively, since the channel is reciprocal, the optimal transmit beam direction of the second communication device determined by the first communication device can also be the optimal receive beam direction of the second communication device, and the optimal receive beam direction of the first communication device determined by the first communication device can also be the optimal transmit beam direction of the first communication device. Alternatively, the first communication device can also indicate the optimal transmit beam direction and / or the optimal receive beam direction of the second communication device to the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device and the second communication device can communicate through the optimal transmit and receive beam directions to improve the communication quality.

[0278] Thus, through the above process, the first communication device can determine (or predict) the measurement result of the signal transmitted by the multiple transmit beams of the second communication device in the second frequency range based on the first reference signal and the first information, and determine the optimal receive beam information of the first communication device in the second frequency range (i.e., the beam information described above contains the receive beam of the first communication device and the transmit beam of the second communication device).

[0279] Alternatively, since the channel is reciprocal, the first communication device can determine the optimal transmit beam information of the first communication device in the second frequency range based on the optimal receive beam information (i.e., the beam information described above contains the transmit beam of the first communication device and the receive beam of the second communication device).

[0280] Based on the scheme shown in FIG. 7, the third information received by the first communication device in step S701 is used to indicate the beam information of the transmit beam of the second communication device, and thereafter, in step S702, the first communication device communicates with the second communication device according to the beam information. In other words, the first communication device can determine the beam information of the transmit beam of the signal transmitter (i.e., the second communication device) based on the second information, and communicate with the signal transmitter based on the beam information. Thus, the communication device can communicate based on the beam information of the transmit beam indicated by the communication peer, which can improve the communication efficiency.

[0281] In addition, compared with the signal receiving process realized by the beam management of the communication device in a certain frequency range, in the above scheme, the communication device can communicate based on the beam information of the transmit beam indicated by the communication peer, which can reduce the time delay caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the frequency range, and also can reduce the power consumption caused by the beam management process of the communication device in the frequency range, to improve the communication efficiency.

[0282] Referring to FIG. 8, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus 800, which comprises a transceiver unit 802 and a processing unit 801.

[0283] It should be understood that the communication apparatus 800 can realize the functions of any of the communication apparatuses (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above-described method embodiments, and thus can also realize the beneficial effects possessed by the above-described method embodiments. In an embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus 800 can be any of the communication apparatuses in the above-described method embodiments, or can be an integrated circuit or an element etc. inside any of the communication apparatuses in the above-described method embodiments, such as a chip.

[0284] In a possible implementation, when the apparatus 800 is configured to perform the method performed by the first terminal device in the above-described embodiments, the transceiver unit 802 is configured to receive first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; the transceiver unit 802 is further configured to receive the first reference signal; and the processing unit 801 is configured to receive a first signal of the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information.

[0285] In another possible implementation, when the apparatus 800 is configured to perform the method performed by the network device in the above-described embodiments, the processing unit 801 is configured to determine first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; and the transceiver unit 802 is configured to send the first information.

[0286] In another possible implementation, when the apparatus 800 is configured to perform the method performed by the first terminal device in the above-described embodiments, the transceiver unit 802 is configured to receive third information, the third information being used to indicate beam information of a transmission beam of a second communication apparatus; and the processing unit 801 is configured to communicate with the second communication apparatus according to the beam information.

[0287] In another possible implementation, when the apparatus 800 is configured to perform the method performed by the network device in the above-described embodiments, the processing unit 801 is configured to determine third information, the third information being used to indicate beam information of a transmission beam of a second communication apparatus; and the transceiver unit 802 is configured to send the third information.

[0288] It should be noted that the information execution process and the corresponding technical effects of the units of the above-described communication apparatus 800 can be specifically referred to the descriptions of the above-described method embodiments, and will not be described here again.

[0289] Please refer to Fig. 9, which is another schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus 900 provided in the present application, the communication apparatus 900 at least includes an input / output interface 901. Wherein, the communication apparatus 900 can be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0290] Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a logic circuit 902.

[0291] Wherein, the transceiver unit 802 shown in Fig. 8 can be a communication interface, which can be the input / output interface 901 in Fig. 9, the input / output interface 901 can include an input interface and an output interface. Or, the communication interface can also be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0292] Optionally, the input / output interface 901 receives first information, the first information is used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N is a positive integer; wherein, the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; the input / output interface 901 is further used to receive the first reference signal; the logic circuit 902 is used to receive a first signal of the second frequency domain range according to the first reference signal and the first information.

[0293] Optionally, the logic circuit 902 is used to determine first information, the first information is used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N is a positive integer; wherein, the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; the input / output interface 901 is used to send the first information.

[0294] Optionally, the input / output interface 901 is used to receive third information, the third information is used to indicate beam information of a transmission beam of a second communication apparatus; the logic circuit 902 is used to communicate with the second communication apparatus according to the beam information.

[0295] Optionally, the logic circuit 902 is used to determine third information, the third information is used to indicate beam information of a transmission beam of a second communication apparatus; the input / output interface 901 is used to send the third information.

[0296] Wherein, the logic circuit 902 and the input / output interface 901 can perform the method executed by any communication apparatus (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the foregoing method embodiments and achieve the corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be described herein.

[0297] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 801 shown in Fig. 8 can be the logic circuit 902 in Fig. 9.

[0298] Optionally, the logic circuit 902 can be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device can be partially or entirely implemented by software.

[0299] Optionally, the processing device can include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding processing and / or steps in any one of the method embodiments.

[0300] Optionally, the processing device can only include the processor. The memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected with the memory through a circuit / wire to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. The memory and the processor can be integrated together, or can be physically independent of each other.

[0301] Optionally, the processing device can be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device can be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), system on chips (SoC), central processor units (CPU), network processors (NP), digital signal processors (DSP), micro controller units (MCU), programmable logic devices (PLD) or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors, etc.

[0302] Please refer to FIG. 10, which shows a communication device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1000 can be a terminal device in the above embodiments.

[0303] Optionally, the communication device 1000 can include but is not limited to at least one processor 1001 and a communication interface 1002.

[0304] Further optionally, the device can also include at least one of a memory 1003 and a bus 1004. In the embodiments of the present application, the at least one processor 1001 is configured to control and process the actions of the communication device 1000.

[0305] Further, the processor 1001 can be a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, hardware component, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various example logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor can also be a combination of computing functionality, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. For the sake of brevity and clarity, the detailed description of the operation of the system, apparatus, and units described above can be made with reference to the corresponding processes in the method embodiments described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0306] It should be noted that the communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments, and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. The specific implementation of the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 10 can be made with reference to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0307] Please refer to FIG. 11, which is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus involved in the foregoing embodiments provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus can be specifically the network device in the foregoing embodiments, and the structure of the communication apparatus can refer to the structure shown in FIG. 11.

[0308] The communication apparatus includes at least one processor 1111 and at least one network interface 1114.

[0309] Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes at least one memory 1112, at least one transceiver 1113, and one or more antennas 1115. The processor 1111, the memory 1112, the transceiver 1113, and the network interface 1114 are connected, for example, through a bus. In the embodiments of the present application, the connection can include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc., and the present embodiment does not limit this. The antenna 1115 is connected to the transceiver 1113. The network interface 1114 is configured to enable the communication apparatus to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 1114 can include a network interface between the communication apparatus and a core network device, such as an S1 interface. The network interface can include a network interface between the communication apparatus and other communication apparatuses (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0310] The processor 1111 is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the whole communication device, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs, such as for supporting the communication device to perform the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device can include a baseband processor mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and a central processor mainly used for controlling the whole terminal device, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The processor 1111 in FIG. 11 can integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processor, and those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processor can also be independent processors interconnected by a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art can understand that the terminal device can include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network modes, and the terminal device can include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device can be connected by various buses. The baseband processor can also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processor can also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data can be built into the processor, or stored in the memory in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

[0311] The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The memory 1112 can exist independently and be connected to the processor 1111. Alternatively, the memory 1112 can be integrated with the processor 1111, for example, integrated in a chip. The memory 1112 can store program codes for executing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and the processor 1111 controls the execution. Various computer programs executed can also be regarded as a driver of the processor 1111.

[0312] FIG. 11 only shows one memory and one processor. In actual terminal devices, there can be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory can also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory can be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, that is, an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0313] The transceiver 1113 can be configured to support the receiving or transmitting of radio frequency signals between the communication device and a terminal. The transceiver 1113 can be connected to the antenna 1115. The transceiver 1113 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, the one or more antennas 1115 can receive radio frequency signals, the receiver Rx of the transceiver 1113 is configured to receive the radio frequency signals from the antenna and convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provide the digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals to the processor 1111 for further processing, such as demodulation processing and decoding processing, of the digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals by the processor 1111. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 1113 is also configured to receive modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals from the processor 1111, and convert the modulated digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals into radio frequency signals, and transmit the radio frequency signals through the one or more antennas 1115. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more levels of down-mixing and analog-to-digital conversion to obtain the digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals, and the order of the down-mixing and the analog-to-digital conversion can be adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more levels of up-mixing and digital-to-analog conversion to obtain the radio frequency signals, and the order of the up-mixing and the digital-to-analog conversion can be adjustable. The digital baseband signals and the digital intermediate frequency signals can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0314] The transceiver 1113 can also be referred to as an interface unit, a transceiving unit, a transceiver, a transceiving device, an interface module, etc. Optionally, the devices in the interface unit for implementing the receiving function can be regarded as a receiving unit, and the devices in the interface unit for implementing the transmitting function can be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the interface unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit can also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc. The transmitting unit can be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

[0315] It should be noted that the communication device shown in FIG. 11 can be specifically configured to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments, and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. The specific implementation mode of the communication device shown in FIG. 11 can be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0316] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium for storing one or more computer execution instructions, when the computer execution instructions are executed by a computer, the processor executes the method described in any of the possible implementation manners of the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the foregoing method embodiments.

[0317] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product (or computer program), including instructions, when the instructions in the computer program product are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method of any possible implementation manner of the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiment.

[0318] The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, including at least one processor, used for implementing the functions involved in the possible implementation manner of the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in any of the above method embodiments.

[0319] Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit, which provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor. In a possible design, the chip system can further include a memory, used for storing necessary program instructions and data of the terminal device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include the chip and other discrete devices.

[0320] In a possible design, the chip system can further include a memory, used for storing necessary program instructions and data of the communication device in any of the above method embodiments. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include the chip and other discrete devices.

[0321] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, and the network system architecture includes the terminal device and the network device in any of the above embodiments.

[0322] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented by other means. For example, the above-described device embodiments are illustrative, for example, the division of the units is a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, 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 coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the displayed or discussed units can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0323] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units can or can not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or can be distributed on a plurality of network units. According to actual needs, part or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0324] In addition, each function unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing module, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function unit. When the integrated unit is realized in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially contribute to or the whole or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. 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 each embodiment of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), a random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

[0325] The above is only a specific implementation of the embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited to this. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed by the embodiments of the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments 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: receiving first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; receiving the first reference signal; receiving, according to the first reference signal and the first information, a first signal of the second frequency domain range.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first signal comprises part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal is associated with the N reference signals.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The receiving, according to the first reference signal and the first information, of the first signal of the second frequency domain range comprises: receiving, according to a measurement result of the first reference signal and the first information, the first signal of the second frequency domain range.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first information is further used to indicate that a second reference signal is associated with P reference signals; the second reference signal is located in the first frequency domain range, and a frequency domain position range of the P reference signals is located in the second frequency domain range. The method further comprises: receiving the second reference signal; receiving, according to the second reference signal and the first information, a second signal of the second frequency domain range.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The second signal comprises part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal is associated with the P reference signals.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The N reference signals are contained in K reference signals, K being greater than or equal to N; the method further comprises: receiving the K reference signals; sending second information, the second information being used to indicate M reference signals in the K reference signals, M being a positive integer less than or equal to K; and the second information being used to determine transmission beam information of the second communication device.

7. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: determining first information, the first information being used to indicate that a first reference signal is associated with N reference signals, N being a positive integer; wherein the first reference signal is located in a first frequency domain range, and the N reference signals are located in a second frequency domain range; sending the first information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The first information is used for a first communication device to receive a first signal of the second frequency domain range.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The first information is used for a first communication device to receive a first signal of the second frequency domain range, comprising: the first information and a measurement result of the first reference signal are used for the first communication device to receive the first signal of the second frequency domain range.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that, The first signal comprises part or all of the N reference signals, or the first signal is associated with the N reference signals.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that, The first information is further used to indicate that a second reference signal is associated with P reference signals; the second reference signal is located in the first frequency domain range, and a frequency domain position range of the P reference signals is located in the second frequency domain range. The first information is used for a first communication device to receive a second signal of the second frequency domain range.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The second signal comprises part or all of the P reference signals, or the second signal is associated with the P reference signals.

13. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that, The N reference signals are contained in K reference signals, K being greater than or equal to N; the method further comprises: receiving second information, the second information being used for indicating M reference signals of the K reference signals, M being a positive integer less than or equal to K; the second information being used for determining transmit beam information of the second communication device.

14. A communication method, comprising: comprising: receiving third information, the third information being used for indicating beam information of a transmit beam of the second communication device; communicating with the second communication device according to the beam information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, the beam information is beam information of a second frequency domain range; the communicating with the second communication device according to the beam information comprises: communicating with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range according to the reference signal of the first frequency domain range and the beam information.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the beam information is used for determining at least one of: a receive beam of the first communication device, a transmit beam of the first communication device, a receive beam of the second communication device, or a transmit beam of the second communication device.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that, the beam information comprises at least one of: indication information indicating an association between one or more beams and one or more reference signals, beam angle information, port information, or antenna array information.

18. A method of communication, comprising: comprising: determining third information, the third information being used for indicating beam information of a transmit beam of the second communication device; transmitting the third information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, the beam information is used for the first communication device to communicate with the second communication device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, the beam information is beam information of a second frequency domain range; the beam information is used for the first communication device to communicate with the second communication device, comprising: the beam information and a reference signal of a first frequency domain range are used for the first communication device to communicate with the second communication device in the second frequency domain range.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that, the beam information is used for determining at least one of: a receive beam of the first communication device, a transmit beam of the first communication device, a receive beam of the second communication device, or a transmit beam of the second communication device.

22. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 21, characterized in that, the beam information comprises at least one of: indication information indicating an association between one or more beams and one or more reference signals, beam angle information, port information, or antenna array information.

23. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, 15, 20, wherein, the first frequency domain range is lower than the second frequency domain range.

24. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, 15, 20, 23, wherein, the first frequency domain range is located in frequency range FR1, and the second frequency domain range is located in FR2.

25. A communications device, characterized by comprising a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

26. A communications device, characterized by comprising at least one processor configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

27. The communication apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the communication device is a chip or a chip system.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by the communication device, implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

29. A computer program product, characterised in that, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

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