Communication method and apparatus, and storage medium and computer program product

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, and a storage medium and a computer program product, which are used for improving the anti-interference capability of signals and improving the data transmission reliability. In the present application, a relay apparatus pre-codes received B1 groups of second signals, and then obtains F1 groups of first signals, and the relay apparatus sends the F1 groups of first signals by using F1 first antennas and on the basis of the correlations between the F1 groups of first signals and the F1 first antennas. A signal sent by a first antenna is processed by using a pre-coding coefficient associated with a channel between the first antenna and a terminal apparatus corresponding to the signal, and therefore the signal transmitted by the first antenna can better resist the interference (e.g., inter-beam co-channel interference) of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal apparatus corresponding to the signal, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

Description

A communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410824063.2, filed on June 24, 2024, and entitled “A communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product”, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0004] Currently, the 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) technology is evolving from revision (R) 18 to R19. At the same time, the NR technology has entered the commercial deployment stage from the standardization stage. The NR standard protocol is a wireless communication technology designed for terrestrial cellular network scenarios (terrestrial cellular network scenarios can be referred to as terrestrial network (TN) scenarios). It can provide users with ultra-low latency, ultra-reliability, ultra-high rate, and ultra-high connection wireless communication services. Compared with TN communication, non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication has the characteristics of large coverage area and flexible networking, and can achieve seamless global network coverage. NTN communication includes networking using unmanned aerial vehicles, high-altitude platforms, satellites, and other devices to provide data transmission, voice communication, and other services for user equipment (UE). In TN and / or NTN networks, how to improve the anti-interference capability in the data transmission process and improve the data transmission reliability is a problem that needs to be solved at present. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product for improving the anti-interference capability of signals and thereby improving the data transmission reliability.

[0006] In the data transmission process, the anti-interference capability of data can be improved by pre-encoding the data. However, in a scenario with a relay device, the relay device cannot control the beam according to the pre-encoded data, which results in that the interference cannot be reduced by pre-encoding the data in the current scenario.

[0007] In order to improve the anti-interference capability of data transmission, the application provides several schemes for processing data to improve the anti-interference capability in the data transmission process, thereby improving the data transmission reliability.

[0008] For example, in the downlink transmission process, the network device sends a B1 group second signal to the relay device, the relay device obtains a F1 group first signal by precoding the B1 group second signal, and B1 and F1 are both positive integers. The relay device sends the F1 group first signal to at least one terminal device through the F1 first antennas according to the association relationship between the F1 group first signal and the F1 first antennas. The B1 group second signal can be a signal corresponding to the service data sent by the network device to at least one terminal device. The F1 group first signal can be a precoded signal of the B1 group second signal. Since the signal sent by a first antenna is processed using the precoding coefficient associated between the first antenna and the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal, the relay device can send the signal according to the association relationship between the first signal and the first antenna, and then control the beam according to the precoded data, so that the signal transmitted through the first antenna can better resist the interference (such as inter-beam co-frequency interference) of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0009] For another example, in the uplink transmission process, the relay device receives a F2 group third signal from at least one terminal device through F2 second antennas, and processes the F2 group third signal through a first matrix to obtain a B2 group fourth signal. The relay device sends the B2 group fourth signal to the network device. The F2 group third signal can be a signal received by the relay device from at least one terminal device through the F2 second antennas, and these signals can be signals corresponding to the service data sent by at least one terminal device to the network device. The B2 group fourth signal can be a combined signal of the F2 group third signal. Since the relay device can process the signal received by the second antenna using the coefficient corresponding to the channel between the second antenna and the terminal device, the processed signal can better resist the interference on the channel, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0010] In a first aspect, the application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a relay device. The relay device can include a relay device or a chip (or chip system) inside the relay device. For example, the relay device can include a satellite or a ground-deployed relay device.

[0011] The relay device obtains a second signal in a B1 group, B1 being a positive integer. The relay device sends a first signal in a F1 group, F1 being a positive integer, the first signal in the F1 group indicating a signal pre-coded from the second signal in the B1 group. The first signal in the F1 group is sent through F1 first antennas, and there is an association relationship between the first signal in the F1 group and the F1 first antennas.

[0012] Since the relay device sends the first signal in the F1 group based on the association relationship between the first signal in the F1 group and the F1 first antennas, in the association relationship, a first signal in a group is pre-coded by a pre-coding coefficient corresponding to a channel of a first antenna. Therefore, the signal transmitted through the first antenna can better resist the interference of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal (for example, inter-beam co-frequency interference), thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal. The antenna of the relay device for receiving the second signal in the B1 group may, for example, be a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) antenna, and the antenna of the relay device for sending the first signal in the F1 group to one or more terminal devices may, for example, be an antenna array. The set of antennas of the relay device for receiving the second signal in the B1 group and the set of the F1 first antennas of the relay device for sending the first signal in the F1 group may have no intersection or be different (or may also have an intersection or be the same).

[0013] For example, the relay device pre-codes the second signal in the B1 group to obtain the first signal in the F1 group. The relay device sends the first signal in the F1 group to the terminal device through the F1 first antennas.

[0014] Since the relay device can pre-code the data to be sent, the relay device can send the first signal in the F1 group according to the association relationship between the processed first signal in the F1 group and the F1 first antennas. In this way, the signal sent through a first antenna is processed using the pre-coding coefficient associated with the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal, so that the signal transmitted through the first antenna can better resist the interference of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal (for example, inter-beam co-frequency interference), thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0015] The scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application can also control the direction of the beam, thereby solving the influence of satellite attitude change, satellite orbit change, etc. on the coverage area of the beam in the NTN scenario. For example, the coverage geographical areas of different beams are different, the network device can estimate the channel according to the positional relationship between the coverage area of the beam and the F1 first antennas of the relay device, thereby obtaining the pre-coding coefficient associated with the channel of each beam, and then the signal corresponding to each beam can have more concentrated energy in the expected beam coverage area, thereby achieving the effect of controlling the direction of the beam.

[0016] In a possible implementation, for a group (or each group) of the second signals in the B1 groups of the second signals: the group of the second signals is respectively pre-coded by F1 first pre-coding coefficients to obtain F1 groups of sixth signals. The F1 groups of the first signals correspond to the F1 groups of the sixth signals, and a group of the first signals includes a group of the sixth signals corresponding to the group of the first signals. The F1 first pre-coding coefficients are associated with the F1 first antennas, and one of the F1 first pre-coding coefficients is associated with one of the first antennas and a channel corresponding to at least one terminal device associated with the group of the second signals. Since the group of the second signals is pre-coded to obtain the F1 groups of the sixth signals and is transmitted through the F1 first antennas, the group of the second signals can better resist interference (for example, inter-beam co-frequency interference) of the channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0017] In a possible implementation, for one of the F1 first antennas: the group of the first signals associated with the first antenna is obtained by pre-coding the B1 groups of the second signals associated with the first antenna by B1 second pre-coding coefficients respectively. Since the group of the first signals transmitted through the first antenna is pre-coded by the pre-coding coefficients associated with the channel corresponding to the first antenna, the group of the first signals transmitted through the first antenna can better resist interference (for example, inter-beam co-frequency interference) of the channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0018] In a possible implementation, for a group of the second signals in the B1 groups of the second signals: the second pre-coding coefficients used for pre-coding the group of the second signals are also associated with a channel corresponding to at least one terminal device associated with the group of the second signals. Since the group of the first signals transmitted through the first antenna is pre-coded by the pre-coding coefficients associated with the channel corresponding to the first antenna, and the pre-coding coefficients used for pre-coding one of the second signals are also associated with a channel corresponding to a terminal device corresponding to the second signal, the group of the first signals transmitted through the first antenna can better resist interference (for example, inter-beam co-frequency interference) of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the second signal, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals. The information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals can be configured or sent by the network device. Since the relay device receives the information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals, the relay device can perform precoding on the B1 group of second signals based on the information, and then send the first signals through the F1 first antennas according to the association between the precoding coefficients and the F1 first antennas. Since the group of first signals sent through a first antenna is precoded using the precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna, the group of first signals can better resist the interference of the channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signals.

[0020] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating the association between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals and the F1 first antennas. The association between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas is determined according to the association between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals and the F1 first antennas. The relay device can determine the association between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas according to the association between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals and the F1 first antennas, and then send the first signals through the correct first antennas, thereby avoiding the occurrence of an error in the first antennas used to send the first signals. Since the group of first signals sent through a first antenna is precoded using the precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna, the group of first signals can better resist the interference of the channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signals. In this solution, the information indicating the association between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals and the F1 first antennas can implicitly indicate the association between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas. In this implementation, the network device can no longer send information indicating the association between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0021] In another possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating the association between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas. In this way, the relay device can send the first signals through the correct first antennas, thereby avoiding the occurrence of an error in the first antennas used to send the first signals. Since the group of first signals sent through a first antenna is precoded using the precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna, the group of first signals can better resist the interference of the channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signals.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating F1 first antennas. The F1 first antennas belong to part or all of the antennas of the relay device. In this way, the relay device can determine the F1 first antennas used to send the F1 first signals based on the above information, and then use the F1 first antennas to send the F1 first signals. In another aspect, the network device can configure the above information for the relay device based on the current actual situation of the network, so as to make the configured information more reasonable.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the information indicating the F1 first antennas includes at least one of the following: identification information of the F1 first antennas; position information of the F1 first antennas; index numbers of the F1 first antennas; or bitmap information, in which the bit values of the bits associated with the F1 first antennas are specified values. For example, the specified values are 0 or 1. The relay device can determine the F1 first antennas indicated by the network device according to at least one of the information.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives indication information indicating resources associated with the B1 second signals. In this way, the relay device can extract the B1 second signals from the corresponding resources based on the information. In a possible implementation, the resources of the F1 first signals include at least one of the following: time domain resources occupied by the F1 first signals, frequency domain resources occupied by the F1 first signals, or polarization manners corresponding to the F1 first signals.

[0025] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating the number of groups of the B1 second signals. The information about the number of groups of the second signals can enable the relay device to know the number of groups of the second signals that need to be received, and to precode and send the corresponding groups of the second signals through corresponding antennas, so as to prevent the relay device from sending less than a certain group or several groups of the second signals, to avoid the anti-interference effect caused by pre-coding being greatly reduced, and to avoid increasing the inter-beam or inter-UE co-frequency interference as much as possible.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the information indicating the number of groups of the B1 second signals includes indication information indicating the number of groups of the B1 second signals. In this way, the relay device can determine the number of groups of the B1 second signals based on the indication information indicating the number of groups of the B1 second signals. This scheme can reduce the complexity of the scheme on the relay device side.

[0027] In another possible implementation, the information for indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal comprises: information for indicating the resource corresponding to the B1 group second signal; and / or, information for indicating the number of columns or rows of the first precoding matrix. The information for indicating the resource corresponding to the B1 group second signal or the information for indicating the number of columns or rows of the first precoding matrix can implicitly indicate the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal. In a possible implementation, when the network device sends the information for indicating the resource corresponding to the B1 group second signal or the information for indicating the number of columns or rows of the first precoding matrix, the network device can no longer send the indication information of the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal, thereby saving resource overhead.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the relay device sends information for indicating the antenna information of the relay device, and the antenna information of the relay device comprises the antenna information of the F1 first antennas. For example, the antenna information of the relay device comprises at least one of the following: the number of antennas of the relay device, the antenna distribution form of the relay device, or the spacing between two antennas of the relay device. For example, the antenna distribution form of the relay device comprises one of the following: a rectangular grid distribution form, a triangular grid distribution form, a concentric ring distribution form, or an elliptical ring grid distribution form. Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can select the F1 first antennas for the relay device based on the received antenna information. In another aspect, the antenna information can also assist the network device to determine the precoding coefficients. For example, the network device can determine the positions of the antennas according to the antenna distribution form and / or the spacing between the antennas. Then, the network device determines the precoding coefficients corresponding to the channel between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the positions of the terminal device and the antennas, and then the network device precodes the signal based on the precoding coefficients, thereby improving the anti-interference capability of the signal and improving the communication performance.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the information for indicating the antenna information of the relay device comprises: the antenna information of the relay device; and / or, the index number of the antenna information of the relay device. The relay device and the network device can respectively configure the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information. The association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information on the side of the relay device can be agreed by a protocol, pre-stored, or sent by the network device to the relay device. The association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information on the side of the network device can be agreed by a protocol or pre-stored. The network device can find the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information according to the received index number of the antenna information, so as to obtain the antenna information corresponding to the index number. This scheme can save the amount of information of the antenna information sent by the relay device, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the F1 group first signal is a signal obtained by precoding the B1 group second signal by using a first precoding matrix. The F1 group first signal indicates a signal obtained by precoding the B1 group second signal by using the first precoding matrix.

[0031] In a possible implementation, the F1 group first signal satisfies: S F1×1 = W F1×B1 * S B1×1 . Wherein, S F1×1 represents the F1 group first signal, W F1×B1 represents the F1 row B1 column first precoding matrix, and S B1×1 represents the B1 group second signal.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the number of the B1 group second signals is the number of terminal devices corresponding to the B1 group second signals. In this way, one group of second signals can correspond to one terminal device. This scheme can control the granularity of the scheme at the terminal device level, thereby providing more personalized services for a single terminal device.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the number of the B1 group second signals is the number of beams corresponding to the B1 group second signals. In this way, one group of second signals can correspond to a beam coverage area. This scheme can control the granularity of the scheme at the beam level, thereby providing services for a single beam coverage area. The granularity is not too small, thereby reducing resource overhead in the execution of the scheme.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the first precoding matrix indicates at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antenna of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antenna of the relay device; or, location information of the terminal device. In this way, the first precoding matrix can be more consistent with the actual channel situation, thereby enabling the data after precoding processing to better resist channel interference.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the B1 group second signal can be transmitted by the network device by using at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. In this way, resource overhead can be saved, and data transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the relay device can process the received signal by using analog or digital filtering to obtain the B1 group second signal. In this way, the relay device can flexibly select the filtering manner based on its own capability and applicable scenarios.

[0037] In another possible implementation, the first signal of the F1 group indicates a signal after the fifth signal of the B1 group is precoded by a second precoding matrix, and the fifth signal of the B1 group indicates a signal after the second signal of the B1 group is precoded by a third precoding matrix. The operation of precoding the second signal of the B1 group based on the third precoding matrix can be performed at the network device side or at the relay device side.

[0038] For example, the operation of precoding the second signal of the B1 group based on the third precoding matrix can be performed at the network device side. The relay device can receive the fifth signal of the B1 group, and then precodes the fifth signal of the B1 group using the second precoding matrix to obtain the first signal of the F1 group. In this way, the partial precoding can be performed at the network device side, thereby reducing the workload of the relay device and lowering the complexity of the relay device. In this implementation, the relay device can also obtain the second precoding matrix. For example, the relay device can receive information indicating the second precoding matrix, and determine the second precoding matrix based on the information.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the fifth signal of the B1 group can be transmitted by the network device by at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. In this way, resource overhead can be saved, and data transmission efficiency can be improved. In a possible implementation, the relay device can process the received signal by analog or digital filtering to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group. In this way, the relay device can flexibly select a filtering manner based on its own capability and applicable scenarios.

[0040] For another example, the operation of precoding the second signal of the B1 group based on the third precoding matrix can be performed at the relay device side. The relay device can receive the second signal of the B1 group, and then process the second signal of the B1 group using the third precoding matrix to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group. The relay device precodes the fifth signal of the B1 group using the second precoding matrix to obtain the first signal of the F1 group. The two precoding operations in this scheme can be performed in the digital domain and the analog domain, respectively, thereby reducing the workload in the digital domain and lowering the complexity of the scheme. In this implementation, the relay device can also obtain the second precoding matrix and the third precoding matrix. For example, the relay device can receive information indicating the second precoding matrix, and determine the second precoding matrix based on the information. For example, the relay device can receive information indicating the third precoding matrix, and determine the third precoding matrix based on the information. The manner in which the relay device obtains the second signal of the B1 group can be referred to the foregoing description, and will not be repeated here.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the fifth signal of the B1 group satisfies S B1×1 = V B1×B1 * S B1×1 ; SF1×1 = U F1×B1 * S' B1×1 , wherein S B1×1 represents the B1 group second signal, V B1×B1 represents the B1 row B1 column third precoding matrix, S' B1×1 represents the B1 group fifth signal, U F1×B1 represents the F1 row B1 column second precoding matrix, S F1×1 represents the F1 group first signal.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the precoding coefficients corresponding to the B1 group fifth signal are used to precode or beamform the B1 group fifth signal in an analog domain. Since analog domain processing can reduce the hardware complexity requirement and cost, this scheme can reduce the hardware complexity requirement and cost of the relay device side.

[0043] In yet another possible implementation, the precoding coefficients corresponding to the B1 group fifth signal are used to adjust the amplitude and / or phase of the B1 group fifth signal. The adjustment of the amplitude and / or phase can enable the relay device to better precode the signal according to the channel condition, so that the channel interference can be better resisted.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the second precoding matrix indicates at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antenna of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antenna of the relay device; or, position information of the terminal device. In this way, the second precoding matrix can be more consistent with the actual channel condition, and then the data after precoding processing can better resist channel interference.

[0045] In a possible implementation, the third precoding matrix indicates at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antenna of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antenna of the relay device; or, position information of the terminal device. In this way, the third precoding matrix can be more consistent with the actual channel condition, and then the data after precoding processing can better resist channel interference.

[0046] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a network device. The network device can include a network equipment or a chip system inside the network equipment. For example, the network equipment can include a ground station or a satellite. The ground station may, for example, include a network equipment (such as an access network equipment) deployed on the ground.

[0047] The network device obtains the B1 set of second signals, B1 being a positive integer. The network device sends the B1 set of second signals, F1 being a positive integer, the B1 set of second signals being used to obtain the F1 set of first signals, the F1 set of first signals indicating signals pre-coded from the B1 set of second signals, the F1 set of first signals being sent through F1 first antennas, and there being an association relationship between the F1 set of first signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0048] For example, the network device sends the B1 set of second signals. The relay device pre-codes the B1 set of second signals to obtain the F1 set of first signals. The relay device sends the F1 set of first signals to the terminal device through the F1 first antennas.

[0049] Since the relay device can pre-code the data to be sent, the relay device can send the F1 set of first signals according to the association relationship between the processed F1 set of first signals and the F1 first antennas. In this way, the signal sent through a first antenna is processed using the pre-coding coefficient associated with the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal, so that the signal transmitted through the first antenna can better resist the interference of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal (for example, the inter-beam co-frequency interference), thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0050] The scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application can also control the direction of the beam, thereby solving the influence of satellite attitude changes, satellite orbit changes and the like on the beam coverage area in the NTN scenario. For example, the coverage geographical areas of different beams are different, the network device can estimate the channel according to the positional relationship between the beam coverage area and the F1 first antennas of the relay device, thereby obtaining the pre-coding coefficient associated with the channel of each beam, and then the signal corresponding to each beam can have more concentrated energy in the expected beam coverage area, thereby achieving the effect of controlling the direction of the beam.

[0051] In a possible implementation, for a group of the second signals: the group of the second signals is respectively precoded by F1 first precoding coefficients to obtain F1 groups of sixth signals. The F1 groups of the first signals correspond to the F1 groups of the sixth signals, and a group of the first signals includes a group of the sixth signals corresponding to the group of the first signals. The F1 first precoding coefficients are associated with the F1 first antennas, and one of the F1 first precoding coefficients is associated with one of the first antennas and a channel corresponding to at least one of the terminal devices associated with the group of the second signals. In a possible implementation, for one of the F1 first antennas: the group of the first signals associated with the first antenna is obtained by respectively precoding the B1 groups of the second signals by the B1 second precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna. In a possible implementation, for a group of the second signals: the second precoding coefficients used for precoding the group of the second signals are further associated with a channel corresponding to at least one of the terminal devices associated with the group of the second signals. For details, refer to the description of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the network device sends information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of the second signals.

[0053] In a possible implementation, the network device sends information indicating the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of the second signals and the F1 first antennas, and the association relationship between the F1 groups of the first signals and the F1 first antennas is determined according to the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of the second signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0054] In a possible implementation, the network device sends information indicating the association relationship between the F1 groups of the first signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0055] In a possible implementation, the network device sends at least one of the following information: information indicating the F1 first antennas; indication information indicating resources associated with the B1 groups of the second signals; or information indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 groups of the second signals.

[0056] In a possible implementation, the F1 groups of the first signals indicate signals obtained by precoding the B1 groups of the second signals by a first precoding matrix, and the B1 groups of the second signals indicate signals obtained by precoding the B1 groups of the fifth signals by a second precoding matrix.

[0057] In a possible implementation, the network device sends the B1 groups of the second signals, or the network device sends the B1 groups of the fifth signals, and the B1 groups of the second signals are obtained according to the B1 groups of the fifth signals.

[0058] In a possible implementation, the network device receives information indicating the second precoding matrix.

[0059] In a possible implementation, the network device receives information indicating the third precoding matrix.

[0060] In a possible implementation, the network device receives information indicating antenna information of the relay device, the antenna information of the relay device including antenna information of the F1 first antennas.

[0061] The descriptions and benefits of the respective information transmitted and received by the network device are the same as those described in the possible implementations of the first aspect, and are not repeated here.

[0062] The descriptions of the F1 groups of first signals, the transmission manners of the F1 groups of first signals, the B1 groups of second signals, the first precoding matrix, and the F1 first antennas are the same as those described in the possible implementations of the first aspect, and are not repeated here.

[0063] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a relay device. The relay device can include a relay apparatus or a chip (or chip system) inside the relay apparatus. For example, the relay apparatus can include a satellite or a ground-deployed relay apparatus.

[0064] The relay device receives F2 groups of third signals through F2 second antennas, F2 being a positive integer. The relay device transmits B2 groups of fourth signals, B2 being a positive integer, the B2 groups of fourth signals indicating signals processed by a first matrix from the F2 groups of third signals, the first matrix being associated with the F2 second antennas.

[0065] For example, the F2 groups of third signals are used to cause the relay device to process the F2 groups of third signals using a first matrix to obtain the B2 groups of fourth signals, B2 being a positive integer, the first matrix being associated with the F2 second antennas. For example, the relay device processes the F2 groups of third signals by combining through the first matrix to obtain the B2 groups of fourth signals.

[0066] Since the relay device can process the signals received by the second antenna using the coefficients corresponding to the channel between the second antenna and the terminal device, the processed signals can better resist the interference on the channel, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signals.

[0067] In a possible implementation, for a group of the fourth signals in the B2 groups of the fourth signals: the group of the fourth signals is obtained by processing the F2 groups of the third signals by using F2 coefficients in the first matrix, and the F2 coefficients are associated with the channels corresponding to the F2 second antennas. Since the signal received by a second antenna is processed by using the coefficient corresponding to the channel of the second antenna, the processed signal can better resist the interference of the channel corresponding to the second antenna, thereby improving the data transmission quality.

[0068] In a possible implementation, for a group of the third signals in the F2 groups of the third signals: the coefficients used for processing the group of the third signals are associated with the channels corresponding to the second antennas used for receiving the group of the third signals and at least one terminal device corresponding to the group of the third signals. Since the signal received by a second antenna is processed by using the coefficient corresponding to the channel between the second antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal, the processed signal can better resist the interference of the channel between the second antenna and the terminal device, thereby improving the data transmission quality.

[0069] In a possible implementation, the first matrix is determined according to at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antennas of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antennas of the relay device; or, location information of the terminal device. In this way, the first matrix can be more consistent with the actual channel situation, thereby enabling the processed data to better resist channel interference.

[0070] In a possible implementation, the F2 groups of the third signals satisfy: S B2×1 = W B2×F2 * S F2×1 . Wherein, S F2×1 represents the F2 groups of the third signals, W B2×F2 represents the first matrix of B2 rows and F2 columns, S B2×1 represents the B2 groups of the fourth signals.

[0071] In a possible implementation, the number of the B2 groups of the fourth signals is the number of terminal devices corresponding to the B2 groups of the fourth signals, so that one group of the fourth signals can correspond to one terminal device. This scheme can control the granularity of the scheme at the terminal device level, thereby providing more personalized services for a single terminal device.

[0072] In a possible implementation, the number of the B2 groups of the fourth signals is the number of beams corresponding to the B2 groups of the fourth signals. In this way, one group of the fourth signals can correspond to an area covered by one beam. This scheme can control the granularity of the scheme at the beam level, thereby providing services for a single beam coverage area, and the granularity is not too small, thereby reducing the resource overhead in the execution of the scheme.

[0073] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating the first matrix. In this way, the relay device can use the first matrix to perform combining processing on the received signal to obtain a B2 set of fourth signals, thereby improving the ability of the signal to resist interference in the channel of the second antenna, and in turn improving data transmission reliability.

[0074] In a possible implementation, the information indicating the first matrix comprises at least one of the following: indication information of the first matrix, or an index of the first matrix. When the information indicating the first matrix is the index of the first matrix, the relay device can find the first matrix corresponding to the received index of the first matrix from the pre-stored index of the matrix and the association relationship of the matrix, and this scheme can save signaling overhead.

[0075] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating an association relationship between a coefficient in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas. In this way, the relay device can use the coefficient associated with an antenna to process a set of third signals received by the antenna, thereby improving the ability of the signal to resist interference in the channel of the second antenna, and in turn improving data transmission reliability.

[0076] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating the F2 second antennas, and the F2 second antennas belong to part or all of the antennas of the relay device. In this way, the network device can indicate more reasonable F2 second antennas to the relay device in combination with the actual channel environment or the signal coverage range of the relay device, so as to improve communication performance.

[0077] In a possible implementation, the information indicating the F2 second antennas comprises at least one of the following: identification information of the F2 second antennas; position information of the F2 second antennas; an index number of the F2 second antennas; or bitmap information. A bit value of a bit associated with the F2 second antennas in the bitmap information is a specified value. The specified value is 0 or 1.

[0078] In a possible implementation, the relay device receives information indicating resources of the B2 set of fourth signals. In a possible implementation, the resources of the B2 set of fourth signals comprise at least one of the following: time domain resources occupied by the B2 set of fourth signals, frequency domain resources occupied by the B2 set of fourth signals, or a polarization mode corresponding to the B2 set of fourth signals.

[0079] In a possible implementation, the information for indicating the antenna information of the relay device includes the antenna information of the F2 second antennas of the relay device. Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can determine the coefficients corresponding to the channel between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the received antenna information, and then process the signal based on the coefficients, so that the anti-interference capability of the signal can be improved and the communication performance can be improved.

[0080] For example, the antenna information of the relay device includes at least one of the following: the number of antennas of the relay device, the antenna distribution form of the relay device, or the spacing between two antennas of the relay device. For another example, the antenna distribution form of the relay device includes one of the following: a rectangular grid distribution form, a triangular grid distribution form, a concentric circular ring distribution form, or an elliptical ring grid distribution form. Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can determine the coefficients in the first matrix corresponding to the channel between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the received antenna information, and then process the signal based on the coefficients, so that the anti-interference capability of the signal can be improved and the communication performance can be improved.

[0081] In a possible implementation, the information for indicating the antenna information of the relay device includes: the antenna information of the relay device; and / or, the index number of the antenna information of the relay device. The relay device and the network device can respectively configure the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information. The association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information on the side of the relay device can be agreed by a protocol, pre-stored, or sent by the network device to the relay device. The association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information on the side of the network device can be agreed by a protocol or pre-stored. The network device can find the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information according to the received index number of the antenna information, so as to obtain the antenna information corresponding to the index number. This scheme can save the amount of information of the antenna information sent by the relay device, so that the signaling overhead can be saved. Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can select F2 second antennas for the relay device based on the received antenna information. On the other hand, the antenna information can also assist the network device to determine the coefficients in the first matrix (or the merged matrix). For example, the network device can determine the positions of the antennas according to the distribution form of the antennas and / or the spacing of the antennas. Then, the network device can determine the coefficients in the first matrix (or the merged matrix) corresponding to the channel between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the received antenna information.

[0082] In a possible implementation, the relay device transmits the B2 sets of fourth signals by at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. In this way, resource overhead can be saved, and data transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0083] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a network device. The network device can include a network equipment or a chip system inside the network equipment. For example, the network equipment can include a ground station or a satellite. The ground station can include a network equipment (for example, an access network equipment) deployed on the ground.

[0084] The network device receives the B2 sets of fourth signals. B2 is a positive integer. The B2 sets of fourth signals are determined according to the F2 sets of third signals, and F2 is a positive integer. The B2 sets of fourth signals indicate signals obtained by processing the F2 sets of third signals by using a first matrix, and the first matrix is associated with the F2 second antennas.

[0085] For example, the relay device processes the F2 sets of third signals by using the first matrix to obtain the B2 sets of fourth signals, and transmits the B2 sets of fourth signals to the network device. The first matrix is associated with the F2 second antennas.

[0086] Since the relay device can process the signals received by the second antenna by using the coefficients corresponding to the channel between the second antenna and the terminal device, the processed signals can better resist interference on the channel, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signals.

[0087] In a possible implementation, for one of the B2 sets of fourth signals: the set of fourth signals is obtained by processing the F2 sets of third signals by using F2 coefficients in the first matrix, and the F2 coefficients are associated with the channels corresponding to the F2 second antennas. In a possible implementation, for one of the F2 sets of third signals: the coefficients used to process the set of third signals are associated with the second antenna used to receive the set of third signals, and the channel corresponding to at least one terminal device corresponding to the set of third signals. For related descriptions and benefits, refer to the descriptions in the possible implementations of the third aspect.

[0088] In a possible implementation, the network device transmits information used to indicate the first matrix.

[0089] In a possible implementation, the network device transmits information used to indicate the association relationship between the coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas.

[0090] In a possible implementation, the network device transmits information used to indicate the F2 second antennas, and the F2 second antennas belong to part or all of the antennas of the relay device.

[0091] In a possible implementation, the network device sends information indicating resources of the B2 fourth signals.

[0092] In a possible implementation, the network device receives information indicating antenna information of the relay device, the antenna information of the relay device including antenna information of the F2 second antennas.

[0093] The descriptions and benefits of the respective information sent and received by the network device are referable to the descriptions in the possible implementations of the third aspect, and will not be repeated.

[0094] The first matrix, the F2 groups of third signals, and the B2 groups of fourth signals. The descriptions and benefits are referable to the descriptions in the possible implementations of the third aspect, and will not be repeated.

[0095] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, which can be the aforementioned relay device or network device. The communication device can include a communication unit and a processing unit to perform any of the first to fourth aspects, or perform any of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects. The communication unit is configured to perform functions related to sending and receiving. The communication unit can be referred to as a transceiver unit. Optionally, the communication unit includes a receiving unit and a sending unit. In one design, the communication device is a communication chip, and the processing unit can be one or more processors or processor cores, and the communication unit can be input / output circuits, input / output interfaces, or antenna ports of the communication chip.

[0096] In another design, the communication unit can be a transmitter and a receiver, or the communication unit can be a transmitter and a receiver.

[0097] Optionally, the communication device further includes various modules configured to perform any of the first to fourth aspects, or perform any of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0098] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, which can be the aforementioned relay device or network device. The communication device can include a processor. In a possible implementation, the communication device can further include a memory. The communication device can perform any of the first to fourth aspects, or perform any of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects. Optionally, the communication device further includes a transceiver, the memory is configured to store a computer program or instructions, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program or instructions from the memory. When the processor executes the computer program or instructions in the memory, the communication device performs any of the first to fourth aspects, or performs any of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0099] Optionally, the processor is one or more, and the memory is one or more.

[0100] Optionally, the memory can be integrated with the processor, or the memory is arranged separately from the processor.

[0101] Optionally, the transceiver can include a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).

[0102] In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which can be the above-mentioned relay device or network device. The communication apparatus can include a processor to perform any one of the above-mentioned first aspect to fourth aspect, or perform any possible implementation of the first aspect to fourth aspect. The processor is coupled to a memory. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes the memory. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0103] In an implementation, when the communication apparatus is the relay device or network device, the communication interface can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0104] In yet another implementation, when the communication apparatus is a chip or chip system, the communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or related circuit on the chip or chip system, etc. The processor can also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

[0105] In an eighth aspect, a system is provided, which includes the above-mentioned relay device.

[0106] In a possible implementation, the system can further include a network device and a terminal device.

[0107] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes a computer program (also can be referred to as code, or instruction), when the computer program is run, causes a computer to execute any one of the above-mentioned first aspect to fourth aspect, or execute any possible implementation of the first aspect to fourth aspect.

[0108] In a tenth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (also can be referred to as code, or instruction), when the computer program is run on a computer, causes the computer to execute any one of the above-mentioned first aspect to fourth aspect, or execute any possible implementation of the first aspect to fourth aspect.

[0109] In an eleventh aspect, a processing apparatus is provided, comprising: an interface circuit and a processing circuit. The interface circuit can comprise an input circuit and an output circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal via the input circuit and transmit a signal via the output circuit, so that any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, or any possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth aspect is implemented.

[0110] In a specific implementation, the processing apparatus can be a chip, the input circuit can be an input pin, the output circuit can be an output pin, and the processing circuit can be a transistor, a gate circuit, a flip-flop, and various logic circuits, etc. The input signal received by the input circuit can be received and input by, for example but not limited to, a receiver, the signal output by the output circuit can be output to and transmitted by, for example but not limited to, a transmitter, and the input circuit and the output circuit can be the same circuit which is used as the input circuit and the output circuit at different times. The specific implementation of the processor and various circuits is not limited in the present application.

[0111] In an implementation, when the communication apparatus is a relay apparatus or a network apparatus. The interface circuit can be a radio frequency processing chip in the relay apparatus or the network apparatus, and the processing circuit can be a baseband processing chip in the relay apparatus or the network apparatus.

[0112] In another implementation, the communication apparatus can be part of a device in the relay apparatus or the network apparatus, such as a system chip or a communication chip, etc. The interface circuit can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processing circuit can be a logic circuit on the chip. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0113] FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0114] FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0115] FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0116] FIG. 1D is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0117] FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0118] FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0119] FIG. 1G is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0120] FIG. 1H is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0121] FIG. 1I is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0122] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0123] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of a method of transmitting a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0124] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of a method of transmitting a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0125] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0126] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of another method of transmitting a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0127] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0128] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of another method of transmitting a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0129] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a possible procedure of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0130] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0131] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0132] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0133] The following describes terms and names related to embodiments of the present application.

[0134] (1) Resource

[0135] The resource in embodiments of the present application can include at least one of a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, and a polarization mode corresponding to a signal, for example.

[0136] (1.1) Time domain resource

[0137] A time domain resource can include at least one of a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot, or a symbol (e.g., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), such as discrete fourier transform (DFT)-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM), orthogonal time frequency and space (OTFS), etc.).

[0138] A time unit can include a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot, or an OFDM symbol. A time unit can also include a resource aggregated by multiple radio frames or multiple subframes or multiple slots or multiple mini slots or multiple OFDM symbols. Wherein, a radio frame can include multiple subframes, a subframe can include one or more slots, and a slot can include at least one symbol. Alternatively, a radio frame can include multiple slots, and a slot can include at least one symbol. It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, an OFDM symbol can also be referred to as a symbol.

[0139] According to different subcarrier spacings, the length of each symbol can be different, and thus the length of a slot can be different. For example, the length of a slot corresponding to a subcarrier spacing of 15 kilo mega hertz (kHz) is 1 ms, the length of a slot corresponding to a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz is 0.5 ms, and so on.

[0140] In the embodiments of the present application, the time unit can also be replaced by a time domain resource unit or a time domain unit, etc.

[0141] (1.2) Frequency domain resource.

[0142] In the frequency domain, a frequency domain resource can include one or more frequency domain units. A frequency domain unit can be a resource block (RB), a physical resource block (PRB), a subcarrier, a resource block group (RBG), a predefined subband, a precoding resource block group (PRG), a resource pool, a bandwidth part (BWP), a resource element (RE) (also referred to as a resource unit or resource particle), a carrier, a serving cell, etc. A PRB and an RB can be used interchangeably. Optionally, a resource pool can include one or more resources, which can include at least one of a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, a code domain resource, or a space domain resource. The number and size of resources included in a resource pool can be predetermined or configured by signaling.

[0143] A subcarrier or an RE refers to a smallest frequency domain unit in a specific symbol in a multi-carrier system. Sub-carrier spacing (SCS) is the interval between the center positions or peak positions of two adjacent subcarriers in the frequency domain in an OFDM system. In 5G NR, multiple subcarrier spacings are introduced, and different carriers can have different subcarrier spacings. The baseline is 15 kHz, which can be 15 kHz x 2 n , where n is an integer from 3.75, 7.5, to 480 kHz. In embodiments of the present application, an RE can refer to a resource unit of a time-frequency resource, which can be regarded as the smallest time-frequency resource unit. In the present application, subcarriers and REs can be used interchangeably, and they contain the same information.

[0144] A subchannel is the smallest unit of frequency domain resources occupied by a physical sidelink shared channel, and a subchannel can include one or more resource blocks (RBs). The bandwidth of a wireless communication system in the frequency domain can include multiple RBs, for example, in the LTE system, the included physical resource blocks (PRBs) can be 6, 15, 25, 50, etc. In the frequency domain, an RB can include a number of subcarriers, for example, in the LTE system, an RB includes 12 subcarriers, where each subcarrier interval can be 15 kHz, of course, other subcarrier intervals can also be used, such as 3.75 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, or 120 kHz subcarrier intervals, which are not limited here.

[0145] A frequency domain unit can include one RE, one RB, one channel, one sub channel, one carrier, or one bandwidth part (BWP), etc. A frequency domain unit can also include a resource composed of multiple REs or multiple RBs or multiple sub channels or multiple carriers or multiple BWPs. In embodiments of the present application, a channel can be equivalent to a resource block set (RB set), and the frequency domain bandwidth of one RB set can be 20 mega hertz (MHz).

[0146] In embodiments of the present application, a frequency domain unit can also be replaced by a frequency domain resource unit or a frequency unit, etc.

[0147] A frequency domain resource set can include one or more frequency domain units. A frequency domain resource set can also be referred to as a frequency domain resource set, a frequency domain resource group, etc. A frequency domain resource set can include, for example, a resource block set (RB set), one RB, one sub channel, one resource pool, one carrier, or one BWP.

[0148] (1.3) Polarization mode.

[0149] The polarization mode can include left-handed polarization (or left-handed circular polarization) and right-handed polarization (or right-handed circular polarization). For example, right-handed polarization refers to a polarization mode in which the electric field vector of an electromagnetic wave rotates clockwise along the direction of propagation. Left-handed polarization refers to a polarization mode in which the electric field vector of an electromagnetic wave rotates counterclockwise along the direction of propagation.

[0150] Figure 1A illustrates an exemplary architecture of a communication system 1000 to which embodiments of the present application can be applied. As shown in Figure 1A, the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 can further include an Internet 300. The radio access network 100 can include at least one radio access network device (e.g., 110a and 110b in Figure 1A) and at least one terminal device (e.g., 120a-120j in Figure 1A). The terminal devices are connected to the radio access network devices by wireless means, and the radio access network devices are connected to the core network by wireless or wired means. The core network devices and the radio access network devices can be independent and different physical devices, or can be integrated into the same physical device with the functions of the core network devices and the logical functions of the radio access network devices, or can be a physical device integrated with part of the functions of the core network devices and part of the functions of the radio access network devices. The terminal devices and the terminal devices, and the radio access network devices and the radio access network devices can be connected to each other by wired or wireless means. Figure 1A is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can further include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1A.

[0151] The network device involved in the embodiments of the present application, for example, includes a radio access network (RAN) device. The radio access network device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB for short), a transmission reception point (TRP), a transmission point (TP), a base station in a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access node in a WiFi system, and the like; or can be a module or unit that completes part of the functions of a base station, for example, can be a central unit (CU), can also be a distributed unit (DU), and can also be a radio unit (RU). The CU here completes the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence layer protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also complete the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also complete part of the physical layer or the entire physical layer; the specific description of the above-mentioned protocol layers can refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). 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 processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, the CU, the DU, or the RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, the CU can also be referred to as an open-CU (O-CU), the DU can also be referred to as an open-DU (O-DU), and the RU can also be referred to as an open-RU (O-RU).Any of the CU (or CU control plane (CU-CP), CU user plane (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. The CU-CP can also be referred to as an open CU-CP (O-CU-CP), and the CU-UP can also be referred to as an open CU-UP (O-CU-UP).

[0152] FIG. 1B exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an O-RAN system architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application. The O-RAN system in the embodiment provided in the present application can include other components in addition to the components shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1B, an access network device (RAN, which can be an eNB or a next generation NodeB (gNB) or an access network device in a future mobile communication system) communicates with a core network (CN) through a backhaul link and communicates with a user equipment (UE) through an air interface. For example, a baseband unit (BBU) in the access network device communicates with the core network through the backhaul link, and a radio unit (RU) in the access network device communicates with at least one UE through the air interface. The BBU communicates with at least one RU through a front-haul link, and the BBU and the RU can be co-located or not co-located. The BBU includes at least one control unit (CU) and at least one distributed unit (DU), which can communicate through at least one mid-haul link. In the embodiment of the present application, the first network device can send signaling for scheduling the first network device and / or the auxiliary communication device to the terminal device (such as the UE), and the sending of the signaling can be performed by the CU and / or the DU in the first network device to the terminal device.

[0153] FIG. 1C illustrates an O-RAN system architecture provided by embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1C, the O-RAN can include an O-CU-CP, an O-CU-UP, an O-DU, and an O-RU. The system architecture can also include an open cloud (O-cloud), a service management and orchestration framework, an open eNB (O-eNB), and near (near)-real time (RT) RIC and non-real time (RT) RIC. The non-RT RIC can implement monitoring, configuration, management, and control of radio resources of at least one of the O-CU-CP, the O-CU-UP, the DU, or the O-eNB. As shown in FIG. 1C, interfaces defined by 3GPP include, for example, El, Fl (e.g., Fl-c, Fl-u), NG (e.g., NG-c, NG-u), Xn (e.g., Xn-c, Xn-u), and X2 (e.g., X2-c, X2-u). For example, the O-RAN communication system also includes some interfaces, such as Ol, O2, E2, Al, Open-front hual (FH) (e.g., Open-FH control (M)-plane, and Open-FH control, user, and synchronization (CUS)-plane). The names of the interfaces and the connection modes of the various units shown in FIG. 1C are examples, and in actual applications, the O-RAN system can include more or fewer interfaces, or more or fewer units.

[0154] The radio access network device can be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in FIG. 1A), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in FIG. 1A), a relay device, a relay node, a donor node, or the like. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the radio access network device. For ease of description, a base station is described as an example of the radio access network device in the following.

[0155] The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal device, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, a sensor, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the terminal device.

[0156] The terminal device can establish a connection with the operator network through an interface (such as N1, etc.) provided by the operator network, and use data and / or voice services provided by the operator network. The terminal device can also access the domain name system (DNS) through the operator network, use operator services deployed on the DNS, and / or services provided by a third party. The third party can be a service provider other than the operator network and the terminal device, and can provide the terminal device with data and / or voice services. The specific form of the third party can be determined according to the actual application scenario, which is not limited here.

[0157] The base station and the terminal device can be fixed in position or mobile. The base station and the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and artificial satellites in the air. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the base station and the terminal device.

[0158] The roles of the base station and the terminal device can be relative. For example, the helicopter or the drone 120i in FIG. 1A can be configured as a mobile base station, and for the terminal device 120j that accesses the wireless access network 100 through the 120i, the terminal device 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the 120i is a terminal device, that is, the 110a and the 120i communicate through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, the 110a and the 120i can also communicate through a base station-to-base station interface protocol, and in this case, the 120i is also a base station relative to the 110a. Therefore, the base station and the terminal device can be collectively referred to as a communication device, and the 110a and the 110b in FIG. 1A can be referred to as a communication device with a base station function, and the 120a-120j in FIG. 1A can be referred to as a communication device with a terminal device function.

[0159] The base station and the terminal device, the base station and the base station, and the terminal device and the terminal device can communicate through a licensed frequency spectrum, or through an unlicensed frequency spectrum, or through both the licensed frequency spectrum and the unlicensed frequency spectrum; can communicate through a frequency spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), or through a frequency spectrum above 6 GHz, or through both the frequency spectrum below 6 GHz and the frequency spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the frequency spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0160] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem containing base station functions. The control subsystem containing base station functions herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. The functions of the terminal device can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device containing terminal device functions.

[0161] In the present application, the base station sends a downlink signal or downlink information to the terminal device, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal device sends an uplink signal or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order to communicate with the base station, the terminal device needs to establish a wireless connection with a cell controlled by the base station. The cell that establishes a wireless connection with the terminal device is called a service cell of the terminal device. When the terminal device communicates with the service cell, it will also be interfered by signals from neighboring cells.

[0162] The core network involved in the embodiments of the present application can include network devices for processing and forwarding signaling and data of a user. For example, it can include core network devices such as an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a user plane gateway, a positioning management device, and the like. The user plane gateway can be a server having functions of mobility management, routing, forwarding, and the like for user plane data, and is generally located at the network side, such as a serving gateway (SGW), a packet data network gateway (PGW), a user plane function (UPF), or the like. The AMF and the SMF are equivalent to a mobility management entity (MME) in a long term evolution (LTE) system. The AMF is mainly responsible for admission, and the SMF is mainly responsible for session management. Of course, other network elements can also be included in the core network, which are not listed here.

[0163] Based on the content shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, FIG. 1D also exemplarily shows another system architecture diagram to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. As shown in FIG. 1D, the communication system includes a terminal device (for example, a UE), a network device (for example, a base station), and a relay device. The UE shown in FIG. 1D can be replaced by any terminal device shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, or 1C. The base station shown in FIG. 1D can be replaced by the network device (for example, an access network device) shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, or 1C. The relay device shown in FIG. 1D can be the network device shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, or 1C, and the relay device has the capability of forwarding data. Data can be transmitted and received in the form of a signal, so the signal in the embodiments of the present application can be replaced by data, and the data can be replaced by a signal.

[0164] In FIG. 1D, the relay device is taken as an example of a network-controlled repeater (NCR). The NCR transparent device can access a base station (parent node) as a UE to receive control signaling from the base station. The NCR can also amplify and forward signals between the UE and the base station.

[0165] Based on the content shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E further exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a system architecture to which embodiments of the present application are applicable. As shown in FIG. 1E, the communication system includes terminal devices (e.g., UEs), network devices (e.g., base stations), and relay devices. The UE shown in FIG. 1E can be replaced by any terminal device shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C or FIG. 1D. The base station shown in FIG. 1D can be replaced by the network device (e.g., access network device) shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C or FIG. 1D. The relay device shown in FIG. 1E can be the network device shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C or FIG. 1D, and the relay device has the capability of forwarding data.

[0166] As shown in FIG. 1E, the relay device (e.g., NCR, satellite or other relay device) includes two functional entities, a mobile termination (MT) entity (the relay device is NCR, and the MT entity can also be referred to as an NCR MT (also denoted as NCR-MT) entity) and a forwarding (Fwd) entity (the relay device is NCR, and the Fwd entity can also be referred to as an NCR Fwd (also denoted as NCR-Fwd) entity).

[0167] The MT entity can be defined as a functional entity that communicates with the base station through a control link (C-link) to exchange control information. The C-link can be based on the NR Uu interface, i.e., the NCR-MT entity is connected to the gNB through the Uu interface. The base station uses the C-link to control the relay device. For example, the relay device can receive control information (e.g., side information for controlling the Fwd entity) from the base station through the C-link, beam control information (e.g., beam control information for the control link, backhaul link or access link), switching of the relay device (i.e., the on and off state of the NCR), or NCR signal transmission power control, etc. The relay device amplifies and forwards the data between the base station and the UE without decoding the data, etc.

[0168] The Fwd entity is defined as a functional entity that performs amplification and forwarding of uplink (UL) / downlink (DL) radio frequency (RF) signals between the base station and the UE through the backhaul link and the access link. The behavior of the Fwd entity can be controlled according to the control information received from the base station.

[0169] FIG. 1F and FIG. 1G exemplarily show network architecture diagrams of several communication systems to which embodiments of the present application are applicable. The communication system can include satellites, network devices, terminal devices, and the like. The communication system can also include gateways and core network devices. FIG. 1F and FIG. 1G exemplarily show a converged network architecture of an NTN and a terrestrial network. The following is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0170] The satellite can be a highly elliptical orbiting (HEO) satellite, a geosynchronous orbit (GSO) satellite, a geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite, a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite, and a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the working mode of the satellite, for example, the working mode of the satellite can be a transparent mode or a regenerative mode. FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram taking the working mode of the satellite as the transparent mode, and FIG. 1G is a schematic diagram taking the working mode of the satellite as the regenerative mode.

[0171] When the satellite works in the transparent mode, the satellite has the function of transparent forwarding of relaying. The gateway has the function of a network device (such as a base station) or part of the function of a network device (such as a base station), at this time, the gateway can be regarded as a network device (such as a base station). Alternatively, the network device (such as a base station) can be deployed separately from the gateway, and then the delay of the feeder link includes the delay of the satellite to the gateway and the delay of the gateway to the gNB. The transparent mode discussed later is an example taking the case that the gateway and the gNB are together or close to each other, and for the case that the gateway is far away from the gNB, the delay of the feeder link is the sum of the delay of the satellite to the gateway and the delay of the gateway to the gNB.

[0172] When the satellite works in the regenerative mode, the satellite has data processing capability, has the function of a network device (such as a base station) or part of the function of a network device (such as a base station), at this time, the satellite can be regarded as a network device (such as a base station).

[0173] The satellite can perform wireless communication with the terminal device through broadcast communication signals and navigation signals, and the like. Optionally, each satellite can provide communication services, navigation services, positioning services, and the like for terminal devices through multiple beams. For example, each satellite uses multiple beams to cover a service area, and the relationship between different beams can be one or more of time division, frequency division, and space division.

[0174] A gateway (or ground station, earth station, interface station, interface station) can be used to connect a satellite and a ground network device (such as a ground base station). One or more satellites can be connected to one or more ground network devices (such as ground base stations) through one or more gateways, which is not limited herein. The link between a satellite and a terminal device is referred to as a service link, and the link between a satellite and a gateway is referred to as a feeder link. The network device can be deployed separately from the gateway, and the delay of the feeder link can include the delay of the satellite to the gateway and the gateway to the network device.

[0175] The network device in the embodiments of the present application can include a network device deployed on a satellite (such as a satellite base station), can include a network device deployed on a gateway, and can include a network device deployed on the ground (such as a ground base station). For example, the network device can be a radio access network (RAN) node, a RAN node in an O-RAN system, and the like shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. For related content, refer to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

[0176] The core network (CN) is a device disposed on the ground and capable of communicating with the NTN device in the NTN system. For example, the CN can be the CN involved in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. For related content, refer to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

[0177] The terminal device can be the terminal device involved in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. For related content, refer to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

[0178] The embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to other communication system architectures, such as an air to ground (ATG) communication system, which includes at least one network device and at least one high-altitude terminal device. The high-altitude terminal device includes, for example, a high-altitude aircraft and an on-board terminal device. The satellite in the above-mentioned FIGS. 1F and 1G can be replaced by other relay devices, such as a high altitude platform station (HAPS) or other NTN device. The communication system shown in FIG. 1F or FIG. 1G is an example and does not limit the communication system to which the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is applicable.

[0179] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to an air to ground (ATG) communication system. As an example, please refer to FIG. 1H, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. The communication system includes at least one network device and at least one high-altitude terminal device. Data forwarding between the network device and the high-altitude terminal device can also be performed through a relay device. The high-altitude terminal device includes, for example, a high-altitude aircraft and an on-board terminal device.

[0180] FIG. 1I exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of another communication system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. As shown in FIG. 1I, the communication system includes a gateway, a satellite, a relay device deployed on the ground, a UE located on the ground, a UE located in the high altitude (for example, a high-altitude aircraft or an on-board terminal device, etc.), and a relay device located in the high altitude (for example, the satellite shown in FIG. 1I, which can be an NCR / including an integrated access and backhaul (IAB)-MT entity).

[0181] As shown in FIG. 1I, the gateway can transmit a base station signal to the relay device deployed on the ground through the satellite. The relay device deployed on the ground can forward the base station signal to the UE on the ground, the UE in the sky / space (for example, an aircraft, a satellite device (for example, a satellite including an IAB-MT entity), etc.). The relay device deployed on the ground can also forward the base station signal to the next relay device, which can be deployed on the ground or in the air. In FIG. 1I, the next relay device is exemplarily shown as a satellite in the air, which can be an NCR and forward the received data (which can also be forwarded to other UEs or other relay devices). The base station signal can come from a ground base station or a satellite base station, etc.

[0182] In another example, the gateway can transmit a base station signal to the relay device deployed on the ground through the satellite. The relay device deployed on the ground can forward a signal from a UE (for example, a UE deployed on the ground, an aircraft in the air, or a satellite configured to include an IAB-MT entity) or another relay device (for example, the satellite configured as an NCR in the figure) to the gateway (for example, through the satellite to the gateway, or directly to the gateway). The gateway sends the received UE signal to the base station. The UE signal can come from a ground UE or a high-altitude UE.

[0183] Based on the contents shown in at least one of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H and 1I and the above-mentioned other contents, FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a possible flow diagram of a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application. For ease of understanding, the interaction between the terminal device, the relay device and the network device is exemplarily taken as an example for introduction in FIG. 2.

[0184] The terminal device in FIG. 2 can be a terminal device or a chip system inside the terminal device in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, FIG. 1G, FIG. 1H, and FIG. 1I. The terminal device can be located on the ground or in the air (for example, an aerial vehicle or an on-board terminal device). The network device in FIG. 2 can be a network device or a chip system inside the network device in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, FIG. 1G, FIG. 1H, and FIG. 1I. The network device can be an access network device. The network device can be deployed on the ground or in the air (for example, a satellite).

[0185] The relay device in FIG. 2 can be a relay device or a chip system inside the relay device with a data forwarding function. The relay device can be a network device. The relay device can be an NCR deployed on the ground or in the air. For example, the relay device is a satellite. For example, the relay device is a satellite that can work in a transparent mode. For example, the satellite enables a relay transparent forwarding function. The satellite can not work in (or support) a regenerative mode (for example, the satellite can not perform a decoding operation on received data or can not have a decoding capability).

[0186] In the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device and the network device can include one relay device or multiple relay devices. The terminal device and the network device can also include or not include other communication devices. For example, the network device and the relay device can perform signal transmission through an air interface, or the network device and the relay device can perform signal transmission through a link formed by one or more other communication devices. For example, the terminal device and the relay device can perform signal transmission through an air interface, or the terminal device and the relay device can perform signal transmission through a link formed by one or more other communication devices. In the embodiments of the present application, one terminal device and one relay device between the network device are taken as an example for introduction. The schemes of other relay devices can refer to the related content of the relay device introduced in the embodiments of the present application, and will not be described here.

[0187] The scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application is applicable to downlink data transmission (the downlink data transmission refers to transmission of signals sent by the network device to the terminal device) and uplink data transmission (the uplink data transmission refers to transmission of signals sent by the terminal device to the network device). The following FIG. 2 takes the downlink data transmission as an example for introduction. The uplink data transmission will be described in detail in the subsequent content, which will not be described here.

[0188] The following will be introduced with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0189] At step 201, the relay device sends information indicating antenna information of the relay device to the network device.

[0190] Correspondingly, the network device receives the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device.

[0191] In a possible implementation, the antenna information of the relay device includes antenna information of F1 first antennas involved later. The description of the F1 first antennas can be referred to the content involved later, and is not described here.

[0192] Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can select F1 first antennas for the relay device based on the received antenna information. In another aspect, the antenna information can also assist the network device to determine the precoding coefficients. For example, the network device can determine the positions of the antennas according to the distribution form of the antennas and / or the spacing of the antennas. Then, the network device can determine the precoding coefficients corresponding to the channels between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the positions of the antennas and the position of the terminal device, and then the network device precodes the signal based on the precoding coefficients, so that the anti-interference capability of the signal can be improved and the communication performance can be improved.

[0193] For example, one antenna of the relay device can include / be one physical antenna port or multiple physical antenna ports. Alternatively, one antenna of the relay device can include / be one logical antenna port, and one logical antenna port can include / be one or more physical antenna ports. The antenna (for example, the first antenna and / or the second antenna involved later) in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by: an antenna element, an antenna feed, an antenna feed element, a feed, a feed element, an antenna port, a port, a physical antenna port, or a logical antenna port. The above-mentioned replacement manners of the antenna can be replaced with each other, for example, the feed element signal can be replaced by the antenna element signal.

[0194] In a possible implementation, the antenna of the relay device for receiving the signal (for example, the F1 first signals) from the network device can be a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) antenna. The antenna of the relay device for sending the signal (for example, the F1 first signals) to one or more terminal devices can be an antenna array. The set of antennas of the relay device for receiving the signal from the network device and the set of antennas of the relay device for sending the signal to the terminal device can be disjointed or different (or can also be intersected or the same).

[0195] For example, in step 201, the relay device can send to the network device antenna information of antennas used by the relay device to send signals to one or more terminal devices. For another example, the relay device can report to the network device antenna information of antennas used by the relay device to send / receive signals. For another example, the relay device can send to the network device antenna information of antennas (e.g., the maximum number of antennas that can be used) that can be used by the relay device to forward signals. For another example, the relay device can report to the network device antenna information of antenna capability (e.g., the distribution of antennas) that the relay device has.

[0196] In a possible implementation, the antenna information of antennas sent by the relay device can include at least one of the following information A-1 (the number of antennas of the relay device), information A-2 (the distribution of antennas of the relay device), and information A-3 (the distance between two antennas of the relay device).

[0197] Information A-1, the number of antennas of the relay device.

[0198] Information A-2, the distribution of antennas of the relay device.

[0199] The distribution of antennas of the relay device includes one of the following:

[0200] Rectangular grid distribution, triangular grid distribution, concentric circular ring distribution, or elliptical ring grid distribution.

[0201] The distribution of antennas of the relay device can further include more contents, for example, including 2*2 rectangular grid, 2*4 rectangular grid, and the like. The present embodiment exemplarily lists some examples of the distribution of antennas, and in the future, there can be more distributions of antennas, which are not limited in the present embodiment.

[0202] Information A-3, the distance between two antennas of the relay device.

[0203] For example, the value of parameter #3 can include the distance between two adjacent antennas of the relay device.

[0204] For example, if the two antennas are physical antenna ports, the distance between the two antennas can be the distance between the two physical antenna ports.

[0205] For example, if the two antennas are logical antenna ports, the distance between the two logical antenna ports can be the distance between the center points of the two logical antenna ports, or the distance between two physical antenna ports respectively belonging to the two logical antenna ports, and the like.

[0206] In another possible implementation, the antenna information of the relay device includes / is: information used for determining the first precoding matrix. The relay device can report the parameters required by the algorithm for calculating the first precoding matrix. For example, the algorithm for the first precoding matrix requires information A-1 and information A-2, and the relay device can report the information A-1 and information A-2.

[0207] In step 201, the relay device sends information indicating the antenna information of the relay device in various forms. For example, the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device includes / is the antenna information of the relay device (implementation B-1), or the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device includes / is an index number of the antenna information of the relay device (implementation B-2), so that the network device finds the antenna information of the relay device corresponding to the index number from the pre-configured index number of the antenna information and the association relationship between the antenna information. The implementations B-1 and B-2 are described below.

[0208] In implementation B-1, the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device includes / is the antenna information of the relay device.

[0209] For example, the relay device sends a message to the network device, and the message carries a parameter #1. The value of the parameter #1 can be the number of antennas of the relay device. There can be various names, for example, the parameter #1 can be referred to as Feed_num.

[0210] For another example, the relay device sends a message to the network device, and the message carries a parameter #2. The value of the parameter #2 can be identification information or index number information of the antenna distribution form of the relay device. The relay device side and the network device side can pre-set several antenna distribution forms, the antenna distribution form of the relay device belongs to one of the pre-set several antenna distribution forms, and the relay device includes the identification information or index number information of the antenna distribution form. The network device can determine the corresponding antenna distribution form according to the identification information or index number information of the antenna distribution form.

[0211] For example, the relay device sends a message to the network device, and the message carries a parameter #3. The value of the parameter #3 can include the spacing between the antennas of the relay device.

[0212] In implementation B-2, the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device includes / is an index number of the antenna information of the relay device.

[0213] The relay device and the network device can respectively configure the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information. The association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information on the side of the relay device can be agreed by a protocol, pre-stored, or sent by the network device to the relay device. The association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information on the side of the network device can be agreed by a protocol or pre-stored. The relay device can send the index number of the antenna information to the network device, and the network device can find the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information according to the received index number of the antenna information, so as to obtain the antenna information corresponding to the index number. This scheme can save the amount of information of the antenna information sent by the relay device, thereby saving the signaling overhead.

[0214] Table 1 exemplarily introduces an example of the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information. As shown in Table 1, the antenna information corresponding to the index number 1 of the antenna information has an antenna quantity of 4 and a distribution form of a 2*2 rectangular grid. The meanings of the remaining contents in the table are similar, and will not be described herein.

[0215] Table 1 exemplarily introduces an example of the association relationship between the index number of the antenna information and the antenna information. As shown in Table 1, the antenna information corresponding to the index number 1 of the antenna information has an antenna quantity of 4 and a distribution form of a 2*2 rectangular grid. The meanings of the remaining contents in the table are similar, and will not be described herein.

[0216] Step 201 can be executed or not executed. For example, when step 201 is not executed, the network device learns the antenna information of the relay device through other manners, for example, the antenna information of the relay device can be pre-configured on the side of the network device.

[0217] In step 202, the network device sends first information to the relay device.

[0218] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the first information.

[0219] For example, the network device can transmit the first information to the relay device through a control link.

[0220] In a possible implementation, the first information can include at least one of the following information: information C-1 (information used to indicate the signal group quantity of the B1 group second signal), information C-2 (information used to indicate the resource of the B1 group second signal), information C-3 (information used to indicate the F1 first antennas), information C-4 (information used to indicate the precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group second signal), information C-5 (information used to indicate the association relationship between the precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group second signal and the F1 first antennas), and information C-6 (information used to indicate the association relationship between the F1 group first signal and the F1 first antennas). Multiple information in the information C-1, the information C-2, the information C-3, the information C-4, the information C-5, and the information C-6 can be carried in the same message or multiple messages.

[0221] Information C-1, information for indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal.

[0222] The information for indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal can include at least one of the following: indication information of the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal; information for indicating resources of the B1 group second signal; or information for indicating the number of columns or rows of the first precoding matrix. The F1 group first signal indicates a signal after the B1 group second signal is precoded by the first precoding matrix.

[0223] For example, the relay device receives the information for indicating the resources of the B1 group second signal, and the relay device can infer the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal according to the information for indicating the resources of the B1 group second signal. The information for indicating the resources of the B1 group second signal can implicitly indicate the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal. In this implementation, the network device can no longer additionally send the information for indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal, thereby saving resource overhead.

[0224] For another example, the number of columns or rows of the first precoding matrix can be the same as the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal. Therefore, the relay device can determine the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal according to the information for indicating the number of columns or rows of the first precoding matrix. In this implementation, the network device can no longer additionally send the information for indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal, thereby saving resource overhead.

[0225] The information of the number of groups of the second signal can enable the relay device to know the number of groups of the second signal that need to be received, and to precode and send the corresponding multiple groups of the second signal through the corresponding antennas, thereby preventing the relay device from sending less than a certain group or several groups of the second signal, and thereby avoiding the anti-interference effect brought by precoding from being greatly reduced, and also avoiding additional same-frequency interference between different beams or UEs. For example, the relay device receives indication of receiving four groups of the second signal, but the relay device first receives three groups of the second signal. If the relay device precodes and sends the three groups of the second signal, it will cause additional same-frequency interference. In this case, the relay device can not send the three groups of the second signal, but wait until the fourth group of the second signal is received, and then precode and send the four groups of the second signal, thereby improving the ability of the signal to resist interference.

[0226] Information C-2, information for indicating the resources of the B1 group second signal.

[0227] For example, the resource of the B1 group second signal includes at least one of the following: time domain resource occupied by the B1 group second signal, frequency domain resource occupied by the B1 group second signal, or polarization mode corresponding to the B1 group second signal. The polarization mode may, for example, include left-hand polarization and right-hand polarization. The time domain resource corresponding to the two groups of first signals in the B1 group second signal can be the same or different. The frequency domain resource corresponding to the two groups of first signals in the B1 group second signal can be the same or different. The polarization resource corresponding to the two groups of first signals in the B1 group second signal can be the same or different.

[0228] In a possible implementation, when the resources (for example, time domain resources) corresponding to the multiple groups of first signals in the B1 group second signal are the same, the multiple groups of first signals can multiplex the same indication information (for example, indication information of the time domain resource), so that signaling overhead can be saved.

[0229] For example, the F1 group first signal indicates a signal obtained by precoding the B1 group second signal by using a first precoding matrix. In a possible implementation, the time-frequency resources occupied by the F1 group first signal can be the same. The time-frequency resource corresponding to the F1 group first signal can be the same as or different from the time-frequency resource occupied by one group of second signals in the B1 group second signal. For example, the frequency point of one group of second signals in the B1 group second signal is 30 gigahertz (GHz). The relay device can need to perform a frequency point conversion operation when transmitting the F1 group first signal, for example, the frequency point of the F1 group first signal is 20 GHz. The frequency point conversion rule of the second signal can be configured by the network device.

[0230] Information C-3, used to indicate information of the F1 first antennas.

[0231] The F1 first antennas belong to part or all of the antennas of the relay device.

[0232] After the relay device receives the information used to indicate the F1 first antennas, the relay device can determine the antennas needed to transmit the F1 group first signals, and then can transmit a signal processed by using a first antenna corresponding to the first antenna, so that the signal processed by using the first antenna can better resist interference in a channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving data transmission quality.

[0233] The information used to indicate the F1 first antennas includes at least one of the following: identification information of the F1 first antennas; position information of the F1 first antennas; index numbers of the F1 first antennas; or bit map information.

[0234] For example, the 16 first antennas of the relay device are numbered in a predetermined order as 0-15, and 0-15 are the index numbers of the 16 first antennas. For example, the F1 first antennas are 8 first antennas numbered as 0-7, and the information indicating the F1 first antennas is the index numbers 0-7 of the first antennas.

[0235] For another example, the bitmap information includes 16 bits, and one bit corresponds to one first antenna of the relay device. For example, the F1 first antennas are 8 first antennas numbered as 0-7, and the bit values of the bits associated with the F1 first antennas (the 8 first antennas) in the bitmap information are designated values. For example, if the designated value is 1, the bit values of the bits corresponding to the other 8-15 first antennas are non-designated values (for example, 0). For another example, if the designated value is 0, the bit values of the bits corresponding to the other 8-15 first antennas are non-designated values (for example, 1).

[0236] For another example, the position information of the first antenna can be given in the form of coordinates. For example, the position information of the first antenna is (1, 1), indicating that the antenna is located in the first row and the first column of the antenna area of the relay device. For another example, the position information of the first antenna is (1, 2), indicating that the antenna is located in the first row and the second column of the antenna area of the relay device.

[0237] Information C-4, used to indicate information of the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals.

[0238] The information used to indicate the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals includes information used to indicate a first precoding matrix.

[0239] The information used to indicate the first precoding matrix includes at least one of the following: indication information of the first precoding matrix, or an index of the first precoding matrix, or information of the precoding coefficients associated with each group of second signals in the B1 group of second signals.

[0240] For example, the relay device and the network device obtain at least one precoding matrix and an index number corresponding to the precoding matrix. The network device indicates the index of the first precoding matrix to the relay device, and the relay device finds the association between the index number of the precoding matrix and the precoding matrix, and takes the precoding matrix corresponding to the index of the first precoding matrix as the first precoding matrix. In this way, signaling overhead can be saved. The association between the precoding matrix and the index number of the precoding matrix on the network device and the relay device side can be preconfigured, or specified by a protocol, or sent by another device. For example, the network device can send the association between the precoding matrix and the index number of the precoding matrix to the relay device.

[0241] Table 2 exemplarily shows one possible example of the precoding matrix and the index number of the precoding matrix. As shown in Table 2, the index number of the precoding matrix is 1, and the precoding matrix corresponding to the index number is W 4×4 The meanings of the rest of the table are similar, and will not be described herein.

[0242] Table 2 exemplarily shows one possible example of the precoding matrix and the index number of the precoding matrix. As shown in Table 2, the index number of the precoding matrix is 1, and the precoding matrix corresponding to the index number is W

[0243] In one possible implementation, the information for indicating the first precoding matrix can also be replaced by: information for indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals. In this implementation, the network device can send the information of the precoding coefficients associated with each group of second signals in the B1 group of second signals to the relay device.

[0244] Table 3 exemplarily shows one possible example of the group number of the B1 group of second signals and the precoding coefficients. As shown in Table 3, the group number of the B1 group of second signals is 1, and the precoding matrix corresponding to the group of second signals is W (1) F1×1 . W (1) F1×1 may be regarded as a matrix of F1 rows and 1 column. For example, the first precoding matrix is W F1xB1 , W F1xB1 may be regarded as a matrix of F1 rows and B1 columns, W (1) F1×1 may be regarded as one column, for example, the first column, in W F1xB1 . Similarly, for example, W (2) F1×1 may be regarded as the second column in W F1xB1 , W (3) F1×1 may be regarded as the third column in W F1xB1 , W (4) F1×1 may be regarded as the fourth column in W F1xB1 . The meanings of the rest of the table are similar, and will not be described herein.

[0245] Table 3 exemplarily shows one possible example of the group number of the B1 group of second signals and the precoding coefficients. As shown in Table 3, the group number of the B1 group of second signals is 1, and the precoding matrix corresponding to the group of second signals is W

[0246] The precoding coefficients used by the two groups of second signals can be different or the same. For example, the network device can configure a more optimal precoding matrix (or precoding coefficient) according to the channel condition of the region corresponding to the terminal device or the beam. Or the network device determines a more optimal precoding matrix (or precoding coefficient) according to the positional relationship between the relay device and the terminal device (the region corresponding to the beam).

[0247] Information C-5, used to indicate the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals (or the precoding coefficients in the first precoding matrix) and the F1 first antennas.

[0248] The association relationship between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas is determined according to the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals and the F1 first antennas. The relay device can determine the association relationship between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas according to the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0249] For example, F1 is 3, and B1 is 3. The F1 first antennas are first antenna #11, first antenna #12, and first antenna #13, respectively. The B1 group of second signals are second signal #21, second signal #22, and second signal #23, respectively. The precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna #11 are W 11 , W 12 , and W 13 , respectively. The three groups of second signals are precoded using W 11 , W 12 , and W 13 , respectively, to obtain a group of first signals (W 11 * second signal #21 + W 12 * second signal #22 + W 13 * second signal #23). Since the group of first signals is obtained by precoding using the precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna #11, the group of first signals has an association relationship with the first antenna #11. For example, one group of first signals is associated with one first antenna, and one first antenna is associated with one group of first signals.

[0250] For one (or each) of the F1 first antennas: the group of first signals associated with the first antenna is obtained by precoding the B1 group of second signals using the B1 precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna. Since the relay device can transmit the group of signals processed by the precoding corresponding to the first antenna through the first antenna, the group of signals can better resist the interference in the channel corresponding to the first antenna, thereby improving the data transmission quality.

[0251] In a possible implementation, the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group of second signals (or the precoding coefficients in the first precoding matrix) and the F1 first antennas can be predefined, or pre-stored by the network device and the relay device or agreed through a protocol / technical standard / technical specification.

[0252] Information C-6, information used to indicate the association relationship between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0253] The relay device can determine the association relationship between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas according to the information used to indicate the association relationship between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas. Then, the F1 group of first signals is transmitted through the F1 first antennas according to the association relationship.

[0254] In a possible implementation, the association relationship between the F1 group of first signals and the F1 first antennas can be predefined, or pre-stored by the network device and the relay device or agreed by a protocol / technical standard / technical specification.

[0255] The following Table 4 gives an example of the group number of the B1 group of second signals, the time domain resource, the frequency domain resource, the polarization mode, the precoding coefficient corresponding to the B1 group of second signals, and the association relationship of the antenna used by the relay device to transmit the precoded signal corresponding to the B1 group of second signals. The association relationship given in Table 4 can be transmitted by the network device to the relay device through one message or multiple messages. As shown in Table 4, for a group of second signals a with a group number of 1, the time domain resource used by the network device to transmit the group of second signals is time slots x1-y1, the frequency domain resource used by the network device to transmit the group of second signals is RB z1-w1, and the polarization mode used by the network device to transmit the group of second signals is left-handed polarization. The relay device can extract each group of second signals from the corresponding resource according to the association relationship. The precoding coefficient used by the relay device to perform precoding on the group of second signals a is W (1) F1×1 For example, after the group of first signals is precoded by the precoding coefficient, an F1 group of signals can be obtained, which can be represented as an F1 row by 1 column matrix a*W (1) F1×1 The F1 group of signals a*W (1) F1×1 belongs to the F1 group of first signals. The relay device can transmit the F1 group of signals a*W (1) F1×1 through the F1 first antennas numbered 1-F1. The W (1) F1×1 has an association relationship with the F1 first antennas, and the relay device transmits the F1 group of signals a*W (1) F1×1 based on the association relationship. For example, the relay device inputs the first group of signals in the F group of signals a*W (1) F1×1 to the first antenna numbered 1 for transmission, and inputs the second group of signals in the F group of signals a*W (1) F1×1The second group of signals in the F group of signals is input to the first antenna numbered 2 for transmission, and the relay device will input a*W (1) F1×1 The third group of signals in the F group of signals is input to the first antenna numbered 3 for transmission, and the relay device will input a*W (1) F1×1 The fourth group of signals in the F group of signals is input to the first antenna numbered 4 for transmission, and so on. The two sets of second antennas corresponding to the two groups of second signals can have an intersection, or no intersection, or be the same. The meanings of the remaining contents in the table are similar, and will not be repeated here.

[0256] Table 4 An example of the association relationship between the group number, time domain resource, frequency domain resource, polarization mode of the B1 group of second signals, the pre-coding coefficient corresponding to the B1 group of second signals, and the antenna used by the relay device to transmit the pre-coded signal corresponding to the B1 group of second signals

[0257] Step 203: The network device transmits the B1 group of second signals to the relay device.

[0258] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the B1 group of second signals.

[0259] B1 is a positive integer. For example, B1 is 1 or an integer greater than 1. For example, the relay device can sample (for example, analog digital converter (ADC)) and filter the received signals, and extract each group of second signals on the resource of each group of second signals.

[0260] In order to distinguish, the signal obtained by the network device and needed to be transmitted to the terminal device is referred to as a second signal in the embodiments of the present application. One group of second signals can include one or more second signals. The number of second signals included in two groups of second signals can be equal or unequal. The B1 group of second signals in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by other names, for example, replaced by: B1 second signals, a set of B1 second signals, etc.

[0261] In a possible implementation, the second signal in the B1 group of second signals can be a signal corresponding to the data transmitted by the network device to at least one terminal device. For example, it can be a signal corresponding to the service data transmitted by the network device to at least one terminal device. For another example, it can be a signal corresponding to the service data transmitted by the network device based on the service request received from the terminal device. The F1 group of first signals is the signal after the pre-coding processing of the B1 group of second signals.

[0262] The second set of signals can be signals that a terminal device needs to receive, or signals that one or more terminal devices in a region corresponding to a beam need to receive. The following examples one and two are used for illustrative purposes.

[0263] Example one: the number of the second set of signals B1 can be the number of terminal devices corresponding to the second set of signals B1. For example, the second set of signals B1 is the signal corresponding to the terminal device B1. The signal corresponding to a terminal device can be referred to as a second set of signals. In this way, a second set of signals can correspond to a terminal device. This scheme can control the granularity of the scheme at the terminal device level, thereby providing more personalized services for individual terminal devices.

[0264] For example, B1 is 4, and the four second sets of signals are marked as set #21, set #22, set #23 and set #24. The second set of signals in set #21 corresponds to terminal device #1, and the second set of signals in set #21 is the signal that terminal device #1 needs to receive (or decode), or the second set of signals in set #21 is the signal that the network device needs to send to terminal device #1. Similarly, the second set of signals in set #22 corresponds to terminal device #2, the second set of signals in set #23 corresponds to terminal device #3, and the second set of signals in set #24 corresponds to terminal device #4. For related content, see the description of set #21, which is not repeated here.

[0265] Example two: the number of the second set of signals B1 can be the number of beams corresponding to the second set of signals B1. For example, the second set of signals B1 is the signal corresponding to the beam B1. The signal corresponding to a beam can be referred to as a second set of signals. In this way, a second set of signals can correspond to a beam coverage area. This scheme can control the granularity of the scheme at the beam level, thereby providing services for individual beam coverage areas, and the granularity will not be too small, thereby reducing resource overhead during scheme execution.

[0266] For example, B1 is 4, and the four second sets of signals are marked as set #21, set #22, set #23 and set #24. The second set of signals in set #21 corresponds to beam #1, and the second set of signals in set #21 is the signal that one or more terminal devices in the region corresponding to beam #1 need to receive, or the second set of signals in set #21 is the signal that the network device needs to send to one or more terminal devices in the region corresponding to beam #1. In the embodiments of the present application, there can be one or more terminal devices in the region corresponding to a beam. Similarly, the second set of signals in set #22 corresponds to beam #2, the second set of signals in set #23 corresponds to beam #3, and the second set of signals in set #24 corresponds to beam #4. For related content, see the description of set #21, which is not repeated here.

[0267] In a possible implementation, the network device can send the B1 group second signals through the backhaul link. For example, the network device sends the B1 group second signals through at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. For example, the network device sends the B1 group second signals occupying the same time domain resources but different frequency domain resources and / or different polarization manners. In this way, resource overhead can be saved, and data transmission efficiency can be improved. Correspondingly, the relay device can obtain the B1 group second signals through at least one of frequency division demultiplexing, time division demultiplexing, or polarization demultiplexing. For example, the frequency division demultiplexing of the relay device can be implemented in an analog domain or a digital domain.

[0268] In another possible implementation, the relay device can process (for example, precode) the received signals through analog or digital filtering to obtain the B1 group second signals. In this way, the relay device can flexibly select a filtering manner based on its own capability and applicable scenario.

[0269] In step 204, the relay device sends the F1 group first signals to at least one terminal device.

[0270] Correspondingly, the at least one terminal device receives the F1 group first signals.

[0271] In a possible implementation, the relay device can perform first processing on the B1 group second signals through one or more precoding coefficients to obtain the F1 group first signals. For example, the relay device can perform the first processing in a digital domain or an analog domain, and then perform digital-to-analog conversion on the obtained precoded signals to input the signals to the F1 group first antennas. In a possible implementation, the relay device performs processing on the signals in the analog domain, and can adjust the amplitude and phase of the F1 group first signals to be input to the antennas through a designed analog signal processing unit.

[0272] The F1 group first signals and the F1 group first antennas of the relay device have a correlation relationship. For example, the F1 group first signals can correspond to the F1 group first antennas of the relay device in a one-to-one manner, and the relay device can send a group of first signals corresponding to a first antenna through the first antenna. For example, the first signal F 11 may be sent through the first antenna #11 of the relay device. 21 may be sent through the first antenna #12 of the relay device. 31 may be sent through the first antenna #13 of the relay device.

[0273] A first antenna of the relay device can include / be an antenna of the relay device. For example, a first antenna can include / be a physical antenna port or a plurality of physical antenna ports. Alternatively, a first antenna of the relay device can include / be a logical antenna port, which can include / be one or more physical antenna ports.

[0274] In embodiments of the present application, the first processing of the B1 set of second signals by the relay device can include / be precoding, or digital beamforming (DBF), or analog beamforming, or beamforming. In embodiments of the present application, the first processing is taken as an example of precoding processing, which can be replaced by DBF, analog beamforming, or beamforming, etc.

[0275] The one or more precoding coefficients can be in the form of a first precoding matrix. The F1 set of first signals is a signal obtained by precoding the B1 set of second signals through the first precoding matrix.

[0276] A set of first signals in the F1 set of first signals can include one or more first signals. The number of first signals included in the two sets of first signals can be equal or unequal. In embodiments of the present application, the F1 set of first signals can also be replaced by other names, such as F1 first signals, a set of F1 first signals, etc. Each set of first signals in the F1 set of first signals can also be replaced by other names, such as a set of precoded signals, a set of coded signals, a set of feed element signals, a set of feed signals, a set of antenna element signals, a set of antenna signals, or a set of signals corresponding to one antenna feed / antenna element, etc.

[0277] There is an association relationship between the F1 set of first signals and the F1 first antennas of the relay device. For example, the F1 set of first signals can correspond to the F1 first antennas of the relay device one by one, one set of first signals corresponds to one first antenna, one first antenna corresponds to one set of first signals, and the relay device can send the set of first signals corresponding to the first antenna through the first antenna. For example, the F1 set of first signals satisfies the following formula (1): F1×1 = W F1×B1 *S B1×1 … Formula (1)

[0278] In formula (1), S F1×1 represents the F1 set of first signals, W F1×B1S represents the first precoding matrix in row F1 and column B1. B1×1 This indicates the second signal of group B1. In the embodiments of this application, * indicates multiplication, and other locations will not be described again.

[0279] For ease of understanding, let's take F1 as 3 and B1 as 3 as an example. The above formula (1) can be transformed into the following formula (2):

[0280] In formula (2), F 11 F 21 and F 31 These are three sets of first signals (S) transmitted by the relay device through the first antenna #11, the first antenna #12, and the first antenna #13, respectively. F1×1 ), where one of the first antennas is used to transmit a set of first signals, B 11 B 21 and B 31 For the second signal of group B1 (S) B1×1 ), The first precoding matrix (W) in row F1 and column B1 F1×B1 ).

[0281] It can be seen from the above formula (2) that F 11 =(W 11 *B 11 +W 12 *B 21 +W 13 *B 31 ), F 21 =(W 21 *B 11 +W 22 *B 21 +W 23 *B 31 ), F 31 =(W 31 *B 11 +W 32 *B 21 +W 33 *B 31 For example, F 11 It can be transmitted via the first antenna #11 of the relay device, F 21 It can be transmitted via the first antenna #12 of the relay device, F 31 It can be transmitted via the first antenna #13 of the relay device. For example, W 11 W 21 W 31 It can be considered as the first antenna #11, the first antenna #12, the first antenna #13, and signal B. 11coefficients determined according to the channel conditions between the corresponding terminal devices.W 12 、W 22 、W 32 The first antenna #11, the first antenna #12, the first antenna #13 and the signal B 12 coefficients determined according to the channel conditions between the corresponding terminal devices.W 13 、W 23 、W 33 The first antenna #11, the first antenna #12, the first antenna #13 and the signal B 13 coefficients determined according to the channel conditions between the corresponding terminal devices. In another possible implementation, the determination of the precoding coefficients of a certain terminal device can also take into account the channel conditions between other terminal devices and the antennas.

[0282] In one possible implementation, for a group of the second signals in the B1 groups of the second signals: the group of the second signals is precoded by F1 first precoding coefficients respectively, to obtain F1 groups of the sixth signals. The F1 groups of the first signals correspond to the F1 groups of the sixth signals, and a group of the first signals in the F1 groups of the first signals comprises a group of the sixth signals corresponding to the group of the first signals. The F1 first precoding coefficients are associated with the F1 first antennas, and one of the F1 first precoding coefficients is associated with one of the first antennas and a channel corresponding to at least one terminal device associated with the group of the second signals.

[0283] For ease of understanding, taking F1 as 3 and B1 as 1 as an example, i.e., taking a group of the second signals as an example, the above formula (1) can be converted into the following formula (3):

[0284] In formula (3), F 11 , F 21 and F 31 are three groups of the first signals (S F1×1 ), B 11 is a group of signals in the B1 groups of the second signals (S B1×1 ), is a first precoding matrix (W F1×B1 ) of F1 rows and B1 columns.

[0285] As can be seen from formula (3), for a group of the second signals B 11 , after precoding by the precoding matrix, three groups of signals can be obtained, which are W 11 *B 11 (a group of the sixth signals), W 21 *B 11 (a group of the sixth signals) and W 31 *B11 The three groups of signals can be input to the three first antennas associated with the three groups of signals respectively for transmission. It can be seen that the F1 group of sixth signals belongs to the F1 group of first signals. The F1 group of sixth signals corresponds to the F1 group of first signals one-to-one, and the F1 group of sixth signals belongs to the signals in the group of first signals corresponding to the group of sixth signals.

[0286] In a possible implementation, for one of the F1 first antennas (for example, the first antenna #11): the group of first signals (for example, F 11 ) associated with the first antenna is obtained by pre-coding B1 groups of second signals (for example, B 11 , B 12 , and B 13 ) respectively by B1 second pre-coding coefficients (for example, W 11 , W 21 , and W 31 ) associated with the first antenna (for example, F 11 = (W 11 *B 11 +W 12 *B 21 +W 13 *B 31 ). The description of F 21 and F 31 can be referred to the description of F 11 , and similar descriptions are not repeated here.

[0287] In another possible implementation, for one of the B1 groups of second signals (for example, B 11 ): the second pre-coding coefficient (for example, W 11 ) used for pre-coding the group of second signals (for example, B 11 ) is also associated with the channel corresponding to at least one terminal device associated with the group of second signals (for example, B 11 ). As can be seen from the above formula, W 11 is used for pre-coding B 11 , and W 11 may be determined according to the channel between the first antenna #11 and the terminal device (one or more terminal devices) corresponding to the signal B 11 , so that the pre-coding of B 11 by W 11 can better resist interference in the channel, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal B 11 . Similarly, W 12 is used for pre-coding B 12 , and W 13 is used for pre-coding B 13 , and the related content can be referred to W11 The related description is not repeated here.

[0288] In a possible implementation, the two precoding coefficients can be different or the same, for example, the precoding coefficients W 11 and W 12 may be different or the same. In another possible implementation, for a region, for example, a region corresponding to a beam, the channel states corresponding to the multiple terminal devices corresponding to the same first antenna in the region can be relatively similar, and therefore the multiple terminal devices corresponding to the same first antenna in the region can use the same precoding coefficient (for example, W 11 and W 12 are the same). For another example, the multiple terminal devices corresponding to the same first antenna in the region can also use different precoding coefficients (for example, W 11 and W 12 are different).

[0289] In a possible implementation, the first precoding matrix is determined according to at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antenna of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antenna of the relay device; or location information of the terminal device. For example, the network device can obtain at least one piece of information (for example, channel state information) used to determine the first precoding matrix (for example, obtain the channel information between the terminal device and the network device, or obtain the location information of the terminal device), and then determine the first precoding matrix according to the obtained information. For another example, the network device receives a first precoding matrix indication (PMI) from the terminal device, and then determines the first precoding matrix according to the PMI. The precoding coefficients used by the two groups of second signals can be different or the same. For example, the network device can configure a more optimal precoding matrix (or precoding coefficient) according to the channel condition of the terminal device or the region corresponding to the beam. Or the network device determines a more optimal precoding matrix (or precoding coefficient) according to the positional relationship between the relay device and the terminal device (the region corresponding to the beam).

[0290] For ease of understanding, FIG. 3 exemplarily shows a possible method flow diagram of downlink data transmission provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the network device (for example, a base station or a gateway deployed on the ground) obtains the B1 group of second signals. In the embodiment of the present application, the B1 group of second signals can be generated by the network device or received by the network device from other devices. The network device transmits the B1 group of second signals by using at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. The B1 group of second signals are transmitted through an air interface.

[0291] FIG. 3 illustrates a relay device, which can include an MT entity and a forwarding entity, taking a satellite as an example. The link between the MT entity of the relay device and the network device is a control link, and the link between the forwarding entity and the network device is a backhaul link. The link between the forwarding entity and the terminal device is an access link. The related scheme can refer to the related description of FIG. 1E.

[0292] In a possible implementation, the relay device can include two function units, a signal acquisition unit (or a UE / beam signal separation and extraction unit) and a digital domain precoding unit. The relay device can perform precoding processing on the received signal by means of analog or digital filtering. FIG. 3 illustrates precoding by means of digital filtering as an example. After receiving the signal, the signal acquisition unit of the relay device can perform at least one of analog digital converter (ADC) sampling processing, digital filtering, frequency division multiplexing demultiplexing, time division multiplexing demultiplexing, or polarization multiplexing demultiplexing, to extract (or sort, or extract) the B1 set of second signals. Then the digital domain precoding unit of the relay device can perform first processing (FIG. 3 illustrates precoding as an example of first processing) on the B1 set of second signals to obtain the F1 set of first signals, and convert the F1 set of first signals to an analog domain signal through a digital to analog converter (DAC). Then the F1 set of first signals is input into each first antenna corresponding to the F1 set of first signals, and transmitted to the terminal device.

[0293] For example, when the network device adopts frequency division multiplexing to transmit the multiple sets of signals to be transmitted, the relay device can perform frequency division multiplexing demultiplexing on the received signal. When the network device adopts time division multiplexing to transmit the multiple sets of signals to be transmitted, the relay device can perform time division multiplexing demultiplexing on the received signal. When the network device adopts polarization multiplexing to transmit the multiple sets of signals to be transmitted, the relay device can perform polarization multiplexing demultiplexing on the received signal. The multiple multiplexing and demultiplexing modes can be used in combination. For example, when the network device adopts frequency division multiplexing and polarization multiplexing to transmit the multiple sets of signals to be transmitted, the relay device can perform frequency division multiplexing demultiplexing and polarization multiplexing demultiplexing on the received signal. Other combination modes are similar, and will not be described herein.

[0294] FIG. 4 illustrates a method flow diagram of another possible downlink data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4, a network device (for example, a base station or a gateway deployed on the ground) transmits a B1 set of second signals. The B1 set of second signals is transmitted through an air interface. The transmission mode of the B1 set of second signals can refer to the foregoing description, and will not be described herein.

[0295] In a possible implementation, the relay device can include two function units, a signal acquisition unit (or a UE / beam signal separation and extraction unit) and an analog domain precoding unit. The signal acquisition unit of the relay device can extract the B1 group of second signal data signals through analog domain filtering. The analog domain precoding unit can be used for precoding or beamforming processing of the B1 group of second signal data in the analog domain. Then, the relay device inputs the F1 group of first signals obtained after precoding or beamforming to the corresponding F1 first antennas to send to the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the first precoding matrix can also be referred to as a beamforming coefficient matrix. The first precoding matrix can adjust the amplitude and phase, or only adjust the phase. The adjustment of the amplitude and / or phase can enable the relay device to better perform precoding on the signals according to the channel conditions, thereby better resisting channel interference.

[0296] Other related content can be referred to the related description in the foregoing FIG. 3, and will not be described again.

[0297] In the prior art, in the scenario of data transmission by the relay device, the relay device currently cannot control the beam according to the precoded data, and thus the interference is currently not reduced by precoding the data in this scenario. Based on this problem, in the embodiments of the present application, the relay device can perform first processing (such as precoding, DBF, analog beamforming, or beamforming) on the data to be sent. The relay device can send the F1 group of first signals according to the association relationship between the F1 group of first signals after the first processing and the F1 first antennas. Since the signal sent by a first antenna is processed using the precoding coefficients associated with the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal, the relay device can send the signal according to the association relationship between the first signal and the first antenna, and then control the beam according to the precoded data. Therefore, the signal transmitted through the first antenna can better resist the interference of the channel between the first antenna and the terminal device corresponding to the signal (such as inter-beam co-frequency interference), thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0298] In another aspect, the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application can also control the beam direction, thereby solving the influence of satellite attitude change, satellite orbit change, and the like on the beam coverage area in the NTN scenario. For example, the coverage geographical areas of different beams are different, the network device can estimate the channel according to the positional relationship between the beam coverage area and the F1 first antennas of the relay device, and then obtain the precoding coefficients associated with the channel of each beam, and then enable the signals corresponding to each beam to be more concentrated in the expected beam coverage area, thereby achieving the effect of controlling the beam direction.

[0299] In another aspect, since the first processing (e.g., precoding, DBF, analog beamforming, or beamforming, etc.) is completed at the network device side, the scheme can reduce the processing complexity of the relay device. When the scheme is applied to the NTN scenario, the scheme can reduce the processing complexity of the satellite as the relay device, and in turn can reduce the cost of the satellite.

[0300] In another aspect, the network device can periodically or aperiodically update the first precoding matrix, so that the dynamic precoding processing, or dynamic DBF, or dynamic analog beamforming, or dynamic beamforming provided by the embodiments of the present application, so that the precoded data can better resist the interference of the channel, thereby further improving the data transmission quality.

[0301] In another aspect, in the NTN scenario, if the relay device is a satellite, the precoding processing is located at the ground base station side, and the ground base station side needs to send the precoded data to the satellite, then the transmission bandwidth requirement of the link (feeder link) between the ground base station side and the satellite is proportional to the number of antennas of the satellite working in the transparent forwarding state. In the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application, since the precoding processing is located at the relay device side, and the ground base station side sends the data before the precoding processing to the satellite, the scheme can reduce the transmission bandwidth requirement of the link between the ground base station side and the satellite.

[0302] In another aspect, the data amount of the signal sent by the network device to the relay device is the number of B1 groups of second signals, rather than the number of F1 groups of first signals, so that the transmission data amount is changed from the number of first signals (or the number of first antennas) F1 to the number of second signals B1. In a commonly used scenario, the number of second signals B1 is less than the number of first antennas F1, and it can be seen that the data amount transmitted by the relay device to the network device can be reduced in the scheme.

[0303] Based on the content shown in at least one of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H, 1I, 2, 3, and 4 and other content described above, FIGS. 5 and 7 exemplarily show possible flow diagrams of several communication methods provided by the embodiments of the present application. For ease of understanding, FIGS. 5 and 7 take the interaction of the terminal device, the relay device, and the network device as an example for introduction, and the related introduction of the terminal device, the relay device, and the network device can be referred to the related description of FIG. 2 described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0304] The embodiments provided in FIGS. 5 and 7 can be regarded as several extended embodiments of the implementation provided in FIG. 2. In the implementation provided in FIG. 2, the F1 groups of first signals indicate the signals after the B1 groups of second signals are precoded by the first precoding matrix, and the first precoding matrix is, for example, W F1×B1.

[0305] In the embodiments provided in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the B1 group second signal can be pre-coded by a plurality of pre-coding (for example, the second pre-coding matrix and the third pre-coding) matrices to obtain the F1 group first signal. In FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the B1 group second signal is pre-coded by the second pre-coding matrix and the third pre-coding as an example.

[0306] In a possible implementation, the first pre-coding matrix can have a correlation relationship with the second pre-coding matrix and / or the third pre-coding matrix. For example, the first pre-coding matrix can be decomposed into the second pre-coding matrix and the third pre-coding matrix.

[0307] For example, the first pre-coding matrix satisfies the following formula (4): F1×B1 = U F1×B1 * V B1×B1 … Formula (4)

[0308] In formula (4), W F1×B1 may represent the F1 row B1 column first pre-coding matrix, U F1×B1 represents the F1 row B1 column second pre-coding matrix, and V B1×B1 represents the B1 row B1 column third pre-coding matrix.

[0309] One possible example given by formula (4) is that in another possible implementation, the first pre-coding matrix can also not satisfy the above formula (4), or the first pre-coding matrix has other relationships with the second pre-coding matrix and the third pre-coding matrix, etc. For example, the right side of formula (4) can also be multiplied by a constant, or a constant is added, etc.

[0310] In a possible implementation, the F1 group first signal indicates a signal obtained by pre-coding the B1 group fifth signal by the second pre-coding matrix, and the B1 group fifth signal indicates a signal obtained by pre-coding the B1 group second signal by the third pre-coding matrix.

[0311] For example, the B1 group fifth signal satisfies the following formula (5), and the F1 group first signal satisfies the following formula (6): B1×1 = V B1×B1 * S B1×1 … Formula (5) S F1×1 = U F1×B1 * S’ B1×1 … Formula (6)

[0312] In formula (5) and formula (6), S B1×1 represents the B1 group second signal, V B1×B1 represents the B1 row B1 column third pre-coding matrix, and S’ B1×1denotes the fifth signal of the B1 group, U F1×B1 denotes the second precoding matrix of the F1 row and the B1 column, S F1×1 denotes the first signal of the F1 group.

[0313] In a possible implementation, the network device can process the second signal of the B1 group to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group, and send the fifth signal of the B1 group to the relay device, which processes the fifth signal of the B1 group to obtain the first signal of the F1 group. In another possible implementation, the relay device can process the second signal of the B1 group to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group, and process the fifth signal of the B1 group to obtain the first signal of the F1 group. The following will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 respectively, wherein FIG. 5 takes the network device processing the second signal of the B1 group to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group as an example, and FIG. 7 takes the relay device processing the second signal of the B1 group to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group as an example.

[0314] As shown in FIG. 5, the method includes the following steps.

[0315] In step 501, the relay device sends information indicating antenna information of the relay device to the network device.

[0316] Correspondingly, the network device receives the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device.

[0317] The scheme of step 501 can refer to the related content of the foregoing step 201, and will not be described herein again.

[0318] In step 502, the network device sends second information to the relay device.

[0319] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the second information.

[0320] For example, the network device can transmit the second information to the relay device through a control link.

[0321] In a possible implementation, the second information can include at least one of the following information: information indicating a number of signal groups of the fifth signal of the B1 group, information indicating resources of the fifth signal of the B1 group, information indicating the F1 first antennas, information indicating precoding coefficients associated with the fifth signal of the B1 group, information indicating an association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the fifth signal of the B1 group and the F1 first antennas, and information indicating an association relationship between the first signal of the F1 group and the F1 first antennas. Multiple pieces of information in the second information can be carried in a same message, or can be carried in multiple messages.

[0322] For example, the information for indicating the signal group quantity of the B1 group fifth signal can include at least one of the following: indication information of the signal group quantity of the B1 group fifth signal; information for indicating the resource of the B1 group fifth signal; or information for indicating the column number or row number of the second precoding matrix. For details, refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-1, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0323] For example, the resource of the B1 group fifth signal includes at least one of the following: time domain resource occupied by the B1 group fifth signal, frequency domain resource occupied by the B1 group fifth signal, or polarization mode corresponding to the B1 group fifth signal. For details, refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-2, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0324] For details of the information for indicating the F1 first antennas, refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-3, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0325] For example, the information for indicating the precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group fifth signal can include information for indicating the second precoding matrix. The information for indicating the second precoding matrix includes at least one of the following: indication information of the second precoding matrix, or index of the second precoding matrix, or information of the precoding coefficient associated with each group of the B1 group fifth signal. For details, refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-4, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0326] For example, the information for indicating the association between the precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group fifth signal (or the precoding coefficient in the second precoding matrix) and the F1 first antennas. For details, refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-5, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0327] For details of the information for indicating the association between the F1 group first signals and the F1 first antennas, refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-6, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0328] For details of the step 502, refer to the description of the aforementioned step 202, which is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0329] In step 503, the network device determines the B1 group fifth signal according to the acquired B1 group second signal.

[0330] The network device can use the third precoding matrix to precode the B1 group second signal to obtain the B1 group fifth signal. For example, the B1 group fifth signal can be obtained by the aforementioned formula (5).

[0331] In a possible implementation, the second precoding matrix is determined according to at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antenna of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antenna of the relay device; or, location information of the terminal device. For example, the network device can obtain the at least one piece of information described above for determining the second precoding matrix (for example, obtain channel information (for example, channel state information) between the terminal device and the network device, or obtain location information of the terminal device), and then determine the second precoding matrix according to the obtained information. For another example, the network device receives a second precoding matrix indication (PMI) from the terminal device, and then determines the second precoding matrix according to the PMI.

[0332] The content of the second signals in the B1 group can be referred to the description of FIG. 2, and will not be repeated here.

[0333] In step 504, the network device sends a fifth signal in the B1 group to the relay device.

[0334] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the fifth signal in the B1 group.

[0335] B1 is a positive integer. For example, B1 is 1 or an integer greater than 1. For example, the relay device can sample (for example, ADC sampling), filter the received signal, and extract the second signals in each group from the resources of the second signals in each group.

[0336] In a possible implementation, the network device can send the fifth signal in the B1 group through a backhaul link. For another example, the network device sends the fifth signal in the B1 group by at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. For example, the network device sends the fifth signal in the B1 group occupying the same time domain resource, but different frequency domain resources and / or different polarization manners. In this way, resource overhead can be saved, and data transmission efficiency can be improved. Correspondingly, the relay device can obtain the fifth signal in the B1 group by at least one of de-frequency division multiplexing, de-time division multiplexing, or de-polarization multiplexing. For example, the de-frequency division multiplexing of the relay device can be in an analog domain, or in a digital domain.

[0337] In another possible implementation, the relay device can process (e.g., precode) the received signal by means of analog or digital filtering to obtain the fifth signal of the B1 group. In this way, the relay device can flexibly select the filtering means based on its capability and applicable scenario. The processing of the signal by the relay device in the analog domain can be achieved by means of a designed analog signal processing unit to adjust the amplitude and / or phase of the first signal of the F1 group to be input to the antenna. Since the analog domain processing can reduce the hardware complexity requirement and cost, this scheme can reduce the hardware complexity requirement and cost of the relay device side.

[0338] The content of step 504 can refer to the relevant description of the aforementioned step 203, and will not be repeated here.

[0339] In step 505, the relay device sends the first signal of the F1 group to at least one terminal device.

[0340] Correspondingly, the at least one terminal device receives the first signal of the F1 group.

[0341] In one possible implementation, the relay device can precode, DBF, analog beamforming or beamforming process the fifth signal of the B1 group by means of one or more precoding coefficients to obtain the first signal of the F1 group. For example, the relay device obtains the first signal of the F1 group according to the aforementioned formula (6). The scheme of the relay device sending the first signal of the F1 group through the F1 first antennas is similar to the content of the aforementioned step 204 in FIG. 2, and will not be repeated here.

[0342] In one possible implementation, the second precoding matrix is determined according to at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antennas of the relay device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antennas of the relay device; or, position information of the terminal device. For example, the network device can obtain at least one of the information used to determine the second precoding matrix (e.g., obtain the channel information (e.g., channel state information) between the terminal device and the network device, or obtain the position information of the terminal device), and then determine the second precoding matrix according to the obtained information. For another example, the network device receives a second precoding matrix indication (PMI) from the terminal device, and then determines the second precoding matrix according to the PMI.

[0343] For ease of understanding, FIG. 6 exemplarily shows a possible method flow diagram of downlink data transmission provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, the network device (for example, a base station or a gateway deployed on the ground) acquires the B1 group second signal. The B1 group second signal in the embodiments of the present application can be generated by the network device or received by the network device from other devices. The network device performs precoding on the B1 group second signal by using a third precoding matrix to obtain a B1 group fifth signal. The network device transmits the B1 group fifth signal by at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing or polarization multiplexing. The B1 group fifth signal is transmitted through an air interface.

[0344] FIG. 6 takes a satellite as an example of the relay device, which can include an MT and a forwarding (Fwd) part. The link between the MT of the relay device and the network device is a control link, and the link between the forwarding (Fwd) and the network device is a backhaul link. The link between the forwarding (Fwd) and the terminal device is an access link. For related solutions, please refer to the related description of FIG. 1E.

[0345] In a possible implementation, the relay device can include two function units, i.e., a signal acquisition unit (or a UE / beam signal separation and extraction unit) and a precoding unit. The relay device can perform demultiplexing (or extraction) on the received signal by analog domain filtering and subsequent precoding processing. After receiving the signal, the signal acquisition unit of the relay device can perform at least one of filtering, frequency division demultiplexing, time division demultiplexing or polarization demultiplexing to extract (or sort or extract) the B1 group fifth signal. Then, the precoding unit of the relay device can perform first processing (for example, precoding processing in FIG. 6) on the B1 group fifth signal to obtain the F1 group first signal, and then input the F1 group first signal into each first antenna corresponding to each group first signal and transmit to the terminal device. For related content of FIG. 6, please refer to the related description of FIG. 3, which will not be described here.

[0346] Through the solutions provided by FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, since the network device performs part of the precoding processing, the complexity of the solution of the relay device can be reduced. In a possible implementation, the relay device can adjust the phase and / or amplitude of the B1 group second signal by using a second precoding matrix. For example, the relay device can perform precoding (or DBF or beamforming) processing on the B2 group fifth signal in the analog domain, for example, the relay device can only adjust the phase of the signal, so that the complexity of the solution of the relay device can be reduced.

[0347] The following will be introduced in combination with FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, the relay device processes the B1 group second signal to obtain the B1 group fifth signal as an example.

[0348] As shown in FIG. 7, the method comprises:

[0349] In step 701, the relay device sends information for indicating antenna information of the relay device to the network device.

[0350] Correspondingly, the network device receives the information for indicating the antenna information of the relay device.

[0351] The scheme of step 701 can refer to the related content of the aforementioned step 201, and will not be described herein again.

[0352] In step 702, the network device sends third information to the relay device.

[0353] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the third information.

[0354] For example, the network device can transmit the third information to the relay device through a control link.

[0355] In a possible implementation, the third information can comprise at least one of the following information: information for indicating a signal group quantity of the B1 group second signal, information for indicating a resource of the B1 group second signal, information for indicating the F1 first antennas, information for indicating a precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group second signal, information for indicating an association relationship between the precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group second signal and the F1 first antennas, and information for indicating an association relationship between the F1 group first signal and the F1 first antennas. Multiple pieces of information in the third information can be carried in a same message or in multiple messages.

[0356] For another example, the information for indicating the precoding coefficient associated with the B1 group second signal can comprise: information for indicating a second precoding matrix, and / or information for indicating a third precoding matrix. The information for indicating the third precoding matrix comprises at least one of the following: indication information of the third precoding matrix, or an index of the third precoding matrix, or information of a precoding coefficient associated with each of the B1 group fifth signals. The related content can refer to the description of the aforementioned information C-4, and will not be described herein again. The related content in the third information can refer to the related description of the aforementioned FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, and will not be described herein again.

[0357] The scheme of step 702 can refer to the related content of the aforementioned step 202, and will not be described herein again.

[0358] In step 703, the network device sends the B1 group second signal to the relay device.

[0359] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the B1 groups of second signals.

[0360] B1 is a positive integer. For example, B1 is 1 or an integer greater than 1. For example, the relay device can sample (for example, ADC sampling), filter the received signal, and extract each group of second signals on the resource of each group of second signals.

[0361] The scheme of step 703 is described in the foregoing related content of step 203, and will not be described here.

[0362] In step 704, the relay device obtains B1 groups of fifth signals according to the B1 groups of second signals, and obtains F1 groups of first signals according to the B1 groups of fifth signals.

[0363] In one possible implementation, the relay device can precode, DBF, analog beamforming or beamforming processing on the B1 groups of second signals through one or more precoding coefficients (for example, a third precoding matrix) to obtain the B1 groups of fifth signals. For example, the relay device obtains the B1 groups of fifth signals according to the foregoing formula (5). The relay device can precode, DBF, analog beamforming or beamforming processing on the B1 groups of fifth signals through one or more precoding coefficients (for example, a second precoding matrix) to obtain the F1 groups of first signals. For example, the relay device obtains the F1 groups of first signals according to the foregoing formula (6). The second precoding matrix and the third precoding matrix are described in the foregoing description, and will not be described here.

[0364] In step 705, the relay device sends the F1 groups of first signals to at least one terminal device.

[0365] Correspondingly, the at least one terminal device receives the F1 groups of first signals.

[0366] The scheme of the relay device sending the F1 groups of first signals through the F1 first antennas is similar to the content of step 204 in the foregoing FIG. 2, and will not be described here.

[0367] For ease of understanding, FIG. 8 exemplarily shows a possible method flow diagram of downlink data transmission provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, a network device (for example, a base station or a gateway deployed on the ground) obtains B1 groups of second signals. In the embodiments of the present application, the B1 groups of second signals can be generated by the network device, or can be received by the network device from other devices. The network device sends the B1 groups of second signals through at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing or polarization multiplexing. The B1 groups of second signals are transmitted through the air interface.

[0368] Fig. 8 illustrates a relay device as an example of a satellite, which can include two parts, i.e., an MT and a forwarding (Fwd). The link between the MT of the relay device and the network device is a control link, and the link between the forwarding (Fwd) and the network device is a backhaul link. The link between the forwarding (Fwd) and the terminal device is an access link. For related solutions, please refer to the related description of Fig. 1E.

[0369] In a possible implementation, the relay device can include two function units, i.e., a signal acquisition unit (or a UE / beam signal separation and extraction unit), a digital domain precoding unit, and an analog domain precoding unit. The relay device can perform precoding (or beamforming) processing on the received signals in the digital domain and the analog domain. After receiving the signals, the signal acquisition unit of the relay device can perform at least one of ADC, digital domain filtering, de-frequency division multiplexing, de-time division multiplexing, or de-polarization multiplexing, to extract (or sort, or extract) the B1 group of second signals. Then, the digital domain precoding unit of the relay device can perform digital domain precoding on the B1 group of second signals by using a third precoding matrix, to obtain a B1 group of fifth signals. Then, the analog domain precoding unit of the relay device can convert the obtained B1 group of fifth signals into the analog domain by using a DAC, and then perform analog domain precoding (or DBF, or beamforming) on the B1 group of fifth signals in the analog domain by using a second precoding matrix, to obtain a F1 group of first signals. Then, the F1 group of first signals are input into the first antennas corresponding to the respective groups of first signals, and transmitted to the terminal device. For related content of Fig. 8, please refer to the related description of Fig. 3, which will not be repeated here.

[0370] According to the solutions provided in Figs. 7 and 8, since the relay device performs part of the precoding processing in the digital domain and the analog domain, respectively, and since the relay device can perform precoding in the digital domain and the analog domain, respectively, compared with the solution of performing all precoding in the digital domain, the solution can reduce the processing complexity in the digital domain, reduce the hardware cost in the digital domain, and then reduce the solution complexity and the overall hardware cost of the relay device.

[0371] Based on contents shown in at least one of FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, FIG. 1G, FIG. 1H, FIG. 1I, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 and other contents above, FIG. 9 exemplarily shows a possible flow diagram of a communication method provided by the embodiments. For the convenience of understanding, FIG. 9 takes the interaction of a terminal device, a relay device and a network device as an example for introduction. The related contents of FIG. 9 can be referred to the description of the terminal device, the relay device and the network device in FIG. 2 above, and will not be repeated. The difference between FIG. 9 and FIG. 2 is that FIG. 2 takes the downlink data transmission as an example for introduction, while FIG. 9 takes the uplink data transmission as an example for introduction. Some similar contents can be referred to each other, and will not be repeated.

[0372] The following will be introduced in conjunction with FIG. 9.

[0373] In step 901, the relay device sends information indicating antenna information of the relay device to the network device.

[0374] Correspondingly, the network device receives the information indicating the antenna information of the relay device.

[0375] Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can determine the coefficients corresponding to the channels between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the received antenna information, and then the network device processes the signal (for example, data combining) based on the coefficients, so as to improve the anti-interference ability of the signal and improve the communication performance.

[0376] The content of step 901 can be referred to the content of step 201 above. In step 901, the relay device can send the antenna information of the antennas used for receiving (or, receiving / transmitting) the access link signals to the network device. For example, the relay device can send the antenna information of the F2 second antennas. The antenna information of the antennas sent by the relay device can also include at least one of information A-1, information A-2 and information A-3, and the related contents can be referred to the foregoing description.

[0377] Since the network device can obtain the antenna information of the relay device, the network device can select the F2 second antennas for the relay device based on the received antenna information. On the other hand, the antenna information can also assist the network device to determine the coefficients in the first matrix (or, combining matrix). For example, the network device can determine the positions of the antennas according to the distribution form and / or the interval of the antennas. Then the network device can determine the coefficients in the first matrix (or, combining matrix) corresponding to the channels between the antennas of the relay device and the terminal device based on the received antenna information.

[0378] Step 901 can be executed or not executed. For example, when step 901 is not executed, the network device learns the antenna information of the relay device through other manners, for example, the antenna information of the relay device can be pre-configured on the network device side.

[0379] Step 902, the network device sends the fourth information to the relay device.

[0380] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the fourth information.

[0381] For example, the network device can transmit the fourth information to the relay device through a control link.

[0382] In a possible implementation, the fourth information can include at least one of the following information: information D-1 (information used for indicating resources occupied by the B2 group fourth signals sent by the relay device), information D-2 (information used for indicating the F2 second antennas), information D-3 (information used for indicating the first matrix), information D-4 (information used for indicating an association relationship between the resources used by the relay device to send the B2 group fourth signals and the F2 second antennas). Multiple information in the information D-1, the information D-2, the information D-3 and the information D-4 can be carried in the same message or multiple messages.

[0383] The information D-1 is information used for indicating resources occupied by the B2 group fourth signals sent by the relay device to the network device.

[0384] For example, the resources occupied by the B2 group fourth signals sent by the relay device to the network device include at least one of the following: time domain resources occupied by the B2 group fourth signals, frequency domain resources occupied by the B2 group fourth signals, or a polarization mode corresponding to the B2 group fourth signals. The polarization mode can include left-handed polarization and right-handed polarization, for example. The time domain resources corresponding to two groups of fourth signals in the B2 group fourth signals can be the same or different. The frequency domain resources corresponding to two groups of fourth signals in the B2 group fourth signals can be the same or different. The polarization resources corresponding to two groups of fourth signals in the B2 group fourth signals can be the same or different.

[0385] In a possible implementation, when the resources (for example, time domain resources) corresponding to multiple groups of fourth signals in the B2 group fourth signals are the same, the multiple groups of fourth signals can multiplex the same indication information of the resources (for example, indication information of the time domain resources), so that the signaling overhead can be saved.

[0386] In the embodiments of the present application, for the resource of one group of third signals in the F2 group third signals, the resource (for example, frequency domain resource or polarization mode) used by the relay device to receive the group of third signals can be the same as or different from the resource (for example, frequency domain resource or polarization mode) used by the relay device to send the B2 group fourth signals.

[0387] Information D-2, used to indicate the F2 second antennas.

[0388] The F2 second antennas belong to part or all of the antennas of the relay device.

[0389] In one possible implementation, the network device can indicate a more reasonable F2 second antennas to the relay device in combination with the actual channel environment or the signal coverage range of the relay device, so as to improve the communication performance.

[0390] After the relay device receives the information used to indicate the F2 second antennas, the relay device can determine the antennas needed to receive the F2 groups of third signals, and then receive the F2 groups of third signals through the F2 second antennas, so that the relay device side can process the signals using the coefficients (for example, combining coefficients) corresponding to the second antennas, so that the processed signals can better resist the interference in the channel corresponding to the second antennas, thereby improving the data transmission quality.

[0391] The information used to indicate the F2 second antennas includes at least one of the following: identification information of the F2 second antennas; position information of the F2 second antennas; index numbers of the F2 second antennas; or bitmap information. In the embodiments of the present application, the information used to indicate the F2 second antennas is similar to the information used to indicate the F1 first antennas, and can be referred to each other, and will not be described herein.

[0392] Information D-3, used to indicate the first matrix.

[0393] The information used to indicate the first matrix includes at least one of the following: indication information of the first matrix, or an index of the first matrix, or information of the coefficients (for example, combining coefficients) associated with each group of fourth signals in the B2 groups of fourth signals.

[0394] For example, the relay device and the network device obtain at least one first matrix and an index number corresponding to the first matrix. The network device indicates the index number of the first matrix to the relay device, and the relay device finds the association relationship between the index number of the first matrix and the first matrix, and determines the first matrix corresponding to the index number of the first matrix, so that the signaling overhead can be saved. The association relationship between the first matrix and the index number of the first matrix on the network device and the relay device side can be preconfigured, or specified by a protocol, or sent by other devices. For example, the network device can send the association relationship between the first matrix and the index number of the first matrix to the relay device.

[0395] In a possible implementation, the information for indicating the first matrix can also be replaced by information for indicating coefficients (e.g., combining coefficients) associated with the B2 groups of fourth signals. In this implementation, the network device can send, to the relay device, information of coefficients (e.g., combining coefficients) associated with each of the B2 groups of fourth signals.

[0396] The coefficients (e.g., combining coefficients) used by the two groups of fourth signals can be different or the same. For example, the network device can configure a more optimal first matrix (or coefficients (e.g., combining coefficients)) according to the channel condition of the area corresponding to the terminal device or the beam. Or the network device determines a more optimal first matrix (or coefficients (e.g., combining coefficients)) according to the positional relationship between the relay device and the terminal device (the area corresponding to the beam).

[0397] Information D-4, information for indicating the association relationship between the coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas.

[0398] The relay device can perform combining processing on the F2 groups of third signals received by the F2 second antennas to obtain the B2 groups of fourth signals. In the combining processing, for one (or each) of the F2 second antennas, the relay device uses the respective coefficients in the first matrix associated with the second antenna to process the group of signals received by the second antenna. In this way, the processed signals can better resist the interference in the channel of the second antenna, thereby improving the data transmission reliability.

[0399] For example, F2 is 3 and B2 is 3. The F2 second antennas are second antenna #21, second antenna #22, and second antenna #23, respectively. The F2 groups of third signals received by the F2 second antennas are third signal #31, third signal #32, and third signal #33, respectively. The precoding coefficients associated with the second antenna #21 include X 11 , the precoding coefficients associated with the second antenna #22 include X 12 , and the precoding coefficients associated with the second antenna #23 include X 13 . The relay device uses X 11 , X 12 , and X 13 to process and combine the three groups of third signals, respectively, to obtain a group of fourth signals (X 11 * third signal #31 + X 12 * third signal #32 + X 13 * third signal #33). Since the signals corresponding to each of the second antennas in the group of fourth signals are obtained by combining processing with the coefficients associated with each of the second antennas, the combined signals in the group of fourth signals can better resist the interference in the channel corresponding to each of the second antennas, thereby improving the data output reliability.

[0400] The related content of the information for indicating the association between the coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas can refer to the content of the information for indicating the association between the precoding coefficients in the first precoding matrix and the F1 first antennas configured by the network device for the relay device, which is similar and will not be described herein.

[0401] In a possible implementation, the association between the coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas can be predefined, or pre-stored by the network device and the relay device or agreed by a protocol / technical standard / technical specification.

[0402] The following Table 5 gives an example of the association between the time domain resources, the frequency domain resources, and the polarization mode used by the relay device to send a group of the fourth signals to the network device. The association given in Table 5 can be sent by the network device to the relay device by one message or multiple messages. As shown in Table 5, for a group of the fourth signals with the group number 1, the time domain resources used by the relay device to send the group of the fourth signals to the network device are time slots x1-y1, the frequency domain resources used by the relay device to send the group of the fourth signals to the network device are RB z1-w1, and the polarization mode used by the relay device to send the group of the fourth signals to the network device is left-handed polarization. The meanings of the remaining contents in the table are similar and will not be described herein.

[0403] Table 5 also shows the F2 second antennas used to receive F2 groups of the third signals associated with a group of the fourth signals, and the association between the group of the fourth signals, the F2 second antennas, and the coefficients in the first matrix. The F2 groups of the third signals associated with the group of the fourth signals can be understood as the group of the fourth signals obtained after the merging processing of the F2 groups of the third signals. As shown in Table 5, the relay device receives three groups of the third signals (for example, third signal #31, third signal #32, and third signal #33) through three second antennas (antenna #21, antenna #22, and antenna #23, respectively). The relay device merges the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #21, the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #22, and the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #23 to obtain a group of the fourth signals with the group number 1 (X 11 the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #21, the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #22, and the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #23 to obtain a group of the fourth signals with the group number 1 (X 12 the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #21, the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #22, and the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #23 to obtain a group of the fourth signals with the group number 1 (X 13 the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #21, the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #22, and the results of processing the group of the third signals received by the antenna #23 to obtain a group of the fourth signals with the group number 1 (X 11 *third signal #31+X 12 *third signal #32+X 13* the third signal #33). The meanings of the rest of the contents in the table are similar to them, and are not described again. The one given in Table 5 is one possible example of the information indicated by the network device to the relay device, and in actual applications, the information indicated by the network device to the relay device can be different from that in Table 5, such as can be less than or more than the number of columns shown in Table 5, and again such as can be more than or less than the number of rows shown in Table 5.

[0404] Table 5 One example of the group number of the group of the third signal, the time domain resource used by the relay device to send the group of the third signal, the frequency domain resource, the polarization mode, the association relationship of the coefficients in the first matrix used for receiving the F2 second antennas used for receiving the group of the fourth signal corresponding to the group of the third signal

[0405] Step 903, the at least one terminal device sends a signal to the relay device.

[0406] Correspondingly, the relay device receives the F2 groups of the third signal through the F2 second antennas.

[0407] The relay device receives the F2 groups of the third signal through the F2 second antennas. F2 is a positive integer. There is an association relationship between the F2 groups of the third signal and the F2 second antennas of the relay device. For example, the F2 groups of the third signal can be one-to-one corresponding to the F2 second antennas of the relay device, one group of the third signal corresponding to one second antenna, and one second antenna corresponding to one group of the third signal. For example, the signal received by one second antenna can be referred to as one group of the third signal. For example, the third signal #31 can be received through the second antenna #21 of the relay device, and the third signal #32 can be received through the second antenna #22 of the relay device. One (or each) group of the third signal in the F2 groups of the third signal can include one or more third signals. The number of third signals included in two groups of the third signal can be equal or unequal.

[0408] The F2 groups of the third signal in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by other names, such as F2 third signals, a set of F2 third signals, etc. One (or each) group of the third signal in the F2 groups of the third signal can also be replaced by other names, such as a group of signals, a group of feed element signals, a group of feed signals, a group of antenna element signals, a group of antenna signals, or a group of signals corresponding to one antenna feed (source) / antenna element, etc.

[0409] One of the second antennas in the F2 second antennas can include / be one antenna of the relay device. For example, one second antenna can include / be one or more physical antenna ports. Alternatively, one second antenna of the relay device can include / be one logical antenna port, which can include / be one or more physical antenna ports.

[0410] At step 904, the relay device obtains B2 fourth signals according to the F2 third signals.

[0411] In a possible implementation, the fourth signals in the B2 fourth signals can be signals corresponding to data (or service data) sent by the at least one terminal device to the network device. In a possible implementation, the relay device can perform second processing on the F2 third signals by using one or more coefficients (for example, combining coefficients) to obtain the B2 fourth signals. B2 is a positive integer. For example, B2 is 1 or an integer greater than 1. In embodiments of the present application, the second processing performed by the relay device on the F2 third signals can include / consist of: combining processing, or combining and weighting processing, etc. The one or more coefficients can be in the form of a first matrix, which can also be referred to as a combining matrix, etc. The B2 fourth signals indicate signals obtained by processing the F2 third signals by using the first matrix. The B2 fourth signals can be signals obtained by processing the F2 third signals by using the first matrix.

[0412] For example, the B2 fourth signals satisfy the following formula (7): B2×1 = W B2×F2 * S F2×1 … Formula (7)

[0413] In formula (7), S F2×1 represents the F2 third signals, W B2×F2 represents a first matrix of B2 rows and F2 columns, and S B2×1 represents the B2 fourth signals.

[0414] For ease of understanding, taking F2 as 3 and B2 as 3 as an example, the above formula (7) can be converted into the following formula (8):

[0415] In formula (8), C11, C21, and C31 are three fourth signals (S B2×1 ), E11, E21, and E31 are three third signals (S F2×1 ) received by the second antenna #21, the second antenna #22, and the second antenna #23 respectively, wherein one second antenna receives one third signal, is a first matrix (W B2×F2 ) of B2 rows and F2 columns. For example, X 11 may be regarded as the second antenna #21 and the signal C11 The coefficient corresponding to the channel between the corresponding terminal devices (or the coefficient is determined based on the channel conditions). X 21 X 22 and X 23 It can be considered as the second antenna #21, the second antenna #22, the second antenna #23, and signal C. 21 The coefficient corresponding to the channel between the corresponding terminal devices (or the coefficient determined based on the channel conditions), X 31 X 32 and X 33 It can be considered as the second antenna #21, the second antenna #22, the second antenna #23, and signal C. 31 The coefficients corresponding to the channels between the corresponding terminal devices (or the coefficients are determined based on the channel conditions). It can be seen from the above formula (4) that C 11 =(X 11 *E 11 +X 12 *5 21 +X 13 *E 31 ), C 21 =(X 21 *E 11 +X 22 *E 21 +X 23 *E 31 ), C 31 =(X 31 *E 11 +X 32 *E 21 +X 33 *E 31 ).

[0416] Based on the above examples, one possible implementation is to target one group (or each group) of fourth signals in group B2 (e.g., C). 11 The fourth signal in this group (e.g., C) 11 ) is obtained through the F2 coefficients (e.g., X) in the first matrix. 11 X 12 and X 13 For the third signal in group F2 (e.g., E) 11 E 21 and E 31 The F2 coefficients obtained after processing (e.g., X) 11 X 12 and X 13 ) and F2 second day lines (e.g. E) 11 E 21 and E 31 The corresponding channel association.

[0417] In conjunction with the above examples, another possible implementation involves a group of third signals (e.g., E) within the F2 group of third signals. 11 ), used for the third signal in this group (e.g., E) 11 The coefficients (e.g., X) are processed. 11 ) and used to receive the third signal in this group (e.g., E) 11 The second antenna (e.g., second antenna #21) and the third signal group (e.g., E) 11 The channel association corresponding to at least one terminal device. For example, E 11 The coefficient X used 11 It is related to the relay device receiving signal E 11 The antenna used and signal C 11 The corresponding terminal device location corresponds to the channel association (or the coefficient X). 11 (It is determined based on the channel). For example, E... 21 The coefficient X used 12 It is related to the relay device receiving signal E 21 The antenna used and signal C 11 The corresponding terminal device location corresponds to the channel association (or the coefficient X). 12 (It is determined based on the channel). For example, E... 31 The coefficient X used 13 It is related to the relay device receiving signal E 31 The antenna used and signal C 11 The corresponding terminal device location corresponds to the channel association (or the coefficient X). 13 (It is determined based on the channel). A set of third signals can correspond to one terminal device or multiple terminal devices.

[0418] It can be seen that, since the relay device can use the coefficients corresponding to the channel between the second antenna and the terminal device to process the signal received by the second antenna, the processed signal can better resist interference on the channel, thereby improving the signal transmission quality.

[0419] In one possible implementation, the two coefficients in the first matrix may be different or the same, for example, the coefficient X associated with the second line #21. 11 and X 21 They may be different or the same. In another possible implementation, for a region, such as the region corresponding to a beam, the channel states of multiple terminal devices corresponding to the same second antenna within that region may be quite similar. Therefore, multiple terminal devices corresponding to the same second antenna within a region may use the same coefficient (e.g., X). 11 and X 21The same). For another example, the same second antenna in a region can also use different coefficients (e.g., X 11 and X 21 different).

[0420] In one possible implementation, the first matrix is determined according to (or is indicative of) at least one of the following: channel information between the terminal device and the network device; channel information between the terminal device, the antenna of the relay device, and the network device; channel information between the terminal device and the antenna of the relay device; or, location information of the terminal device. For example, the network device can obtain the at least one of the information described above for determining the first matrix (e.g., obtain the channel information (e.g., channel state information) between the terminal device and the network device, or obtain the location information of the terminal device), and then determine the first matrix according to the obtained information. For another example, the network device receives the PMI from the terminal device, and then determines the first matrix according to the PMI.

[0421] The B2 groups of fourth signals in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by other names, for example, replaced by: B2 groups of fourth signals, a set of B2 groups of fourth signals, etc.

[0422] One group of fourth signals can be signals sent by one terminal device, or signals sent by one or more terminal devices in a region corresponding to one beam. The following will be exemplarily introduced through Example One and Example Two.

[0423] Example One: The number of the B2 groups of fourth signals can be the number of terminal devices corresponding to the B2 groups of fourth signals. For example, the B2 groups of fourth signals are signals corresponding to B2 terminal devices. The signals corresponding to one terminal device can be referred to as one group of fourth signals. For example, B2 is 2, and the two groups of fourth signals are marked as Group #41 and Group #42. The fourth signals in Group #41 correspond to terminal device #1, and the fourth signals in Group #41 are signals sent by terminal device #1. Similarly, the fourth signals in Group #42 correspond to terminal device #2, and the fourth signals in Group #42 are signals sent by terminal device #2.

[0424] Example Two: The number of the B2 groups of fourth signals can be the number of beams corresponding to the B2 groups of fourth signals. For example, the B2 groups of fourth signals are signals corresponding to B2 beams. The signals corresponding to one beam can be referred to as one group of fourth signals. For example, B2 is 2, and the two groups of fourth signals are marked as Group #41 and Group #42. The fourth signals in Group #41 correspond to beam #1, and the fourth signals in Group #41 are signals sent by one or more terminal devices in a region corresponding to beam #1. The fourth signals in Group #42 correspond to beam #2, and the fourth signals in Group #42 are signals sent by one or more terminal devices in a region corresponding to beam #2.

[0425] Step 905, the relay device sends a B2 group fourth signal to the network device.

[0426] Correspondingly, the network device receives the B2 group fourth signal.

[0427] In a possible implementation, the set of antennas of the relay device sending the B2 group fourth signal to the network device can have an intersection, or no intersection, or be the same as the set of antennas receiving the F2 group third signal (i.e., the set of F2 second antennas), and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0428] In a possible implementation, the relay device can send the B2 group fourth signal through a backhaul link. For example, the relay device sends the B2 group fourth signal through at least one of frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, or polarization multiplexing. For example, the B2 group fourth signal sent by the relay device occupies the same time domain resource, but different frequency domain resources and / or different polarization manners.

[0429] In another possible implementation, the network device can process the received signal through analog or digital filtering to obtain the B2 group fourth signal (or extract the B2 group fourth signal). For example, the network device can obtain the B2 group fourth signal through at least one of frequency division demultiplexing, time division demultiplexing, or polarization demultiplexing. For example, the frequency division demultiplexing of the network device can adopt an analog domain processing manner or a digital domain processing manner.

[0430] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the relay device can perform a second processing (for example, a combination processing, or a combination weighting processing, etc.) on the received F2 group third signal according to the coefficients of the first matrix associated with the channels of the second antennas receiving the F2 group third signal. In this way, the processed signal can better resist the interference on the channel, thereby improving the transmission quality of the signal.

[0431] In another aspect, since the second processing (for example, the combination processing, or the combination weighting processing, etc.) is completed at the relay device side, the scheme can reduce the processing complexity of the network device and reduce the transmission bandwidth demand between the relay device and the network device.

[0432] In another aspect, the network device can periodically or aperiodically update the first matrix, so that the data processed by the first matrix can better resist the interference of the channel, thereby further improving the data transmission quality.

[0433] In another aspect, the amount of data transmitted by the relay device to the network device is the number of B2 groups of fourth signals instead of the number of F2 groups of third signals, and thus the transmission data stream is changed from the number of third signals (or the number of second antennas) F2 to the number of fourth signals B2. In a commonly used scenario, the number of fourth signals B2 is less than the number of second antennas F2, and it can be seen that the amount of data transmitted by the relay device to the network device can be reduced in this scheme.

[0434] The signaling or information (such as one or more of the first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information) sent by the network device in the embodiments of the present application can have multiple sending modes, such as any of the signaling or information can be carried in at least one of the broadcast information of a system information block (SIB) 1, a SIB 19, other system information (OSI), a master information block (MIB), or a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) message, etc. The signaling or information (such as one or more of the first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information) sent by the network device is broadcast, multicast, or unicast sent by the network device to the relay device. Broadcasting or multicasting the above signaling to the relay device can avoid scheduling different resources for different relay devices in order to send the above signaling, saving signaling overhead of scheduling resources and reducing system scheduling complexity.

[0435] In another possible implementation, if transmitted in the radio resource control (RRC) connection setup phase and subsequent communication process, the signaling or information (such as one or more of the first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information) transmitted by the network device can be carried in at least one of RRC signaling (for example, an RRC setup message, RRC reconfiguration signaling, RRC resume signaling, etc.), downlink control information (DCI), group DCI, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a timing advance command (TAC). The signaling or information (such as one or more of the first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information) transmitted by the network device can be indicated by information or a table, or transmitted to the relay device through data transmission or in a separately allocated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) bearer. The advantage of transmitting the above signaling to the UE individually or in groups is that the parameter values of each / each group of UEs can be flexibly controlled, and different parameter values are configured to the UE according to different locations or different areas where the UE is located to optimize system parameters and optimize UE communication performance / system communication performance. For example, the network device can configure the relay device to use different numbers or combinations of antennas according to different locations where the UEs served by the relay device are located, and can optimize the transmission signal-to-noise ratio when the relay device forwards data for UEs in different locations to improve communication performance.

[0436] It can be understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the terminal device, the relay device, and the network device can include corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for performing the functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and method steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is implemented in hardware or computer software driven hardware depends on the specific application scenarios and design constraints of the technical solutions.

[0437] Based on the same concept, FIG. 10, FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are structural diagrams of possible communication apparatuses provided by embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatuses shown in FIG. 10, FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 can be used to implement the functions of the relay device or the network device in the method embodiments described above, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the method embodiments described above. In embodiments of the present application, the communication apparatus can be a relay device or a chip (or chip system) inside the relay device as referred to in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, FIG. 1G, FIG. 1H or FIG. 1I, for example, the relay device is a satellite, or the relay device is an NCR deployed on the ground. The communication apparatus can be a network device or a chip (or chip system) inside the network device as referred to in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, FIG. 1G, FIG. 1H or FIG. 1I, for example, the network device is an access network device, which can be deployed on the ground or in the air.

[0438] As shown in FIG. 10, the communication apparatus 1300 includes a processing unit 1310 and a transceiver unit 1320. The communication apparatus 1300 is used to implement the functions of the relay device or the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8 or FIG. 9. The transceiver unit 1320 can also be referred to as a communication unit. The transceiver unit 1320 can include a sending unit and a receiving unit.

[0439] When the communication apparatus 1300 is used to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to obtain the B1 group second signal, and send the F1 group first signal through the transceiver unit 1320.

[0440] When the communication apparatus 1300 is used to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group second signal.

[0441] When the communication apparatus 1300 is used to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the association between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group second signal and the F1 first antennas.

[0442] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the association between the F1 groups of first signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0443] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, at least one of the following: information indicating the F1 first antennas, indication information indicating the resources associated with the B1 groups of second signals; or, information indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 groups of second signals.

[0444] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to send, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the antenna information of the relay device.

[0445] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, the B1 groups of second signals.

[0446] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, the B1 groups of fifth signals, and the B1 groups of second signals are obtained from the B1 groups of fifth signals.

[0447] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the second precoding matrix.

[0448] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the third precoding matrix.

[0449] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to: acquire the B1 group second signal, and send the B1 group second signal through the transceiver unit 1320.

[0450] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to send, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group second signal.

[0451] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to send, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the association between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 group second signal and the F1 first antennas.

[0452] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to send, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the association between the F1 group first signals and the F1 first antennas.

[0453] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to send, through the transceiver unit 1320, at least one of the following information: information indicating the F1 first antennas; indication information indicating the resources associated with the B1 group second signal; or, information indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 group second signal.

[0454] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive, through the transceiver unit 1320, information indicating the antenna information of the relay device.

[0455] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to send, through the transceiver unit 1320, the B1 group second signal.

[0456] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the second precoding matrix.

[0457] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the second precoding matrix.

[0458] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the second precoding matrix.

[0459] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive F2 groups of third signals through F2 second antennas, and send B2 groups of fourth signals.

[0460] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the first matrix.

[0461] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the association between the coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas.

[0462] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the F2 second antennas, which belong to part or all of the antennas of the relay device.

[0463] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the relay device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9, in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to, through the transceiver unit 1320: receive the information used for indicating the resources of the B2 fourth signals.

[0464] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0465] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0466] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0467] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0468] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0469] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0470] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0471] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in a possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is configured to receive the B2 fourth signals.

[0472] As shown in FIG. 11, the communication apparatus 1400 includes a processor 1410 and an interface circuit 1420. The processor 1410 and the interface circuit 1420 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 1420 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. The input / output interface is used for inputting and / or outputting information, and the output can be understood as transmitting, and the input can be understood as receiving. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1400 can further include a memory 1430, used for storing instructions executed by the processor 1410 or storing input data required by the processor 1410 for executing instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1410 executes instructions.

[0473] When the communication apparatus 1400 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8 or FIG. 9, the processor 1410 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1310 described above, and the interface circuit 1420 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1320 described above.

[0474] Please refer to FIG. 12, the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 12 can also be a possible architecture of a baseband. As shown in FIG. 12, the communication apparatus can include a processing system, which can include one or more processors, which can be used to execute processes, such as process #1…process #N shown in FIG. 12.

[0475] The processing system can be implemented with a bus architecture, which is generally represented by a bus. The bus can include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus communicatively couples various circuits including one or more processors (generally represented by a processor), memory, and computer-readable media (generally represented by computer-readable media, such as computer-readable media #1…computer-readable media #N shown in FIG. 12). The bus can also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be further described. A bus interface provides an interface between the bus and a transceiver, and between the bus and an interface.

[0476] The communication apparatus can also include a transceiver (not shown in FIG. 12), which can also be replaced by an interface circuit or a communication interface, etc. The transceiver provides a communication interface or means for communicating with various other apparatuses through a wireless transmission medium. The transceiver can be coupled to an antenna array, and the transceiver and the antenna array can be used together to communicate with a corresponding network type. At least one interface (for example, a network interface and / or a user interface) provides a communication interface or means for communicating through an internal bus or via an external transmission medium.

[0477] The processor is responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium. The software, when executed by the processor, causes the processing system to perform the various functions described below for any particular apparatus. The functions of the processor, memory, and computer-readable medium can include one or more of encoding, decoding, rate matching, de-rate matching, scrambling, de-scrambling, modulating, demodulating, layer mapping, fast fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT), inverse discrete fourier transform (IDFT), precoding, resource element (RE) mapping, channel equalization, de-RE mapping, digital beam forming (BF), adding a cyclic prefix (CP), de-CP, and the like.

[0478] The signaling (such as the first information, the fourth information, the signal, and the like) involved in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by the processor, the memory, and the computer-readable medium. For example, the network device sends the above signaling to the relay device (for example, a satellite), and the processor, the memory, and the computer-readable medium in FIG. 12 process the above parameters and then send them to the terminal device.

[0479] When the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 12 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, or FIG. 9, the processor 1410 is configured to implement the functions of the processing unit 1310, and the interface circuit 1420 is configured to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1320.

[0480] When the above communication apparatus (for example, the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 10, FIG. 11, or FIG. 12) is a chip applied to a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The terminal device chip receives information from a base station, which can be understood as the information being received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device first, and then being sent to the terminal device chip by these modules. The terminal device chip sends information to the base station, which can be understood as the information being sent to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device first, and then being sent to the base station by these modules.

[0481] When the communication device (for example, the communication device shown in FIG. 10, FIG. 11 or FIG. 12) is a chip applied to a base station (for example, a satellite base station), the base station chip implements the function of the network device in the method embodiment. The base station chip receives information from the terminal device, which can be understood as the information being received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the base station first, and then being sent to the base station chip by these modules. The base station chip sends information to the terminal device, which can be understood as the information being sent to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the base station first, and then being sent to the terminal device by these modules.

[0482] In this application, the sending of information from entity A to entity B can be direct sending from A to B, or indirect sending from A to B through other entities. Similarly, the receiving of information from entity A by entity B can be direct receiving of the information sent by entity A, or indirect receiving of the information sent by entity A through other entities. Here, entity A and entity B can be RAN nodes or terminal devices, or modules inside RAN nodes or terminal devices. The sending and receiving of information can be information interaction between RAN nodes and terminal devices, for example, information interaction between a base station and a terminal device; the sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between two RAN nodes, for example, information interaction between a CU and a DU; the sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between different modules inside one device, for example, information interaction between a terminal device chip and other modules of the terminal device, or information interaction between a base station chip and other modules of the base station.

[0483] It can be understood that the processor (for example, the processor 1410 in FIG. 11 and / or the processor in the processing system in FIG. 12) in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0484] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions executable by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal device. The processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the base station or the terminal device.

[0485] In the above embodiments, the implementation can be entirely or partially achieved by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, the implementation can be entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions of the embodiments of the present application are entirely or partially performed. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, or other programmable devices. The computer programs or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer programs or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disc; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state disk. The computer-readable storage medium can be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0486] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be mutually referred to if there is no special description and no logical conflict. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0487] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "multiple" means two or more. The "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist together, B exists alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of the present application, the character " / ", generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of the present application, the character " / ", indicates that the associated objects before and after are in a "division" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B or C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0488] It can be understood that various numbers (such as numerical numbers "first", "second", and so on, such as letter numbers "A1", "A2", and so on) involved in the embodiments of the present application are only distinguished for convenience of description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: obtaining B1 groups of second signals, B1 being a positive integer; sending F1 groups of first signals, F1 being a positive integer, the F1 groups of first signals indicating signals after the B1 groups of second signals are precoded, the F1 groups of first signals being sent through F1 first antennas of a relay device, and there being an association relationship between the F1 groups of first signals and the F1 first antennas of the relay device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, For one of the F1 first antennas: a group of first signals associated with the first antenna is obtained by precoding the B1 groups of second signals through B1 second precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna respectively.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of second signals.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The method further comprises: receiving information indicating the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of second signals and the F1 first antennas, the association relationship between the F1 groups of first signals and the F1 first antennas being determined according to the association relationship between the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of second signals and the F1 first antennas; and / or, receiving information indicating the association relationship between the F1 groups of first signals and the F1 first antennas.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein The method further comprises: receiving information of at least one of the following: information indicating the F1 first antennas, the F1 first antennas belonging to part or all of the antennas of the relay device; indication information indicating resources associated with the B1 groups of second signals; or information indicating the number of signal groups of the B1 groups of second signals.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The F1 groups of first signals indicate signals after the B1 groups of second signals are precoded by a first precoding matrix; or The F1 groups of first signals indicate signals after B1 groups of fifth signals are precoded by a second precoding matrix, the B1 groups of fifth signals indicating signals after the B1 groups of second signals are precoded by a third precoding matrix.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, The B1 groups of second signals are obtained by: receiving the B1 groups of second signals; or receiving the B1 groups of fifth signals, the B1 groups of fifth signals indicating signals after the B1 groups of second signals are precoded by a third precoding matrix.

8. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: obtaining B1 groups of second signals, B1 being a positive integer; sending B1 groups of second signals, F1 being a positive integer, the B1 groups of second signals being used to obtain F1 groups of first signals, the F1 groups of first signals indicating signals after the B1 groups of second signals are precoded, the F1 groups of first signals being sent through F1 first antennas of a relay device, and there being an association relationship between the F1 groups of first signals and the F1 first antennas of the relay device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, For one of the F1 first antennas: a group of first signals associated with the first antenna is obtained by precoding the B1 groups of second signals through B1 second precoding coefficients associated with the first antenna respectively.

10. The method according to any one of claims 8-9, characterized in that, The method further comprises: sending information indicating the precoding coefficients associated with the B1 groups of second signals.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein, The method further comprises: transmit information indicating an association between the B1 set of second signals and the F1 set of first antennas, the association between the F1 set of first signals and the F1 set of first antennas being determined according to the association between the B1 set of second signals and the F1 set of first antennas; and / or, transmit information indicating an association between the F1 set of first signals and the F1 set of first antennas.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: transmit information of at least one of: information indicating the F1 set of first antennas; indication information indicating resources of the B1 set of second signals; or information indicating a number of signal groups of the B1 set of second signals.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein, The F1 set of first signals indicates signals after the B1 set of second signals are precoded by a first precoding matrix; or The F1 set of first signals indicates signals after the B1 set of fifth signals are precoded by a second precoding matrix, the B1 set of fifth signals indicating signals after the B1 set of second signals are precoded by a third precoding matrix.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein, The B1 set of second signals includes: transmit the B1 set of second signals; or transmit the B1 set of fifth signals, the B1 set of fifth signals indicating signals after the B1 set of second signals are precoded by a third precoding matrix.

15. A method of communication, comprising: The method includes: receive, by F2 second antennas of a relay device, an F2 set of third signals, the F2 being a positive integer; transmit a B2 set of fourth signals, the B2 being a positive integer, the B2 set of fourth signals indicating signals after the F2 set of third signals are processed by a first matrix, the first matrix being associated with the F2 second antennas of the relay device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, For a set of fourth signals in the B2 set of fourth signals: The set of fourth signals is obtained by processing the F2 set of third signals by F2 coefficients in the first matrix, the F2 coefficients being associated with channels corresponding to the F2 second antennas.

17. The method of any one of claims 15-16, wherein, The method further includes: receive information indicating the first matrix.

18. The method of any one of claims 15-17, wherein, The method further includes: receive information indicating an association between coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas.

19. The method of any one of claims 15-18, wherein, The method further includes: receive information indicating the F2 second antennas, the F2 second antennas belonging to part or all antennas of the relay device; and / or receive information indicating resources of the B2 set of fourth signals.

20. A method of communication, comprising: The method includes: receive a B2 set of fourth signals, the B2 being a positive integer, the B2 set of fourth signals being determined according to an F2 set of third signals, the F2 being a positive integer, the B2 set of fourth signals indicating signals after the F2 set of third signals are processed by a first matrix, the first matrix being associated with F2 second antennas of a relay device, the F2 set of third signals being received by the F2 second antennas of the relay device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein, For a set of fourth signals in the B2 set of fourth signals: The fourth group of signals are obtained by processing the third group of signals by F2 coefficients in the first matrix, the F2 coefficients being associated with channels corresponding to the F2 second antennas.

22. The method of any one of claims 20-21, wherein, The method further comprises: transmitting information indicating the first matrix.

23. The method of any one of claims 20-22, wherein, The method further comprises: transmitting information indicating an association between coefficients in the first matrix and the F2 second antennas.

24. The method of any one of claims 20-23, wherein, The method further comprises: transmitting information indicating the F2 second antennas, the F2 second antennas belonging to part or all antennas of the relay device; and / or, transmitting information indicating resources of the B2 fourth signals.

25. A communications device, characterized by A module for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 7, or a module for performing the method of any one of claims 8 to 14, or a module for performing the method of any one of claims 15 to 19, or a module for performing the method of any one of claims 20 to 24.

26. A communications device, characterized by A processor and an interface circuit for receiving signals from other communication devices and transmitting signals to the processor or transmitting signals from the processor to other communication devices, the processor being configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method of any one of claims 8 to 14, or the method of any one of claims 15 to 19, or the method of any one of claims 20 to 24 by means of logic circuitry or by means of executing code instructions.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium has stored therein a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method of any one of claims 8 to 14, or the method of any one of claims 15 to 19, or the method of any one of claims 20 to 24.

28. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product has stored therein a computer program, the computer program comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a computer, cause the method of any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method of any one of claims 8 to 14, or the method of any one of claims 15 to 19, or the method of any one of claims 20 to 24.

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