Communication method, and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method, and an apparatus, the method comprising: receiving first information from a network device, the first information being used for indicating first multipath component information of a first port and second multipath component information of a second port, or being used for indicating correlation information between the first port and the second port; and receiving or sending a reference signal corresponding to the first port, wherein the reference signal, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information are used for channel estimation, and the reference signal and the correlation information are used for channel estimation. By means of the method, channel estimation on the first port and the second port can be achieved on the basis of the first information and the reference signal corresponding to the first port, so that even in the absence of a reference signal corresponding to the second port, channel estimation can also be performed on the second port on the basis of the first information and the reference signal of the first port, thereby reducing the overhead of reference signals, and further ensuring the performance of data transmission of the first port and the second port.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202411345643.X, filed on September 25, 2024, and entitled “A communication method and apparatus”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0004] In a wireless communication system, such as a new radio (NR) system, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) can be used to estimate an equivalent channel of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), so as to be used for detection and demodulation of data.

[0005] DMRS supports up to 12 orthogonal ports. With the development of communication, higher order (i.e., more data streams) data transmission with larger antenna dimensions may be needed in the future, such as simultaneous transmission of hundreds or even thousands of data streams, which requires more DMRS ports to support a higher number of transmission streams (more than 12 streams). However, the more DMRS ports, the greater the resource overhead of DMRS. How to reduce the resource overhead of DMRS is a problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus to reduce the resource overhead of a reference signal.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a communication device (or said method is performed by the communication device), i.e., the communication device can be a communication equipment (such as a terminal device), or the communication device can be a component (such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit or a communication module) in the communication equipment. The method comprises: receiving first information from a network device; the first information is used to indicate first multi-path component information of a first port and second multi-path component information of a second port, or the first information is used to indicate correlation information between the first port and the second port; receiving or sending a reference signal corresponding to the first port; the reference signal, the first multi-path component information and the second multi-path component information are used for channel estimation; and the reference signal and the correlation information are used for channel estimation.

[0008] By the method provided by the present application, for the downlink direction, the terminal device can perform channel estimation on the first port and the second port by the first information and the received reference signal corresponding to the first port, so that the terminal device can perform channel estimation on the second port according to the first information and the reference signal of the first port without the reference signal of the second port, thereby reducing the overhead of the reference signal and ensuring the transmission performance of the data transmitted by the first port and the second port. For the uplink direction, the network device can perform channel estimation on the first port and the second port by the first information and the sent reference signal corresponding to the first port, so that the network device can perform channel estimation on the second port according to the first information and the reference signal of the first port without the reference signal of the second port, thereby reducing the overhead of the reference signal and ensuring the transmission performance of the data transmitted by the first port and the second port. In particular, when the present application is applied to a super large-scale MIMO system, a part of the ports can be used to send the reference signal, so that the multiple ports can be estimated according to the part of the ports, thereby reducing the overhead of the reference signal and improving the data transmission performance of the multiple ports in the case of increasing the number of ports.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the result of the channel estimation comprises first channel information and second channel information; wherein the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multi-path component information and the second multi-path component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information.

[0011] By the method, the second channel information of the second port can be determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information or the multipath component information determined according to the reference signal corresponding to the first port without the reference signal corresponding to the second port, so that the overhead of the reference signal can be reduced and the data transmission performance of the second port can be ensured.

[0012] In a possible implementation, after receiving the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further includes receiving first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0013] In a possible implementation, after sending the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further includes sending first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port includes receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the result of the channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information; and the receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation includes receiving a first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port according to the first channel information and receiving a second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port according to the second channel information; wherein the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information.

[0016] In a possible implementation, the method further includes receiving second information from the network device, where the second information is used to indicate the first port.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the second information is further used to indicate the second port.

[0018] In the method, the first port and the second port are indicated by the second information, so that the signaling overhead can be reduced and the resource utilization rate can be improved.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the second information is used to indicate a first index of the first port; and a second index of the second port is smaller than the first index.

[0020] By the method, the first index of the first port needs to be indicated by the second information only, and the indexes of all ports do not need to be configured and indicated, so that the system overhead is reduced.

[0021] In a possible implementation, the second information is a third index, the third index corresponds to at least one port, the first port is a port corresponding to the first index in the at least one port, the second port is a port corresponding to the second index in the at least one port, and the first index and the second index are preset.

[0022] By this method, at least one port can be indicated by the second information, and resource overhead for indicating the port is reduced.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the at least one port belongs to a same code division multiplexing (CDM) group or port set.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving third information from the network device, the third information being used to indicate the second port.

[0025] In this method, the second port is indicated by the third information, and the indication of the second port is more flexible.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the third information is used to indicate the second port, including: the third information is a second index of the second port.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending capability information, the capability information indicating that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is supported to be received based on a reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving fourth information from the network device, the fourth information being used to indicate that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is received based on a reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the correlation information includes at least one of the following: multipath delay spread information of the first port and the second port; Doppler spread information of the first port and the second port; and spatial angle spread information of the first port and the second port.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the reference signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

[0031] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to (or performed by) a communication device, which can be a communication apparatus (e.g., a network device), or a component (e.g., a chip or a chip system or a circuit or a communication module) in a communication apparatus. The method can include: sending, to a terminal device, first information; the first information being used to indicate first multi-path component information of a first port and second multi-path component information of a second port, or the first information being used to indicate correlation information between the first port and the second port; receiving or sending a reference signal corresponding to the first port; the reference signal, the first multi-path component information and the second multi-path component information being used for channel estimation; and the reference signal and the correlation information being used for channel estimation.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the result of the channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information; the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multi-path component information and the second multi-path component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information.

[0033] In a possible implementation, after receiving the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further includes: receiving first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0034] In a possible implementation, after sending the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further includes: sending first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port includes: receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the result of the channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information; and the receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation includes: receiving a first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port according to the first channel information, and receiving a second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port according to the second channel information; the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multi-path component information and the second multi-path component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information.

[0037] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending second information, where the second information is used to indicate the first port.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the second information is further used to indicate the second port.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the second information is used to indicate a first index of the first port; and a second index of the second port is less than the first index.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the second information is further used to indicate the second port.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the second information is a third index, the third index corresponds to at least one port, the first port is a port corresponding to a first index in the at least one port, the second port is a port corresponding to a second index in the at least one port, and the first index and the second index are preset.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the at least one port belongs to a same code division multiplexing (CDM) group or port set.

[0043] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third information, where the third information is used to indicate the second port.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the third information is used to indicate the second port, and the third information includes a second index of the second port.

[0045] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving capability information from the terminal device, where the capability information indicates that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is supported to be received based on a reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is received based on a reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0047] In a possible implementation, the correlation information includes at least one of the following: multipath time delay spread information of the first port and the second port; Doppler spread information of the first port and the second port; and spatial angle spread information of the first port and the second port.

[0048] In a possible implementation, the reference signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

[0049] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which can implement any of the methods provided in the first aspect to the second aspect. The communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more functional modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0050] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a processor configured to support the communication apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above methods. The communication apparatus can further include a memory coupled to the processor, which stores the necessary program instructions and data of the communication apparatus. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes an interface circuit for supporting the communication between the communication apparatus and other devices such as terminal devices.

[0051] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above methods. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a processing unit and a communication unit, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples, and the details are described in the methods provided in the first aspect to the second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0053] In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes a processor and an interface circuit for receiving signals from other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus and transmitting the signals to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus. The processor implements the functional modules of the methods in any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect by logic circuit or executing computer programs or instructions. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a memory for storing computer programs or instructions. Optionally, the communication apparatus can be a chip or a chip system.

[0054] In a fifth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores computer programs or instructions, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed by a processor, the methods in any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect are implemented.

[0055] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product storing instructions is provided, and when a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the methods in any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect are implemented.

[0056] In a seventh aspect, there is provided a circuitry configured to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect. The circuitry can comprise a chip. Optionally, the circuitry can be further coupled with a memory.

[0057] In an eighth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor configured to implement the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect when the processor executes a computer program or instructions. Optionally, the chip can further comprise a memory. The chip can be constituted by a chip, or can comprise a chip and other discrete devices.

[0058] In a ninth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising a processor configured to implement the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect by means of a logic circuitry or by executing computer program or instructions. Optionally, the communication apparatus can be a chip or a chip system.

[0059] In a tenth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising units or modules for performing the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect to the second aspect. Optionally, the communication apparatus can be a chip or a chip system.

[0060] In an eleventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system. The communication system comprises: a terminal device configured to implement the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect; and a network device configured to implement the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0061] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application;

[0062] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a transmission direction s of a radial in a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system;

[0063] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a CDM group according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a CDM group according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a port according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0071] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments of the present application.

[0072] The network architecture and service scenarios described in the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of network architecture and the appearance of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0073] First, "multiple" in the embodiments of the present application can mean two or more than two. In view of this, "multiple" in the embodiments of the present application can also be understood as "at least two". "At least one" can be understood as one or more, for example, one, two or more. For example, "including at least one" means including one, two or more, for example, including at least one of A, B and C, which can include A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A, B and C. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which can exist in three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / ", if not specially stated, generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it.

[0074] Second, "first", "second", and the like ordinal numbers mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are generally used to distinguish different objects, and are not used to limit the order, time sequence, priority or importance of a plurality of objects.

[0075] Third, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units does not have to be limited to those clearly listed steps or units, but can include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0076] Four, in the present application, "predefined" can include predefinition, for example, protocol definition. Wherein, "predefinition" can be realized by pre-storing corresponding code, table or other means for indicating related information in the device (for example, including various network elements), the present application does not limit the specific implementation mode thereof.

[0077] Five, the "storage" or "save" involved in the present application can refer to saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be separately arranged or integrated in the encoder or decoder, processor or communication device. The one or more memories can also be partially separately arranged and partially integrated in the decoder, processor or communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, which is not limited.

[0078] Six, the arrows or blocks shown by the dashed lines in the schematic diagram of the drawing part of the present application specification represent optional steps or optional modules.

[0079] Seven, in the present application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, display indication, implicit indication. When describing that certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0080] In the present application, the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as the to-be-indicated information. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or the index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be only indicated a part, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance.

[0081] Eight, in the present application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to the terminal device" can be understood as that the destination of the information is the terminal device. For example, "receiving information from the terminal device" can be understood as that the source of the information is the terminal device. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be carried out between devices, for example, between network devices and terminal devices, or within devices.

[0082] Nine, in the embodiments of the present application, the words such as "exemplarily", "for example", "for example" are used to represent examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "example" in the present application should not be interpreted as more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Rather, the word "example" is intended to present the concept in a specific way. In the embodiments of the present application, "of", "corresponding" and "corresponding" are sometimes mixed. It should be pointed out that when the difference is not emphasized, the meanings expressed are consistent.

[0083] Ten, the embodiments of the present application will be presented around a system including a plurality of devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood that the system can include other devices, components, modules, etc. not mentioned, or can only include part of the devices, components, or modules mentioned in the embodiments. Alternatively, "component" and "part" in the present application can be replaced with each other.

[0084] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), wireless local area network (WLAN), short-range wireless communication system (such as sidelink, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, etc.), wired network, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication system, device-to-device (D2D) communication system, Internet of vehicles communication system, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system, 4th generation (4G) mobile communication system (such as long term evolution (LTE) system), 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system (such as new radio (NR) system), future communication system, or other similar communication systems, etc. without limitation. The embodiments of the present application are described taking the communication system shown in FIG. 1 as an example. When the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applied to other communication systems, the devices, components, modules, etc. in the embodiments can be replaced with corresponding devices, components, modules in other communication systems without limitation.

[0085] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes an access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system can also include an Internet 300. The access network 100 can include at least one radio access network (RAN) node, such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1, and at least one terminal device, such as 120a-120j in Figure 1. Among them, 110a is a base station (BS), 110b is a micro station, 120a, 120e, 120f and 120j are mobile phones, 120b is a car, 120c is a fuel dispenser, 120d is a home access point (HAP) arranged indoors or outdoors, 120g is a notebook computer, 120h is a printer, and 120i is a drone. Among them, the same terminal device or network device can provide different functions in different application scenarios. For example, the mobile phones in Figure 1 are 120a, 120e, 120f and 120j, the mobile phone 120a can access the base station 110a, connect the car 120b, communicate directly with the mobile phone 120e and access the HAP, the car 120b can access the HAP and communicate directly with the mobile phone 120a, the mobile phone 120f can access the micro station 110b, connect the notebook computer 120g, and connect the printer 120h, and the mobile phone 120j can control the drone 120i.

[0086] The network device is a network-side device with wireless transceiving function. The network device can be a device in a radio access network (RAN) that provides wireless communication function for a terminal device, referred to as a RAN device; or the network device can also be a core network device. For ease of understanding, the network device is taken as a RAN device in the following description. The RAN can be an access network in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), for example, a 4G, 5G, or future-oriented network. The RAN can also be an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a communication network of two or more of the above networks. The RAN device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access node in a WiFi system, a wireless relay node, or a wireless backhaul node, etc.

[0087] The RAN device can also be a module or unit that completes the function of the base station part, 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 function 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 function of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also complete the function of part of the physical layer or the entire physical layer. For specific descriptions of the above-mentioned various protocol layers, 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 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 one of the CU (or CU-control plane (CU-CP) or CU-user plane (CU-UP)), the DU, and the RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. The network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), can also be a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), and can also be a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0088] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem containing the functions of the network device. The control subsystem containing the functions of the network device herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, smart city, etc.

[0089] The terminal device is a user-side device with wireless transceiving function. The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), user terminal, user apparatus, user unit, user station, access terminal, access station, UE station, remote station, wireless communication device, mobile station, or mobile terminal, etc. The terminal device is usually provided with a communication module, circuit or chip for performing corresponding communication functions. The terminal device is also configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions. The terminal device can be widely applied in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) or machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiving function, wearable device, vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, transport vehicle with wireless communication function, communication module, etc.

[0090] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the functions, such as a chip system or a combination device or component that can implement the functions of the terminal device, which can be installed in the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0091] The roles of the network device and the terminal device can be relative, for example, the helicopter or the unmanned aerial vehicle 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile network device, and for the terminal device 120j that accesses the wireless access network 100 through 120i, the terminal device 120i is a network device; but for the network device 110a, 120i is a terminal device, that is, 110a communicates with 120i through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate through an interface protocol between network devices, at this time, 120i is also a network device relative to 110a. Therefore, the network device and the terminal device can be collectively referred to as a communication apparatus, 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with a network device function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with a terminal device function.

[0092] It should be noted that the communication system described in the embodiments of the present application is for more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0093] In order to better understand the technical solutions of the present application, some related technologies related to the technical solutions of the present application are introduced.

[0094] 1. Multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology: utilizing the resource of spatial dimension, the signal can obtain array gain, multiplexing and diversity gain, and interference cancellation gain in space without increasing the system bandwidth, which can multiply the capacity and spectrum efficiency of the communication system. For example, in the LTE system, the MIMO system can support up to 8 layers of transmission at the sending end and the receiving end by using multiple antennas.

[0095] 2. Reference signal (RS): a physical signal carrying a sequence for realizing a specific function. Specifically, the reference signal is a physical signal generated by mapping a specific sequence to corresponding resources according to a pre-designed resource mapping manner. The reference signal can also be referred to as a pilot, a reference sequence, a reference signal, etc.

[0096] In this application, the reference signal involved can be any of the following as an example: channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS), cell reference signal (CRS), etc. Among them, the DMRS can be used for demodulation of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The CSI-RS can be used for channel information measurement and implementation of reporting of channel state information (CSI), which includes at least one of the following: precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indication (RI), and channel quality indicator (CQI).

[0097] It should be understood that the reference signals listed above are only examples and should not constitute any limitation on the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of defining other reference signals in future protocols to achieve the same or similar functions.

[0098] 3, port: also known as antenna port, can include transmit port and receive port; the transmit port can also be referred to as transmit antenna port, and the receive port can also be referred to as receive antenna port. One port can be configured for each virtual antenna, each virtual antenna can be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas, and each port can correspond to one reference signal.

[0099] Among them, the transmit port can be understood as a virtual antenna identified by the receiving end. The receive port can be understood as the receiving antenna of the receiving end. For example, in downlink transmission, the receive port can refer to the receiving antenna of the terminal device, and the receive port can also be understood as a virtual antenna.

[0100] For the port used to send DMRS, it can also be referred to as DMRS port, that is, DMRS can be sent through DMRS port.

[0101] 4、Steering vector: can be used to represent the spatial phase difference caused by the spatial interval between antenna ports in the same wave direction. Steering vector can be used to calculate the array response under different angles of arrival / angles of departure, each steering vector can represent a specific angle of arrival or departure, and each element can represent an array element in the array. The steering vectors corresponding to different arrangements of the antenna array can be different.

[0102] The steering vector can also be divided into a steering vector of a receiving port and a steering vector of a transmitting port. Taking the steering vector of the receiving port as an example, it is assumed that the receiving ports of the terminal device are arranged in a uniform array. In other words, the antenna array formed by the receiving ports of the terminal device is a uniform array. For example, the receiving ports of the terminal device can form an R1xR2-dimensional antenna array; R1 and R2 are both positive integers. That is, the receiving ports of the terminal device are uniformly distributed in R1 rows and R2 columns, specifically, each row arranged in the horizontal direction can include R2 receiving ports, and each column arranged in the vertical direction can include R1 receiving ports. Among them, the vertical dimension is an example of the first dimension, and the horizontal dimension is an example of the second dimension.

[0103] As an example, for an R1xR2-dimensional uniform array, in the first dimension direction, the steering vector v1 can be represented as:

[0104] wherein λ represents the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave; d1 represents the row spacing between ports, represents the elevation angle, k1=0, 1, …, K1-1, and K1 represents the number of sampling angles in the first dimension direction.

[0105] In the second dimension direction, the steering vector v2 can be represented as:

[0106] wherein d2 represents the column spacing between ports, represents the horizontal angle. K2 represents the number of sampling angles in the second dimension direction. For a given value of k1, the value of k2 is iterated from 0 to K2-1, and K2 steering vectors can be obtained.

[0107] The horizontal angle and the elevation angle are explained below in connection with FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, as an example, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a transmission direction s of a path in a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system. In the three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system, the xoy plane is a horizontal plane, the antenna array can be deployed in the xoz plane, and the coordinate origin o can correspond to an antenna. The transmission direction s can be, for example, a direction opposite to a path of a signal from a transmitting end to the antenna. The projection of the transmission direction s on the horizontal plane can form an angle with the x-axis, which can correspond to φ in the figure. The transmission direction s can form an angle with the z-axis, which can correspond to θ in the figure. There can be multiple different horizontal angles and multiple different elevation angles corresponding to multiple different paths between the transmitting end and the receiving end. The horizontal angle and the elevation angle are both understood in the following, and are not repeated here for brevity.

[0108] 5. Steering matrix. The steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors, in other words, the steering matrix can be a matrix composed of the steering vectors, or in other words, the elements in the steering matrix are the steering vectors. When a signal is transmitted through a wireless channel, it can pass through multiple paths (or sub-paths, or multiple path clusters) from a transmitting antenna to a receiving antenna, and therefore, the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors, which can also be replaced by: the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors of multiple paths, or the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors of multiple sub-paths, or the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors of multiple path clusters. In other words, in the embodiments of the present application, the steering matrix can be at the path cluster level, or at the path level, or at the sub-path level, which is not limited. The steering matrix can also be referred to as a spatial steering matrix, which is not limited.

[0109] The steering vectors include the steering vectors of the transmitting ports and / or the steering vectors of the receiving ports, or the steering vectors include the steering vectors of the transmitting end and / or the receiving end of the same path (or the same sub-path, or the same path cluster). Several possible implementation manners are introduced below. In a first possible implementation manner, the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors of the transmitting ports.

[0110] For example, the transmitting end determines the steering matrix based on the steering vectors of the transmitting ports.

[0111] For another example, the receiving end determines the steering matrix based on the steering vectors of the transmitting ports. In this example, the transmitting end can send the steering vectors of the transmitting ports to the receiving end, or the steering vectors of the transmitting ports can be predefined or preconfigured.

[0112] In a second possible implementation manner, the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vectors of the receiving ports.

[0113] For example, the receiving end determines the steering matrix based on the steering vectors of the receiving ports.

[0114] For another example, the sending end determines the steering matrix based on the steering vector of the receiving port, in this example, the receiving end can send the steering vector of the receiving port to the sending end, or the steering vector of the receiving port can be predefined or preconfigured.

[0115] In a third possible implementation, the steering matrix is determined based on the steering vector of the transmitting port and the steering vector of the receiving port.

[0116] For example, the sending end determines the steering matrix based on the steering vector of the transmitting port and the steering vector of the receiving port, in this example, the receiving end can send the steering vector of the receiving port to the sending end, or the steering vector of the receiving port can be predefined or preconfigured.

[0117] For another example, the receiving end determines the steering matrix based on the steering vector of the transmitting port and the steering vector of the receiving port, in this example, the sending end can send the steering vector of the transmitting port to the receiving end, or the steering vector of the transmitting port can be predefined or preconfigured.

[0118] The above description of the steering vector and the steering matrix is for the convenience of understanding, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0119] The DMRS is a reference signal for data demodulation, which can be mapped on the PDSCH or the PUSCH. The DMRS can be transmitted through a DMRS port. In order to ensure the quality of channel estimation, different DMRS ports are usually orthogonal ports, so as to avoid interference between different DMRS ports. Different DMRS ports are orthogonal ports, which means that the DMRS symbols corresponding to different DMRS ports are orthogonal in the frequency domain, time-frequency domain or code domain. Currently, NR supports two types of DMRS resource mapping. For Type 1 DMRS, the following features are included:

[0120] 1. A single orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol supports up to 4 DMRS ports, and a double OFDM symbol supports up to 8 DMRS ports;

[0121] 2. Including two code division multiplexing (CDM) groups;

[0122] 3. Each DMRS port occupies 6 resource elements (REs) in each resource block (RB).

[0123] Up to 8 orthogonal DMRS ports can be supported.

[0124] For Type 2 DMRS, the following features are included:

[0125] 1. A single OFDM symbol supports up to 6 DMRS ports, and a double OFDM symbol supports up to 12 DMRS ports;

[0126] 2. Three CDM groups are included;

[0127] 3. Each DMRS port occupies 4 REs in each RB.

[0128] FIG. 3 exemplarily shows the time-frequency resource location (i.e., DMRS pilot pattern) of type 1, double-symbol DMRS. FIG. 4 exemplarily shows the time-frequency resource location (i.e., DMRS pilot pattern) of type 2, double-symbol DMRS. Wherein, the x-axis represents the time domain, specifically the number of symbols; the y-axis represents the frequency domain, specifically the number of REs (one RB includes 12 REs). As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the DMRS ports in different CDM groups occupy different REs, and orthogonality is achieved through frequency division multiplexing (FDM); the DMRS ports in the same CDM group occupy the same REs, and orthogonality is achieved through code division multiplexing of orthogonal cover code (OCC).

[0129] Taking Type 1 of FIG. 3 as an example, CDM group 0 includes four DMRS ports with indexes 0, 1, 4 and 5, which occupy the REs corresponding to the "blank squares" in each RB. CDM group 1 includes four DMRS ports with indexes 2, 3, 6 and 7, which occupy the REs corresponding to the "striped squares" in each RB. The REs corresponding to the "blank squares" in one RB can be divided into three groups, the REs with indexes 11 and 9 form a group, the REs with indexes 7 and 5 form a group, and the REs with indexes 3 and 1 form a group; in combination with the time domain, each group includes 4 REs (2 in the frequency domain + 2 in the time domain). For the four REs corresponding to the "blank squares" in each group, code division multiplexing of OCC is used to enable 4 orthogonal DMRS ports. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 4, taking Type 2 as an example, CDM group 0 includes four DMRS ports with indexes 0, 1, 6 and 7. CDM group 1 includes four DMRS ports with indexes 2, 3, 8 and 9. CDM group 2 includes four DMRS ports with indexes 4, 5, 10 and 11.

[0130] In addition to the front-loaded DMRS described above, additional DMRS is also provided in the mobile communication system to overcome channel time selectivity. For specific content of the additional DMRS, reference can be made to the description of related protocols such as 5G, which will not be repeated here.

[0131] In the data transmission process, the network device can allocate DMRS ports to each terminal device, and indicate the DMRS ports to the terminal device through downlink control information (DCI) or high-layer signaling. The terminal device determines the pilot resource position of the DMRS based on the DMRS port indicated by the network device, receives the DMRS, and performs channel estimation and data demodulation according to the DMRS.

[0132] With the continuous evolution of subsequent MIMO systems, the number of transceiving antennas will be further increased (for example, the number of network device transmitting antennas supports 128T or 256T), the channel information acquisition will be more accurate, and higher transmission stream numbers can be further supported to improve the spectral efficiency of the MIMO system. This will inevitably require more DMRS ports to support higher transmission stream numbers (more than 12 streams). However, the resource overhead of the DMRS increases linearly with the increase of the number of DMRS ports, which will cause the DMRS overhead to be difficult to bear in the next generation of large-scale antenna systems. Moreover, with the increase of the number of DMRS ports, the overhead of indicating the DMRS port to the terminal device will also increase.

[0133] Therefore, the present application provides a method of transmitting DMRS through a part of all ports of the transmitted data, and reconstructing the equivalent channel of all ports based on the DMRS of the part of the ports, so as to reduce the resource overhead of the DMRS, which will be described in detail below.

[0134] It can be understood that the present application does not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, and can be applied to the modules in the terminal device or the network device, as long as the program recording the code of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be run to communicate according to the method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The interaction between the terminal device and the network device is taken as an example for description.

[0135] As shown in FIG. 5, it is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, which includes the following steps:

[0136] Step 501: The network device sends first information to the terminal device.

[0137] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0138] The first information can also be called auxiliary information (Auxiliary Information) or DMRS auxiliary information (DMRS Auxiliary Information), and the like. The name of the first information is not limited by the present application. There can be multiple implementation manners of the first information, and several examples are given below.

[0139] In an implementation, the first information is used to indicate first multipath component (MPC) information of the first port and second MPC information of the second port.

[0140] The port and the path (or sub-path, or path cluster) have a one-to-one mapping relationship, and the multipath component information of a port can represent the relevant information of the corresponding path mapped to the port when the signal is transmitted through the wireless channel. The multipath component information can also be referred to as multipath component parameter or multipath parameter or multipath coefficient or multipath information, etc. The first MPC information of the first port and the second MPC information of the second port can be obtained by measuring the sensing signal or the reference signal by the network device. The process of determining the multipath component information is not limited by the present application.

[0141] Optionally, the multipath component information includes at least one of the following: angle, delay, power. The multipath component information can also include polarization information, Doppler information, etc.

[0142] The angle can include at least one of the following: horizontal dimension angle of arrival (AOA), horizontal dimension angle of departure (AOD), vertical dimension zenith of arrival (ZOA), and vertical dimension zenith of departure (ZOD). The AOA and ZOA respectively refer to the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the angle of arrival of the signal via the wireless channel to the receiving antenna, and the AOD and ZOD respectively refer to the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the angle of departure of the signal transmitted by the transmitting antenna.

[0143] In an implementation, the first information is used to indicate correlation information between the first port and the second port.

[0144] The correlation information includes at least one of the following: multipath delay spread information of the first port and the second port, and the multipath delay spread information can indicate the frequency domain correlation of the channels corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0145] Doppler spread information of the first port and the second port, and the Doppler spread information can indicate the time domain correlation of the channels corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0146] Spatial angle spread information of the first port and the second port, and the spatial angle spread information can indicate the spatial correlation of the channels corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0147] The number of ports is not limited in the present application, and the first port and the second port are only taken as examples for description in the present application. The first information can also indicate the first multipath component information of at least two first ports and the second multipath component information of at least two second ports. When the number of the first port and the second port is greater than 2, the same can be applied by analogy, and thus no further description is given.

[0148] Optionally, in an implementation, the terminal device can further send capability information, and correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information from the terminal device. The capability information indicates that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is received based on the reference signal corresponding to the first port. It can be understood that the terminal device supports reconstructing the channel information corresponding to the second port according to the channel information estimated according to the reference signal corresponding to the first port, so as to receive the data corresponding to the first port according to the channel information of the first port and receive the data corresponding to the second port according to the channel information of the second port.

[0149] The network device can determine that the reference signal is sent through the first port and the reference signal is not sent through the second port according to the capability information of the terminal device.

[0150] Optionally, in an implementation, the network device can send fourth information, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth information from the network device. The fourth information can also be referred to as mode indication information or the like, and the fourth information is used to indicate that the data corresponding to the first port and the second port is received based on the reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0151] The terminal device can receive the data corresponding to the first port according to the reference signal corresponding to the first port and receive the data corresponding to the second port according to the reference signal corresponding to the first port and the first information according to the fourth information.

[0152] In the present application, the first port can be used to send the reference signal and the data, and the second port can be used to send the data. It can be understood that the number of ports used to send the data is greater than the number of ports used to send the reference signal. The first port can also be referred to as a reference signal port or a DMRS port, and the second port can also be referred to as a data port or a PDSCH port.

[0153] For example, the first port is located in a first port set Z DCI , the second port is located in a second port set Z PDSCH , the first port set Z DCI may be a subset of the second port set Z PDSCH , that is The number of ports included in the first port set can be understood as the number of first ports, and the number of ports included in the second port set can be understood as the number of second ports. As shown in Figure 6, the first ports are ports P1 to P6, a total of 6 ports; the second ports are ports P1 to P18, a total of 18 ports. In the figure, the squares with filled patterns represent the resources mapped to ports P1 to P6 (i.e., the first ports), and the white squares represent the resources mapped to ports P1 to P18 (i.e., the second ports).

[0154] In this application, the number of ports included in the first port set can be determined by the network device; the terminal device can also provide feedback on the decoding performance or interpolation performance of the data, so that the network device can adjust the number of ports in the first port set according to the decoding performance or interpolation performance. For example, if the decoding performance reported by the terminal device is poor, the number of ports in the first port set can be increased; if the decoding performance reported by the terminal device is good, the number of ports in the first port set can be decreased.

[0155] The network device may periodically adjust the number of ports included in the first port set, or it may adjust the number of ports included in the first port set according to the decoding performance or interpolation performance of the data reported by the terminal device. This application does not limit this.

[0156] Terminal devices can also report the number of first ports, that is, the number of suggested ports included in the first port set. Network devices can determine the number of ports included in the first port set based on the number of suggested first ports reported by the terminal devices. For example, for three terminal devices paired in a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) configuration, the corresponding data transmission port groups are [0,1,2,3], [4,5,6,7], and [8,9,10,11]. At least one port needs to be selected from each of these port groups as the port for transmitting DMRS, for example, the selected DMRS ports might be 3, 7, and 11.

[0157] Network devices can indicate the first and second ports to terminal devices. Several examples are given below.

[0158] In one possible implementation, the network device can send second information to the terminal device, which is used to indicate the first port.

[0159] In this implementation, the second information can also be used to indicate a second port; for example, the second information implicitly indicates a second port. The second information can be a DCI or a field within a DCI, or it can be other signaling; this application is not limited in this regard. Several examples are given below.

[0160] Example 1

[0161] The second information is used to indicate a first index of the first port, and a port corresponding to an index smaller than the first index is a second port, i.e., a second index of the second port is smaller than the first index. In this case, the first information can indicate at least one second port. Optionally, the first port and the second port belong to a same CDM group or port set.

[0162] The first index of the first port can refer to a port index of the first port, or can refer to a beam index of a beam or a sub-beam or a sub-beam cluster corresponding to the first port. The second index of the second port can refer to a port index of the second port, or can refer to a beam index of a beam or a sub-beam or a sub-beam cluster corresponding to the second port.

[0163] For example, assuming that the index of the port is greater than or equal to 0, and the first information indicates that the first index of the first port is 7, then the ports with indexes smaller than 7 are all second ports, i.e., the ports with indexes from 0 to 6 are second ports, and in this case, the first information indicates 1 first port and 7 second ports.

[0164] For example, the second information can be located in an antenna port field in the DCI. For example, taking the first port as a DMRS port, the correspondence between the value of the antenna port field and the DMRS port index can be as shown in Table 1.

[0165] Table 1: Correspondence table between index and DMRS port index

[0166] In Table 1, the first column is the value of the antenna port field, and the third column is the DMRS port index, i.e., the first index of the first port.

[0167] For example, the value of the antenna port field is 6, and according to Table 1, the first index is determined to be 3, i.e., the first port is DMRS port 3, and the second index of the second port is 0, 1 and 2.

[0168] Example 2

[0169] The second information is a third index, and the third index corresponds to at least one port, and the at least one port belongs to a same CDM group or port set. The third index can refer to an index of the CDM group or the port set. In this case, the first port is a port corresponding to a first index in the at least one port, and the second port is a port corresponding to a second index in the at least one port, and the first index and the second index are preset. In this case, the second information can indicate at least one first port and at least one second port.

[0170] For example, at least one port belongs to the same CDM group, CDM group 0 with index 0 includes four DMRS ports with port indexes 0, 1, 4 and 5, the preset first index is 5, and the preset second index is 0, 1 and 4; CDM group 1 with index 1 includes four DMRS ports with port indexes 2, 3, 6 and 7, the preset first index is 2, and the preset second index is 3, 6 and 7. If the second information is index 0 of CDM group 0, the first port is the DMRS port with port index 5; the second port is the DMRS port with port indexes 0, 1 and 4. Similarly, if the second information is index 1 of CDM group 1, the first port is the DMRS port with port index 2; the second port is the DMRS port with port indexes 3, 6 and 7.

[0171] For another example, the first port and the second port can be as shown in Table 2.

[0172] Table 2

[0173] The second information can be an index in the first column of Table 2, a preset index of the first port in the third column of Table 2, and a preset index of the second port in the fourth column of Table 2.

[0174] If the second information is 1, the preset index of the first port is 1, and the preset index of the second port is 2. Other cases can be deduced in the same way and will not be repeated here.

[0175] Example Three:

[0176] The second information includes a first index of the first port and a third index of a CDM group or a port set, the CDM group or the port set including the first port and the second port, and the port in the CDM group or the port set other than the first port corresponding to the first index is the second port.

[0177] For example, CDM group 0 with index 0 includes four DMRS ports with port indexes 0, 1, 4 and 5; CDM group 1 with index 1 includes four DMRS ports with port indexes 2, 3, 6 and 7.

[0178] If the second information includes a first index of 5 (i.e., the DMRS port with port index 5) and a third index of 0 (i.e., the index of CDM group 0), the first port is the DMRS port with port index 5; the second port is the DMRS port with port indexes 0, 1 and 4. Similarly, if the second information includes a first index of 2 (i.e., the DMRS port with port index 2) and a third index of 1 (i.e., the index of CDM group 1), the first port is the DMRS port with port index 2; the second port is the DMRS port with port indexes 3, 6 and 7.

[0179] In Example Three, the second information can also be located in an antenna port field in the DCI, which can be referred to in the foregoing description and will not be repeated here.

[0180] In a second possible implementation, the network device can send the second information and the third information to the terminal device, the second information being used to indicate the first port, and the third information being used to indicate the second port. The third information can also be referred to as port completion information or the like, and the name of the third information is not limited in the present application.

[0181] For example, the second information is a first index of the first port, and the second information is a second index of the second port.

[0182] In this implementation, the first port and the second port belong to the same CDM group or port set.

[0183] In this implementation, the second information can indicate at least one first port, and the third information can indicate at least one second port.

[0184] In this implementation, the second information can be a first DCI, and the second information can be a second DCI; or the first information and the second information are located in the same DCI and belong to different fields of the DCI. The second information and the third information can also be other signaling, which is not limited in the present application.

[0185] In this implementation, the second information can also be located in an antenna port field in the DCI, which can be referred to in the foregoing description and will not be repeated here.

[0186] Step 502: The network device sends a reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0187] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0188] It can be understood that the first port is a port known to both the network device and the terminal device, for example, a virtual port.

[0189] The reference signal can be used for channel estimation, for example, the reference signal can be a DMRS, or a cell-specific reference signal or a channel state information reference signal, which is not limited in the present application.

[0190] The network device sends the reference signal corresponding to the first port, which can be understood as that the network device sends the reference signal through the first port. The specific process of the network device sending the reference signal corresponding to the first port is not limited in the present application and will not be repeated here. Similarly, the specific process of the terminal device receiving the reference signal is not limited in the present application and will not be repeated here.

[0191] In this application, the first port and the resource of the reference signal have a corresponding relationship. For example, the reference signal is a DMRS, and the time domain resource of the DMRS is the resource corresponding to the first port. For details, refer to the description of the correspondence between the resource and the port of the DMRS in the NR system. The application is not limited in this regard.

[0192] The terminal device can perform channel estimation according to the reference signal. The result of the channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information. The first channel information can be understood as the channel information corresponding to the first port, and the second channel information can be understood as the channel information corresponding to the second port. The second channel information is the channel information reconstructed according to the first channel information and the first information. Several examples are given below.

[0193] In a first possible implementation, the reference signal, the first multipath component information, and the second multipath component information are used for channel estimation.

[0194] In this implementation, the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; and the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multipath component information, and the second multipath component information.

[0195] For example, the reference signal Y1 of the first port received by the terminal device can be represented as follows:

[0196] Y1=HV P1 ×X1+N1 Formula 1

[0197] Wherein, X1 represents the reference signal corresponding to the first port sent by the network device, and N1 represents noise. HV P1 represents the first channel information, which can also be referred to as the equivalent channel information of the first port; H represents the channel information before precoding, and the channel information before precoding corresponding to different ports is the same.

[0198] Wherein, V P1 represents the first steering matrix, which can also be referred to as a precoding matrix, etc. As described above, the steering matrix is determined based on a steering vector, and several examples are given below.

[0199] In a first possible implementation, as an example, the first steering matrix satisfies the following form:

[0200] In a second possible implementation, as an example, the first steering matrix satisfies the following form:

[0201] Wherein, V n represents the steering vector of the transmission port (i.e. the first port) of the nth path (or simply referred to as: the transmission steering vector); R n represents the steering vector of the receiving port of the nth path (or simply referred to as: the receiving steering vector); Pn denotes the power of the path n, which can be indicated by the first multi-path component information, and can be understood as the power of the signal with unit amplitude passing through the path; the upper index * denotes the conjugate of the matrix. Wherein, n represents the index (or identification or number) of the path corresponding to the first port, n is greater than 1 or equal to 1, and less than N or equal to N, N represents the number of paths. The above n can also represent the index of the path cluster or sub-path, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application. The first port and the path (or sub-path, or path cluster) have a one-to-one mapping relationship.

[0202] Taking the steering vector of the transmit port as an example, as an example, the steering vector V n of the transmit port of the path n satisfies the following form:

[0203] Wherein, V H,n and V V,n respectively represent the horizontal direction steering vector and the vertical direction steering vector; S tx,H and S tx,V respectively represent the horizontal and vertical dimension of the antenna array on the network device side, in units of λ wavelength, which can be indicated by the network device; denotes the horizontal angle of the sub-path in the local coordinate system; θ LCS,n denotes the pitch angle of the sub-path in the local coordinate system; denotes the Kronecker product operation; j is the imaginary unit; N tx,H and N tx,V respectively represent the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the transmit antenna, which can be indicated by the network device; as an example, or θ LCS,n can be calculated by the angle (such as AOA, AOD, etc.) of the sub-path in the global coordinate system, which can be referred to the existing mode, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited. Wherein, the angle (such as AOA, AOD, etc.) used to calculate or θ LCS,n can be indicated by the first multi-path component information; the horizontal angle and the pitch angle can be referred to the previous description, which is not described here.

[0204] According to the previous description, after the terminal device obtains the first multi-path component information, the first steering matrix V P1 can be determined according to formula 4 and formula 3, or the first steering matrix V P1 can be determined according to formula 4 and formula 2. Based on the same method, the terminal device can determine the second steering matrix V P2 according to the second multi-path component information. Further, the terminal device can determine the first channel information H P1 and the first steering matrix V P1determines pre-coding channel information H, i.e., a pre-coding channel matrix H.

[0205] Further, the terminal device can determine second channel information HV P2 and the pre-coding channel matrix H according to the second steering matrix V P2 .

[0206] In a second possible implementation, the correlation information between the reference signal, the first port and the second port is used for channel estimation.

[0207] In this implementation, the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; and the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information.

[0208] For example, the terminal device determines a frequency domain filter coefficient according to the multipath delay spread information, determines a time domain filter coefficient according to the Doppler spread information, and determines a spatial domain filter coefficient according to the spatial angle spread information.

[0209] Further, the terminal device can determine the second channel information according to at least one of the frequency domain filter coefficient, the time domain filter coefficient and the spatial domain filter coefficient, and the first channel information.

[0210] For example, a frequency domain correlation coefficient R can be determined based on the multipath delay spread information (such as a multipath delay power spectrum), which is used to calculate an autocorrelation matrix RHHof the reference signal corresponding to the frequency domain positions (such as subcarriers) and a cross-correlation matrix RHDof the reference signal corresponding to the frequency domain positions and the data corresponding to the frequency domain positions. Based on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the first channel information is interpolated in the frequency domain by using the following formula 5, and the second channel information can be obtained.

[0211] wherein, The frequency domain filter coefficient can be determined based on the Doppler spread information, for example, by performing fast Fourier transform (FFT) or inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the multipath delay spread information.

[0212] ​Similarly, the time-domain interpolation and the space-domain interpolation can be performed based on the autocorrelation matrix and the cross-correlation matrix calculated respectively based on the time-domain correlation coefficient and the space-domain correlation coefficient, and the channel interpolation corresponding to the time domain and the space domain is performed, and the difference is that the time-domain correlation coefficient and the space-domain correlation coefficient are respectively constructed based on the Doppler spread and the angle spread information.

[0213] For example, the second channel information can be obtained by performing the frequency-domain interpolation, the time-domain interpolation and the space-domain interpolation on the first channel information by using the following formula 6 as shown below.

[0214] wherein, The frequency-domain filter coefficient can be represented as, The time-domain filter coefficient can be represented as, The space-domain filter coefficient can be represented as; SNR1 represents the signal-to-noise ratio information in the frequency domain, SNR2 represents the signal-to-noise ratio information in the time domain, SNR3 represents the signal-to-noise ratio information in the space domain, H2 is the second channel information obtained after interpolation, and H1 is the first channel information, i.e., the channel information estimated according to the reference signal of the first port.

[0215] wherein, The time-domain correlation coefficient can be used to calculate the autocorrelation matrix between the time-domain positions (such as OFDM symbols) corresponding to the reference signals, The time-domain correlation coefficient can be determined based on the Doppler spread information, for example, by performing fast Fourier transform (FFT) or inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the Doppler spread information.

[0216] wherein, The space-domain correlation coefficient can be used to calculate the autocorrelation matrix between the space-domain positions (such as space-domain ports) corresponding to the reference signals, The space-domain correlation coefficient can be determined based on the spatial angle spread information, for example, by performing FFT or IFFT on the spatial angle spread information.

[0217] The above is only an example, and the application does not limit other methods for processing the multipath time delay spread, the Doppler spread, and the spatial angle spread information to obtain the frequency-domain correlation coefficient, the time-domain correlation coefficient, and the space-domain correlation coefficient.

[0218] The above is only an example, and the terminal device can also determine the second channel information by other methods, which will not be described here.

[0219] In this application, the network device can also send the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port, for example, refer to the following description.

[0220] Optionally, the network device sends the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port in step 503.

[0221] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0222] It can be understood that the first port and the second port are ports known to both the network device and the terminal device, for example, virtual ports.

[0223] The network device sends the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port, which can be understood as the network device sending the first data to the terminal device through the first port and the second port.

[0224] In an implementation manner, the network device sends a first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port and a second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port. The data streams corresponding to the first port and the second port can be sent separately or simultaneously. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port and the second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port. The data streams corresponding to the first port and the second port can be received separately or simultaneously.

[0225] The specific process of the network device sending the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port is not limited in this application and will not be described here.

[0226] In an implementation manner, the terminal device can receive the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of channel estimation. For example, the result of channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information. The terminal device can receive the first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port according to the first channel information and receive the second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port according to the second channel information. The specific process of the terminal device receiving the first data according to the result of channel estimation is not limited in this application and will not be described here.

[0227] The first data stream and the second data stream can be the same or different, which is not limited in this application. For example, the first data stream can include part or all of the first data, and the second data stream can include part or all of the first data.

[0228] The network device can schedule the first data through scheduling information; optionally, the second information and / or the third information can be located in the scheduling information.

[0229] Optionally, if the network device sends the fourth information, and the terminal device receives the fourth information, the terminal device can receive data corresponding to the first port according to the reference signal of the first port, and receive data corresponding to the second port according to the reference signal of the first port and the first information.

[0230] Optionally, if the network device does not send the fourth information, and the terminal device does not receive the fourth information, the terminal device can consider using a traditional manner, that is, there is a reference signal corresponding to the second port, that is, the network device respectively sends the reference signal and data corresponding to the first port, and respectively sends the reference signal and data corresponding to the second port; accordingly, the terminal device can receive data corresponding to the first port according to the reference signal corresponding to the first port, and receive data corresponding to the second port according to the reference signal corresponding to the second port, and the specific process will not be described here.

[0231] Through the method provided in the present application, the terminal device can perform channel estimation on the first port and the second port through the first information and the reference signal corresponding to the first port, so that the terminal device can perform channel estimation on the second port according to the first information and the reference signal of the first port in the case that there is no reference signal corresponding to the second port, thereby reducing the overhead of the reference signal and ensuring the transmission performance of the data transmitted by the first port and the second port.

[0232] In the above description, the network device sends the reference signal corresponding to the first port, and the terminal device performs channel estimation on the first port and the second port according to the reference signal and the first information. The method provided in the present application can also be applied to uplink reference signals, that is, the terminal device sends the reference signal corresponding to the first port, and the network device performs channel estimation on the first port and the second port according to the reference signal and the first information, which will be described in detail below.

[0233] As shown in FIG. 7, a communication method flowchart provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown, and the method comprises:

[0234] Step 701: The network device sends first information to the terminal device.

[0235] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0236] The specific content of the first information can refer to the description in step 501, which will not be described here.

[0237] Optionally, in an implementation manner, the terminal device can also send capability information; correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information from the terminal device. The capability information can refer to the description in step 501, which will not be described here.

[0238] Optionally, in an implementation, the network device can send fourth information; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth information from the network device. The fourth information can refer to the description in step 501, which will not be repeated here.

[0239] In this application, the first port can be used to send reference signals and data, and the second port can be used to send data. It can be understood that the number of ports used to send data is greater than the number of ports used to send reference signals. For other descriptions of the first port and the second port, please refer to the description in step 501, which will not be repeated here.

[0240] The network device can also indicate the first port and the second port to the terminal device. Please refer to the description in step 501, which will not be repeated here.

[0241] Step 702: The terminal device sends the reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0242] Correspondingly, the network device receives the reference signal corresponding to the first port.

[0243] It can be understood that the first port is a port known to both the network device and the terminal device, for example, a virtual port.

[0244] The reference signal can be used for channel estimation, for example, the reference signal can be a DMRS signal, etc. The application is not limited in this regard.

[0245] The specific process of the terminal device sending the reference signal corresponding to the first port is not limited in this application and will not be repeated here. Similarly, the specific process of the network device receiving the reference signal is not limited in this application and will not be repeated here.

[0246] The network device can perform channel estimation according to the reference signal. The result of channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information. The first channel information can be understood as the channel information corresponding to the first port, and the second channel information can be understood as the channel information corresponding to the second port.

[0247] For how the network device determines the first channel information and the second channel information, please refer to the related description of the terminal device determining the first channel information and the second channel information in step 502, which will not be repeated here.

[0248] In this process, the first port and the second port can also be used to send first data to the network device, for example, please refer to the following description.

[0249] Optionally, step 703: The terminal device sends the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0250] Correspondingly, the network device receives the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port.

[0251] It can be understood that the first port and the second port are ports known to both the network device and the terminal device, for example, virtual ports.

[0252] The terminal device sends the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port. It can be understood that the terminal device sends the first data to the terminal device through the first port and the second port.

[0253] In an implementation manner, the terminal device sends a first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port and a second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port and the second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port.

[0254] The specific process of the terminal device sending the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port is not limited in the present application and will not be described here.

[0255] In an implementation manner, the network device can receive the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of channel estimation. For example, the result of channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information, and the network device can receive the first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port according to the first channel information and receive the second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port according to the second channel information. The specific process of the network device receiving the first data according to the result of channel estimation is not limited in the present application and will not be described here.

[0256] The first data stream and the second data stream can be the same or different, which is not limited in the present application. For example, the first data stream can include part or all of the first data, and the second data stream can include part or all of the first data.

[0257] The network device can schedule the first data through scheduling information. Optionally, the second information and / or the third information can be located in the scheduling information.

[0258] Through the method provided in the present application, the network device can perform channel estimation on the first port and the second port through the first information and the reference signal corresponding to the first port, so that the network device can perform channel estimation on the second port according to the first information and the reference signal of the first port without the reference signal corresponding to the second port, thereby reducing the overhead of the reference signal and ensuring the transmission performance of the data transmitted by the first port and the second port.

[0259] It should be understood that, in order to realize the functions in the above embodiments, the terminal device or the network device comprises a hardware structure and / or a software module corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example 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 realized in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0260] The following is a possible structure of a communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus can be used to realize the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also realize the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments.

[0261] As shown in FIG. 8, the communication apparatus 800 comprises a processing unit 810 and a communication unit 820. The communication apparatus 800 is used to realize the functions of the terminal device or the network device in each of the above method embodiments.

[0262] When the communication apparatus 800 is used to realize the functions of the terminal device:

[0263] The communication unit is configured to receive first information from the network device; the first information is used to indicate first multipath component information of a first port and second multipath component information of a second port, or the first information is used to indicate correlation information between the first port and the second port.

[0264] The communication unit is configured to receive or send a reference signal corresponding to the first port; the reference signal, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information are used for channel estimation; and the reference signal and the correlation information are used for channel estimation.

[0265] When the communication apparatus 800 is used to realize the functions of the network device:

[0266] The communication unit is configured to send first information to the terminal device; the first information is used to indicate first multipath component information of a first port and second multipath component information of a second port, or the first information is used to indicate correlation information between the first port and the second port.

[0267] The communication unit is configured to receive or send a reference signal corresponding to the first port; the reference signal, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information are used for channel estimation; and the reference signal and the correlation information are used for channel estimation.

[0268] More detailed description of the processing unit 810 and the communication unit 820 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0269] It should be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is only a logical division of functions, and in actual implementation, all or part of the units can be integrated into one physical entity, or can be physically separated. The units in the apparatus can all be implemented in the form of software invoked by a processing element; or all be implemented in the form of hardware; or part of the units are implemented in the form of software invoked by a processing element, and part of the units are implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or can be integrated in a chip of the apparatus, in addition, the unit can also be stored in the form of a program in a memory, and the function of the unit is invoked and executed by a processing element of the apparatus. In addition, all or part of the units can be integrated together, or can be independently implemented. The processing element herein can be a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each operation of the above method or each unit can be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processing element, or in the form of software invoked by the processing element.

[0270] In one example, the units in any of the above apparatuses can be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, for example, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when the units in the apparatus can be implemented in the form of a program invoked by a processing element, the processing element can be a processor, such as a general purpose central processing unit (CPU), or other processor capable of invoking programs. For another example, the units can be integrated together to implement a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0271] The above receiving unit is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the apparatus is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip for receiving signals from other chips or apparatuses. The above transmitting unit is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting signals to other apparatuses. For example, when the apparatus is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit of the chip for transmitting signals to other chips or apparatuses.

[0272] As another possible product form, the terminal device or the network device of the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by a general bus architecture. For ease of illustration, refer to FIG. 9, which is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 900 provided by the embodiments of the present application, the communication apparatus 900 including a processor 901 and a transceiver 902. The communication apparatus 900 can be a terminal device, or a chip or chip system therein; or the communication apparatus 900 can be a network device, or a chip or module therein. FIG. 9 only shows the main components of the communication apparatus 900. In addition to the processor 901 and the transceiver 902, the communication apparatus 900 can further include a memory 903, and an input and output apparatus (not shown in the figure).

[0273] Optionally, the processor 901 is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and controlling the whole communication apparatus, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The memory 903 is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The transceiver 902 can include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna, the radio frequency circuit being mainly used for conversion between a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal, and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used for transceiving a radio frequency signal in the form of an electromagnetic wave. The input and output apparatus, such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., is mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

[0274] Optionally, the processor 901, the transceiver 902, and the memory 903 can be connected through a communication bus.

[0275] When the communication apparatus is powered on, the processor 901 can read software programs in the memory 903, interpret and execute instructions of the software programs, and process data of the software programs. When data needs to be transmitted wirelessly, the processor 901 performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted, and outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal, and transmits a radio frequency signal in the form of an electromagnetic wave through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication apparatus, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 901, the processor 901 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0276] In another implementation, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be arranged independently of the processor performing baseband processing, for example, in a distributed scenario, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be arranged remotely from the communication apparatus.

[0277] In some embodiments, in a hardware implementation, those skilled in the art can conceive that the above-mentioned communication apparatus 800 can adopt the form of the communication apparatus 900 shown in FIG. 9.

[0278] As an example, the functions / implementation procedures of the processing unit 810 in FIG. 8 can be implemented by invoking computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 903 by the processor 901 in the communication apparatus 900 shown in FIG. 9. The functions / implementation procedures of the communication unit 820 in FIG. 8 can be implemented by the transceiver 902 in the communication apparatus 900 shown in FIG. 9.

[0279] As yet another possible product form, the terminal device or the network device in the present application can adopt the constituent structure shown in FIG. 10, or include the components shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 is a constituent diagram of a communication apparatus 1000 provided in the present application.

[0280] As shown in FIG. 10, the communication apparatus 1000 includes at least one processor 1001. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a communication interface 1002.

[0281] When the program instructions involved are executed in the at least one processor 1001, the apparatus 1000 can be caused to implement the method provided in any of the preceding embodiments and any possible design thereof. Alternatively, the processor 1001 is used to implement the method provided in any of the preceding embodiments and any possible design thereof by logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0282] The communication interface 1002 can be used to receive program instructions and transmit to the processor, or the communication interface 1002 can be used for the communication apparatus 1000 to communicate with other communication devices, such as interacting control signaling and / or service data, etc. For example, the communication interface 1002 can be used to receive signals from other devices outside the communication apparatus 1000 and transmit to the processor 1001 or send signals from the processor 1001 to other communication devices outside the communication apparatus 1000.

[0283] Optionally, the communication interface 1002 can be a code and / or data read-write interface circuit, or the communication interface 1002 can be a signal transmission interface circuit between the communication processor and the transceiver, or a pin of the chip.

[0284] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1000 can further include at least one memory 1003, which can be used to store the required program instructions and / or data involved. It should be noted that the memory 1003 can exist independently of the processor 1001, or can be integrated with the processor 1001. The memory 1003 can be located inside the communication apparatus 1000, or can be located outside the communication apparatus 1000, which is not limited.

[0285] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1000 further includes a power supply circuit 1004, which can be configured to supply power to the processor 1001. The power supply circuit 1004 can be located in the same chip as the processor 1001, or in another chip other than the chip where the processor 1001 is located.

[0286] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1000 further includes a bus, through which various parts in the communication apparatus 1000 can be interconnected.

[0287] In some embodiments, in hardware implementation, those skilled in the art can conceive that the communication apparatus 800 shown in FIG. 8 can take the form of the communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10.

[0288] As an example, the functions / implementation processes of the processing unit 810 in FIG. 8 can be implemented by invoking computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1003 by the processor 1001 in the communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10. The functions / implementation processes of the communication unit 820 in FIG. 8 can be implemented by the communication interface 1002 in the communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10.

[0289] It should be noted that the structure shown in FIG. 10 does not constitute a specific limitation on the terminal device or the network device. For example, in some other embodiments of the present application, the terminal device or the network device can include more or fewer components than those shown, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or different component arrangements. The components shown can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0290] When the above communication apparatus is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. The terminal chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is sent by the base station to the terminal; or the terminal chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is sent by the terminal to the base station.

[0291] When the above communication apparatus is a module applied to a base station, the base station module implements the functions of the base station in the above method embodiments. The base station module receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the base station, and the information is sent by the terminal to the base station; or the base station module sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the base station, and the information is sent by the base station to the terminal. The base station module here can be a baseband chip of the base station, or a DU or other module, and the DU here can be a DU under the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0292] It is to be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) 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.

[0293] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by means of hardware, or by means of a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules 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 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, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, 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. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the base station or the terminal.

[0294] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented 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, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments are 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 apparatus. The computer programs or instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer programs or instructions can be transferred from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center through wired or wireless manner. 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 and the like integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be a magnetic medium, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape; or an optical medium, for example, a digital video disc; or a semiconductor medium, for example, 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.

[0295] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other if there is no special description and logical conflict, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0296] Based on the same technical concept, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium, which stores instructions, and the instructions can also be referred to as computer programs, computer program codes and the like. The instructions run on a computer, so that the computer performs the functions of the terminal device or the signaling distribution network element or the first NAS service network element or the first network element in the above method embodiments.

[0297] Based on the same technical concept, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which includes computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or the instructions are run by a communication device, the method steps performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments are executed.

[0298] Based on the same idea, the embodiments of the present application further provide a chip, which can include a processor, and can further include a memory (or the chip is coupled with the memory), and the chip executes program instructions in the memory to perform the method performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above embodiments. Wherein, "coupled" means that two components are directly or indirectly combined with each other, such as the coupling can mean that the electrical connection between the two components.

[0299] Based on the same idea, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, including a terminal device or a network device. The terminal device is used to realize the functions of the terminal device in the above embodiments; and the network device is used to realize the functions of the network device in the above embodiments.

[0300] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present application can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present application can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0301] The present application is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the method, device (system), and computer program product according to the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and the combination of flows and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing devices to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing devices produce the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0302] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of guiding the computer or other programmable data processing devices to work in a specific way, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including instruction devices, which implement the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0303] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving first information from a network device; the first information is used to indicate first multipath component information of a first port and second multipath component information of a second port, or the first information is used to indicate correlation information between the first port and the second port; receiving or sending a reference signal corresponding to the first port; the reference signal, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information are used for channel estimation; the reference signal and the correlation information are used for channel estimation. According to the method of claim 1, wherein the result of the channel estimation comprises first channel information and second channel information; wherein the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal. According to the method of claim 2, wherein the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information. After receiving the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further comprises: The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that receiving first data corresponding to the first port and the second port; After sending the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further comprises: sending first data corresponding to the first port and the second port. The receiving of the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port comprises: The method according to claim 4, characterized in that receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation. The result of the channel estimation comprises first channel information and second channel information; The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The receiving of the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation comprises: receiving a first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port according to the first channel information, and receiving a second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port according to the second channel information; wherein the first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information. The method further comprises: The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that receiving second information from the network device, the second information being used to indicate the first port. The second information is also used to indicate the second port. The method of claim 7, wherein The second information is used to indicate a first index of the first port; a second index of the second port is less than the first index. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The second information is a third index, the third index corresponding to at least one port, the first port being a port corresponding to a first index in the at least one port, the second port being a port corresponding to a second index in the at least one port, the first index and the second index being preset. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The at least one port belongs to a same code division multiplexing (CDM) group or port set. The method of claim 10, wherein The method further comprises: The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that receiving third information from the network device, the third information being used to indicate the second port. ​ The method of claim 12, wherein The third information is used for indicating the second port, including: The third information is a second index of the second port. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that The method further includes: sending capability information, the capability information indicating that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is received based on a reference signal corresponding to the first port. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that The method further includes: receiving fourth information from the network device, the fourth information being used for indicating that data corresponding to the first port and the second port is received based on a reference signal corresponding to the first port. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that The correlation information includes at least one of: multipath delay spread information of the first port and the second port; Doppler spread information of the first port and the second port; spatial angle spread information of the first port and the second port. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that The reference signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS). A communication method characterized by comprising: including: sending first information to a terminal device; The first information is used for indicating first multipath component information of a first port and second multipath component information of a second port, or the first information is used for indicating correlation information between the first port and the second port; receiving or sending a reference signal corresponding to the first port; the reference signal, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information are used for channel estimation; the reference signal and the correlation information are used for channel estimation. According to the method of claim 18, characterized in that The result of the channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information; The first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; The second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information. After receiving the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further includes: The method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that receiving first data corresponding to the first port and the second port; After sending the reference signal corresponding to the first port, the method further includes: sending first data corresponding to the first port and the second port. The receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port includes: The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation. The result of the channel estimation includes first channel information and second channel information; The method of claim 21, wherein The receiving the first data corresponding to the first port and the second port according to the result of the channel estimation includes: receiving a first data stream of the first data corresponding to the first port according to the first channel information, and receiving a second data stream of the first data corresponding to the second port according to the second channel information; The first channel information is determined according to the reference signal; The second channel information is determined according to the first channel information, the first multipath component information and the second multipath component information; or the second channel information is determined according to the first channel information and the correlation information. The method further includes: The method according to any one of claims 18 to 22, characterized in that ​ transmitting second information, the second information being used for indicating the first port. The method of claim 23, wherein The second information is used for indicating a first index of the first port; a second index of the second port is less than the first index. The method of claim 23, wherein The second information is a third index, the third index corresponding to at least one port, the first port being a port corresponding to a first index in the at least one port, the second port being a port corresponding to a second index in the at least one port, the first index and the second index being preset. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 25, characterized in that The method further comprises: transmitting third information, the third information being used for indicating the second port. The method of claim 26, wherein The third information is used for indicating the second port, comprising: The third information is a second index of the second port. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 27, characterized in that The reference signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS). A communication device, characterized by comprise a module or a unit for performing the method in any of claims 1-17; or, comprise a module or a unit for performing the method in any of claims 18-28. A communication device, characterized by comprise a processor configured to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of claims 1-17, or, configured to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of claims 18-28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by The computer readable storage medium has stored thereon computer programs or instructions, which, when executed on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of claims 1-17, or, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of claims 18-28. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises computer programs or instructions, which, when executed on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of claims 1-17, or, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of claims 18-28.

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