CN120881771A

CN120881771A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN120881771A
Application number: CN202410551239.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张战战; 李新县; 丁梦颖; 彭金磷
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-04-30
Filing date: 2024-04-30
Publication date: 2025-10-31
Also published as: WO2025228170A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device. The method includes a first communication device receiving configuration information on a first cell, after which a first reference signal is received on a first reference signal resource, and a second reference signal is received on a second reference signal resource, and then channel state information, CSI, may be transmitted, wherein the RAT employed by the first cell is a first RAT, the configuration information may be used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource is compliant with a protocol specification of the second RAT, and the CSI is derived based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal. By configuring the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource for the first communication device, the first communication device can realize measurement of reference signals of different RATs, and is beneficial to improving the performance of beam management/channel measurement, so that the expenditure of the reference signal resource can be reduced, and the spectrum sharing efficiency can be improved.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and apparatus.

Background

Spectrum sharing is an effective means of improving spectrum utilization and spectrum efficiency. Spectrum sharing includes static spectrum sharing and dynamic spectrum sharing (dynamic spectrum sharing, DSS). Wherein, static spectrum sharing refers to respectively providing dedicated carriers for different radio access technologies (radio access technology, RAT) in the same frequency band, which is "simple and transparent" but has low spectrum utilization. Dynamic spectrum sharing refers to the dynamic and flexible allocation of spectrum resources for different RATs within the same frequency band, which may improve spectrum efficiency and facilitate smooth evolution between different RATs, such as fourth generation (4th generation,4G) and fifth generation (5th generation,5G) RATs and 5G and sixth generation (6th generation,6G) RATs.

For example, taking as an example dynamic spectrum sharing between long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) in 4G and new radio, NR, in 5G. In order to solve the problem of poor coverage in the NR high frequency band (i.e., the band above 6 gigahertz (GHz), such as the millimeter wave band), NR also wants to be able to communicate using some low frequency band of LTE, so as to guarantee the coverage requirement. Based on this, existing standards introduce dynamic spectrum sharing between LTE and NR. Wherein, the dynamic spectrum sharing can transmit the 4G data and the 5G data in the same frequency band in a frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing mode. For example, dynamic sharing of resources may be performed at millisecond-level granularity in the time domain and at Resource Block (RB) -level granularity in the frequency domain according to traffic of 4G and 5G. In this way, smooth evolution among different RATs can be realized by introducing dynamic spectrum sharing, which is helpful for guaranteeing the performance experience of the existing 4G users, so as to reduce the influence on the existing 4G users as much as possible, and accelerate the pace of 5G deployment.

Based on this, how to improve spectrum sharing efficiency remains to be studied further.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for reducing the expenditure of reference signal resources and improving the spectrum sharing efficiency.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which may be performed by a first communication device. The first communication means may be the terminal device or a module in the terminal device, such as a processor, a processing unit, a system-on-chip, a circuit or chip, etc. The method may include the steps of the first communication device receiving configuration information on a first cell, after which the first communication device may receive a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource, and then the first communication device may transmit channel state information, CSI, wherein the radio access technology, RAT, employed by the first cell is a first RAT, the configuration information may be used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource being compliant with a protocol specification of the second RAT, the CSI being derived based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal.

In the method, by configuring the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource for the first communication device, the first communication device can realize measurement of the reference signals of different RATs (i.e. the first communication device can jointly utilize the first reference signal and the second reference signal), so that the first communication device can perform beam measurement (or channel measurement (or be called CSI measurement)) by using the first reference signal, and can perform beam measurement (or channel measurement) by using the second reference signal, the performance of beam management/channel measurement can be improved, the cost of the reference signal resource can be reduced, and the spectrum sharing efficiency can be improved.

Accordingly, in a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which may be performed by a second communication device. The second communication means may be a network device or a module in a network device (such as a processor, a processing unit, a system-on-chip, a circuit or chip, etc.). The method may include the steps of the second communication device transmitting configuration information on the first cell, after which the second communication device may transmit a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource, and then the second communication device may receive CSI, wherein the RAT employed by the first cell is a first RAT, the configuration information may be used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, the second reference signal resource being compliant with a protocol specification of the second RAT, the CSI being derived based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal.

The technical effects achieved by the second aspect are referred to the technical effects achieved by the first aspect, and are not described herein.

In a possible implementation manner provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, when the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, the CSI may include a first CSI obtained by measuring the first reference signal and a second CSI obtained by measuring the second reference signal.

In a possible implementation manner provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, the configuration information may include a first resource configuration, and the first resource configuration may include a first resource set and a second resource set, where the first resource set may be used to configure the first reference signal resource, and the second resource set may be used to configure the second reference signal resource.

In a possible implementation manner provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, the configuration information may further include a reporting configuration, where the reporting configuration may be used to configure parameters for sending CSI, and the reporting configuration may be associated with the first resource set and the second resource set.

In a possible implementation manner provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, the second communication device sends the first information, and accordingly, the first communication device receives the first information, where the first information may be used to indicate that CSI is sent based on a first mode or CSI is sent based on a second mode, where the first mode refers to CSI being obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and the second mode refers to CSI being obtained based on the first reference signal or the second reference signal.

In the implementation manner, explicit indication of which mode (such as the first mode or the second mode) the first communication device sends the CSI (that is, indication of which mode the first communication device performs reference signal measurement and CSI reporting) can be achieved through the first information, and explicit indication does not add limitation to configuration, so that the method is more flexible. In addition, the method can flexibly control the reference signal measurement and the CSI reporting flow through semi-static or dynamic indication.

In a possible implementation manner provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, the antenna port number corresponding to the first reference signal resource may be the same as the antenna port number corresponding to the second reference signal resource.

In the implementation manner, when the antenna ports are the same, the measurement result can be obtained based on the reference signals of the two RATs or based on the reference signal of one of the RATs, so that the measurement accuracy can be improved or the feedback period (or feedback delay) can be reduced, which is helpful for saving the resource overhead.

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

In a possible implementation manner provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, the first communication device sends capability information, and accordingly, the second communication device receives capability information, where the capability information may be used to indicate support for configuring the second reference signal resource.

In the implementation manner, the second communication device can conveniently and timely and effectively configure corresponding reference signal resources for the first communication device through the feedback capability information.

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

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device is provided with functions of implementing the first aspect to the second aspect, for example, the communication device includes modules or units or means corresponding to the operations of implementing the first aspect to the second aspect, where the functions or units or means may be implemented by software, or may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a transceiver unit (or may be referred to as a communication module or transceiver module or communication module for transmitting and receiving data) and a processing unit (or may be referred to as a processing module), where the transceiver unit may be used to transceiver signals to enable communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, the transceiver unit may be used to transmit data to the cloud, and the processing unit may be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the transceiver unit and the processing unit may correspond to the operations related to the first to second aspects described above.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor that may be configured to couple with a memory. The memory may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the first to second aspects above. The processor may execute the computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the communication device to implement the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, where the memory may hold necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions related to the first aspect to the second aspect. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the communication device to implement the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit (or a communication interface), where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and perform the method in any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect. The interface circuit is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other devices, for example, to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit to the processor or to send signals from the communication device processor to other communication devices, for example, the transmission or reception of data and/or signals. By way of example, the communication interface may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, or other type of communication interface.

It will be appreciated that in the third aspect described above, the processor may be implemented by hardware or software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like, and when implemented by software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory. Further, the above processor may be one or more, and the memory may be one or more. The memory may be integral to the processor or separate from the processor. In a specific implementation process, the memory and the processor may be integrated on the same chip, or may be respectively disposed on different chips.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a possible communication system which may comprise the first communication device and the second communication device mentioned in the first or second aspect above, etc. The implementation of the related functions of the first communication device or the second communication device may refer to the related descriptions mentioned in the first aspect or the second aspect, which are not repeated herein.

For example, one or more first communication devices and one or more second communication devices may be included in the communication system.

In a fifth aspect, the application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions which, when run on a communications apparatus (or computer), cause the communications apparatus (or computer) to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a chip, which may comprise a processor, and may further comprise a memory (or which is coupled to a memory), the chip executing program instructions in the memory to cause the chip to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect. Where "coupled" means that the two elements are directly or indirectly joined to each other, e.g., coupled may mean that the two elements are electrically connected.

In an eighth aspect, the present application also provides a chip system comprising a processor for supporting a computer device to implement the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect. In one possible implementation, the system on a chip further comprises a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

Further combinations of the present application may be made to provide further implementations based on the implementations provided in the above aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a beam coverage area of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 schematically illustrates a beam measurement feedback diagram according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5a is a schematic diagram illustrating a reference signal period and measurement result reporting provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 5b is a schematic diagram illustrating another reference signal period and measurement result reporting provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6a illustrates a schematic diagram of CSI reporting provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 6b schematically illustrates another CSI reporting scheme provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 6c illustrates still another CSI reporting schematic provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 schematically illustrates a structure of a possible communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 schematically illustrates another possible communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Before describing the technical scheme provided by the application, some terms related in the application are explained first so as to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) Beam refers to the main lobe of the directional array pattern. A network device (e.g., a base station) may have different coverage areas (or may be referred to as coverage areas or coverage geographical areas) by adjusting the weights of the antennas such that the beams of the network device may be directed in different directions. In the present application, the coverage of a beam may refer to the coverage of the beam on the ground. For example, the coverage area of a beam may comprise at least one location point. As satellites move and weights adjust, the coverage of the beam changes.

It is understood that the beam may be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other type of beam. The technique of forming the beam may be a beamforming technique or other technique. The beamforming technique may specifically be a digital beamforming technique, an analog beamforming technique, or a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technique, etc. The beam may correspond to a resource, for example, when performing beam measurement, the network device may measure different beams through different resources, the terminal device feeds back the measured quality of the resource, and the network device knows the quality of the corresponding beam. In data transmission, beam information is also indicated by its corresponding resource. For example, the network device indicates information of the terminal device physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink SHARED CHANNEL, PDSCH) beam through a transmission configuration indication (transmission configuration indicator, TCI) field in the downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI).

For example, the network device may generate different beams pointing in different directions of transmission. In downlink data transmission, when a network device transmits data to a terminal device by using a specific beam, the terminal device needs to be informed of the information of the transmission beam used by the network device, so that the terminal device can only receive the data transmitted by the network device by using a reception beam corresponding to the transmission beam.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics may be considered one beam. One or more antenna ports may be included in a beam for transmitting data channels, control channels, and sounding signals, etc. One or more antenna ports forming a beam may also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

In the present application, a beam refers to a transmission beam of a network device unless specifically described. In beam measurement, each beam of the network device corresponds to a resource, and thus the beam to which the resource corresponds can be uniquely identified by an index of the resource.

(2) The resource is that in the protocol, the word beam is not directly used to characterize the beam, but other ways are used to implicitly describe the beam-related operation. For example, in beam measurement, the beam and the resource are in a corresponding relationship (the network device uses one beam to send its corresponding resource), and the terminal device measures the quality of the resource, that is, the quality of the beam is measured. The resources in the embodiments of the present application may include, for example, the resources of the reference signal.

The resources in the embodiments of the present application may include at least one of time domain resources or frequency domain resources, etc.

The time domain resources may include at least one of a radio frame, a subframe, a slot (slot), a minislot (mini slot), or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM) symbol (symbol). Wherein one radio frame may include a plurality of subframes, one subframe may include one or more slots, and one slot may include at least one symbol. Or one radio frame may include a plurality of slots, and one slot may include at least one symbol. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, one OFDM symbol may also be simply referred to as one symbol.

The frequency domain resources may include at least one of Resource Elements (REs), RBs, channels, sub-channels (sub-channels), carriers (carriers), or partial bandwidths (BWP, bandwidthpart). In the embodiment of the present application, the channel may be equivalently replaced by a resource block set (resource block set, RB set), and the frequency domain bandwidth of one RB set may be 20 megahertz (MHz).

(3) The synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (physical broadcast channel, PBCH) block (SSB) (or referred to as synchronization signal block) is composed of three parts, namely a primary synchronization signal (primary synchronization signals, PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (secondary synchronization signals, SSS), and a PBCH. Wherein, PSS and SSS are synchronous signals. The PSS may be used to transmit a cell number and the SSS may be used to transmit a cell group number, the cell number and cell group number together determining a plurality of physical cell numbers (PHYSICAL CELL IDENTITY, PCI) in the communication system. The PBCH may be used for the terminal device to obtain information of the accessed cell. For example, the terminal device may receive the master information block (main information block, MIB) via the SSB, so that the system information block 1 (systeminformation block, SIB 1) associated with the SSB may be obtained. It is to be appreciated that SSBs can be employed for terminal devices to perform time-frequency tracking (or alternatively referred to as time-frequency synchronization), beam management, radio resource measurement or radio link monitoring (radio linkmonitoring, RLM), and the like.

(4) SSB and beam relationship a network device (such as a base station or satellite) may use multiple antennas to enhance coverage, but using multiple antennas may result in antenna radiation being a very narrow beam that is difficult to cover the entire cell. Meanwhile, due to hardware limitations, a network device often cannot simultaneously transmit signals through multiple beams to cover an entire cell, so that a communication system introduces a beam scanning technology, i.e., a network device can transmit signals through different beams at different moments. The communication system thus introduces a method of covering the entire cell by beam scanning, i.e. the network device may cover a partial area of the cell by a partial beam at one time instant and then another partial area of the cell by another partial beam at another time instant.

Referring to fig. 1, a network device may transmit one beam in a certain direction at a certain time, and transmit beams in different directions through a plurality of times to cover the entire cell. It will be appreciated that each beam may be indicated by an index of the SSB transmitted on that beam (which may be referred to as an SSB index). For example, the network device covers the entire cell with beam 0 (for transmitting ssb#0), beam 1 (for transmitting ssb#1), beam N-1 (for transmitting ssb#n-1), and beam N (for transmitting ssb#n), and it can be seen that the directions of any two beams may be different, and SSB indexes (indexes) corresponding to two SSBs transmitted through any two beams may be also different.

(5) Quasi co-location (QCL) two signals transmitted from the same antenna port will theoretically experience the same radio channel and two signals transmitted from two different antenna ports will theoretically experience different radio channels. Depending on the definition of the protocol, in some cases signals transmitted from two different antenna ports may experience radio channels with common characteristics, such antenna ports being referred to as quasi co-located QCLs, or alternatively as having QCL relationships between signals transmitted from such antenna ports. For example, when two ports have a QCL relationship, the channel estimation result obtained from one port may be used for the other port.

In downlink data transmission, when a network device transmits data to a terminal device by using a specific beam, the terminal device needs to be informed of the information of the transmission beam used by the network device, so that the terminal device can only receive the data transmitted by the network device by using a reception beam corresponding to the transmission beam.

In the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) R15/R16 protocol, the network device indicates to the terminal device, via the TCI field in the DCI, information about the transmit beam it employs. For example, a TCI field size of 3 bits may specifically represent 8 different field values (codepoint). Each value of the TCI field corresponds to an index of TCI-states that can uniquely identify a TCI-state. The TCI-state includes several parameters from which the information about the transmit beam can be determined. Each TCI-state includes an own index TCI-state identification, and two QCL information (QCL-Info). Each QCL-Info includes a cell field and bwp-Id, which indicates which bwp (Bandwidth part) of which cell (cell) the TCI-state applies to, i.e., different cells or different bwp of the same cell may configure different QCL-Info. The QCL-Info also includes a REFERENCESIGNAL (reference signal) to indicate with which reference signal resource the QCL relationship is formed.

It should be appreciated that in the R15/R16 protocol, the term "beam" will not generally appear directly, and the beam is generally replaced by other terms. For example, in both data transmission and channel measurement, beams correspond to reference signal resources, one for each reference signal resource. Therefore, the reference signal resource and the QCL relation are referred to herein, and the essential meaning is that the QCL relation is formed by which beam. The QCL relationship refers to multiple reference signal resources (or multiple antenna ports) having some of the same spatial parameters. The specific spatial parameters are the same depending on the Type of the QCL-Info, i.e. another field QCL-Type of the QCL-Info. QCL-Type can have four values { typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD }. Taking typeD as an example, typeD indicates that two reference signal resources have the same spatial reception parameter information, i.e. two beams have the same reception beam. At most one of the two QCL-Info's included in the TCI-state can be TypeD.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present application relate to the transmission of some reference signals. The reference signal may also be referred to as a "pilot" signal, which is a known signal that is transmitted by the transmitting end to the receiving end for channel estimation or channel sounding. According to functional division, the reference signals may include demodulation reference signals (demodulation REFERENCE SIGNAL, DMRS), SSB, channel state information reference signals (CHANNEL STATE information REFERENCE SIGNAL, CSI-RS), phase tracking reference signals (PHASE TRACKING REFERENCE SIGNAL, PTRS), channel Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), and the like. Reference signals are typically used for making measurements (e.g., channel state measurements or signal quality measurements, etc.), channel estimation, auxiliary signal demodulation, detection, etc. For example, DMRS and CSI-RS may be used to acquire channel information, and PTRS may be used to acquire phase change information.

For example, the reference signals having QCL relationship correspond to the same parameters, or the parameters corresponding to one reference signal (may also be referred to as QCL parameters) may be used as the QCL source for determining the parameters corresponding to the other reference signal having QCL relationship with the reference signal, or the two reference signals correspond to the same parameters, or the difference between the parameters corresponding to the two reference signals is less than a certain threshold. The parameters may include one or more of delay spread (DELAY SPREAD), doppler spread (doppler spread), doppler shift (doppler shift), average delay (AVERAGE DELAY), average gain, and spatial reception parameters (spatial Rx parameters), among others. The spatial reception parameters may include one or more of angle of arrival (angle ofarrival, AOA), average AOA, AOA spread, angle of departure (angle ofdeparture, AOD), average angle of departure AOD, AOD spread, receive antenna spatial correlation parameters, transmit beam, receive beam, and resource identification, among others.

In the NR protocol, QCL relationships can be classified into four types based on different parameters as follows:

Wherein, QCL-type A, QCL-type B and QCL-type C are applicable to all frequency bands, and QCL-type D is only used for high frequency bands (e.g., greater than 6 GHZ).

(6) And in the NR, the network equipment configures a downlink reference signal CSI-RS, and the terminal equipment can measure according to the reference signal. There may be various purposes for measuring the reference signal, for example, for channel quality (also called CSI measurement), or for beam management (beam management), or for time-frequency tracking (time/frequency tracking), or for mobility management, etc.

The reference signal resources for CSI measurement and beam management include non-zero power (NZP) -CSI-RS, and the reference signal for time-frequency Tracking is referred to as Tracking reference signal (TRACKING REFERENCE SIGNAL, TRS) (or may be referred to as CSI-RS for Tracking), and the reference signal for mobility management is referred to as CSI-RS for mobility. It can be seen that CSI-RS may be used for different purposes depending on the configuration.

For example, when CSI-RS is used for measurement, the terminal device may measure CSI-RS from the network device, estimate CSI, and may feed back the estimated CSI to the network device, such as in the form of a CSI measurement report. After that, the network device may obtain accurate channel state information according to the CSI reported by the terminal device, so that an appropriate precoding, modulation and coding scheme may be selected, so that the CSI may be better matched with the current channel (such as a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH)/pdsch. Optionally, CSI (or CSI measurement report) may be sent to the network device by the terminal device through a physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink sharedchannel, PUSCH).

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

(a) Channel quality indication (channel quality indicator, CQI). Wherein the CQI is used to indicate channel quality. The terminal device may determine a modulation and coding scheme (modulation and coding scheme, MCS) for transmitting data to the terminal device based on the CQI;

(b) Precoding matrix indicator (precodingmatrix indication, PMI). The PMI is an index of a precoding matrix recommended by the terminal equipment. The network device may determine precoding to transmit data to the terminal device according to the PMI. Wherein the PMI indicates the codebook base and codebook coefficients. The codebook substrate may be a domain matrix, such as a spatial domain matrix, a frequency domain matrix, or a space-frequency domain matrix.

(C) Channel state information reference signal resource indication (CSI-RS resource indicator, CRI). Where CRI is an index of recommended CSI-RS resources, which corresponds to the recommended beam. For example, the network device sends CSI-RS to the terminal device using different beams on the CSI-RS resources, and the terminal device may report the resource indication of the CSI-RS corresponding to the optimal beam to the base station, so as to complete the optimal beam selection.

(D) Synchronization signal block resource indication (SS/PBCH block resource indicator, SSBRI). Wherein SSBRI is the resource index corresponding to SSB.

(E) Layer Indicator (LI). The LI indicates a column of the precoding matrix corresponding to the reported PMI, and the column corresponds to the strongest layer of the codeword with the larger wideband CQI.

(F) Rank Indicator (RI). The network device may determine the number of streams of data to be transmitted to the terminal device according to the RI.

(G) Layer 1-reference signal received power (layer 1reference signal receiving power,L1-RSRP). Wherein, the L1-RSRP may represent a linear average of power of Resource Elements (REs) (or may be referred to as resource elements or resource elements) carrying the RS, and may be used to evaluate downlink transmission performance.

(H) Layer 1-signal to interference plus noise ratio (layer 1signal to interference plus noise ratio,L1-SINR). Where L1-SINR refers to the ratio of the strength of the received useful signal to the strength of the received interfering signal (noise and interference).

Illustratively, the time domain characteristics of the CSI-RS resources may include periodicity, semi-persistent (or may be referred to as semi-static), or aperiodic, among others. The time domain characteristics of the CSI reporting resource may also include periodicity, semi-persistent, or aperiodic.

When the CSI-RS is used for time-frequency synchronization, the terminal equipment can perform accurate time-frequency synchronization through the CSI-RS. For example, when NZP-CSI-RS-resource set sets TRS-info to True, TRS in NZP-CSI-RS-resource set uses the same port. In the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connected state, the TRS must be configured.

For example, the Resource Set of the TRS may be configured as periodic or aperiodic. For non-periodic TRSs, the time domain resource and the frequency domain bandwidth are consistent with the periodic TRSs, and the time domain resource and the frequency domain bandwidth have a QCL Type-A and Type-D transfer relation with the periodic TRSs. The aperiodic TRS may be triggered by DCI.

(7) Antenna port-the antenna port may be simply referred to as a port. It is understood as a transmitting antenna identified by the receiving device or a transmitting antenna that is spatially distinguishable. One antenna port may be preconfigured for each virtual antenna, each virtual antenna may be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas, each antenna port may correspond to one reference signal, and thus each antenna port may be referred to as a port of one reference signal, e.g., CSI-RS port, etc. In the protocol, antenna ports are typically characterized by an antenna port or ports, and may also be characterized by resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources, SSB resources, etc.).

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device may configure 1 or more reference signal resource sets for the terminal device (for example, CSI-RS resource sets, which the network device may configure for the terminal device through RRC signaling). For example, take CSI-RS resource set as an example. Each CSI-RS resource set may contain 1 or more CSI-RS resources. Each CSI-RS resource may be correspondingly configured with 1 or more antenna ports, and each CSI-RS resource may be mapped on 1 or more OFDM symbols. For example, currently 3GPP is from R15 version to R18 version, and each CSI-RS resource can be configured with a maximum of 32 different antenna ports.

It will be appreciated that the channels of the same antenna port may be considered the same for a short period of time (channel is not as fast as it is changing). Each antenna port corresponds to a resource grid (resource grid) on time-frequency resources. In addition, the principle of supporting larger antenna ports is that network devices (such as base stations) and terminal devices can support more layers of space division multiplexing with the increase of the number of antennas, and thus support more antenna ports.

(8) The CSI configuration may include one or more of CSI reporting configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) or CSI resource configuration (CSI-ResourceConfig). The CSI reporting configuration is mainly used for configuring parameters related to CSI reporting, such as reporting type, reported measurement quantity (i.e. reporting quantity configuration), and the like. The CSI resource is configured to configure relevant information of the CSI-RS resource, such as time-frequency resource, code domain resource, space resource, antenna port, power resource, scrambling code, etc. of the CSI-RS. For example, the CSI-RS resource configuration information corresponding to each CSI-RS resource may include an identifier of the CSI-RS resource and a resource configuration (such as a time-frequency resource configuration) of the CSI-RS resource. In the present application, the CSI reporting configuration may be replaced with the CSI reporting configuration.

The fields included in the CSI report configuration and the CSI resource configuration are briefly described below, respectively.

For example, the CSI reporting configuration may include one or more of the following fields:

(a) CSI reporting configuration identity (CSI-ReportConfigId) for marking a CSI reporting configuration.

(B) Channel measurement resources (resourcesForChannelMeasurement) CSI-RS resources for configuring channel measurements are associated to the resource configuration by CSI-ResourceConfigId, for example resourcesForChannelMeasurement may carry an identification of the CSI resource configuration for channel measurements (CSI-ResourceConfigId).

(C) Reporting configuration type (reportConfigType) is a reporting type for configuring CSI, and the reporting type can be divided into periodic reporting, semi-persistent reporting, aperiodic reporting and the like, and the semi-persistent reporting can also be described as semi-persistent reporting. For periodic CSI reporting, relevant parameters such as a period (or may be referred to as a reporting period) and a resource mapping may be configured by the network device to the terminal device through RRC signaling. Furthermore, parameters such as a period of CSI reporting and PUCCH resources used for reporting may also be configured by the network device to the terminal device through RRC signaling. For semi-persistent CSI reporting, measurement parameters such as measurement quantity and measurement bandwidth may be configured by the network device to the terminal device through RRC signaling. For aperiodic CSI reporting, the network device may semi-statically configure configuration parameters of multiple CSI reporting for the terminal device through RRC signaling.

(D) The reporting quality (reporting quality) configuration, which is used to indicate the reporting quality of the CSI, may include at least one of CRI, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, RI, PMI, CQI, etc.

Alternatively, the CSI resource configuration may indicate one or more sets of CSI-RS resources, or may indicate one or more sets of SSB resources. One set of CSI-RS resources may include one or more CSI-RS resources, and one set of SSB resources may include one or more SSB resources.

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

(a) CSI resource configuration identification (CSI-ResourceConfigId) the resource configuration used to identify one CSI.

(B) A CSI resource set list (CSI-RS-ResourceSetList) that is used to configure a queue of resource sets, where the resource sets may include CSI-RS resource sets for channel measurements. CSI-RS-ResourceSetList may be associated to a configuration of a NZP-CSI-RS resource set (NZP-CSI-RS-resource set) through NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId. One or more NZP-CSI-RS-resources are included in the NZP-CSI-RS-resources.

(C) The resource type (resourceType) is a type for configuring the CSI-RS resource, and the type of the CSI-RS resource may be classified into periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic, and the like.

(D) Codebook configuration (codebookConfig) for configuring a subset of a multiple-input multiple-output (multiinput multi output, MIMO) codebook and codebook-related information.

It should be appreciated that the CSI report configuration or CSI resource configuration may also include other fields, which are not listed here.

Embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The following describes a communication system architecture to which the communication method provided by the present application is applicable. It should be noted that these descriptions are for the purpose of facilitating understanding by those skilled in the art, and are not intended to limit the scope of the application as claimed.

The communication scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as an internet of things (internet ofthings, ioT) system, a narrowband internet of things (narrow band internet ofthings, NB-IoT) system, a 4G communication system (e.g., an LTE system), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication system, a 5G communication system (e.g., an NR system), a future mobile communication system (e.g., a 6G communication system), and the like.

One network element in a communication system may send signals to or receive signals from another network element. Wherein the signal may comprise information, signaling, data, or the like. Wherein the network element may also be replaced by an entity, network entity, device, communication module, node, communication node, etc.

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a communication system architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in fig. 2, the communication system architecture 10 includes a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) 100 and a Core Network (CN) 200. Optionally, the internet 300 may also be included in the communication system architecture. RAN100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in fig. 2, collectively 110) and at least one terminal device (e.g., 120a-120j in fig. 2, collectively 120). Other RAN nodes may also be included in the RAN100, such as wireless relay devices and/or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in fig. 2), and the like. Terminal device 120 is connected to RAN node 110 by wireless means. RAN node 110 is connected to core network 200 by wireless or wired means. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN100 may be different physical devices, or may be the same physical device integrated with the core network logic function and the radio access network logic function, or may be one physical device integrated with a part of the core network logic function and a part of the radio access network logic function.

The RAN100 may be a third generation partnership project (3rd generationpartnership project,3GPP) related cellular system, e.g., a 4G, 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system (e.g., a 6G mobile communication system). RAN100 may also be an open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN, a cloud radio access network (cloudradio access network, CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WIRELESS FIDELITY, wiFi) system. RAN100 may also be a communication system in which two or more of the above systems are converged.

RAN node 110, which may also be referred to as an access network device, RAN entity, network device, or access node, forms part of a communication system to facilitate wireless access for terminal devices. The plurality of RAN nodes 110 in communication system 10 may be the same type of node or different types of nodes. In some scenarios, the roles of RAN node 110 and terminal device 120 are relative, e.g., network element 120i in fig. 2 may be a helicopter or drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station, with network element 120i being a base station for those terminal devices 120j accessing RAN 100 through network element 120i, but with network element 120i being a terminal device for base station 110 a. RAN node 110 and terminal equipment 120 are sometimes both referred to as communication devices, e.g., network elements 110a and 110b in fig. 2 may be understood as communication devices with base station functionality, and network elements 120a-120j may be understood as communication devices with terminal equipment functionality. Alternatively, the RAN node 110 may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted, or may be deployed on water, or may be deployed on an aerial plane, unmanned plane, balloon, or satellite, where the application scenario of the RAN node is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In one possible scenario, the RAN node may be a base station (base station), an evolved base station (evolvedNodeB, eNodeB), an Access Point (AP), a transmission-reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), NR, next generation base station (gNB) or a next generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc. The RAN node may be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in fig. 2), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in fig. 2), a relay node or a donor node, or a radio controller in a CRAN scenario. Alternatively, the RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or on-board device, etc. For example, the network device in the vehicle extranet (vehicle to everything, V2X) technology may be a Road Side Unit (RSU). All or part of the functionality of the RAN node in the present application may also be implemented by software functions running on hardware or by virtualized functions instantiated on a platform, such as a cloud platform. The RAN node in the present application may also be a logical node, a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the RAN node.

In another possible scenario, a plurality of RAN nodes cooperate to assist a terminal device in implementing radio access, and different RAN nodes implement part of the functions of a base station, respectively. For example, the RAN node may be a Centralized Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a CU-control plane (controlplane, CP), a CU-user plane (userplane, UP), or a Radio Unit (RU), etc. The CUs and DUs may be provided separately or may be included in the same network element, e.g. in a baseband unit (BBU). The CU herein performs functions of an RRC layer and a packet data convergence layer protocol (PACKET DATA convergence protocol, PDCP) layer of the base station, and may also perform functions of a service data adaptation protocol (SERVICE DATA adaptationprotocol, SDAP), and the DU performs functions of a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer and a medium access control (MEDIA ACCESS control, MAC) layer of the base station, and may also perform functions of a part of a physical layer (PHYSICAL LAYER, PHY) or all physical layers, and for detailed description of the above protocol layers, reference may be made to related technical specifications of 3 GPP. The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or unit, such as in a remote radio unit (remote radio unit, RRU), an active antenna processing unit (ACTIVE ANTENNA unit, AAU), or a remote radio head (remote radio head, RRH). In this network architecture, the signaling generated by the CU may be transmitted to the terminal device through a DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be transmitted to the CU through a DU. The DU may be passed through to the terminal device or CU directly through protocol layer encapsulation without parsing the signaling. In this network architecture, the CU is divided into network devices on the radio access network side, and the CU may be divided into network devices on the core network side, which is not limited by the present application.

The above-described partitioning of CU and DU processing functions by protocol layers is only an example, and may be partitioned in other ways. For example, a CU or a DU may be divided into functions having more protocol layers, and for example, a CU or a DU may be divided into partial processing functions having protocol layers. In one possible implementation, part of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are set at CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set at DU. In another possible implementation, the functions of the CU or the DU may be further divided according to a service type or other system requirements, for example, by time delay division, where a function whose processing time needs to meet the time delay requirement is set in the DU, and a function which does not need to meet the time delay requirement is set in the CU. In yet another possible implementation, a CU may also have one or more functions of the core network. Illustratively, the CUs may be provided on the network side for centralized management. In yet another possible implementation, RU of the DU is set remotely. Alternatively, the RU may have radio frequency functions.

Alternatively, the DU and RU may be divided at the physical layer. For example, a DU may implement higher layer functions in the physical layer, and an RU may implement lower layer functions in the physical layer. Wherein the functions of the physical layer, when used for transmission, may include at least one of adding cyclic redundancy check (cyclic redundancy check, CRC) codes, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, precoding, resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, or radio frequency transmission functions. For reception, the physical layer functions may include at least one of CRC check, channel decoding, de-rate matching, descrambling, demodulation, de-layer mapping, channel detection, resource demapping, physical antenna demapping, or radio frequency reception functions. Wherein higher layer functions in the physical layer may comprise a portion of the functions of the physical layer, e.g., the portion of the functions being closer to the MAC layer, and lower layer functions in the physical layer may comprise another portion of the functions of the physical layer, e.g., the portion of the functions being closer to the radio frequency functions. For example, higher layer functions in the physical layer may include adding CRC codes, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping, and lower layer functions in the physical layer may include precoding, resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, and radio frequency transmission functions, etc.

In different systems, CUs (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DUs or RUs may also have different names, but the meaning will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, in ORAN systems, a CU may also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), a DU may also be referred to as an O-DU (open DU), a CU-CP may also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, a CU-UP may also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and a RU may also be referred to as an O-RU (open RU). For convenience of description, the present application is described by taking CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in the present application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

In the embodiment of the application, the network device can adopt a CU-DU separation architecture, which can also be called a distributed deployment architecture, or can also adopt a CU-DU-RU separation architecture. For example, a network device may logically include one CU and one or more DUs, each of which may be connected to the CU via an F1 interface, and information interaction between different DUs may be accomplished based on forwarding by the CU. The CU and the DU may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, and are not limited. The CU can support the functions of RRC layer protocol, PDCP protocol and SDAP protocol, and the DU can support the functions of RLC layer protocol, MAC layer protocol and partial PHY layer or all PHY layer. For a specific description of the above respective protocol layers, reference may be made to the relevant technical specifications of 3 GPP. As another example, a network device may logically include CUs, DUs, and RUs. The CU and the DU may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, and are not limited. The CU can support the functions of RRC layer protocol, PDCP protocol and SDAP protocol, the DU can support the functions of RLC layer protocol and MAC layer protocol, the CU can also support the functions of partial PHY layer protocol, and the RU can support the functions of partial PHY layer or all PHY layer. For example, the DU is mainly responsible for higher layer protocol functions such as encryption and integrity protection of data, and the RU is mainly responsible for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals. It is understood that in a CU-DU-RU split architecture, the interface between the DU and RU may be referred to as a forward pass, the interface between the CU and the DU may be referred to as a mid-pass, and the interface between the CU and the core network may be referred to as a backhaul.

A terminal device is a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a user, and may also be an internet of things device, or may be referred to as a terminal, user Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, or the like. The terminal device may be widely applied to various scenes, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-device (vehicle to everything, V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (internet ofthings, IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autopilot, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, and the like. The terminal equipment can be a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a computer with a wireless receiving and transmitting function, a wearable device, a vehicle, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, intelligent household equipment and the like. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the terminal equipment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be fixed in position or mobile, which is not limited in the implementation of the present application. The terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held, wearable or vehicle-mounted, or may be deployed on the surface of water (such as a ship, etc.), or may be deployed in the air (such as an airplane, balloon or satellite, etc.), for example.

It will be appreciated that the RAN node and the terminal device may communicate over a licensed spectrum (licensed spectrum), over an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed spectrum), or both. The network device and the terminal device can communicate with each other through a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or less, can also communicate through a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more, and can also communicate by using the frequency spectrum of 6GHz or less and the frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more simultaneously. The embodiment of the application does not limit the spectrum resources used between the RAN node and the terminal equipment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functions of the network device (such as the base station) may be performed by modules (such as chips) in the network device, or may be performed by a control subsystem including the functions of the base station. The control subsystem comprising the base station function can be a control center in the application scenarios of smart power grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, smart cities and the like. The functions of the terminal device may be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or may be performed by an apparatus including the terminal functions.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device communicates with the network device, that is, the terminal device sends an uplink signal or uplink information to the network device, the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel, and/or the network device sends a downlink signal or downlink information to the terminal device, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel. In order for the terminal device to communicate with the network device, a wireless connection needs to be established with a cell controlled by the network device (i.e., the terminal device resides in the cell controlled by the network device). The cell in which the radio connection is established with the terminal device is called a serving cell of the terminal device (i.e. a cell serving the terminal device).

It should be noted that, the communication system and the service scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of the new service scenario, the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application is equally applicable to similar technical problems.

As described in the background, under 4G and 5G spectrum sharing, the terminal devices adopting different RATs use the reference signals corresponding to their RATs to perform the procedures of beam management, CSI measurement/reporting, and the like. Thus, in future 5G and 6G spectrum sharing systems, according to the principles of the existing 4G-5G DSS, the 6G terminal device can only use the reference signal of 6G to perform the procedures of beam management/CSI measurement, etc., and cannot fully use the reference signal of 5G. In view of this, if the 6G terminal cannot utilize the reference signal of 5G, in order to satisfy the performance of the 6G user, the 6G network device (such as the base station) needs to configure the reference signal that occupies more resources (for example, has a shorter period) under the condition of high load or high moving speed, which increases the resource overhead of the system, thereby reducing the spectrum sharing efficiency of the system. In view of the above, the present application provides a communication method for effectively reducing the reference signal resource overhead and improving the spectrum sharing efficiency.

The following describes in detail the implementation of the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application based on the communication system architecture illustrated in fig. 2, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method is applicable to the communication system architecture illustrated in fig. 2. It will be appreciated that the communication method illustrated in fig. 3 is illustrated by taking the first communication device and the second communication device as the execution bodies of the interactive schematic, but the present application is not limited to the execution bodies of the interactive schematic. The first communication means may be, for example, a terminal device (such as a UE) or a module in a terminal device (such as a processor, a processing unit, a system-on-chip, a circuit or chip, etc.), and the second communication means may be a network device (such as a base station) or a module of a network device (such as a processor, a processing unit, a system-on-chip, a circuit or chip, etc.). For example, the first communication means may be a terminal device 120a as illustrated in fig. 2 and the second communication means may be a RAN node 110a as illustrated in fig. 2. It should be understood that the method performed by the first communication device in the present application may also be implemented by a logic node, a logic module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the first communication device, and the method performed by the second communication device in the present application may also be implemented by a logic node, a logic module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the second communication device.

As shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

step 301. The second communication device sends configuration information on the first cell. Accordingly, the first communication device receives configuration information on the first cell.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, if the first communication device is a functional module such as a chip, the functional module may not sense which device the received information is coming from, and if the second communication device is a functional module such as a chip, the functional module may not sense which device the transmitted information is being transmitted to.

For example, the second communication device is taken as a network device. If the network device is a distributed architecture, e.g. the network device comprises a CU and/or a DU, or comprises one or more of a CU-CP, CU-UP or DU, the network device sends configuration information when the network device comprises a DU, in particular the DU the network device comprises. Optionally, the network device including DU may further include CU, or the network device including DU may further include CU-CP and/or CU-UP.

Wherein the RAT employed by the first cell is a first RAT (e.g., a 6G RAT). It is to be appreciated that the RAT employed by the second communication device corresponding to the first cell may also be the first RAT. The first cell may be, for example, one of a serving cell or a neighbor cell of the serving cell, such as a cell corresponding to an additional physical cell identity (PHYSICAL CELL IDENTIFIER, PCI). It is understood that the PCI of a non-serving cell may be referred to as an extra PCI. Alternatively, the first cell may be one of a primary cell (PRIMARY CELL, pcell), a secondary cell (Scell), or a secondary primary cell (primary secondary cell, PScell). For example, the RATs may include, but are not limited to, 4G RAT, 5G RAT, 6G RAT, seventh generation (7th generation,7G) RAT, or other forms of RAT, etc., as embodiments of the application are not limited in this regard.

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

It will be appreciated that in a multi-RAT spectrum sharing scenario (e.g., a 5G-6G spectrum sharing scenario), a second communication device (e.g., a base station) has configured second reference signal resources (e.g., 5G reference signal resources) for a first communication device (e.g., a UE) supporting a second RAT in a first cell, such that the second reference signal resources already exist in the first cell, so the second communication device may also configure the second reference signal resources for the first communication device supporting the first RAT in the first cell to avoid the first communication device supporting the first RAT from additionally configuring other reference signal resources than the first reference signal resources (e.g., 6G reference signal resources) and the second reference signal resources. It should be appreciated that the second communication device may also configure the first reference signal resource for a first communication device supporting the first RAT within the first cell.

Further, it is understood that the second cell is a cell employing a second RAT. Alternatively, the second reference signal resource may be the same as the time-frequency resource of the reference signal resource in the second cell but different in beam, or the second reference signal resource may be the same as the time-frequency resource of the reference signal resource in the second cell but different in code domain resource, or the second reference signal resource may be the same as the time domain resource of the reference signal resource in the second cell but different in frequency domain resource, or the second reference signal resource may be the same as the frequency domain resource of the reference signal resource in the second cell but different in time domain resource.

The configuration information is presented below by way of several possible examples.

Example one the configuration information may include a first resource configuration (such as a CSI resource configuration).

Wherein the first resource configuration may comprise a plurality of resource sets (or resource set lists or resource sets). For example, the plurality of resource sets includes a first set of resources and a second set of resources. The first set of resources may be used to configure first reference signal resources and the second set of resources may be used to configure second reference signal resources.

For example, taking the first resource configuration as the CSI resource configuration as an example. As shown in table 1, one CSI resource configuration may configure one or more resource set lists (ResourceSetList). Each ResourceSetList includes one or more resource sets (ResourceSet).

TABLE 1

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

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

Optionally, the configuration information in example one may also include a reporting configuration (or may be referred to as a CSI reporting configuration or CSI reporting configuration). Wherein the reporting configuration may be used to configure parameters for transmitting (or reporting) CSI. When the configuration information in example one includes a reporting configuration, the reporting configuration is associated with the first resource configuration (or it may be understood that the reporting configuration is associated with the first set of resources, the second set of resources). It should be appreciated that the reporting configuration being associated with the first resource configuration may refer to the reporting configuration having a correspondence (or may be referred to as a mapping relationship) with an identification (or index or number or name) of the first resource configuration, or may refer to the reporting configuration supporting an identification associated with the first resource configuration. For example, reporting configuration does not need to be changed relative to the 5G protocol, and only one CSI resource configuration number ((CSI-ResourceConfigid)) needs to be associated, as shown in table 2.

TABLE 2

It is appreciated that, based on the scheme provided by this example one, when the first reference signal resource and/or the second reference signal resource are used for beam management (or may be understood as beam training) scenarios, the CSI transmitted by the first communication device may include a reference signal resource index (or reference signal resource identification or reference signal resource number), L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, and the like.

Optionally, the second communication device may also configure the first communication device not to report CSI. For example, the first communication device is a UE, and the second communication device is a base station. In the P3 process, the transmit beam of the base station is unchanged, and the UE updates its own receive beam.

Example two the configuration information may include a second resource configuration and a third resource configuration.

Wherein the second resource configuration may be used to configure the first reference signal resources and the third resource configuration may be used to configure the second reference signal resources.

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

Optionally, the configuration information in example two may also include a reporting configuration. Wherein, the reporting configuration may be used to configure parameters for transmitting CSI. When the configuration information in example two includes a reporting configuration, the reporting configuration is associated with at least two resource configurations (e.g., a second resource configuration and a third resource configuration). It should be understood that the reporting configuration being associated with at least two resource configurations may refer to the reporting configuration having a correspondence with the identity of the at least two resource configurations, or may refer to the reporting configuration supporting the identity of the associated at least two resource configurations. For example, take reporting configuration in example two as CSI-ReportConfig-1, and the two resource configurations are identified as CSI-ResourceConfigId and CSI-ResourceConfigId 2. The corresponding relation exists between the CSI-ReportConfig-1, the CSI-ResourceConfigId1 and the CSI-ResourceConfigId.

It should be understood that, by designing the two resource allocation manners, how to allocate the reference signal resources of the two RATs can be clarified and enabled.

Optionally, the second communication device (such as a network device) may determine (or determine) that only one of the first reference signal resource (such as a 6G reference signal resource) and the second reference signal resource (such as a 5G reference signal resource) needs to be configured according to the location information, the moving speed, the reported measurement result of the first communication device (such as the UE), and so on. For example, taking the first communication device as UE, the second communication device as network equipment, the first reference signal resource is a 6G reference signal resource, and the second reference signal resource is a 5G reference signal resource as an example. When the position of the UE is in the central area of the cell, or the moving speed of the UE is low, or the UE is static, or the channel quality reported by the UE is good, the network equipment can only need to configure one of the 6G reference signal resource and the 5G reference signal resource, so that the resource expense can be saved.

Taking the first reference signal resource as a 6G SSB resource and the 6G CSI-RS resource, the second reference signal resource as a 5G SSB resource and a 5GCSI-RS resource as examples, the following description describes the related situation that only one of the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource needs to be configured by the following several possible examples.

Example one only needs to configure the 6G SSB resources and the 5G CSI-RS resources, where the QCL RS of the 5G CSI-RS resources may be configured as 6GSSB resources.

And in the second example, only the 6G SSB resource and the 6G CSI-RS resource are required to be configured.

Example three, only 5G SSB resources and 5G CSI-RS resources need to be configured.

Example four, only the 5G SSB resource and the 6G CSI-RS resource need to be configured, and the QCL RS of the 6G CSI-RS resource can be configured as the 5GSSB resource.

It should be understood that, in what case, the second communication device transmits the capability information, and embodiments of the present application are not limited. For example, in one example, a first communication device may send capability information to a second communication device before receiving configuration information on a first cell. Then, the second communication device may send configuration information to the first communication device on the first cell according to the capability information corresponding to the first communication device. In another example, the first communication device obtains the capability information of the first communication device by interacting with the first communication device in advance before the first communication device receives the configuration information on the first cell, or the first communication device provides the capability information of the first communication device to the second communication device by interacting with the second communication device in advance. The capability information may be used to indicate that the first communication device supports configuration of the second reference signal resource, or may also be used to indicate that the first communication device does not support configuration of the second reference signal resource.

The indication of the capability information described above is presented below by way of several possible examples.

Example one whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource may be indicated by a corresponding change in capability information, such as a content change or a format change or a length change or a field change, etc.

For example, taking the corresponding change in capability information as a length change as an example. When the length of the capability information is the first length, the capability information may be used to indicate that the first communication device supports configuration of the second reference signal resources. When the length of the capability information is the second length, the capability information may be used to indicate that the first communication device does not support configuration of the second reference signal resource.

Example two whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource may implement the corresponding indication content by occupying (or using) 1bit with the capability information.

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

It will be appreciated that in some cases the capability information may also be understood as a parameter. For example, the capability information is represented by a first parameter. The first parameter implements the corresponding indication content by using 1 bit. In the case of the first parameter, there are two different parameter values (or may be understood as bit values, such as 0, 1) for representing different indicative content. For example, when the parameter value of the first parameter is 1, the parameter value of 1 may indicate that the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource. When the parameter value of the second parameter is 0, the parameter value of 0 may indicate that the first communication device does not support configuration of the second reference signal resource.

Example three whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource may implement the corresponding indication content by the type of the capability information.

For example, when the type of capability information is type 1, it is indicated that the first communication device supports configuration of the second reference signal resource. When the type of the capability information is type 2, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuration of the second reference signal resource.

It will be appreciated that in some cases the capability information may also be understood as a parameter. For example, the capability information is represented by a second parameter. When the type of the second parameter carried in the information or the message sent by the first communication device to the second communication device is type 1, it indicates that the first communication device supports configuration of the second reference signal resource. When the type of the second parameter carried in the information or the message sent by the first communication device to the second communication device is type 2, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuration of the second reference signal resource.

Example four whether the first communication device supports configuring the second reference signal resource may be indicated by whether capability information is present.

For example, when the capability information occurs, it is indicated that the first communication device supports configuration of the second reference signal resources. When the capability information does not appear, it indicates that the first communication device does not support configuration of the second reference signal resource.

It will be appreciated that in some cases the capability information may also be understood as a parameter. For example, the capability information is represented by a third parameter. And when the information or the message sent to the second communication device by the first communication device carries the third parameter, the first communication device is indicated to support configuration of the second reference signal resource. And when the information or the message sent to the second communication device by the first communication device does not carry the third parameter, the first communication device is not supported to configure the second reference signal resource.

Step 302, the second communication device transmits a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource. Accordingly, the first communication device receives the first reference signal on the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal on the second reference signal resource.

The following describes the implementation of the first communication device to measure the first reference signal and the second reference signal by using the following several possible implementations.

The first communication device measures a first reference signal carried on a first reference signal resource and a second reference signal carried on a second reference signal resource respectively to obtain a first CSI of the first reference signal and a second CSI of the second reference signal.

Illustratively, the first reference signal resource is a 6G CSI-RS resource, the second reference signal resource is a 5G CSI-RS resource, the first reference signal is a 6G CSI-RS, and the second reference signal is a 5G CSI-RS, which is described below by way of several possible examples.

Example one when a 6G CSI-RS resource and a 5G CSI-RS resource are used for a beam management scenario, the first communication device may measure the 6G CSI-RS on the 6G CSI-RS resource resulting in measurement result 1 (or may be referred to as measurement result of the 6G CSI-RS), and measure the 5G CSI-RS on the 5G CSI-RS resource resulting in measurement result 2 (or may be referred to as measurement result of the 5G CSI-RS). Wherein, measurement result 1 can be used as the first CSI, and measurement result 2 can be used as the second CSI.

For example, in this example one, measurement result 1 may include an index of the 6G CSI-RS resource, and L1-RSRP and L1-SINR corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS, etc. The measurement result 2 may include an index of the 5G CSI-RS resource, L1-RSRP and L1-SINR corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS, and the like.

It should be appreciated that in this example one, the 6G CSI-RS is transmitted using a 6G beam on the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS is transmitted using a 5G beam on the 5GCSI-RS resource. Thus, measurement 1 may also be referred to as a measurement of the 6G beam (or may be referred to as a measurement of the 6G beam), and measurement 2 may also be referred to as a measurement of the 5G beam (or may be referred to as a measurement of the 5G beam).

Example two when the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used for a channel measurement scenario (or may be referred to as CSI measurement scenario), the first communication device may measure the 6G CSI-RS on the 6G CSI-RS resource to obtain measurement result 3 (or may be referred to as measurement result of the 6G CSI-RS), and measure the 5G CSI-RS on the 5G CSI-RS resource to obtain measurement result 4 (or may be referred to as measurement result of the 5G CSI-RS). Wherein measurement 3 may be used as the first CSI and measurement 4 may be used as the second CSI.

For example, in this example one, the measurement result 3 may include CQI, PMI, RI, and the like corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS. The measurement result 4 may include CQI, PMI, RI, etc. corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS.

It should be appreciated that in this example two, the antenna ports of the network side (e.g., the second communication device) configured the 6G CSI-RS resource are the same as the antenna ports of the 5GCSI-RS resource. For example, the antenna ports of the 6G CSI-RS resource and the antenna ports of the 5G CSI-RS resource being the same may refer to the antenna port number (or may be referred to as an antenna port identifier or an antenna port index) corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS resource and the antenna port number corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource being the same, or may refer to the number of antenna ports corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS resource and the number of antenna ports corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource being the same.

In the second implementation manner, the first communication device performs joint measurement on the first reference signal carried on the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal carried on the second reference signal resource to obtain the CSI.

It should be appreciated that the above-described implementation two applies to channel measurement scenarios. For example, continuing to take the first reference signal resource as the 6G CSI-RS resource and the second reference signal resource as the 5G CSI-RS resource, the first reference signal is the 6G CSI-RS and the second reference signal is the 5G CSI-RS as an example. The first communication device may perform joint measurement (may be understood as measurement together) on the 6G CSI-RS carried on the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS carried on the 5G CSI-RS resource, to obtain the measurement result 5. Wherein the measurement result 5 may be the CSI as described above. The measurement result 5 may include CQI, PMI, RI, and the like, for example.

In the second implementation manner, the antenna ports configured with the first reference signal resource and the antenna ports configured with the second reference signal resource on the network side (such as the second communication device) are different, or the antenna ports configured with the first reference signal resource and the antenna ports configured with the second reference signal resource may be continuous (i.e. the number of antenna ports of the first reference signal resource overlaps the number of antenna ports of the first reference signal resource). For example, the difference between the antenna port of the first reference signal resource and the antenna port of the second reference signal resource may mean that the antenna port number corresponding to the first reference signal resource and the antenna port number corresponding to the second reference signal resource are different, or may also mean that the number of antenna ports corresponding to the first reference signal resource and the number of antenna ports corresponding to the second reference signal resource are different. For example, the first reference signal resource is correspondingly configured with N1 antenna ports and the second reference signal resource is correspondingly configured with N2 antenna ports, such that the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are co-configured with (n1+n2) antenna ports. For example, taking the first reference signal resource as a 6G CSI-RS resource and the second reference signal resource as a 5G CSI-RS resource as an example. The network side numbers 1-16 for the antenna ports configured for the 5G CSI-RS resource and 17-32 for the antenna ports configured for the 6G CSI-RS resource, the two CSI-RS resources are combined to form a 32-port CSI-RS, or the network side numbers 1-32 for the antenna ports configured for the 5GCSI-RS resource and 33-64 for the antenna ports configured for the 6G CSI-RS resource, and the two CSI-RS resources are combined to form a 64-port CSI-RS.

Optionally, the interval between the time unit where the first reference signal resource is located and the time unit where the second reference signal resource is located is less than or equal to the interval threshold. Thus, the method can avoid that the measurement results cannot be combined due to large variation of the measurement results of the reference signals (such as large-scale fading, large variation of phase, doppler and the like), so that the measurement accuracy of the reference signals cannot be ensured. For example, a time unit may refer to an OFDM symbol, a slot, a subframe, or a frame, etc.

For example, taking the first reference signal resource as a 6G CSI-RS resource, the second reference signal resource as a 5G CSI-RS resource, and the time unit as a slot as an example. The interval between the time slot where the 6G CSI-RS resource is located and the time slot where the 5G CSI-RS resource is located is smaller than or equal to a set interval threshold, for example, the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource may be located in the same time slot, or the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource may also be located in adjacent or similar time slots, etc.

Step 303, the first communication device transmits CSI. Accordingly, the second communication device receives the CSI.

In the embodiment of the present application, the reporting manner of the CSI may be determined by the first communication device based on the indication information (such as the first information) from the second communication device, or may be pre-negotiated with the second communication device, or may be pre-defined by a protocol. Wherein the first information may be used to indicate that CSI is transmitted based on the first mode, or the first information may also be used to indicate that CSI is transmitted based on the second mode. Wherein, the first mode refers to that the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and the second mode refers to that the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal or the second reference signal. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate that the measurement result of the first reference signal and the measurement result of the second reference signal are carried in the same information (or the same message) for reporting, or may be used to indicate that the measurement result of the first reference signal and the measurement result of the second reference signal are respectively carried in different information (or different messages) for reporting.

It should be understood that the CSI transmitted based on the first mode may include the first CSI and the second CSI, or may be CSI obtained based on a combining process of the first CSI and the second CSI, or may be CSI obtained based on a combined measurement of the first reference signal and the second reference signal. The CSI transmitted based on the second mode may be the first CSI or may be the second CSI.

For example, the reporting of CSI is exemplified by the first communication device determining based on the first information from the second communication device. The second communication device may transmit the first information to the first communication device before transmitting the configuration information or receiving the CSI from the first communication device. The first communication apparatus, upon receiving the first information, may determine whether to transmit CSI based on the first mode or to transmit CSI based on the second mode according to the content indicated by the first information. For example, the first information may refer to DCI, RRC signaling, or MAC Control Element (CE) signaling, etc.

The implementation of the first communication device to send CSI is described below by the following several possible implementations.

In one mode, the CSI sent by the first communication device comprises a first CSI and a second CSI. The first CSI is obtained by measuring a first reference signal by the first communication device, and the second CSI is obtained by measuring a second reference signal by the first communication device.

It may be appreciated that, when the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are used in the beam management scenario, in the first mode, the second communication device may instruct the first communication device to perform beam measurement and beam measurement result reporting according to the first mode (i.e. measurement result reporting of the reference signal corresponding to the beam) through the first information, or may also specify that the first communication device performs beam measurement and beam measurement result reporting according to the first mode through a protocol.

Illustratively, the first communication device is a UE, the second communication device is a base station, the first reference signal resource is a 6G CSI-RS resource, and the second reference signal resource is a 5G CSI-RS resource. When the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used for the beam management scenario, the CSI includes measurement result 1 (which may be a first CSI, such as CSI-1) and measurement result 2 (which may be a second CSI, such as CSI-2). In this way, the method not only can use the 6G CSI-RS resource to perform beam management, but also can use the 5G CSI-RS resource to perform beam management, so that more beams (such as the 5G beam and the 6G beam) can be measured (the reference signals corresponding to more beams are measured respectively), the base station can be helped to select finer beams for subsequent data transmission, the beam management performance can be improved, and the resource cost of the reference signals can be reduced.

For example, as shown in fig. 4, the beams transmitted by the base station include 4 6G beams (such as 6G beam 1, 6G beam 2, 6G beam 3, and 6G beam 4) and 4 5G beams (such as 5G beam 1, 5G beam 2, 5G beam 3, and 5G beam 4). Each 6G beam corresponds to one 6G CSI-RS resource (e.g., 6G beam 1 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 1, 6G beam 2 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 2, 6G beam 3 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 3 and 6G beam 4 corresponds to 6G CSI-RS resource 4), that is, one 6G CSI-RS resource is corresponding to each 5G beam, and each 5G beam corresponds to one 5G CSI-RS resource (e.g., 5G beam 1 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 1, 5G beam 2 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 2, 5G beam 3 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 3 and 5G beam 4 corresponds to 5G CSI-RS resource 4), that is, one 5G CSI-RS. Thus, measurement 1 includes measurements corresponding to 4 6G beams and measurement 2 includes measurements corresponding to 4 5G beams.

In one example, as shown in (a) of fig. 4, the UE may select at least one measurement result (such as a measurement result corresponding to 6G beam 2, a measurement result corresponding to 6G beam 3, and a measurement result corresponding to 5G beam 3) that is greater than or equal to a measurement result threshold from among measurement results corresponding to 4 6G beams and measurement results corresponding to 4 5G beams, and may report the at least one measurement result to the base station in one CSI report. After receiving the at least one measurement result, the base station may select, according to the at least one measurement result, one beam (such as the 6G beam 2) from the beams corresponding to the at least one measurement result for subsequent data transmission.

In another example, as shown in (b) of fig. 4, the UE may select at least one measurement result (such as a measurement result corresponding to 6G beam 2, a measurement result corresponding to 6G beam 3, and a measurement result corresponding to 5G beam 3) greater than or equal to a measurement result threshold from among measurement results corresponding to 4 6G beams and measurement results corresponding to 4 5G beams, and may report the at least one measurement result to the base station in one CSI report. After receiving the at least one measurement, the base station may derive (or determine) a new beam for subsequent data transmission based on the at least one measurement. For example, the base station may interpolate (such as linearly interpolate) the measurement results corresponding to the 4 6G beams and the measurement results corresponding to the 4 5G beams to derive a new beam. After that, the base station may send the relevant information of the new beam (such as the reference signal resource information associated with the new beam, the weight corresponding to the new beam, or the direction of the new beam) to the UE, for example, the base station may send the relevant information of the new beam to the UE through DCI, so that the UE and the base station derive the Ji Xin beam in advance.

In yet another example, the UE may report the measurement results corresponding to the 4 6G beams and the measurement results corresponding to the 4 5G beams together to the base station in one CSI report. After receiving the measurement results corresponding to the 4 6G beams and the measurement results corresponding to the 4 5G beams, the base station may select one beam (such as an optimal beam) from the 4 6G beams and the 4 5G beams for subsequent data transmission according to the measurement results corresponding to the 4 6G beams and the measurement results corresponding to the 4 5G beams. Alternatively, the base station may derive a new beam for subsequent data transmission based on the measurement results corresponding to the 4 6G beams and the measurement results corresponding to the 4 5G beams. For example, the base station may interpolate (such as linearly interpolate) the measurement results corresponding to the 4 6G beams and the measurement results corresponding to the 4 5G beams to derive a new beam. Thereafter, the base station may transmit the information about the new beam to the UE, for example, the base station may transmit the information about the new beam to the UE through DCI, so that the UE and the base station derive the Ji Xin beam in advance.

Alternatively, when the base station needs to transmit a certain downlink channel (such as 6G PDSCH1), the base station may determine a beam for transmitting the downlink channel, and determine which one or more reference signal resources (such as one or more 5G reference signal resources) are associated with QCL information of the beam. Thereafter, the base station may transmit second information to the UE. Then, after receiving the second information, the UE may receive the downlink channel according to the second information. Optionally, the UE may also send a certain uplink channel (such as 6g publish 1) according to the second information. Wherein the second information is used to indicate the reference signal resource information associated with the downlink channel (such as a reference signal resource index or a beam index (or beam identification or beam number) associated with the reference signal resource index). For example, the second information may be DCI.

It should be appreciated that in the existing 5G protocol, QCL information supports that the associated RS includes RSs of only one RAT, such as a 5G reference signal. However, in the new 6G protocol, the QCL information supporting associated RSs may include RSs of two RATs, such as a 5G reference signal and a 6G reference signal, as shown in table 3.

TABLE 3 Table 3

For example, a downlink channel that the base station needs to transmit is 6g PDSCH1. The base station may first determine which beam (or may be referred to as the transmit beam) matches 6G PDSCH1, such as 6G beam 2. Then, the base station may determine that the QCL information of the 6G beam 2 supports the associated reference signal resource information (such as an index of the 6G CSI-RS resource 2 or an index of the 6G beam 2 corresponding to the 6G CSI-RS resource 2), and may include the QCL information of the 6G beam 2 in the DCI and transmit the information to the UE. After receiving the DCI, the UE may receive 6g PDSCH1 according to the reference signal resource information included in the DCI. Optionally, the UE may also send a certain uplink channel according to the reference signal resource information included in the DCI.

Alternatively, when the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource are used for the channel measurement scenario, in the first mode, the second communication device may instruct the first communication device to perform channel measurement and channel measurement result reporting according to the scheme of the first mode through the first information, or may specify that the first communication device performs channel measurement and channel measurement result reporting according to the scheme of the first mode through a protocol.

In the second mode, the CSI sent by the first communication device includes the first CSI or the second CSI.

Example one when 6G CSI-RS resources and 5G CSI-RS resources are used for a beam management scenario, the CSI includes measurement result 1 (which may be a first CSI, such as CSI-1) or measurement result 2 (which may be a second CSI, such as CSI-2).

It may be appreciated that in this example one, the base station may instruct the UE to perform beam measurement and beam measurement result reporting according to the scheme of this example one through the first information, or may also specify that the UE performs beam measurement and beam measurement result reporting according to the scheme of this example one through a protocol.

For example, after obtaining the measurement result 1, the UE may report the measurement result 1 to the base station in a CSI report. After obtaining the measurement result 2, the UE may report the measurement result 2 to the base station by including the fourth information in another CSI report. In this way, the method not only can use the 6G CSI-RS resource to perform beam management, but also can use the 5G CSI-RS resource to perform beam management, so that more beams (such as the 5G beam and the 6G beam) can be measured (which can be understood as measuring reference signals corresponding to more beams respectively), which is helpful for the base station to select finer beams for subsequent data transmission, and can also enable the first communication device (such as the UE) to feed back the beam measurement result more timely, which is helpful for the second communication device (such as the base station) to update the transmission beam more timely in subsequent data transmission, thereby improving the beam management performance and reducing the reference signal resource overhead.

Alternatively, in one example, the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the third information belongs (or may be referred to as the reporting period) may be the same as the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the fourth information belongs, for example, the uplink resource for carrying the third information and the uplink resource for carrying the fourth information are located in different timeslots (e.g., adjacent or similar timeslots) of the same period. In another example, the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the third information belongs may be different from the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the fourth information belongs, for example, the uplink resource for carrying the third information and the uplink resource for carrying the fourth information are respectively located in different periods.

For example, as shown in fig. 5a, the resource period (or may be understood as a transmission period) of the 6G CSI-RS is 40ms, and the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms. The 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are staggered in time domain, for example, the time domain where the 6G CSI-RS resource is located and the time domain where the 5G CSI-RS resource is located are spaced by 20ms. The period of the CSI reporting resource is 20ms, namely the CSI is reported by the UE once every 20ms, and the CSI is reported periodically. Alternatively, CSI may also be reported aperiodically. In this way, the UE may report the measurement result (i.e. measurement result 2) obtained based on the 5G CSI-RS to the base station in one CSI report, and may report the measurement result (i.e. measurement result 1) obtained based on the 6G CSI-RS to the base station in another CSI report after 20ms elapses. Therefore, the method can realize the tracking and recovery of the wave beam more quickly, is beneficial to the base station to update the wave beam in time, can improve the SINR of the UE, reduces the interference among the wave beams of different users, and can improve the data transmission performance. Alternatively, the Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) illustrated in fig. 5a may correspond to different carriers (frequency division duplex (frequency division duplexing, FDD)), or may also correspond to the same carrier (time division duplex (time division duplexing, TDD)).

Alternatively, when the base station needs to transmit a certain downlink channel (such as 6G PDSCH1), the base station may determine a beam for transmitting the downlink channel, and determine which one or more reference signal resources (such as one or more 5G reference signal resources) are associated with QCL information of the beam. Thereafter, the base station may transmit second information to the UE. Then, after receiving the second information, the UE may receive the downlink channel according to the second information. Optionally, the UE may also send a certain uplink channel (e.g. 6GPUSCH a) according to the second information.

Example two when 6G and 5G CSI-RS resources are used for a channel measurement scenario, the CSI includes measurement result 3 (which may be a first CSI, such as CSI-3) or measurement result 4 (which may be a second CSI, such as CSI-4).

For example, after obtaining the measurement result 3, the UE may report the measurement result 3 to the base station in a CSI report. After obtaining the measurement result 4, the UE may report the measurement result 4 to the base station by including the sixth information in another CSI report. In this way, the UE can effectively reduce the feedback period (or feedback delay) and reduce the CSI aging effect by feeding back the measurement result 3 and the measurement result 4 to the base station, respectively.

Alternatively, in one example, the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the fifth information belongs may be the same as the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the sixth information belongs, for example, the uplink resource for carrying the fifth information and the uplink resource for carrying the sixth information are located in different timeslots (e.g., adjacent or similar timeslots) of the same period. In another example, the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the fifth information belongs may be different from the period to which the uplink resource for carrying the sixth information belongs, for example, the uplink resource for carrying the fifth information and the uplink resource for carrying the sixth information are respectively located in different periods.

For example, in this example two, the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS is 40ms and the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms, see fig. 5a. The 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are staggered in the time domain, for example, the time domain where the 6G CSI-RS resource is located and the time domain where the 5G CSI-RS resource is located are separated by 20ms, so that a certain offset exists between the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource in the time domain. As such, it is reasonable to indicate the second mode (measurement and CSI reporting based on the first reference signal or the second reference signal) by configuring the CSI reporting period to be smaller than the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS or the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS only when the offset is greater than a certain threshold (e.g., 15 ms).

As shown in fig. 6a, the period of the CSI reporting resource is20 ms, that is, the UE reports CSI once every 20 ms. In this way, the UE may report CSI-4 (i.e., measurement result based on 5G CSI-RS) to the base station in one CSI report, and may report CSI-3 (i.e., measurement result based on 6G CSI-RS) to the base station in another CSI report after 20ms elapses. In this way, short-period CSI reporting can facilitate the base station to obtain CSI more timely, so that the base station can more effectively perform subsequent data transmission, and in addition, the resource period of the reference signal is still long, and meanwhile, resource overhead is saved.

Optionally, in the second example, the base station may instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the second example through the first information (that is, perform reference signal measurement and CSI reporting based on the second mode), so that explicit instruction on which scheme the UE uses to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting may be implemented, and explicit instruction may not add limitation to configuration, which is more flexible. In addition, the embodiment of the application can flexibly control the reference signal measurement and the CSI reporting flow through semi-static or dynamic indication.

Optionally, in the second example, the base station may also instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the second example through implicit indication (or may be referred to as implicit indication), so that signaling overhead may be saved, and introduction of a new signaling design is avoided. For example, the base station configures the following content in the CSI reporting configuration or the configuration information sent by the base station comprises the following content that the CSI reporting resource is simultaneously associated with the 5G CSI-RS and the 6GCSI-RS, and the reporting period of the CSI reporting configuration instruction is smaller than the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS or the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS, so that the implicit instruction of the UE to execute channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the second example can be realized.

In the third mode, the CSI sent by the first communication device is obtained based on the combination of the first CSI and the second CSI.

It will be appreciated that the above-described approach is three-way for a channel measurement scenario.

Optionally, in the third mode, an interval between a time unit (such as a time slot) where the first reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource) is located and a time unit where the second reference signal resource (such as the 5G CSI-RS resource) is located is smaller than or equal to a set interval threshold, for example, the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource may be located in the same time unit, or the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource may also be located in adjacent or similar time units, or the like. Thus, the method can avoid that the measurement results cannot be combined due to large variation of the measurement results of the reference signals (such as large-scale fading, large variation of phase, doppler and the like), so that the measurement accuracy of the reference signals cannot be ensured.

For example, in the third mode, the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS is 40ms, and the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms, see fig. 5b. The 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are staggered in the time domain, for example, the time domain where the 6G CSI-RS resource is located and the time domain where the 5G CSI-RS resource is located are separated by 20ms, so that a certain offset exists between the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource in the time domain. The period of the CSI reporting resource is 40ms, namely the CSI is reported by the UE once every 40ms, and the CSI is reported periodically. Alternatively, CSI may also be reported aperiodically. In this way, the UE may report, to the base station, the combined result 1 after the combining process based on the measurement result 4 and the measurement result 3 in one CSI report, and after 40ms has elapsed, may report, to the base station, the combined result 2 after the combining process based on the measurement result 4 '(obtained by measuring the 5G CSI-RS transmitted after the 5G CSI-RS corresponding to the measurement result 4) and the measurement result 3' (obtained by measuring the 6G CSI-RS transmitted after the 6G CSI-RS corresponding to the measurement result 3) in another CSI report.

Illustratively, the first communication device is a UE, the second communication device is a base station, the first reference signal resource is a 6G CSI-RS resource, and the second reference signal resource is a 5G CSI-RS resource. When the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used for the channel measurement scenario, the CSI includes measurement result 3 (which may be a first CSI, such as CSI-3) or measurement result 4 (which may be a second CSI, such as CSI-4). After obtaining the measurement result 3 and the measurement result 4, the UE may combine the measurement result 3 and the measurement result 4 to obtain a combined measurement result, such as CSI-1'. The UE may then report the combined measurement (e.g., CSI-1') to the base station in one CSI report. For example, as shown in fig. 6b, the UE may report CSI-1 'to the base station in one CSI report, and after 40ms has elapsed, may report CSI-2' to the base station in another CSI report (obtained by combining the measurement result of the 5G CSI-RS transmitted after the 5G CSI-RS corresponding to the measurement result 4 with the measurement result of the 6G CSI-RS transmitted after the 6G CSI-RS corresponding to the measurement result 3). Therefore, the method can realize unified feedback of the measurement result of the 6G CSI-RS and the measurement result of the 5G CSI-RS, and is beneficial to improving the feedback precision.

For example, the UE may combine the measurement result 3 and the measurement result 4 by using layer 1filtering (layer 1 filtering), so that a certain homogenization of the measurement result may be achieved. For example, the UE may average measurement 3 and measurement 4 or weight average to achieve a combination of the measurements. Optionally, the UE may further perform weighted average on the new measurement result and the result obtained after the last weighted average to achieve the combination of measurement results. For example, taking a new measurement result as measurement result 4, taking the weighted average measurement result of the last CSI report as result a as an example. The UE may perform a weighted average process on the measurement result 4 and the result a to obtain the result b. After that, when the UE obtains the measurement result 3, the measurement result 3 and the result b may be subjected to weighted average processing, to obtain the result c. Then, the UE may report the result c to the base station in the CSI report. For another example, taking new measurement results as measurement result 4 and measurement result 3, the weighted average measurement result reported last CSI is taken as result a. The UE may perform weighted average processing on the measurement result 4, the measurement result 3, and the result a to obtain the result d. And then, the UE can report the result d to the base station in the CSI report.

Optionally, in the third mode, the base station may instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting (i.e. report the measurement results of the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS respectively by measuring the 5G CSI-RS and combining the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS) according to the scheme of the third mode through the first information, so that explicit instruction of which scheme the UE uses to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting may be implemented, and explicit instruction may not add restrictions to configuration, and is more flexible. In addition, the embodiment of the application can flexibly control the reference signal measurement and the CSI reporting flow through semi-static or dynamic indication.

Optionally, in the third mode, the base station may instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the third mode through implicit indication, so that signaling overhead may be saved, and a new signaling design is avoided from being introduced. For example, the base station configures the following content in the CSI reporting configuration or the configuration information sent by the base station comprises the following content that the CSI reporting resource is associated with the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS simultaneously, and the reporting period of the CSI reporting configuration indication is equal to the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS or the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS, so that the UE can be implicitly indicated to execute channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the third mode.

In a fourth mode, CSI transmitted by the first communication device is obtained based on joint measurement of the first reference signal and the second reference signal.

It will be appreciated that the fourth mode described above is for a channel measurement scenario.

Optionally, in the fourth mode, an interval between a time unit (e.g., a time slot) where the first reference signal resource (e.g., the 6G CSI-RS resource) is located and a time unit where the second reference signal resource (e.g., the 5G CSI-RS resource) is located is smaller than or equal to a set interval threshold, for example, the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource may be located in the same time unit, or the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource may also be located in adjacent or similar time units, or the like. Thus, the method can avoid that the measurement results cannot be combined due to large variation of the measurement results of the reference signals (such as large-scale fading, large variation of phase, doppler and the like), so that the measurement accuracy of the reference signals cannot be ensured.

Illustratively, the first communication device is a UE, the second communication device is a base station, the first reference signal resource is a 6G CSI-RS resource, and the second reference signal resource is a 5G CSI-RS resource. When the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS resource are used for a channel measurement scenario, the CSI includes measurement result 5. After obtaining the measurement result 5, the UE may report the measurement result 5 to the base station in one CSI report. After 40ms, the UE may report the measurement result 5' (obtained by performing joint measurement on the 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS transmitted after the 5G CSI-RS and 6G CSI-RS corresponding to the measurement result 5) to the base station in another CSI report. In this way, the method can realize measurement of more space-division antenna ports by combining the measurement results of the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS, is beneficial to improving the space-division measurement layer number, improving the measurement precision under the condition of not improving the resource overhead, and improving the layer number of single-user multiple-input multiple-output (SU-MIMO)/multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) of the UE.

For example, in the fourth embodiment, the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS is 40ms, and the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS is also 40ms. As shown in fig. 6c, the period of the CSI reporting resource is 40ms, that is, the UE reports CSI once every 40ms, and the CSI is reported periodically. Alternatively, CSI may also be reported aperiodically. In this way, the UE may report CSI-1 "to the base station in one CSI report after performing joint measurement on the 6G CSI-RS carried on the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5G CSI-RS carried on the 5G CSI-RS resource to obtain CSI-1", and may report CSI-2 "to the base station in another CSI report after 40ms has elapsed (obtained by performing joint measurement on the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS sent after the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS corresponding to CSI-1"). The antenna port number of the 5G CSI-RS resource configuration is 1-16, and the antenna port number of the 6G CSI-RS resource configuration is 17-32. Therefore, the method can realize the combined measurement of the 6G CSI-RS and the 5G CSI-RS so as to realize the measurement of more CSI of the space division antenna ports, and is beneficial to the improvement of the space domain measurement layer number.

Optionally, in the fourth mode, the base station may instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting (i.e. perform joint measurement and CSI reporting based on the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS) according to the scheme of the fourth mode through the first information, so that explicit indication of which scheme the UE uses to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting may be implemented, and explicit indication may not add restrictions to configuration, and is more flexible. In addition, the embodiment of the application can flexibly control the reference signal measurement and the CSI reporting flow through semi-static or dynamic indication.

Optionally, in the fourth mode, the base station may instruct the UE to perform channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the fourth mode through implicit indication, so that signaling overhead may be saved, and introduction of a new signaling design may be avoided. For example, the base station configures the following content in the CSI reporting configuration or the configuration information sent by the base station comprises the following content that the CSI reporting resource is associated with the 5G CSI-RS and the 6G CSI-RS at the same time, the 5G CSI-RS resource and the 6G CSI-RS resource are respectively configured with different antenna ports, and the reporting period of the CSI reporting configuration indication is equal to the resource period of the 5G CSI-RS or the resource period of the 6G CSI-RS, so that the UE can be implicitly indicated to execute channel measurement and CSI reporting according to the scheme of the fourth mode.

As can be seen from the above steps 301 to 303, by configuring the first communication device with the first reference signal resource (the first reference signal resource may comply with the protocol specification of the first RAT) and the second reference signal resource (the second reference signal resource may comply with the protocol specification of the second RAT), the first communication device may be enabled to perform measurement on the reference signals of different RATs (i.e. the first communication device may jointly use the first reference signal and the second reference signal), which facilitates the first communication device to perform beam measurement (or channel measurement) using both the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and may facilitate the performance of beam management/channel measurement, thereby reducing the reference signal resource overhead and improving the spectrum sharing efficiency.

Based on the embodiment of the communication method illustrated in fig. 3 described above, the communication method illustrated in fig. 3 described above will be described in detail below by way of specific examples illustrated in fig. 7 to 8. In the specific examples shown in fig. 7 to 8, the first RAT is a 6G RAT, the second RAT is a 5G RAT, the first communication device is a UE (hereinafter abbreviated as 6 UE) that adopts the 6G RAT, the second communication device is a base station (hereinafter abbreviated as 6G base station) that adopts the 6G RAT, the configuration information is configuration information (hereinafter abbreviated as 6G configuration information) of the 6G RAT, the first reference signal is a 6G CSI-RS, the second reference signal is a 5G CSI-RS, the first reference signal resource is a 6G reference signal resource for carrying the 6G CSI-RS, the second reference signal resource is a 5G reference signal resource for carrying the 5G CSI-RS, the first CSI is a 6G measurement result (i.e., a measurement result of the 6G CSI-RS), and the second CSI is a 5G measurement result (i.e., a measurement result of the 5G CSI-RS). It should be understood that in the specific example shown in fig. 7, the 6G measurement result may also be referred to as a measurement result of the 6G beam, and the 5G measurement result may also be referred to as a measurement result of the 5G beam, so that in one CSI report (or CSI measurement report) by the 6G UE, the transmitted measurement result (or CSI) may be the measurement result of the 6G beam and/or the measurement result of the 5G beam. In the specific example shown in fig. 8, in one CSI report (or CSI measurement report), the measurement result (or CSI) sent by the 6G UE may be a 6G measurement result or a 5G measurement result, or may also be a measurement result obtained by combining the 6G measurement result with the 5G measurement result, or may also be a measurement result obtained based on combined measurement of the 6G CSI-RS and the 5G CSI-RS.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. Wherein the communication method illustrated in fig. 7 may be applied to a beam management scenario. As shown in fig. 7, the specific flow of the method may include:

step 701, 6G base station sends 6G configuration information. Accordingly, the 6G UE receives the 6G configuration information.

Alternatively, the implementation process of step 701 may refer to the related implementation process of step 301, which is not described herein.

In step 702, the 6G base station transmits a 6G CSI-RS on a 6G reference signal resource and transmits a 5G CSI-RS on a 5G reference signal resource. Accordingly, the 6G UE receives the 6G CSI-RS on the 6G reference signal resource and receives the 5G CSI-RS on the 5G reference signal resource.

In the embodiment of the application, the 6G CSI-RS is sent by using a 6G wave beam on a 6G reference signal resource, and the 5G CSI-RS is sent by using a 5G wave beam on a 5G reference signal resource.

Optionally, the implementation process of step 702 may refer to the related implementation process of the reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5GCSI-RS resource) for the beam management scenario in step 302, which is not described herein.

The 6G UE transmits the measurement result of the 6G beam and/or the measurement result of the 5G beam in step 703. Accordingly, the 6G base station receives the measurement result of the 6G beam and/or the measurement result of the 5G beam.

Optionally, the implementation process of step 703 may refer to the related implementation process of the reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5GCSI-RS resource) for the beam management scenario in step 303, which is not described herein.

In step 704, the 6G base station determines the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1 according to the measurement result of the 6G beam and/or the measurement result of the 5G beam.

Optionally, the implementation process of step 704 may refer to the related implementation process of the reference signal resource information related to the downlink channel determination in step 303, which is not described herein.

For example, the reference signal resource information may refer to an index (or identification or number, etc.) of a reference signal resource (such as a 5G SSB resource or a 5G CSI-RS resource, etc.). For example, the reference signal resource is a 5G SSB resource. The index of the 5G SSB resource is 1, that is, the 5GSSB resource information may refer to the 5G SSB resource #1, and thus, the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1 may be the 5G SSB resource #1. As another example, the reference signal resource is a 5G CSI-RS resource. The index of the 5G CSI-RS resource is 1, that is, the 5G CSI-RS resource information may refer to the 5G CSI-RS resource #1, and thus, the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1 may be the 5G CSI-RS resource #1.

Step 705, the 6G base station transmits the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1. Accordingly, the 6G UE receives the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1.

In step 706, the 6G base station transmits 6G PDSCH1 according to the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1. Accordingly, the 6G UE receives 6G PDSCH1 according to the reference signal resource information associated with the 6G PDSCH1.

Steps 704 to 706 are optional steps.

For example, taking the reference signal resource information associated with 6G PDSCH1 as the 5G CSI-RS resource #1 as an example. The 6G base station may determine, according to the 5GCSI-RS resource #1, beam information (such as a beam index or a beam direction) corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource #1, such as a beam index 1. Then, the 6G base station may transmit 6GPDSCH1 on the beam corresponding to the beam index 1 using the 5G CSI-RS resource corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource # 1. Accordingly, since the UE has already known the CSI-RS resource #1 associated with the 6G PDSCH1 and the beam measurement result obtained by the base station is reported by the UE, the UE may determine the corresponding CSI-RS resource according to the CSI-RS resource #1 and may determine the beam information corresponding to the CSI-RS resource #1, so that the UE may receive the 6G PDSCH1 carried by the 5G CSI-RS resource corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource #1 on the beam corresponding to the beam index 1. Optionally, the UE may also send a certain uplink channel (e.g. a certain 6G PUSCH) by using the 5G CSI-RS resource corresponding to the 5G CSI-RS resource # 1.

As can be seen from the foregoing steps 701 to 706, the 6G UE may perform beam management not only by using the 6G reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource), but also by using the 5G reference signal resource (such as the 5G CSI-RS resource), so that more beams (such as the 5G beam and the 6G beam) can be measured, which helps the base station to select a finer beam, or helps the base station to update the beam more quickly, so as to improve the SINR of the 6G UE, reduce the interference between beams of different users, and thus improve the beam management performance and reduce the reference signal resource overhead.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. Wherein the communication method illustrated in fig. 8 may be applied to a channel measurement scenario. As shown in fig. 8, the specific flow of the method may include:

Step 801, 6G base station transmits 6G configuration information. Accordingly, the 6G UE receives the 6G configuration information.

Alternatively, the implementation process of step 801 may refer to the related implementation process of step 301, which is not described herein.

In step 802, the 6G base station transmits a 6G CSI-RS on a 6G reference signal resource and transmits a 5G CSI-RS on a 5G reference signal resource. Accordingly, the 6G UE receives the 6G CSI-RS on the 6G reference signal resource and receives the 5G CSI-RS on the 5G reference signal resource.

Optionally, the implementation procedure of step 802 may refer to the related implementation procedure of the reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5GCSI-RS resource) for the channel measurement scenario in step 302, which is not described herein.

Step 803:6g UE transmits the measurement result. Accordingly, the 6G base station receives the measurement result.

Optionally, the implementation procedure of step 803 may refer to the related implementation procedure of the reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource and the 5GCSI-RS resource) for the channel measurement scenario in step 303, which is not described herein.

In step 804, the 6G base station determines a first weight according to the measurement result.

The first weight (for example, the weight corresponding to the beam) is used for data transmission between the 6G base station and the 6 ue.

Optionally, the implementation process of determining the first weight by the 6G base station according to the measurement result in step 804 may refer to the existing scheme, which is not described herein.

And step 805, the 6G base station performs data transmission with the 6G UE according to the first weight.

Optionally, the implementation process of the data transmission between the 6G base station and the 6G UE according to the first weight in step 805 may refer to an existing scheme, which is not described herein.

The above steps 804 and 805 are optional steps.

As can be seen from the foregoing steps 801 to 805, the 6G UE may perform channel measurement not only by using the 6G reference signal resource (such as the 6G CSI-RS resource), but also by using the 5G reference signal resource (such as the 5G CSI-RS resource), which may help to reduce feedback delay and reduce CSI aging effect, or may help to improve feedback accuracy, or may help to implement measurement of CSI of more space division antenna ports, so as to improve the number of spatial domain measurement layers.

It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the functions of the above embodiments, the first communication device (such as a terminal device) and the second communication device (such as a network device) include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules that perform the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and method steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

Fig. 9 and 10 are schematic structural diagrams of a possible communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. These communication devices may be used to implement the functions of the first communication device (such as UE) or the second communication device (such as base station) in the above method embodiments, so that the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments can also be implemented. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device may be the terminal device 120a as illustrated in fig. 2, the RAN node 110a as illustrated in fig. 2, or a module (e.g. a chip) applied to the terminal device or the RAN node.

The communication apparatus 900 shown in fig. 9 includes a processing unit 910 (or may be referred to as a processing module) and a transceiving unit 920 (or may be referred to as a communication module or a transceiving module or a communication module) for transmitting and receiving data. The communication device 900 may be configured to implement the functionality of the first communication device (e.g., UE) or the second communication device (e.g., base station) in the method embodiments shown in fig. 3, 7, or 8 described above. For example, the transceiver unit 920 may perform the receiving action and the sending action performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the above-described method embodiment. The processing unit 910 may perform other actions than the sending action and the receiving action among the actions performed by the first communication apparatus or the second communication apparatus in the above-described method embodiment.

When the communication device 900 is configured to implement the function of the first communication device (e.g. UE) in the method embodiment shown in fig. 3, 7 or 8, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to receive the configuration information on the first cell. The RAT adopted by the first cell is a first RAT, and the configuration information can be used for configuring first reference signal resources and second reference signal resources, wherein the second reference signal resources are compliant with the protocol specification of the second RAT. The transceiver unit 920 is further configured to receive a first reference signal on a first reference signal resource and receive a second reference signal on a second reference signal resource. The transceiver unit 920 is further configured to send CSI. Wherein the CSI is derived based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal. A processing unit 910, configured to perform corresponding processing operations, such as for measuring the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal, etc.

When the communication device 900 is configured to implement the function of the second communication device (such as a base station) in the method embodiment shown in fig. 3, 7 or 8, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to send the configuration information on the first cell. The RAT adopted by the first cell is a first RAT, and the configuration information can be used for configuring first reference signal resources and second reference signal resources, wherein the second reference signal resources are compliant with the protocol specification of the second RAT. The transceiver unit 920 is further configured to send the first reference signal on the first reference signal resource and send the second reference signal on the second reference signal resource. The transceiver unit 920 is further configured to receive CSI. Wherein the CSI is derived based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal. A processing unit 910 is configured to perform corresponding processing operations, such as deriving a new beam according to CSI or updating a beam according to CSI or determining weights for data transmission according to CSI.

For a more detailed description of the processing unit 910 and the transceiver unit 920, reference may be made to the related description in the method embodiments shown in fig. 3, fig. 7 or fig. 8, which are not repeated herein.

It is to be appreciated that the transceiver unit 920 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by an interface circuit or a circuit component related to the interface circuit, and the processing unit 910 may be implemented by a processor or a circuit component related to the processor.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is merely schematic, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, and in addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or may exist separately and physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in part or all or part of the technical solution contributing to the prior art, or in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods of the various embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes a U disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

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

When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the method embodiments shown in fig. 3, 7 or 8, the processor 1010 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 910, and the interface circuit 1020 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 920.

For example, a first communication device is taken as a terminal device, and a second communication device is taken as a base station. When the communication device is a chip applied to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment chip realizes the functions of the terminal equipment in the embodiment of the method. The terminal device chip receives information from the base station, and it is understood that the information is received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device and then transmitted to the terminal device chip by the modules. The terminal device chip sends information to the base station, which is understood to be that the information is sent to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and then sent to the base station by the modules.

When the communication device is a chip applied to a base station, the base station chip realizes the functions of the base station in the method embodiment. The base station chip receives information from the terminal device, which is understood to be received by other modules (e.g. radio frequency modules or antennas) in the base station and then sent to the base station chip by these modules. The base station chip sends information to the terminal device, which is understood to be sent down to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the base station, and then sent to the terminal device by these modules.

In the application, the entity A sends information to the entity B, and the information can be directly sent to the B by the entity A or indirectly sent to the B by the entity A through other entities. Similarly, the entity B may receive the information from the entity a, which may be that the entity B directly receives the information sent by the entity a, or that the entity B indirectly receives the information sent by the entity a through other entities. The entities a and B may be RAN nodes or terminal equipments, or may be modules inside the RAN nodes or terminal equipments. The sending and receiving of the information may be information interaction between the RAN node and the terminal device, for example, information interaction between the base station and the terminal device, the sending and receiving of the information may also be information interaction between two RAN nodes, for example, information interaction between CU and DU, the sending and receiving of the information may also be information interaction between different modules within a device, for example, information interaction between a terminal device chip and other modules of the terminal device, or information interaction between a base station chip and other modules in the base station.

Based on the same conception, the embodiment of the application also provides a possible communication system. The communication system includes a first communication device (e.g., a UE) and a second communication device (e.g., a base station). The first communication device may be used to implement the technical solution related to the first communication device in the above embodiment, and the second communication device may be used to implement the technical solution related to the second communication device in the above embodiment.

Based on the same conception, the present embodiment also provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions that, when run on a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the method provided by the above embodiment.

Based on the same conception, the present embodiment also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device (or computer), cause the communication device (or computer) to perform the method provided by the above embodiment.

Wherein a storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Based on the same conception, the embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which may include a processor and may further include a memory (or the chip is coupled with the memory), and the processor executes program instructions in the memory, so that the chip performs the method provided in the above embodiment. Where "coupled" means that the two elements are directly or indirectly joined to each other, e.g., coupled may mean that the two elements are electrically connected.

Based on the same conception, the embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting the computer device to implement the functions related to the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiment. In one possible implementation, the chip system further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the application may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (DIGITAL SIGNAL processors, DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (fieldprogrammable GATE ARRAY, FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

The method steps in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing software instructions by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, compact disk read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory), or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a UE or a base station. The processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a network device or terminal device.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. Computer programs (computerprogram) are defined as a set of instructions that direct an electronic computer or other device having message processing capabilities to perform each of the steps, typically written in a programming language, and executed on a target architecture. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer program or instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, an optical medium such as a digital video disk, or a semiconductor medium such as a solid state disk. The computer readable storage medium may be volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage medium.

In various embodiments of the application, where no special description or logic conflict exists, terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logic.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes an association of associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., A and/or B, and that there may be A alone, while A and B are present, and B alone, where A, B may be singular or plural. In the text description of the application, the character "/", generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are in an OR relationship, and in the formula of the application, the character "/" indicatesthat the front and rear associated objects are in a division relationship.

It will be appreciated that the various numerical numbers referred to in the embodiments of the present application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined according to the function and the internal logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a first communication device, the method comprising:

Configuration information is received on the first cell, where the radio access technology RAT used by the first cell is the first RAT. The configuration information is used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, where the second reference signal resource conforms to the protocol specification of the second RAT.

A first reference signal is received on the first reference signal resource, and a second reference signal is received on the second reference signal resource;

Transmit Channel State Information (CSI), which is obtained based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal.

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

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

4. The method as described in claim 3, wherein the configuration information further includes a reporting configuration, the reporting configuration being used to configure parameters for sending the CSI;

The reported configuration is associated with the first resource set and the second resource set.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Receive first information, the first information being used to instruct the CSI to be sent based on a first mode or based on a second mode;

The first mode refers to the CSI being obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, while the second mode refers to the CSI being obtained based on either the first reference signal or the second reference signal.

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

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Send capability information, which indicates support for configuring the second reference signal resource.

8. A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a second communication device, the method comprising:

Configuration information is sent on the first cell, which uses the first RAT. The configuration information is used to configure the first reference signal resource and the second reference signal resource, which conform to the protocol specification of the second RAT.

A first reference signal is transmitted on the first reference signal resource, and a second reference signal is transmitted on the second reference signal resource;

Receive CSI, which is obtained based on the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein when the CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal, the CSI includes a first CSI and a second CSI, wherein the first CSI is obtained by measuring the first reference signal and the second CSI is obtained by measuring the second reference signal.

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

11. The method as described in claim 10, wherein the configuration information further includes a reporting configuration, the reporting configuration being used to configure parameters for sending the CSI;

12. The method according to any one of claims 8-11, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Send a first message, the first message being used to instruct whether to send the CSI based on a first mode or a second mode;

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

14. The method according to any one of claims 8-13, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Receive capability information, which is used to indicate support for configuring the second reference signal resource.

15. A communication device, characterized in that it includes a module or unit for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1-7, or includes a module or unit for performing the method as described in any one of claims 8-14.

16. A communication device, characterized in that it includes a processor and an interface circuit;

The interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices.

The processor is configured to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-7 or the method as described in any one of claims 8-14 through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

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

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

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