CN102130870B

CN102130870B - Method and device for measuring interference

Info

Publication number: CN102130870B
Application number: CN 201010004813
Authority: CN
Inventors: 唐臻飞; 汪凡; 夏斌
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2010-01-15
Filing date: 2010-01-15
Publication date: 2013-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2030-01-15
Also published as: WO2011085697A1; CN102130870A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for measuring interference, comprising the following steps: acquiring time-frequency patterns of the current cell of user equipment (UE), wherein the time-frequency patterns of the current cell of the UE are orthogonal with or partially orthogonal with time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set at which the current cell of the UE is positioned; and measuring the signal power of idle resource elements (REs) in the time-frequency patterns of the current cell of the UE, and taking the signal power of the idle REs as the interference of the current cell of the UE. The invention also discloses a device for measuring interference. The method and device provided by the invention can be used for providing the accuracy of measuring the interference.

Description

Method and device for measuring interference

Technical Field

The present invention relates to wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for measuring interference.

Background

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology is one of the key technologies adopted by Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems. In a system using OFDM, a radio frame in time has a length of 10ms, and includes 10 subframes, each subframe includes 1ms, each subframe includes 2 slots, and each slot includes 7 or 6 OFDM symbols. Wherein, in case of a normal Cyclic Prefix (CP), each slot includes 7 OFDM symbols, and in case of an extended CP, each slot includes 6 OFDM symbols. In a system using OFDM, a plurality of subcarriers are formed in frequency, one subcarrier under one OFDM symbol is called a Resource Element (RE), that is, one RE has one OFDM symbol and one subcarrier, and 12 subcarriers and one slot form one Resource Block (RB). And the control information, the reference signal and the service data are transmitted on the time frequency resources. In a system adopting OFDM, a terminal needs to measure a Channel on an RB, obtain a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), and report the CQI to a base station, so that the base station schedules a user according to the Channel condition of the user, and performs adaptive modulation and coding control on the user. Generally, when the channel quality is good, a higher modulation coding order is allocated to a user, so that the user can transmit more data; when the channel quality is poor, a lower modulation coding order is allocated to the user, so that the data transmitted by the user is correspondingly reduced. Therefore, the accuracy of CQI measurement directly affects the throughput of the user, and inaccurate CQI measurement may cause a decrease in the throughput of the user.

In the prior art, the measurement of CQI is to measure the ratio of signal to interference noise on the cell common reference signal, that is: the CQI of the physical downlink shared channel is represented by CQI on a reference signal. When the network is under the condition of high load, the physical downlink shared channel is always occupied to send data, and the interference of the adjacent cell to the cell is basically consistent on the reference signal and the physical downlink shared channel, so that the CQI of the physical downlink shared channel can be represented by the CQI on the reference signal.

However, in the prior art, when the network is under low load, the physical downlink shared channel of the base station in the neighboring cell on some resource blocks is idle, the neighboring cell does not interfere with the cell on these resource blocks, while the reference signal is always in a transmission state, and the reference signal in the neighboring cell interferes with the reference signal in the cell. Therefore, representing the interference on the physical downlink shared channel with idle REs by the interference on the reference signal that is always in the transmission state is inaccurate, that is: when the network is in low load, the CQI of the physical downlink shared channel represented by the CQI on the reference signal is often inaccurate. Therefore, the base station selects an improper modulation and coding mode for the terminal according to the inaccurate CQI, so that the throughput of the user is seriously reduced, and the system performance is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a device for measuring interference, which can accurately measure the interference suffered by a current cell.

One aspect of the present invention provides a method of measuring interference, including:

acquiring a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of UE (user equipment), wherein the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set in which the current cell of the UE is positioned;

and measuring the signal power of idle RE in the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE, and taking the signal power of the idle RE as the interference of the current cell of the UE.

Another aspect of the present invention also provides an apparatus for measuring interference, including:

a time-frequency pattern obtaining unit, configured to obtain a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of a UE, where the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set in which the current cell of the UE is located;

and the interference measurement unit is used for measuring the signal power of the idle RE in the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE and taking the signal power of the idle RE as the interference of the current cell of the UE.

The method and the device for measuring interference provided by the embodiment of the invention can be known that the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to the time-frequency patterns of other cells in the cell set where the current cell is located, so that the interference of the current cell can be accurately measured.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for measuring interference according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for measuring interference according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating orthogonal time-frequency patterns according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating orthogonal time-frequency patterns according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a partially orthogonal time-frequency pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a partially orthogonal time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of a normal CP when the method shown in fig. 6 is adopted according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of an extended CP when the method shown in fig. 6 is adopted according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 6 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is an SDA diagram corresponding to the time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in fig. 6 according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of another time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of a normal CP when the method shown in fig. 14 is adopted according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of an extended CP when the method shown in fig. 14 is adopted according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 14 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 18 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 18 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 18 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is another schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of a normal CP when the method shown in FIG. 6 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is another schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of an extended CP when the method shown in FIG. 6 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 6 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a SDA diagram corresponding to the time-frequency pattern shown in FIG. 24 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for measuring interference according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail by the accompanying drawings and the detailed description.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for measuring interference according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the method may include:

step 10: the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is obtained, and the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to the time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set where the current cell of the UE is located.

In general, each cell may be identified by a physical cell identity, which is 504 in total from 0 to 503. The current cell described in this embodiment may be a cell corresponding to any physical cell identifier. In this embodiment, cells with different time-frequency patterns are referred to as a cell set. The 504 cells with different physical cell identities may be divided into one or more sets of cells.

Those skilled in the art can understand that, when the base station communicates with the terminal, the transmitted data or signaling needs to be carried on the corresponding time-frequency resources, and the time-frequency resources form a time-frequency pattern; and different cells may employ different time-frequency patterns. Wherein, the time-frequency pattern may include idle REs and normal REs; the idle RE refers to an RE that does not transmit data, and the normal RE refers to an RE that transmits data. The orthogonality refers to that the positions of the free REs in the time-frequency patterns among the cells are not overlapped at all, and the partial orthogonality refers to that the positions of the free REs in the time-frequency patterns among the cells are overlapped but not identical.

Step 12: and measuring the signal power of idle RE in the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE, and taking the signal power of the idle RE as the interference of the current cell of the UE.

Since no data is transmitted at the idle RE, the measured signal power at the idle RE can be used as interference to the cell. The time frequency patterns of each cell in the cell set are at least partially orthogonal, so that the measured interference is more accurate.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for measuring interference according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include:

step 20: and acquiring the physical cell identification of the current cell of the UE.

The UE may acquire the physical cell identifier of the current cell during synchronization with the base station.

Step 22: and acquiring the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE according to the physical cell identification of the current cell of the UE.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, each cell is tied or assigned a time-frequency pattern. For example, there are 504 cells (assuming that the number of their physical cell identities is from 0 to 503) and a time-frequency pattern of N idle REs (number is from 0 to N-1), the binding of cells to time-frequency patterns can be achieved by the following formula:

time frequency pattern number (physical cell identification) Mod (N)

Wherein, Mod in the formula represents a remainder operation.

Accordingly, the UE can obtain the time-frequency pattern of the current cell according to the physical cell identifier. For example, when the UE obtains the number n of the physical cell identifier of the current cell, the UE may obtain the number of the time-frequency pattern of the current cell according to the above formula, and further obtain the time-frequency pattern of the current cell.

Since the CQI is usually for the physical downlink shared channel, in order to make the measured interference for the physical downlink shared channel more accurate, the idle REs in this embodiment may be distributed in a resource region for transmitting the physical downlink shared channel.

Step 24: and measuring the signal power of the idle resource unit (RE) in the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE, and taking the signal power of the idle RE as the interference of the current cell of the UE.

In this embodiment, the step is similar to step 12 in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, and is described herein again.

In the method provided by this embodiment, the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to the time-frequency patterns of other cells in the cell set in which the current cell is located, so that the measured interference is more accurate.

In the embodiment of the invention, the time-frequency patterns of the cells in the cell set can be generated according to the irregular sequence. Wherein the irregular sequence at least comprises a Costas sequence, a Latin sequence or a Modular Sonar sequence.

In the embodiment of the invention, when the number of idle REs is equal to the length of the irregular sequence, the time-frequency pattern of a cell in the cell set consists of the irregular pattern generated by the irregular sequence and the irregular pattern obtained by shifting the irregular pattern in time domain and/or frequency domain; or when the number of the idle REs is different from the length of the irregular sequence, the time-frequency patterns of the cells in the cell set are composed of irregular patterns obtained by combining and/or intercepting the irregular patterns generated by the irregular sequence.

The following is a few specific examples of how time-frequency patterns can be generated from irregular sequences.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of generating orthogonal time-frequency patterns according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method can comprise the following steps:

step 30: and generating a reference time frequency pattern with the size of M multiplied by M according to the irregular sequence with the length of M.

Wherein M is the number of idle REs. In other embodiments, the idle REs in the generated reference time-frequency pattern may also be located in the same row (i.e., the same subcarrier) or the same column (i.e., the same OFDM symbol).

Step 32: and after time domain shift or frequency domain shift is carried out on the reference time frequency pattern, M orthogonal time frequency patterns are obtained.

Thus, M orthogonal time-frequency patterns can be allocated for M cells. In a cell set formed by M cells, time-frequency patterns among all cells are orthogonal, so that the accuracy of interference measurement can be improved.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a partially orthogonal time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method can comprise the following steps:

step 40: and generating a reference time frequency pattern with the size of M multiplied by M according to the irregular sequence with the length of M.

Wherein M is the number of idle REs.

Step 42: and performing time domain shift and frequency domain shift on the reference time frequency pattern to obtain M multiplied by M time frequency patterns which are partially orthogonal.

Thus, the M multiplied by M partially orthogonal time frequency patterns can be allocated to M multiplied by M cells for use, which not only can improve the accuracy of interference measurement, but also can increase the number of the time frequency patterns allocated to the cells for use.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the generated orthogonal time-frequency pattern and the partially orthogonal pattern may be combined together according to the methods shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4 and allocated to the cell for use. In this way, the number of time-frequency patterns allocated for use by a cell may be further increased.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a partially orthogonal time-frequency pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method can comprise the following steps:

step 50: and generating a reference time frequency pattern according to the irregular sequence with the length of N.

Step 52: and performing combined processing and/or interception processing on the reference time-frequency pattern so as to enable the number of REs in the processed time-frequency pattern to be NxM. Where nxm is the number of REs in the time-frequency pattern of each cell.

In order to obtain more orthogonal time-frequency patterns, all cells can be grouped, and the time-frequency patterns are obtained in each group by adopting the generation method. The following examples illustrate:

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a partially orthogonal time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method can comprise the following steps:

step 60: and determining the number S of OFDM symbols occupied by idle REs of all cells in one subframe.

It is assumed that the idle RE occupies the last two OFDM symbols of each slot, i.e. the 5 th and 6 th OFDM symbols are occupied in the normal CP (in the embodiment of the present invention, the OFDM symbols are numbered from 0), and the 4 th and 5 th symbols are occupied in the extended CP. It is to be understood that the idle REs may also occupy the remaining OFDM symbols. Since one subframe includes two slots, when the idle RE occupies two symbols in each slot, S ═ 4.

Step 62: and dividing all the cells into K groups according to the number M of idle REs of each cell and the S.

The formula for K can be:assuming that M is 4, K is 3 according to this formula.

Step 64: in each group, M × M partially orthogonal time-frequency patterns are generated according to an irregular sequence.

For example, in each group, a reference time-frequency pattern with a size of M × M is generated according to the irregular sequence, and then time-domain shift and frequency-domain shift are performed on the reference time-frequency pattern, so as to obtain M × M time-frequency patterns. K groups in total can generate M × K time-frequency patterns. For a specific method for generating the time-frequency pattern in each group, reference may be made to the method shown in fig. 4, which is not described herein again.

And step 66: and allocating the generated M multiplied by K time frequency patterns to M multiplied by K cells for use.

As described above, the M × K time-frequency patterns may be correspondingly allocated to M × K cells.

In this embodiment, 48 patterns are formed, and may be correspondingly allocated to 48 cells. Thus, each cell in the cell set of 48 cells has a different pattern. Specifically, the generated time-frequency pattern may be bound to the physical cell identifier, and the UE may obtain the time-frequency pattern of the current cell according to the physical cell identifier of the current cell. For example, there are 504 cells (numbered from 0 to 503) and 48 generated time-frequency patterns with free REs (numbered from 0 to 47), the binding of the time-frequency patterns and the physical cell identities can be achieved by the following formula:

time-frequency pattern number-physical cell identity Mod 48

Wherein, Mod in the formula represents a remainder operation.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of a normal CP when the method shown in fig. 6 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of an extended CP when the method shown in fig. 6 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 7 or 8, the padding part of the graph indicates the RE occupied by the control information and the reference signal. In this embodiment, the idle REs of all cells are divided into 3 groups, and in order to make the interference measurement more accurate, the REs between the groups in this embodiment are orthogonal, and each group occupies 16 REs. The grouping may also be according to other ways, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

In the above embodiment, the time-frequency pattern is illustrated by taking two RBs in one subframe as an example. It is understood that the time-frequency pattern in other embodiments may also contain only one RB, i.e.: occupying one slot and 12 subcarriers. Alternatively, the time-frequency pattern may only contain two RBs in the frequency domain, i.e.: occupying one slot, 24 subcarriers. Alternatively, the time-frequency pattern may also contain four RBs, i.e.: occupying one subframe, 24 subcarriers. Accordingly, the RB constituting the time-frequency pattern includes, but is not limited to, the patterns shown in the respective drawings of the embodiments of the present invention.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the irregular sequence may include: costas sequence, Latin sequence or Modular Sonar sequence. Taking Costas sequences as an example, a Costas sequence of length N may generate a Costas matrix of size N × N, where each row or column of the matrix has a dot and the rest are spaces. The dots are located in different columns as seen from different rows, and the dots are located in different rows as seen from different columns.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in fig. 6 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 9, taking Costas sequence {0, 3, 1, 2} as an example, the generated reference time-frequency pattern is the pattern in the first row and the first column in fig. 9, and the rest patterns are obtained by sequentially performing time domain shift and frequency domain shift on the reference pattern, and the RE filled in the time-frequency pattern represents the position of the idle RE.

The time-frequency patterns shown in fig. 9 are different from each other, but the positions of the free REs in the different time-frequency patterns are still overlapped, and a Side-lobe Distribution Array (SDA) may be used to examine and determine the number of overlapping (also referred to as a collision number) between two time-frequency patterns. Fig. 10 is an SDA diagram corresponding to the time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in fig. 6 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The numbers in fig. 10 indicate the number of coincidences between two time-frequency patterns, for example, "4" indicates the number of colliding REs when the two patterns are the same, "0" in row 4, column 2 indicates the number of colliding REs between one pattern and its time-domain shifted pattern (e.g., the pattern in the first row and the first column and the pattern in the first row and the second column in fig. 9), and "1" in row 3, column 2 indicates the number of colliding REs between one pattern and its time-domain shifted pattern (e.g., the pattern in the first row and the first column and the pattern in the second row and the second column in fig. 9) by one bit and one bit. And the rest is analogized. As can be seen from the SDA diagram, the number of RE overlapping between different patterns is small, for example, only 1 or 2 overlapping exist, so that the measurement interference is accurate.

In order to make the measurement interference more accurate, the time-frequency patterns of each cell may not be overlapped completely, i.e. orthogonal time-frequency patterns are used.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention, including:

step 110: and determining the number S of OFDM symbols occupied by idle REs of all cells in one subframe.

Step 112: and dividing all the cells into K groups according to the number M of idle REs of each cell and the S.

In this embodiment, M is 4, S is 4, and K is 3.

Step 114: in each group, M orthogonal time-frequency patterns are generated according to an irregular sequence. In this embodiment, M × K orthogonal time-frequency patterns may be generated by K groups.

Specifically, the time-frequency pattern with complete orthogonality can be generated in two ways:

the first method is as follows: generating a reference time-frequency pattern with the size of M multiplied by M by adopting an irregular sequence, and then carrying out time domain shift or frequency domain shift on the reference time-frequency pattern to obtain M orthogonal time-frequency patterns.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 12, firstly, a reference time-frequency pattern (the first pattern in fig. 12) is generated by using an irregular sequence, and then, the reference time-frequency pattern is subjected to time domain shifting to obtain the remaining time-frequency patterns. It can be seen from fig. 12 that the M (M is 4 in this embodiment) time-frequency patterns are orthogonal (i.e. there are no mutual conflicting REs between any two patterns). Fig. 12 shows that the time-domain shift is used to obtain orthogonal time-frequency patterns, and it is understood that the frequency-domain shift may also be used to obtain orthogonal time-frequency patterns (for example, obtain 4 patterns in the first column in fig. 9).

The second method comprises the following steps: generating a reference time-frequency pattern with the size of M multiplied by M according to an irregular sequence, wherein idle REs in the reference time-frequency pattern are positioned in the same row or the same column; and then sequentially carrying out time domain shift or frequency domain shift on the reference time frequency pattern to obtain M orthogonal time frequency patterns.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of another time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in fig. 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 13, in this way, the idle REs in the reference time-frequency pattern (the first pattern in fig. 13) are located in the same row, and then the reference time-frequency pattern is subjected to frequency domain shifting to obtain the remaining time-frequency patterns. It can be seen from fig. 13 that the M (M is 4 in this embodiment) time-frequency patterns are orthogonal (i.e. there are no mutual conflicting REs between any two patterns). The idle REs in the reference time-frequency pattern in fig. 13 are located in the same row, and it can be understood that the reference time-frequency pattern in which the idle REs are located in the same column may also be generated, and at this time, the reference time-frequency pattern needs to be subjected to time domain shifting to obtain the other time-frequency patterns.

Step 116: and allocating the generated M multiplied by K time frequency patterns to the M multiplied by K cells.

In this embodiment, 12 patterns may be generated, and the 12 patterns may be correspondingly allocated to 12 cells. Each cell in a set of 12 cells has a different pattern.

In this embodiment, if there are 504 cells (numbered from 0 to 503) and 12 generated time-frequency patterns (numbered from 0 to 11) with idle REs, the binding between the time-frequency patterns and the physical cell identifiers can be implemented according to the following formula:

time-frequency pattern number-physical cell identity Mod 12

Accordingly, the UE can obtain the time-frequency pattern of the current cell according to the physical cell identifier of the current cell.

In the embodiment, the orthogonal time-frequency patterns are generated, so that the time-frequency patterns of each cell do not conflict with each other, and the measured interference is more accurate.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method can comprise the following steps:

step 140: and determining the number S of OFDM symbols occupied by idle REs of all cells in one subframe. In this embodiment, let S be 4.

Step 142: and dividing all the cells into K groups according to the number M of idle REs of each cell and the S.

In this embodiment, M is 2, and the Costas sequence is {0, 1 }. Thus, according to the formula

The present embodiment can be divided into 12 groups.

Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of a normal CP when the method shown in fig. 14 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of an extended CP when the method shown in fig. 14 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 15 or 16, the division into 12 groups each occupy 4 REs, and the filled parts of the RE represent the occupation of control information and reference signals.

Step 144: in each group, at least two ways are adopted to generate L time frequency patterns, and M orthogonal time frequency patterns are generated in each way to obtain M multiplied by L time frequency patterns.

In this embodiment, M × L × K time-frequency patterns are generated by K groups.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that 3 methods are adopted, which are respectively: and generating orthogonal time frequency patterns, generating time frequency patterns with idle REs positioned on the same row and generating time frequency patterns with idle REs positioned on the same column by adopting an irregular sequence.

Fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in fig. 14 in the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 17, 6 time-frequency patterns can be generated by the above 3 ways, in each way (two time-frequency patterns in the same row in fig. 17), the time-frequency patterns are completely orthogonal, and the filled REs in the time-frequency patterns represent the positions of the free REs.

Step 146: and correspondingly allocating the M multiplied by L multiplied by K time frequency patterns to M multiplied by L multiplied by K cells.

In this embodiment, 72 time-frequency patterns may be generated, and the 72 time-frequency patterns may be correspondingly allocated to 72 cells. Each cell in a set of 72 cells has a different time-frequency pattern. The method for binding 72 time-frequency patterns with physical cell identifiers can be seen from the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 11.

In the embodiment, the orthogonal time-frequency patterns are generated in different modes, so that the number of the generated time-frequency patterns is as large as possible and the generated time-frequency patterns do not conflict with each other as much as possible, and the measured interference is more accurate.

In the above method for generating a time-frequency pattern, the size of the irregular sequence for generating a reference time-frequency pattern is the same as the number of idle REs in each cell (e.g., both are 4 or both are 2). When the two are different, the method shown in fig. 18 may be employed.

Fig. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a time-frequency pattern according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method can comprise the following steps:

step 180: and generating a plurality of reference time-frequency patterns according to the plurality of irregular sequences.

Assume that the irregular sequences employed are two Costas sequences of

size

6, 0, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4 and 0, 4, 2, 5, 1, 3.

Fig. 19 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by using the method shown in fig. 18 in an embodiment of the present invention, where the time-frequency pattern corresponds to a sequence {0, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4}, and REs filled in the time-frequency pattern indicate positions of free REs. Fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by using the method shown in fig. 18 in an embodiment of the present invention, where the time-frequency pattern corresponds to a sequence {0, 4, 2, 5, 1, 3}, and filled REs in the time-frequency pattern represent locations of free REs.

Step 182: and performing combined processing and/or interception processing on the plurality of reference time-frequency patterns to enable the number of REs in the processed time-frequency patterns to be the same as the number of REs in each cell.

Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in fig. 18 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 21, assuming that the REs occupied by each cell may form a 6 × 10 matrix, the two generated reference time-frequency patterns may be combined and then intercepted, so as to obtain a time-frequency pattern with a size of 6 × 10, where the REs filled in the time-frequency pattern represent positions of idle REs.

Step 184: and distributing the processed time-frequency pattern to a cell.

In this embodiment, if the cells are grouped, each group may generate a time-frequency pattern by using the above method.

The embodiment processes the reference time-frequency pattern in a combined and/or intercepted manner, so that more flexible and various time-frequency patterns can be generated, and the method is suitable for different application scenes.

In the specific implementation, the number of the time-frequency patterns can be compromised according to the number of the required time-frequency patterns, the number of the conflicted REs in the corresponding SDA graph and the number of the repeated time-frequency patterns. The number of idle REs and the number of occupied symbols in the method in the above embodiment are only examples, and do not limit the present invention.

Fig. 22 is another schematic diagram of time-frequency resources of a normal CP when the method shown in fig. 6 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 23 is another schematic diagram of extending time-frequency resources of a CP when the method shown in fig. 6 is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 22 or 23, for example, it is assumed that the idle RE occupies the 6 th symbol of the first slot and occupies the 3 rd and 6 th symbols of the second slot in the normal CP; the extended CP occupies the 5 th symbol of the first slot and occupies the 2 nd and 6 th symbols of the second slot. In this case, S is 4. The number M of idle REs per cell is 3.

Using the method shown in FIG. 6, it can be divided into

Groups, each occupying 9 REs.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency pattern generated by the method shown in FIG. 6 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 24, assuming that the Costas sequence is {0, 2, 1}, the generated reference time-frequency pattern is the pattern in the first row and the first column in fig. 24, and the remaining patterns are obtained after performing time domain shift and frequency domain shift by the method shown in fig. 6.

Of course, under the above-mentioned assumption of S, M, the time-frequency pattern may also be generated by the method shown in fig. 11 or the method shown in fig. 14. Fig. 25 is an SDA diagram corresponding to the time-frequency pattern shown in fig. 24 in an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 24 and 25, although the same pattern exists in fig. 24, the number of conflicting patterns in the corresponding SDA is small (most elements in the SDA are 0). Therefore, by comprehensively considering the number of colliding REs in the SDA, it can be known that the method for generating the time-frequency pattern shown in fig. 6 is an ideal scheme under the assumption of S, M.

Fig. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for measuring interference according to another embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 26 includes a time-frequency pattern obtaining unit 260 and an interference measuring unit 262. The time-frequency pattern obtaining unit 260 is configured to obtain a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of the UE, where the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set in which the current cell of the UE is located; the interference measurement unit 262 is configured to measure signal power of idle REs in a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of the UE, and use the signal power of the idle REs as interference of the current cell of the UE.

The apparatus 26 provided in this embodiment may measure at least a portion of the time-frequency pattern of the idle RE orthogonal to the time-frequency patterns of other cells in the cell set, so as to make the measured interference more accurate.

Further, in other embodiments of the present invention, the time-frequency pattern obtaining unit 260 further includes: a cell identifier acquisition subunit 2601 and a time-frequency pattern acquisition subunit 2602. The cell identifier acquiring subunit 2601 is configured to acquire a physical cell identifier of a current cell of the UE; the time-frequency pattern obtaining subunit 2602 is configured to obtain the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE according to the physical cell identifier of the current cell of the UE. The specific process of the cell identifier obtaining subunit 2601 obtaining the physical cell identifier of the current cell of the UE and the specific process of the time-frequency pattern obtaining subunit 2602 obtaining the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE may refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and are not described herein again.

Further, the idle REs are REs not transmitting data and are distributed in a resource region transmitting a physical downlink shared channel.

Further, the time-frequency patterns of the cells in the cell set include one or more time-frequency pattern groups, and idle REs of the time-frequency patterns in each time-frequency pattern group occupy different subcarriers.

Further, the time-frequency pattern of the cells in the cell set is generated according to an irregular sequence. Specifically, when the number of idle REs is equal to the length of the irregular sequence, the time-frequency pattern in the cell set is composed of the irregular pattern generated by the irregular sequence and the irregular pattern obtained by shifting the irregular pattern in the time domain and/or the frequency domain; or when the number of idle REs is different from the length of the irregular sequence, the time-frequency patterns in the cell set are composed of irregular patterns obtained by combining and/or intercepting the irregular patterns generated by the irregular sequence.

For a specific example of generating the time-frequency pattern in the cell set according to the irregular sequence, reference may be made to the descriptions of the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to fig. 25, which is not described herein again. The apparatus 27 for measuring interference provided in this embodiment may be a physical unit or a logical unit of the UE.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs the steps including the method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solutions of the present invention and not for limiting the same, and although the present invention is described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: modifications and equivalents may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of measuring interference, comprising:

acquiring a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of User Equipment (UE), wherein the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set in which the current cell of the UE is positioned, wherein the orthogonality means that positions of idle REs in the time-frequency patterns among the cells are completely not overlapped, and the partially orthogonal means that positions of the idle REs in the time-frequency patterns among the cells are overlapped but not completely identical;

measuring the signal power of an idle Resource Element (RE) in a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of the UE, and taking the signal power of the idle RE as the interference of the current cell of the UE;

the idle REs are REs which do not transmit data and are distributed in a resource area for transmitting a physical downlink shared channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE comprises:

acquiring a physical cell identifier of a current cell of the UE;

and acquiring the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE according to the physical cell identification of the current cell of the UE.

3. The method of claim 2,

the time-frequency patterns of the cells in the cell set comprise one or more time-frequency pattern groups, and idle REs of the time-frequency patterns in each time-frequency pattern group occupy different subcarriers.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

and the time-frequency patterns of the cells in the cell set are generated according to irregular sequences.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the time-frequency pattern of the cells in the set of cells according to an irregular sequence comprises:

when the number of idle REs is the same as the length of the irregular sequence, the time-frequency pattern of the cell in the cell set consists of the irregular pattern generated by the irregular sequence and the irregular pattern obtained by shifting the irregular pattern in time domain and/or frequency domain; or,

and when the number of the idle REs is different from the length of the irregular sequence, the time-frequency patterns of the cells in the cell set are composed of irregular patterns obtained by combining and/or intercepting the irregular patterns generated by the irregular sequence.

6. An apparatus for measuring interference, comprising:

a time-frequency pattern obtaining unit, configured to obtain a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of a user equipment UE, where the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE is orthogonal or partially orthogonal to time-frequency patterns of other cells in a cell set in which the current cell of the UE is located, where the orthogonality indicates that positions of idle REs in the time-frequency patterns between the cells are completely non-overlapping, and the partially orthogonality indicates that positions of the idle REs in the time-frequency patterns between the cells are overlapping but not completely identical;

and an interference measurement unit, configured to measure signal power of idle Resource Elements (REs) in a time-frequency pattern of a current cell of the UE, and use the signal power of the idle REs as interference of the current cell of the UE, where the idle REs are REs that do not transmit data and are distributed in a resource region where a physical downlink shared channel is transmitted.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the time-frequency pattern obtaining unit comprises:

a cell identifier acquiring subunit, configured to acquire a physical cell identifier of a current cell of the UE;

and the time-frequency pattern obtaining subunit is used for obtaining the time-frequency pattern of the current cell of the UE according to the physical cell identification of the current cell of the UE.

8. The apparatus of claim 7,

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8,

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein generating the time-frequency pattern of the cells in the set of cells according to an irregular sequence comprises: