CN106571859B

CN106571859B - MIMO transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN106571859B
Application number: CN201510650192.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 易雄书
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-10-09
Filing date: 2015-10-09
Publication date: 2020-02-14
Anticipated expiration: 2035-10-09
Also published as: CN106571859A

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) transmission method and a device, which are used for solving the problems that MIMO transmission is carried out according to all receiving channels which can be supported by UE, so that more interference components exist in MIMO signals sent to the UE and the number of the UE which can be connected by a system is limited. The MIMO transmission method provided by the embodiment of the invention comprises the following steps: network side equipment determines receiving channel configuration information for UE, wherein the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving MIMO signals, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE; and sending the receiving channel configuration information to the UE, and sending an MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

Description

MIMO transmission method and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a MIMO transmission method and apparatus.

Background

A large-scale Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive mimo) technology is one of the key technologies applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE) and fifth generation Wireless communication Systems (5G). The technology can greatly improve the spectrum efficiency, help operators to utilize the existing site and spectrum resources to the maximum extent, and obviously improve the coverage and capacity of a wireless network. MassiveMIMO can form narrow beams by using a large-scale antenna array and matching with an advanced digital signal processing technology, thereby reducing interference among a plurality of User Equipments (UE) on the same time-frequency resource and improving system capacity and the number of connectable UEs.

As the UE support capability increases, UEs equipped with 4 receive channels begin to emerge in large numbers, such as Customer Premise Equipment (CPE). When receiving the MIMO signal, the UE uses all the receiving channels supported by the UE to receive the MIMO signal, and accordingly, the network side device determines the MIMO signal to be transmitted to the UE based on all the receiving channels supported by the UE. The UE can obtain larger performance gain by utilizing a plurality of receiving channels, thereby improving the user experience.

Under a Massive MIMO system, a Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) technology is mainly relied on to bring user multiplexing gain, thereby improving system capacity and the number of connectable UEs. In this case, if each UE uses more receiving channels, the interference component in the MIMO signal received by each UE will also increase greatly; in addition, since the transmission resource for the UE to transmit the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) is limited, the number of UE reception channels increases, which limits the number of UEs that can be connected to the system.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a MIMO transmission method and apparatus, so as to solve the problems that MIMO transmission is performed according to all receiving channels that can be supported by a UE, so that a large number of interference components exist in a MIMO signal sent to the UE, and the number of UEs that can be connected to a system is limited.

In a first aspect, a MIMO transmission method is provided, including:

the network side equipment determines the receiving channel configuration information for the user equipment UE; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

the network side equipment sends the receiving channel configuration information to the UE;

and the network side equipment sends the MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

the network side equipment selects the information of the receiving channel for the UE;

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first or second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, before the determining, by the network side device, the reception channel configuration information for the UE, the method further includes:

the network side equipment receives uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE;

the method for determining the receiving channel configuration information for the User Equipment (UE) by the network side equipment comprises the following steps:

and the network side equipment determines the receiving channel configuration information based on the received signal strength of the uplink reference signal.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the sending, by the network side device, the receive channel configuration information to the UE includes:

the network side equipment is paired with the UE;

after the pairing is successful, the network side equipment sends the receiving channel configuration information to the UE; wherein, the UE successfully paired can support a multi-user beamforming (MUBF) transmission mode;

the network side device sends the MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information, including:

and the network side equipment sends the MIMO signal to the UE in an MUBF transmission mode based on the receiving channel configuration information.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the pairing, by the network side device, of the UE includes:

the network side equipment determines a single-user beamforming SUBF weight of the UE based on uplink reference signals sent by the UE on the selected transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels;

the network side equipment performs pairing on the UE based on the SUBF weight of the UE and the downlink measurement information reported by the UE;

the network side device sends the MIMO signal to the UE in an MUBF transmission mode based on the receive path configuration information, including:

the network side equipment determines an MUBF weight of the UE according to the SUBF weight of the UE determined based on the receiving channel configuration information of the UE and the SUBF weights of other UEs paired with the UE;

and the network side equipment weights the MIMO signal to be transmitted based on the determined MUBF weight of the UE and then transmits the weighted MIMO signal to the UE.

In a second aspect, a MIMO transmission method is provided, including:

user Equipment (UE) receives receiving channel configuration information sent by network side equipment; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

the UE selects a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment from a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information;

and the UE receives the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

the number N of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE is a positive integer which is greater than or equal to 1.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, if the receiving channel configuration information includes a number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, the selecting, by the UE, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal sent by the network side device from multiple receiving channels supported by the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information includes:

the UE selects N receive channels from the plurality of receive channels supported by the UE based on the received signal strengths of the downlink reference signals received on the plurality of receive channels.

With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, after the selecting, by the UE, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal sent by the network side device from multiple receiving channels supported by the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information, the method further includes:

and the UE sends uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side equipment.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner,

if the number of transmit channels that can be supported by the UE and are used for simultaneously transmitting uplink signals is smaller than the number of receive channels used for receiving the MIMO signals transmitted by the network side device,

the sending, by the UE, the uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side device includes:

and the UE sends uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side equipment by switching the antennas.

In a third aspect, a MIMO transmission apparatus is provided, including:

the processing unit is used for determining the receiving channel configuration information for the user equipment UE; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the device, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

and the transceiving unit is used for sending the receiving channel configuration information determined by the processing unit to the UE and sending an MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

the processing unit selects information of a receiving channel for the UE;

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first or second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to: before the processing unit determines the receiving channel configuration information for the UE, receiving uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to a plurality of supporting receiving channels;

the processing unit is specifically configured to: and determining the receiving channel configuration information based on the received signal strength of the uplink reference signal received by the transceiver unit.

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to:

pairing the UE after determining the receiving channel configuration information;

the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

after the pairing is successful, sending the receiving channel configuration information to the UE, and sending the MIMO signal to the UE in an MUBF transmission mode based on the receiving channel configuration information; wherein, the UE successfully paired can support a multi-user beamforming MUBF transmission mode.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the processing unit is specifically configured to pair the UEs according to the following steps:

determining a single-user beamforming SUBF weight of the UE based on uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the selected receiving channels; pairing the UE based on the SUBF weight of the UE and the downlink measurement information reported by the UE;

the processing unit is further to: determining an MUBF weight of the UE according to the SUBF weight of the UE determined based on the receiving channel configuration information of the UE and the SUBF weights of other UEs paired with the UE;

the transceiver unit is specifically configured to: and based on the MUBF weight of the UE determined by the processing unit, the MIMO signal to be transmitted is weighted and then transmitted to the UE.

In a fourth aspect, a MIMO transmission apparatus is provided, including:

the receiving and sending unit is used for receiving the receiving channel configuration information sent to the user equipment UE by the network side equipment; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

a processing unit, configured to select, based on the receiving channel configuration information received by the transceiver unit, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal transmitted by the network side device from among multiple receiving channels supported by the UE; and receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, if the receiving channel configuration information includes a number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

selecting N receive channels from the plurality of receive channels supported by the UE based on the received signal strengths of the downlink reference signals received on the plurality of receive channels.

With reference to the fourth aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

and sending uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels selected by the processing unit and used for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side equipment.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner,

the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

and sending uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side equipment by switching the antennas.

In a fifth aspect, a network side device for MIMO transmission is provided, including: a processor, a memory, and a bus; the memory stores execution instructions, and when the network side device runs, the processor communicates with the memory through the bus, so that the processor executes the execution instructions as follows:

determining receiving channel configuration information for User Equipment (UE); the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

sending the receiving channel configuration information to the UE;

and transmitting a MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

information of a reception channel selected for the UE;

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or the first or second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, before determining, in the execution instruction executed by the processor, to receive channel configuration information for the UE, the method further includes: receiving uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to a plurality of supported receiving channels;

the determining the receiving channel configuration information for the user equipment UE includes:

and determining the receiving channel configuration information based on the received signal strength of the uplink reference signal.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, in the execution instruction executed by the processor, the sending the receive channel configuration information to the UE includes:

pairing the UE;

after the pairing is successful, sending the receiving channel configuration information to the UE; wherein, the UE successfully paired can support a multi-user beamforming (MUBF) transmission mode;

the sending the MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information comprises:

and sending the MIMO signal to the UE in an MUBF transmission mode based on the receiving channel configuration information.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, in the execution instruction executed by the processor, the pairing the UE includes:

determining a single-user beamforming SUBF weight of the UE based on uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the selected receiving channels;

pairing the UE based on the SUBF weight of the UE and the downlink measurement information reported by the UE;

the sending the MIMO signal to the UE in an MUBF transmission mode based on the receive channel configuration information includes:

determining an MUBF weight of the UE according to the SUBF weight of the UE determined based on the receiving channel configuration information of the UE and the SUBF weights of other UEs paired with the UE;

and weighting the MIMO signal to be transmitted and transmitting the weighted MIMO signal to the UE based on the determined MUBF weight of the UE.

In a sixth aspect, a UE for MIMO transmission is provided, including: a processor, a memory, and a bus; the memory stores execution instructions, and when the user equipment runs, the processor communicates with the memory through the bus, so that the processor executes the execution instructions as follows:

receiving channel configuration information sent to the UE by network side equipment; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

selecting a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal transmitted by the network side equipment from a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information;

and receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, if the receiving channel configuration information includes a number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, the selecting, by the processor, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal sent by the network-side device from among a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information in the execution instruction executed by the processor includes:

With reference to the sixth aspect or any one of the first to the third possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, after the instruction executed by the processor selects, based on the receiving channel configuration information, a receiving channel used for receiving a MIMO signal transmitted by the network side device from among multiple receiving channels supported by the UE, the method further includes:

and sending uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side equipment.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner,

then, in the execution instruction executed by the processor, sending uplink reference signals on the transmission channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side device includes:

By adopting the scheme, the network side equipment can instruct the UE to select a part of the supported receiving channels for downlink receiving, thereby reducing the interference components in the MIMO signals sent to the UE and increasing the number of the UE which can be connected by the system.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a MIMO transmission system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a MIMO transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a MIMO transmission method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a MIMO transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a MIMO transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a network-side device 60 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment UE70 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

As shown in fig. 1, a schematic structural diagram of a MIMO transmission system 10 provided in the embodiment of the present invention includes:

the network side device 11 is configured to determine receiving channel configuration information for the UE12, send the determined receiving channel configuration information to the UE12, and send a MIMO signal to the UE12 based on the determined receiving channel configuration information; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

and the UE12 is configured to select, based on the received receiving channel configuration information, a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side device from among multiple receiving channels supported by the UE, and receive, based on the selected receiving channel, the MIMO signal sent by the network side device 11.

In Massive MIMO transmission, if each UE uses more receiving channels, the interference component in the MIMO signal received by each UE will also increase greatly, because in an MU-MIMO scenario, in order to improve Multi-User transmission performance, a data stream is generally sent for each UE, so that when a network side device calculates a Multi-User Beamforming (MUBF) weight for the UE, only a Single-User Beamforming (SUBF) weight corresponding to the data stream in a channel matrix is selected to calculate the MUBF weight, and other SUBF weights existing in the channel matrix are not considered, resulting in a large interference component in the MIMO signal sent to the UE. In addition, each UE needs to send Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) on the transmission channel of the antenna corresponding to each receiving channel of the UE, so as to facilitate the network side device to perform downlink channel estimation, while the SRS transmission resource is limited, and the number of UE receiving channels increased will limit the number of UEs that can be connected by the system.

Based on the above problem, in the embodiment of the present invention, the network side device may instruct the UE to select a part of the supported receiving channels for downlink receiving, so as to reduce interference components existing in the MIMO signal sent to the UE and increase the number of UEs that can be connected by the system.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings attached hereto.

As shown in fig. 2, a flowchart of a MIMO transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

s201: the network side equipment determines the receiving channel configuration information for the UE; the receiving channel configuration information is used to instruct the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side device, where the number of the receiving channels is smaller than the number of the receiving channels supported by the UE.

Before performing this step, the network side device may first perform channel correction, which is ready for Beamforming (BF).

Here, the receiving channel configuration information may include: specifically, the network side device may indicate the receiving channel by using a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to each receiving channel, for example, SRS pilot port numbers of the UE include 1 and 2, and if the receiving channel configuration information indicates SRS pilot port number 1, the UE only performs downlink reception on the receiving channel corresponding to SRS pilot port number 1 (the receiving channel and the pilot port number correspond to the same antenna). The number of the receiving channels selected by the network side equipment for the UE is smaller than the total number of all the receiving channels supported by the UE.

In a specific implementation process, the network side device may determine, for each UE, a receiving channel that the UE should use. Specifically, a receiving channel may be randomly selected for the UE, or may be selected for the UE based on the received signal strength of an uplink reference signal (such as SRS) sent to the UE; the number of the selected receiving channels may be preset or determined by the network side device. Or, the network side device may only determine the number N of receiving channels for the UE, and the network side device and the UE determine the N receiving channels according to the received signal strength of the received opposite signal; in this way, the N reception channels used by the UE determined by the network side device are the same as the N reception channels determined by the UE.

The network side device in the embodiment of the present application may specifically be a base station.

S202: and the network side equipment sends the determined receiving channel configuration information to the UE.

S203: and the network side equipment sends the MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

The MIMO signal in the embodiment of the present application mainly refers to a user-level MIMO signal, that is, downlink service data is transmitted to the UE in an MIMO mode.

Because the embodiment of the application is mainly applied to the MUBF transmission mode (for the SUBF transmission mode, if the number of the receiving channels of the UE is reduced, the performance gain is reduced), in the specific implementation process, the network side equipment can send the receiving channel configuration information to the UE after determining that MU-MIMO transmission needs to be carried out on the UE, namely determining that the MUBF transmission mode is adopted, and if SU-MIMO transmission needs to be carried out on the UE, namely determining that the SUBF transmission mode is adopted, the receiving channel configuration information does not need to be sent, and the UE can carry out downlink receiving based on all the receiving channels supported by the UE.

After determining that MU-MIMO transmission needs to be performed on the UE, the network side device may send the receiving channel configuration information to the UE in each preset scheduling period (e.g., 10 ms); or when determining that the receiving channel configuration information of the UE needs to be updated, sending the updated receiving channel configuration information to the UE; or, the receiving channel configuration information and the MIMO signal are sent to the UE, and after receiving the receiving channel configuration information, the UE selects a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal according to the receiving channel configuration information, that is, the selected receiving channel is used to detect the MIMO signal.

S204: and the UE selects a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal transmitted by the network side equipment from a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE based on the received receiving channel configuration information.

S205: and the UE receives the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel.

Here, the UE may directly receive the MU-MIMO signal on the N receiving channels indicated by the network side device, or may first select N receiving channels from the multiple receiving channels supported by the UE based on the number N of receiving channels indicated by the network side device, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, in combination with the received signal strength of the downlink reference signal received on the multiple receiving channels supported by the UE. The downlink reference signal may be a Cell-Specific reference signal (CRS), a Channel State Information-reference signal (CSI-RS), or the like.

The examples of the present application are further illustrated by the following alternative examples.

As shown in fig. 3, a flowchart of a MIMO transmission method according to another embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

s301: the network side equipment receives uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the multiple receiving channels supported by the UE.

The uplink reference signal herein may specifically refer to an SRS.

S302: the network side equipment determines receiving channel configuration information for the UE based on the receiving signal strength of the uplink reference signal corresponding to each receiving channel of the UE; the receiving channel configuration information is used to instruct the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side device, where the number of the receiving channels is smaller than the number of the receiving channels supported by the UE.

In a specific implementation process, the network side device may determine the receiving channel configuration information based on SRS received signal strength corresponding to each receiving channel. For example, the Receiving channel configuration information is information specifically indicating a Receiving channel, and the network side device may measure the received Signal strength by using Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), and determine Receiving channels corresponding to N SRS transmitting channels with larger RSRP as N Receiving channels that the UE needs to use.

S303: and the network side equipment determines the SUBF weight of the UE based on the uplink reference signals sent by the UE on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the selected receiving channels.

In this step, the network side device performs downlink channel estimation on at least one receiving channel selected for the UE based on the SRS on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the at least one receiving channel, and calculates a SUBF weight for the UE under the selected at least one receiving channel based on the downlink channel estimation, that is, calculates the SUBF weight based on the partial channel information of the selected UE.

S304: and the network side equipment performs pairing on the UE based on the SUBF weight of the UE and the downlink measurement information reported by the UE.

In this step, the network side device may combine the downlink measurement information fed back by the UE, such as a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), a Channel Rank Indicator (RI), a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), and the like, into a SUBF weight calculated for the UE, and pair the UE based on a preset pairing criterion, for example, pair the UE with a higher rate based on a maximum transmission rate criterion. And if the sum rate of the paired UE and any other UE is lower than the rate of the UE which is transmitted independently before the pairing, the UE is not paired with other UE. If the network side device fails to pair the UE, step S305 is executed, otherwise step S306 is executed.

S305: and after the network side equipment fails to pair the UE, determining the SUBF weight of the UE based on the SRS sent by the UE on all the supported receiving channels, and sending the MIMO signal to be sent to the UE after weighting the MIMO signal to be sent based on the SUBF weight.

In a specific implementation process, if the network side device fails to pair the UE, a SUBF transmission mode may be selected to send an MIMO signal to the UE, and in the SUBF transmission mode, in order to improve transmission performance, calculation of a SUBF weight is performed based on all channel information of the UE, and the MIMO signal is sent. In this case, the UE does not transmit the configuration information of the receive path, and receives the MIMO signal transmitted in the SUBF transmission mode using all the receive paths supported by the UE.

This branch is stopped after S305 is executed.

S306: after the network side device successfully pairs the UE, determining an MUBF weight of the UE according to the SUBF weight of the UE determined based on the receiving channel configuration information of the UE and the SUBF weights of other UEs paired with the UE, and then executing S307.

Here, the UE successfully paired can support the MUBF transmission mode, and it should be noted that there may be two UEs paired together, or more than two UEs paired together. In this step, the MUBF weight of each UE is calculated based on the paired SUBF weights of each UE.

S307: and the network side equipment sends the receiving channel configuration information to the UE, weights the MIMO signal to be sent based on the determined MUBF weight of the UE, sends the weighted MIMO signal to the UE, and then executes S308.

In this step, the network side device may send the determined receiving channel configuration information to the UE together with the weighted MIMO signal as downlink control information of the MIMO signal to be sent.

In a specific implementation, the network side device may send the receiving Channel configuration information to the UE through a broadcast signaling or a dedicated signaling, may send the receiving Channel configuration information to the UE through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and may also send the receiving Channel configuration information to the UE through a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

S308: and the UE selects a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal transmitted by the network side equipment from a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

In a specific implementation, if the network side device directly indicates information of a receiving channel to be selected in the receiving channel configuration information, for example, indicates an SRS pilot port number, the receiving channel corresponding to the SRS pilot port number may be directly selected; if the receiving channel configuration information indicates the number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, the UE may select N receiving channels from the multiple receiving channels supported by the UE based on the received signal strength of the downlink reference signal received on the multiple receiving channels, for example, select N receiving channels with the first N receiving signal strengths in order from strong to weak receiving signal strengths.

S309: and the UE receives the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel.

Optionally, after S309, the UE may send uplink reference signals on the transmission channels respectively corresponding to the selected receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side device; of course, the UE may still send the uplink reference signal on the transmission channels corresponding to all the reception channels. Here, the reception channel and the transmission channel having a correspondence relationship share the same antenna.

For whether the UE needs to transmit the uplink reference signal on the transmission channel corresponding to the partial reception channel, that is, the partial antenna, such as the SRS, in addition to considering the requirement of the MUBF, the scheduling of the uplink service resource also needs to be considered. For example, if the terminal supports sending uplink service data on one transmitting channel and receives downlink service data on two receiving channels, if the UE degrades to receive MIMO signals on one receiving channel, the UE may also degrade to send SRS on one transmitting channel, which is exactly matched with the sending of uplink service data. However, if the terminal supports sending uplink service data on two transmitting channels and receiving downlink service data on two receiving channels, at this time, if the UE degrades to receive MIMO signals on one receiving channel, in order to perform uplink resource scheduling better, SRS may also be sent on the two transmitting channels so as to measure information such as Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), and the network side device may only select SRS sent on a part of the transmitting channels (that is, the transmitting channels corresponding to the at least one selected receiving channel) to perform channel estimation when calculating the SUBF weight. Of course, in order to save SRS resources and support more UE connections, it may also be considered to appropriately sacrifice some uplink service performance.

In a specific implementation, since the network side device needs to obtain the channel estimation information of the at least one receiving channel, when the number of transmitting channels that can be supported by the UE and are used for simultaneously transmitting the uplink signals is smaller than the number of receiving channels that are used for receiving the MIMO signals transmitted by the network side device, the UE may transmit the uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels that are used for receiving the MIMO signals transmitted by the network side device by performing antenna switching. For example, if the number of receiving channels determined for the UE to receive the MIMO signal sent by the network side device is 2, and the number of transmitting channels supported by the UE to simultaneously send the uplink reference signal is only 1, the uplink reference signal may be sent by rotating streams on two antennas, so that the network side device obtains channel estimation information of 2 receiving channels.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an MIMO transmission apparatus corresponding to the MIMO transmission method, and as the principle of the apparatus for solving the problem is similar to the MIMO transmission method of the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the apparatus may refer to the implementation of the method, and repeated details are not repeated.

As shown in fig. 4, a schematic structural diagram of a MIMO transmission apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present invention includes:

a processing unit 41, configured to determine receiving channel configuration information for a user equipment UE; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the device, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

a transceiver unit 42, configured to send the receiving channel configuration information determined by the processing unit 41 to the UE, and send an MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information.

Optionally, the receiving channel configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

the processing unit 41 selects information of a reception channel for the UE;

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

Optionally, the information of the receiving channel includes: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 42 is further configured to: before the processing unit 41 determines the receiving channel configuration information for the UE, receiving uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels corresponding to a plurality of supporting receiving channels respectively;

the processing unit 41 is specifically configured to: the receiving channel configuration information is determined based on the received signal strength of the uplink reference signal received by the transceiver unit 42.

Optionally, the processing unit 41 is further configured to:

the transceiver unit 42 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the processing unit 41 is specifically configured to pair the UEs according to the following steps:

the processing unit 41 is further configured to: determining an MUBF weight of the UE according to the SUBF weight of the UE determined based on the receiving channel configuration information of the UE and the SUBF weights of other UEs paired with the UE;

the transceiver unit is specifically configured to: based on the MUBF weight of the UE determined by the processing unit 41, the MIMO signal to be transmitted is weighted and then transmitted to the UE.

As shown in fig. 5, a schematic structural diagram of a MIMO transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention includes:

a transceiver unit 51, configured to receive channel configuration information sent by a network device to a UE; the receiving channel configuration information is used for indicating the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment, and the number of the receiving channels is less than that of the receiving channels supported by the UE;

a processing unit 52, configured to select, based on the receiving channel configuration information received by the transceiver unit 51, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal transmitted by the network side device from multiple receiving channels supported by the UE; and receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel.

Optionally, if the receiving channel configuration information includes the number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, the processing unit 52 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the transceiver unit 51 is further configured to:

and sending uplink reference signals on the transmission channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels selected by the processing unit 52 and used for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side device.

Optionally, if the number of transmit channels that can be supported by the UE and are used for simultaneously transmitting uplink signals is less than the number of receive channels used for receiving the MIMO signals transmitted by the network side device,

the transceiver unit 51 is specifically configured to:

The apparatus of fig. 4 and 5, in cooperation with each other, are capable of performing all the method steps in the embodiments of fig. 2 and 3.

As shown in fig. 6, a schematic structural diagram of a network-side device 60 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a processor 61, a memory 62, and a bus 63; the memory 62 stores execution instructions, and when the network-side device 60 operates, the processor 61 communicates with the memory 62 through the bus 63, so that the processor 61 executes the execution instructions as follows:

determining receiving channel configuration information for User Equipment (UE); the receiving channel configuration information is used to instruct the UE to select a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side device 60, where the number of the receiving channels is smaller than the number of receiving channels supported by the UE;

sending the receiving channel configuration information to the UE;

information of a reception channel selected for the UE;

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

Optionally, in the execution instruction executed by the processor 61, before determining to receive the channel configuration information for the UE, the method further includes: receiving uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to a plurality of supported receiving channels;

Optionally, in the execution instruction executed by the processor 61, the sending the receiving channel configuration information to the UE includes:

pairing the UE;

Optionally, in the execution instructions executed by the processor 61, the pairing the UE includes:

As shown in fig. 7, a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment UE70 according to still another embodiment of the present invention includes: a processor 71, a memory 72, and a bus 73; the memory 72 stores execution instructions, and when the user equipment 70 is operated, the processor 71 communicates with the memory 72 through the bus 73, so that the processor 71 executes the execution instructions as follows:

Optionally, if the receiving channel configuration information includes the number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, in the execution instruction executed by the processor 71, the selecting, based on the receiving channel configuration information, a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side device from among multiple receiving channels supported by the UE includes:

Optionally, in the execution instruction executed by the processor 71, after selecting, based on the receiving channel configuration information, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal sent by the network side device from among multiple receiving channels supported by the UE, the method further includes:

then, in the execution instruction executed by the processor 71, sending uplink reference signals on the transmission channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side device includes:

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including preferred embodiments and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO, transmission method, comprising:

the network side equipment sends the MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information;

before the network side device determines to receive the channel configuration information for the UE, the method further includes:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving channel configuration information comprises at least one of:

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving information of the channel comprises: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sending, by the network side device, the receive channel configuration information to the UE includes:

the network side equipment is paired with the UE;

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the pairing of the network-side device with the UE comprises:

6. A multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO, transmission method, comprising:

the UE receives the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment;

before the UE receives the receiving channel configuration information sent by the network side device, the method further includes:

the UE sends uplink reference signals to the network equipment on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE, and the uplink reference signals are used for the network side equipment to determine the receiving channel configuration information based on the receiving signal strength of the uplink reference signals.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving channel configuration information comprises at least one of:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the receiving information of the channel comprises: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein if the receiving channel configuration information includes a number N of receiving channels that can be selected by the UE, the UE selects, based on the receiving channel configuration information, a receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal transmitted by the network-side device from among a plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE, and the method comprises:

10. The method of claim 6,

11. A MIMO transmission apparatus, the apparatus being a network side device, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver unit, configured to send the receiving channel configuration information determined by the processing unit to the UE, and send the MIMO signal to the UE based on the receiving channel configuration information;

the transceiver unit is further configured to: before the processing unit determines the receiving channel configuration information for the UE, receiving uplink reference signals sent by the UE on transmitting channels respectively corresponding to a plurality of supporting receiving channels;

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the receive channel configuration information comprises at least one of:

the processing unit selects information of a receiving channel for the UE;

the number of the receiving channels which can be selected by the UE.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the information of the reception channel comprises: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

14. The apparatus of any of claims 11 to 13, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is specific to pair the UEs according to:

16. A multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO, transmission apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to select, based on the receiving channel configuration information received by the transceiver unit, a receiving channel for receiving a MIMO signal transmitted by the network side device from among multiple receiving channels supported by the UE; receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment based on the selected receiving channel for receiving the MIMO signal sent by the network side equipment;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send, before receiving the receiving channel configuration information sent by the network-side device, an uplink reference signal to the network device on a transmitting channel corresponding to each of the plurality of receiving channels supported by the UE, where the uplink reference signal is used by the network-side device to determine the receiving channel configuration information based on the receiving signal strength of the uplink reference signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the receive channel configuration information comprises at least one of:

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the information of the reception channel comprises: a pilot port number of the UE corresponding to the reception channel.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein if the receiving channel configuration information includes a number N of receiving channels that the UE can select, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

20. The apparatus of claim 16,

the processing unit is further configured to perform antenna switching, so that the transceiver unit sends uplink reference signals on the transmitting channels respectively corresponding to the receiving channels for receiving the MIMO signals sent by the network side device.