CN107371241B

CN107371241B - Reference signal transmission method, network equipment, user equipment and communication system

Info

Publication number: CN107371241B
Application number: CN201610316594.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 毕晓艳; 刘瑾; 吴晔; 杭海存
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-05-12
Filing date: 2016-05-12
Publication date: 2021-03-23
Anticipated expiration: 2036-05-12
Also published as: CN107371241A; WO2017193727A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a reference signal transmission method, network equipment, user equipment and a communication system. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment transmits measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters, wherein the measurement configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of first antenna port set information used for transmitting reference signals for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of second antenna port set information used for transmitting reference signals for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a general reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the general reference signal antenna port set can be used for transmitting reference signals for measurement and reference signals for demodulation; the network device transmitting a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports; the network device transmits reference signals for demodulation on antenna ports of the second set of antenna ports.

Description

Reference signal transmission method, network equipment, user equipment and communication system

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications, and in particular, to a reference signal transmission method, a network device, a user equipment, and a communication system.

Background

In the future 5G communication system, an M-MIMO (Massive-MIMO) system is widely considered as a necessary solution, which can greatly improve the throughput, reliability, and the like of the system. However, with the large scale increase of the number of antennas and the large amount of RS (Reference Signal) overhead, RSs of various schemes are used for both channel measurement and data channel demodulation.

The RS design discussed by the latest 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is limited to use in scenarios where the number of transmit antennas does not exceed 16. At present, in an LTE (Long Term Evolution )/LTE-Advanced (Long Term Evolution, Advanced version of the Long Term Evolution) system, a CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal) is used for Channel measurement, and a DMRS (Demodulation Reference Signal) is used for data Demodulation, which are all indispensable. When the antenna port reaches 8, its RS overhead has reached 38%. When the number of antenna ports reaches 16 or more, both CSI-RS and DMRS increase linearly with the increase of antenna ports. Due to system resource limitations, a large amount of RS overhead necessarily results in a reduction of the available resources for data transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a transmission method of a reference signal, network equipment, user equipment and a communication system.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting a reference signal is provided, where the method includes: the network equipment transmits measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters, wherein the measurement configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of first antenna port set information used for transmitting reference signals for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of second antenna port set information used for transmitting reference signals for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a general reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the general reference signal antenna port set can be used for transmitting reference signals for measurement and reference signals for demodulation; the network device transmitting a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports; the network device transmits reference signals for demodulation on antenna ports of the second set of antenna ports.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method specifically includes: the measurement configuration parameter further includes information of at least one first time-frequency resource for the network device to transmit a reference signal for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and a first set of antenna ports; the demodulation configuration parameter further includes information of at least one second time-frequency resource used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and a second set of antenna ports. With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the method is specifically implemented as: the antenna port set of the general reference signal is divided into N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets, and the N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets comprise the same number of antenna ports, wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1; each time-frequency resource including the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource corresponds to one third antenna port set respectively.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the method specifically includes: the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of antenna port subgroups, wherein the first antenna port set information specifically includes that each antenna port subgroup of the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource uses one bit to indicate whether the antenna port subgroup is used for sending a reference signal for measurement.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the method is specifically implemented as: the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and each antenna port subgroup in the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the implementation manner is specifically that: the at least one first time-frequency resource and the at least one second time-frequency resource both include a third time-frequency resource, and the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set both include a first antenna port, wherein reference signals transmitted on the third time-frequency resource and the first antenna port are used for both measurement and demodulation.

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the method is specifically implemented as: the information of the first time-frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information; the information of the second time frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the implementation manner is specifically that: the first time-frequency resource comprises W resource blocks RB, and the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than the system bandwidth in a frequency domain; and/or the second time-frequency resource comprises W Resource Blocks (RB), and the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than the system bandwidth in a frequency domain; wherein W is a positive integer.

With reference to the first aspect or any one possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the sending the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter is specifically implemented as: transmitting a first message including the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter.

With reference to the first aspect or any one possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the sending the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter is specifically implemented as: sending a second message, the second message including the measurement configuration parameter; transmitting a third message, the third message including the demodulation configuration parameter.

In a second aspect, a network device is presented for performing the method of the first aspect or any of its possible implementations.

In particular, the apparatus may comprise means for performing the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, there is provided another network device, comprising a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver, wherein the processor is configured to execute the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is presented for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a method for transmitting a reference signal is provided, where the method includes: receiving measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters sent by a network device, wherein the measurement configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of first antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of second antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement and can be used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation; receiving and measuring a reference signal on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports; the reference signal is received and demodulated at an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method specifically includes: the measurement configuration parameter further includes information of at least one first time-frequency resource for the network device to transmit a reference signal for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and a first set of antenna ports; the demodulation configuration parameter further includes information of at least one second time-frequency resource used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and a second set of antenna ports.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the implementation manner is specifically that: the antenna port set of the general reference signal is divided into N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets, and the N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets comprise the same number of antenna ports, wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1; each time-frequency resource including the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource corresponds to one third antenna port set respectively.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the method is specifically implemented as: the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of antenna port subgroups, wherein the first antenna port set information specifically includes that each antenna port subgroup of the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource uses one bit to indicate whether the antenna port subgroup is used for the network device to send a reference signal for measurement.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the method is specifically implemented as: the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and each antenna port subgroup in the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the implementation manner is specifically that: the at least one first time-frequency resource and the at least one second time-frequency resource both include a third time-frequency resource, and the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set both include a first antenna port, wherein reference signals received on the third time-frequency resource and the first antenna port are used for both measurement and demodulation.

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect to the fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the method is specifically implemented as: the information of the first time-frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information; the information of the second time-frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information.

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect to the sixth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the implementation manner is specifically that: the first time-frequency resource comprises W resource blocks RB, and the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than the system bandwidth in a frequency domain; and/or the second time-frequency resource comprises W Resource Blocks (RB), and the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than the system bandwidth in a frequency domain; wherein W is a positive integer.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect to the seventh possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the receiving a measurement configuration parameter and a demodulation configuration parameter sent by a network device is specifically implemented as: receiving a first message comprising the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect to the eighth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the receiving a measurement configuration parameter and a demodulation configuration parameter sent by a network device is specifically implemented as: receiving a second message, the second message including the measurement configuration parameter; a third message is received, the third message including the demodulation configuration parameter. In a sixth aspect, a user equipment is proposed for performing the method of the fifth aspect or any of its possible implementations.

In particular, the apparatus may comprise means for performing the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided another user equipment, comprising a memory for storing instructions and a processor for executing the instructions stored in the memory, and the execution of the instructions stored in the memory causes the processor to perform the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is presented for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes:

a network device of the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and a user equipment of the sixth aspect and any possible implementation thereof; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

a network device according to the third aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof, and a user equipment according to the seventh aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof.

Based on the above technical solutions, in the transmission method of the reference signal, the network device, the user equipment and the communication system of the embodiments of the present invention, all or part of the antenna port resources are used for both signal measurement and data demodulation by sending the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters, so that the resource overhead of the reference signal is saved, and the utilization rate of the reference signal resources is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of beam direction division after the network device divides the space of the transmitting antenna according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of configuring an antenna port for a time-frequency resource by a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows a pattern of a time-frequency resource reference signal.

Fig. 5 is an interaction flowchart of the network device and the UE performing reference signal transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is another interaction flowchart of the network device and the UE performing reference signal transmission according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is another interaction flowchart of the network device and the UE performing reference signal transmission according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is another interaction flowchart of the network device and the UE performing reference signal transmission according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention relates to a general reference signal which can be used for channel measurement and data demodulation. Of course, the generic reference signal may be replaced by another name known to those skilled in the art and is within the scope of the present invention. The set of ports that can be used to transmit the general reference signal may be referred to as a general reference signal antenna port set, although those skilled in the art will recognize that other names may be substituted for the general reference signal antenna port set, and the invention also falls within the scope of the present invention.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 in which an embodiment of the invention can be employed. The communication system 100 includes a network device 200 and a UE. The communication system 100 may be a variety of communication systems, such as: GSM (Global System of Mobile communication), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) System, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), LTE (Long Term Evolution), and the like.

User Equipment (UE), also known as a Mobile Terminal (Mobile Terminal), access Terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, Mobile station, remote Terminal, Mobile device, User Terminal, wireless communication device, User agent, or User device. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) phone, a WLL (Wireless Local Loop) station, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a handheld device with Wireless communication capability, a computing device or other processing device connected to a Wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G Network, or a terminal device in a future evolved PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) Network.

The Network device may be a device for communicating with a Mobile device, and the Network device may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), an NB (NodeB, Base Station) in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), an eNB or eNodeB (evolved Node B or Access point) in LTE (Long Term Evolution), or a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a Network-side device in a future 5G Network, or a Network device in a future evolved PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) Network. In the embodiment of the present invention, the UE may perform channel measurement or data demodulation according to the general reference signal from the network device 200.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of beam direction division after the network device divides the space of the transmitting antenna according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, the network device may divide the space of the transmit antennas into 32 Beam (Beam) directions. When the network device is configured as a reference signal transmitted by the UE, it may configure a Beam direction for the transmitted reference signal, so that the reference signal is transmitted to a preset Beam direction, where the Beam direction may also be referred to as an antenna port. In the embodiment of the present invention, all of the 32 beam directions may be configured as antenna ports in a general reference signal antenna port set, and of course, only part of the beam directions may be configured as antenna ports in the general reference signal antenna port set. The set of generic reference signal antenna ports may be determined by standard protocol specifications or by a network device.

The time-frequency Resource in the embodiment of the present invention may be considered to include W Resource blocks RB (Resource Block), where W is a positive integer, and the W RBs include a time-domain unit in a time domain, and the W RBs may be smaller than or equal to a system bandwidth in the frequency domain.

Optionally, a frequency domain resource occupied by one time frequency resource in the embodiment of the present invention is a narrowband resource, which can be understood as being smaller than a system bandwidth; the W RBs included in each time-frequency resource may be continuous subcarriers or discontinuous subcarriers in the frequency domain; the Time domain unit may be in units of TTI (Transmission Time Interval) or in units of subframes. In particular, if the time domain unit is in TTI units, one or more subframes may be included in one TTI.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of configuring an antenna port for a time-frequency resource by a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 3, the vertical direction thereof represents frequency (frequency domain), and includes, for example, a Resource Block Group (RBG), the illustration includes 4 RBGs including RBG1, RBG2, RBG3 and RBG4, an RBG can be regarded as a segment of Resource in the frequency domain, and the time domain is not limited; the time (time domain) is horizontally represented, for example, including 5 TTIs, which are T0, T1, T2, T3 and T4, where T1 is T0+1(TTI), T2 is T1+1(TTI), T3 is T2+1(TTI), and T4 is T3+1(TTI), although the time domain and the frequency domain may also use other measurement units to configure the common reference signal antenna port for the time-frequency resource, for example, the time domain may use a subframe as a unit, and so on. Each small square can be a time-frequency resource in the embodiment of the invention.

The time-frequency resources may be represented by frequency-domain information and time-domain information. In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the time-frequency resources may be represented by the identification of the RBG and the time-domain unit offset, each time-frequency resource occupies one RBG, and occupies one time-domain unit in the time domain, such as 1 subframe or 1 TTI. One RBG may include a plurality of RBs, e.g., W RBs. Taking fig. 3 as an example, the time-frequency resource with the frequency domain being RBG1 and the time domain being T0 can be represented by (RBG1, 0); the time-frequency resource with the frequency domain being RBG1 and the time domain being T4 can be represented by (RBG1, 4). Alternatively, the time domain unit may also be represented by a time domain unit period, such as a 4 TTI period, for example, a time-frequency resource with a frequency domain of RBG1 and a time domain of T0 may be represented by (RBG1,0) in a first period of T0-T3, and a time-frequency resource with a frequency domain of RBG1 and a time domain of T4 may be represented by (RBG1,0) in a second period of T4-T7.

The network device may further divide the set of common reference signal antenna ports into N sets of mutually disjoint antenna ports, where the N sets of mutually disjoint antenna ports optionally include the same number of antenna ports.

The network device may further allocate a corresponding antenna port set to each time-frequency resource, for example, N continuous or discontinuous time-frequency resources of the same frequency domain resource are respectively in one-to-one correspondence with the N mutually disjoint antenna port sets, or N continuous or discontinuous frequency domain resources of the same time domain resource are respectively in one-to-one correspondence with the N mutually disjoint antenna port sets. It will of course be appreciated that this is only a preferred arrangement and that in practical applications different configurations are possible. For example, it is only necessary to ensure that the sets of antenna ports corresponding to two time-frequency resources with the same time domain adjacent to the frequency domain are different, and so on.

It should be understood that each time-frequency resource corresponds to a set of antenna ports, and the network device may transmit the reference signal at the time-frequency resource and the antenna ports in the corresponding set of antenna ports. It should be understood that the division of the set of antenna ports of the generic reference signal, and the correspondence between the time-frequency resources and the divided set of antenna ports, may be configured by the network device, or predefined by a standard protocol. The following description will be made by taking an example of a network device configuration with reference to fig. 3.

It is not assumed that the network device divides the set of generic reference signal ports (32 Beam directions) into 4 groups (i.e. 4 mutually disjoint sets of antenna ports 1), each group of 8 Beam directions, i.e. 8 antenna ports (or RS ports). A first group: beam # 0/4/8/12/16/20/24/28; second group: beam # 1/5/9/13/17/21/25/29; third group: beam # 2/6/10/14/18/22/26/30; and a fourth group: beam # 3/7/11/15/19/23/27/31. The first set of Beam directions may be as shown by the labeled Beam directions in fig. 2. Of course, it should be understood that the assigned antenna ports for each RBG may be other values, such as 4 antenna ports, 6 antenna ports, etc.

A possible configuration for configuring time-frequency resources and antenna port sets is as follows:

for example, based on the above-mentioned dividing manner of dividing 32 Beam directions into 4 groups, the network device may respectively configure a group of Beam directions for 4 time-frequency resources occupying 4 consecutive time-domain units (TTIs) and occupying the same frequency-domain resources in the frequency domain. For example, in fig. 3, of 4 time-frequency resources with a frequency domain RBG1 and a time domain T0-T3, the same frequency-domain resource is occupied in the frequency domain, consecutive 4 time-domain units (TTIs) are occupied in the time domain, and each time-frequency resource corresponds to a group of antenna ports. That is, in a time period (in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, a time period includes 4 time domain units), 4 time-frequency resources of the same frequency domain resource respectively correspond to the 4 antenna port sets divided by the general reference signal port set one by one. Specifically, for RBG1, a first group of Beam directions is configured at time T0, a fourth group of Beam directions is configured at time T1, a third group of Beam directions is configured at time T2, a second group of Beam directions is configured at time T3, and a first group of Beam directions … … is configured at time T5, and the round-robin is repeated with the 4 TTIs as cycles, so that the configuration of the antenna ports for transmitting the common reference signals corresponding to each time-frequency resource in the frequency domain by polling is completed.

For example, based on the above-mentioned dividing manner of dividing 32 Beam directions into 4 groups, the network device may configure a group of Beam directions for N time-frequency resource configurations adjacent to each other in the frequency domain in the same time-domain unit, so that the N time-frequency resources adjacent to each other in the frequency domain in the same time-domain unit correspond to the N antenna port sets divided by the general reference signal port set one by one. For example, in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the time domain is T0, and the frequency domains are RBG1, RBG2, RBG3 and RBG4, which are configured to four time-frequency resources, and the configured antenna port sets correspond to one another. Specifically, at time T0, a first group of Beam directions are arranged on RBG1, a second group of Beam directions are arranged on RBG2, a third group of Beam directions are arranged on RBG3, and a fourth group of Beam directions are arranged on RBG 4. And repeating the cycle by taking the 4 RBGs as a period, and then completing polling configuration of the antenna port which is corresponding to each time-frequency resource and used for sending the general reference signal in the time domain.

Fig. 4 shows a pattern of a time-frequency resource reference signal. Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a time-frequency resource formed by taking an RBG as a frequency domain unit and one TTI as a time domain unit, but those skilled in the art can also know that a time-frequency resource can be formed by taking other time domains or frequency domains as a unit. Each square in fig. 4 may represent an RE or other time-frequency resource block, where an RE is taken as an example. REs without number boxes in white in fig. 4 represent REs that may be used for transmitting data, and REs with number boxes represent REs that may be used for transmitting reference signals, such as including general reference signals, including REs with number boxes in white and REs with number boxes in gray, with numbers representing antenna port numbers. Where RE's of the grey squares represent the signals used to transmit the reference signals. The example of fig. 4 may be referred to as a reference signal pattern, and may be used for reference signal resource configuration of a time-frequency resource including a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource in an embodiment of the present invention, including an RE used for transmitting a reference signal in the time-frequency resource and an antenna port used for transmitting the reference signal in the RE.

The scheme of the embodiment of the present invention is further described below with reference to the interactive flow of signal transmission in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is an interaction flowchart of the network device and the UE performing reference signal transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention. Although described in a two-way interactive manner, an independent technical solution can be formed from a single-side perspective of the network device or a single-side perspective of the UE, and is not described herein again.

501, the network device sends the measurement configuration parameters and sends the demodulation configuration parameters.

The sending measurement configuration parameter and the sending demodulation configuration parameter may be sent in the same message at the same time, or may be sent in different messages separately, without limitation. The UE has a corresponding receiving action.

The measurement configuration parameters comprise a first antenna port set used for sending reference signals for measurement; the demodulation configuration parameters include a second set of antenna ports for transmitting reference signals for demodulation. Wherein the first set of antenna ports and the second set of antenna ports belong to a set of common reference signal antenna ports, each antenna port of the set of common reference signal antenna ports being usable for both measurement and demodulation.

Of course, it should be understood that at least one first set of antenna ports may be included in the measurement configuration parameters and at least one second set of antenna ports may be included in the demodulation configuration parameters.

Optionally, the measurement configuration parameter further includes information of at least one first time-frequency resource, where the at least one first time-frequency resource is used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and the first antenna port set; the demodulation configuration parameter further includes information of at least one second time-frequency resource used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and a second set of antenna ports.

It is to be understood that the network device transmits using the antenna ports of the at least one first set of antenna ports when the at least one first time-frequency resource transmits the reference signal for measurement. In particular, the first set of antenna ports may correspond one-to-one to the first time-frequency resources, or one first set of antenna ports may correspond to a plurality of first time-frequency resources.

Similarly, when the network device transmits the reference signal for demodulation in the at least one second time-frequency resource, the network device transmits using the antenna ports of the second antenna port set. In particular, the second set of antenna ports may correspond to the second time-frequency resources one to one, or one second set of antenna ports may correspond to a plurality of second time-frequency resources.

Optionally, the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource are time-frequency resources having the same frequency domain bandwidth. For example, W RBs are included, W is a positive integer, and W RBs include one time domain unit in the time domain, and the W RBs are smaller than or equal to the system bandwidth in the frequency domain.

The network device sends reference signals for measurement and sends reference signals for demodulation 502. The network equipment transmits a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port in the first antenna port set; the network device transmits a reference signal for demodulation on an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports. Reference signals for measurement may also be transmitted on the first time-frequency resource and antenna ports in the first set of antenna ports. Reference signals for demodulation may also be sent at the second time-frequency resource and antenna ports in the second set of antenna ports. The UE has a corresponding receiving action.

In step 501, the network device may use a plurality of different message formats to send the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters to the UE.

In one specific implementation, the network device may use a message, such as the unifonn RS process indication, to instruct the UE to operate measurement and data demodulation. The configuration format of the unifonm RS process can be exemplified as follows:

Uniform-RS-process：＝SEQUENCE{

Uniform-RS-process-Id，

Measurement-configuration-count，

Measurement-configuration-list，

Demodulation-configuration-list,

p/a-report-mode

}

one uniform RS process may include a uniform RS process id (optional), measurement configuration parameters, and reporting mode (optional).

The Measurement configuration parameters may include Measurement configuration number, Measurement-configuration-count (used to indicate that several Measurement configurations are configured for the UE, which may be optional, for example, the Measurement configuration is in a case of 1 or 0), Measurement configuration content, Measurement-configuration-list (used to indicate specific content of the Measurement configuration, including time-frequency resource information and antenna port information for Measurement); the Demodulation configuration parameters may include Demodulation configuration content Demodulation-configuration-list (specific content used to represent Demodulation configuration of the UE, including time-frequency resource information and antenna port information used for Demodulation). When the network device does not need to make the UE perform measurement, it may also only include the demodulation configuration parameters, and does not include the measurement configuration content and the measurement configuration number. The reporting mode is p/a-report-mode, which represents the mode of reporting the measurement result or the demodulation result by the UE.

In the Measurement configuration parameters, the network device side generally configures a maximum value N (N is a positive integer) of the Measurement configuration count, and the Measurement configuration number N satisfies a condition N < ═ N. The Measurement configuration list is composed of n pieces of Measurement configuration (Measurement configuration) information, where the format of the Measurement configuration may be exemplified as follows:

wherein RS-port-Id-list denotes a set of antenna ports for transmitting reference signals for measurement. Optionally, the time-frequency resource and the antenna port resource used for transmitting the reference signal for measurement may be reused for different UEs, and it is also understood that the measurement configuration parameter may be designed to be UE-specific, but the time-frequency resource or the antenna port resource may not be UE-specific, for example, a network with a cell concept may be cell-specific. RBG-num-Id represents frequency domain resource information for transmitting a reference signal for measurement, such as an identification of RBG, and Subframe-offset represents time domain resource information for transmitting a reference signal for measurement, such as a Subframe offset value, etc.

One specific example is as follows:

Measurement-configuration-count＝4，

Measurement-configuration-list＝{([0,1,2,3],1,0)，([0,1,2,3],2,1)，([0,1,2,3],3,2)，([0,1,2,3],4,3)}。

as indicated above, in the Measurement configuration parameter Measurement-configuration-list of a certain specific UE, the network device configures four Measurement configuration information for the UE, where each Measurement configuration information includes a time-frequency resource and an antenna port resource. Referring to fig. 3, the Measurement reference signal resources in the Measurement configuration parameters in the Measurement-configuration-list are as follows: time-frequency resources represented by RBG1 and T0(subframe offset is 0), and four antenna ports with serial numbers of No. 0, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3; time-frequency resources represented by RBG2 and T1(subframe offset is 1), and four antenna ports with serial numbers of No. 0, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3; time-frequency resources represented by RBG3 and T2(subframe offset is 2), and four antenna ports with serial numbers of No. 0, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3; time-frequency resources represented by RBG4 and T3(subframe offset of 3), and four antenna ports with

sequence numbers

0,1,2, and 3. The network device may send reference signals for measurements on the reference signal resources.

As shown in fig. 3, the network device may configure one set of antenna ports (a set of Beam directions) for each time-frequency resource. Referring to fig. 3, the antenna port set of the time-frequency resource configuration represented by 4 time-frequency resources (1, 0), (2, 1), (3, 2), and (4, 3) is { #0/4/8/12/16/20/24/28}, and the antenna ports represented by four antenna ports with

serial numbers

0,1,2, and 3 are { #0/4/8/12/16 }.

Of course, there are several ways to represent the antenna ports:

in one approach, the sequence numbers of the available antenna ports are represented as a set of antenna ports configured for time-frequency resources for measurement. The sequence number of an antenna port may indicate the location of the antenna port in the set of antenna ports. As described above, Measurement-configuration-list { ([0,1,2,3],1,0), ([0,1,2,3],2,1), ([0,1,2,3],3,2), ([0,1,2,3],4,3) }.

Alternatively, the set of antenna ports configured for time-frequency resources may be represented by a bitmap. Wherein, whether each antenna port in the antenna port set configured for the time-frequency resource by the network device is used for transmitting the reference signal for measurement can be identified by one bit of the bitmap. For example, the antenna port set [0,1,2,3] can be represented by 11110000, i.e.

port numbers

0,1,2, and 3 transmit reference signals, and

antenna port numbers

4, 5, 6, and 7 do not transmit reference signals.

In another way, the antenna port set configured for the time-frequency resources by the network device may be further divided into a plurality of antenna port subgroups, and whether an antenna port subgroup in each antenna port set is used for measurement is represented by one bit in the bitmap.

For example, in fig. 4, among the 8 antenna ports configured for RBG,

antenna ports

0 and 2 are a first group,

antenna ports

1 and 3 are a second group,

antenna ports

4 and 6 are a third group, and

antenna ports

5 and 7 are a 4 th group. Then 1010 indicates that the reference signal is transmitted on the first set of

antenna ports

0, 2 and the third set of

antenna ports

4, 6, i.e. the first set of antenna ports is

antenna ports

0, 2, 4, 6.

Furthermore, the time-frequency resources can be further divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and the plurality of time-frequency sub-resources correspond to the plurality of antenna port subgroups divided by the antenna port set configured for the time-frequency resources one by one. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a correspondence relationship between time-frequency sub-resources and antenna port sub-groups for transmitting reference signals according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4, the time frequency resources with the same number in the content of the square grid belong to the same time frequency resource subgroup, and one antenna port subgroup corresponds to one time frequency resource. For example, 1000 indicates that the first antenna port set is

antenna ports

0 and 2, and also indicates that the time-frequency resources shown in the gray squares of fig. 4 are used to transmit the reference signals from

antenna ports

0 and 2.

In the Demodulation configuration parameters, the Demodulation-configuration-list is composed of m pieces of Demodulation configuration (Demodulation-configuration) information, where m is an integer equal to or greater than zero. It should be understood that when Demodulation-configuration-list is not present, then no data Demodulation is required. The format of the Demodulation configuration may be as follows:

in the example of modulation-num-list, RS-port-Id-list denotes a set of antenna ports for transmitting reference signals for Demodulation. Optionally, the time-frequency resource and the antenna port resource used for transmitting the reference signal for demodulation may be reused for different UEs, and it is also understood that the demodulation configuration parameter may be designed to be UE-specific, but the time-frequency resource or the antenna port resource may not be UE-specific, for example, a network with a cell concept may be cell-specific. RBG-num-Id indicates frequency domain resource information for transmitting reference signals for demodulation, such as the identifier of RBG, and Subframe-offset indicates time domain resource information for transmitting reference signals for demodulation, such as Subframe offset value. The representation of RS-port-Id-list, RBG-num-Id and Subframe-offset can be as exemplified with reference to the Measurement-configuration-list described above.

Another way for the network device to send the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters to the UE is to send the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters in different messages. Of course, how the specific configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters are represented in different messages can also be described with reference to the format content (sent in the same message) corresponding to the first manner.

Similarly, the embodiment of the present invention further provides the embodiments of fig. 6 and fig. 7, and the relevant features of each step in fig. 6 and fig. 7 may refer to the relevant features of the embodiment of fig. 5, which are not described herein again.

It is generally understood that the network device transmitting the demodulation configuration parameters will be determined based on the channel information. Before sending the demodulation configuration parameters, the network device may send measurement configuration parameters and send a reference message for measurement to the UE, and the UE receives a reference signal for measurement sent by the network device at one or more antenna ports for channel measurement. The network device may re-determine or transmit the demodulation configuration parameters according to the information fed back by the UE.

So that demodulation can be considered as one cycle.

Table 1 is an example of measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters sent in three time periods according to the embodiment of the present invention, taking the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports and the time-frequency resources in fig. 3 as an example, and extending the time to 3 time periods, each time period being 4 time domain units, where the three time periods are (T0, T1, T2, T3), (T4, T5, T6, T7), (T8, T9, T10, and T11), respectively. In the table, batches may be considered to be information sent at similar or identical times. Therefore, the measurement information sent from the first batch to the demodulation information sent from the second batch can be regarded as one measurement-demodulation period, and the measurement information sent from the second batch to the demodulation information sent from the third batch can be regarded as another measurement-demodulation period. The first batch transmission specifying information may include demodulation information, and the third batch transmission information may include measurement information, although not shown in the table.

The following method of another embodiment of the present invention is described in terms of how to go from measurement to demodulation cycle, in conjunction with table 1 and fig. 6:

601: the network equipment sends the first measurement configuration parameter to the UE.

In a first period, the network device sends a first measurement configuration parameter to the UE, including resources used to send reference signals for measurement.

Taking table 1 as an example, the network device may transmit 4 pieces of measurement configuration information representing ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG1, T0), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG2, T1), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG3, T2), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG4, T3), where each piece of measurement configuration information may include one time-frequency resource and one antenna port set, and is used for transmitting a reference signal for measurement.

The UE has a corresponding receiving action.

The network device sends 602 a first reference signal for measurement to the UE.

The network equipment transmits a first reference signal used for measurement to the UE on the reference signal resource configured by the first measurement configuration parameter.

Taking table 1 as an example, in the first period, the network device may transmit the reference signal for measurement on the reference signal resources denoted by [ #0/4/8/12], RBG1, T0), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG2, T1), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG3, T2), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG4, T3).

603, the UE feeds back the measured channel information. The UE can measure in [ #0/4/8/12], RBG1, T0), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG2, T1), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG3, T2), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG4, T3), so as to obtain the channel information of each antenna port, and transmit the relevant channel information to the network equipment, and the network equipment receives the channel information fed back by the UE. The channel information fed back may be in various ways: such as feeding back each measured channel information or feeding back only the preferred one or more measured channel information. The channel information may also take various forms such as PMI or RI or other forms. And will not be described in detail herein.

604, the network device sends the second measurement configuration parameter and the first demodulation configuration parameter to the UE.

The network device may select, according to one or more resources with the best channel quality measured in the first period or other selection manners, a resource in the second period for transmitting the reference signal for demodulation to be configured as the first demodulation configuration parameter, and transmit the first demodulation configuration parameter to the UE.

Taking table 1 as an example, assuming that the channel quality measured by [ #0/4], RBG1, and T0 is optimal, the network device may transmit the demodulation reference signal on time-frequency resources RBG1 and T4 corresponding to the second period according to the time-frequency resources RBG1 and T0, and on the antenna port [ #0/4 ].

In the second period, the network device may further send a second measurement configuration parameter to the UE so as to select a reference signal resource for demodulation in the next period, although the second measurement configuration parameter may also be optional.

The network apparatus may transmit the reference signal for measurement on resources for transmitting the reference signal denoted by [ #0/4/8/12], RBG1, T4), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG2, T5), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG3, T6), ([ #0/4/8/12], RBG4, T7).

Since the reference signal resources denoted by [ #0/4], RBG1, T4 are in both the second measurement configuration parameter and the first demodulation parameter configuration, the reference signals transmitted by the network device on the reference signal resources denoted by [ #0/4], RBG1, T4 can be used for both measurement and demodulation.

The UE has a corresponding receiving action.

605, the network device sends a second reference signal for measurement and a third reference signal for demodulation to the UE.

The UE has a corresponding receiving action.

The UE may receive the reference signal on the reference signal resource denoted by #0/4, RBG1, T4, and perform measurement and demodulation, respectively.

And 606, the network equipment sends the second demodulation configuration parameter to the UE.

Similarly, the network device may select, according to the reference signal resource with the best channel quality measured in the second period, the reference signal resource corresponding to the third period to be configured as the second demodulation configuration parameter, and send the second demodulation configuration parameter to the UE.

Taking table 1 as an example, assuming that the channel quality measured by [ #8/12], RBG2, and T6 is optimal, the network device may transmit the demodulation reference signal on time-frequency resources RBG2 and T10 corresponding to the second period according to the time-frequency resources RBG2 and T6, and on the antenna port [ #8/12 ].

It should be understood that, in the foregoing method embodiments, the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters may include only antenna port resources, because if the antenna port resources and the time-frequency resources have a predetermined mapping relationship, the network device notifies the antenna port resources, and the UE may obtain the time-frequency resources corresponding to the antenna port resources according to the predetermined mapping relationship, so as to receive the reference signal for demodulation or for measurement.

Of course, it should be understood that, in the foregoing method embodiments, the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters may include only time-frequency resource information, because if the time-frequency resources and the antenna port resources have a predetermined mapping relationship, the network device notifies that the UE may obtain the antenna port resources corresponding to the time-frequency resources according to the predetermined mapping relationship, so as to receive the reference signal for demodulation or measurement.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a network device 900. Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 900 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Network device 900 may include a processor 902, a transmitter 901, and a receiver 904, optionally including memory 903.

The receiver 904, transmitter 901, processor 902 and memory 903 may be interconnected by a bus 906 system. Bus 906 may be an ISA bus, PCI bus, EISA bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one double-headed arrow is shown in FIG. 9, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus. In particular applications, the transmitter 901 and the receiver 904 may be coupled to an antenna 905.

Optionally, a memory 903 is included for storing programs. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. The memory 903 may include both read-only memory and random access memory, and provides instructions and data to the processor 902. The memory 903 may comprise a high-speed RAM memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least 1 disk memory.

The processor 902 is configured to execute the following operations, optionally, to execute a program stored in the memory 903, and specifically to execute the following operations:

transmitting, by the transmitter 901, measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters, where the measurement configuration parameters include at least one first antenna port set information for transmitting a reference signal for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters include at least one second antenna port set information for transmitting a reference signal for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for transmitting both a reference signal for measurement and a reference signal for demodulation;

transmitting, by the transmitter 901, a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports;

reference signals for demodulation are transmitted by the transmitter 901 on the antenna ports of the second set of antenna ports.

The methods performed by the network devices disclosed in the embodiments of fig. 5-8 of the present invention described above may be implemented in the processor 902 or implemented by the processor 902. The processor 902 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware or instructions in the form of software in the processor 902. The Processor 902 may be a general-purpose Processor, and includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), and the like; but may also be a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 903, and the processor 902 reads the information in the memory 903 and performs the steps of the above method in combination with the hardware thereof.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the network device 900 uses all or part of the antenna port resources for both signal measurement and data demodulation by sending the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters, thereby saving the resource overhead of the reference signal and improving the utilization rate of the reference signal resources.

Further, the measurement configuration parameter further includes information of at least one first time-frequency resource, where the at least one first time-frequency resource is used for transmitting a reference signal for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and the first antenna port set; the demodulation configuration parameter further includes information of at least one second time-frequency resource used for transmitting reference signals for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and the second set of antenna ports.

Optionally, the common reference signal antenna port set is divided into N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets, where the N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets include the same number of antenna ports, where N is a positive integer greater than 1; each time-frequency resource including the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource corresponds to one third antenna port set respectively.

Further, the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of antenna port subgroups, wherein the first antenna port set information is specifically that each antenna port subgroup of the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource represents whether to be used for sending the reference signal for measurement or not by using one bit. Furthermore, the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and each antenna port subgroup in the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

Optionally, both the at least one first time-frequency resource and the at least one second time-frequency resource include a third time-frequency resource, and both the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set include a first antenna port, where reference signals transmitted on the third time-frequency resource and the first antenna port are used for both measurement and demodulation.

Optionally, the information of the first time-frequency resource includes frequency-domain resource information and time-domain unit information; the information of the second time-frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information.

Optionally, the first time-frequency resource includes W resource blocks RB, and the W RBs include a time unit in time domain, and the W RBs are smaller than the system bandwidth in frequency domain.

Optionally, the second time-frequency resource includes W resource blocks RB, and the W RBs include a time unit in the time domain, and the W RBs are smaller than the system bandwidth in the frequency domain; wherein W is a positive integer.

Optionally, the processor 902, when configured to send the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter, is specifically configured to send a first message, where the first message includes the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter.

Optionally, when the processor 902 is configured to send the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter, the processor may be specifically configured to send a second message, where the second message includes the measurement configuration parameter; transmitting a third message, the third message including the demodulation configuration parameter.

The network device 900 may also execute the method executed by the network device in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 8, which is not described herein again in this embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention also provides the user equipment 1000. Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention. User equipment 1000 may include a processor 1002, a transmitter 1001, and a receiver 1004, optionally including memory 1003.

The receiver 1004, transmitter 1001, processor 1002, and memory 1003 may be interconnected by a bus 1006 system. Bus 1006 can be an ISA bus, PCI bus, EISA bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one double-headed arrow is shown in FIG. 10, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus. In particular applications, transmitter 1001 and receiver 1004 may be coupled to an antenna 1005.

Optionally, a memory 1003 is included for storing programs. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. Memory 1003 may include both read-only memory and random-access memory, and provides instructions and data to processor 1002. The memory 1003 may include a high-speed RAM memory, and may further include a non-volatile memory (e.g., at least 1 disk memory).

The processor 1002 is configured to execute the following operations, optionally, execute a program stored in the memory 1003, and specifically, execute the following operations:

receiving, by the receiver 1004, measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters sent by a network device, where the measurement configuration parameters include at least one first antenna port set information used for the network device to send a reference signal for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters include at least one second antenna port set information used for the network device to send a reference signal for demodulation, and the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for the network device to send both a reference signal for measurement and a reference signal for demodulation;

receiving and measuring, by the receiver 1004, a reference signal on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports;

the reference signal is received and demodulated at an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports by the receiver 1004.

The methods performed by the user equipment or UE according to the embodiments of the present invention shown in fig. 5-8 can be applied to the processor 1002 or implemented by the processor 1002. The processor 1002 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware or instructions in the form of software in the processor 1002. The Processor 1002 may be a general-purpose Processor, and includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), and the like; but may also be a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 1003, and the processor 1002 reads the information in the memory 1003 and completes the steps of the method in combination with the hardware.

Further, the measurement configuration parameter further includes information of at least one first time-frequency resource, where the at least one first time-frequency resource is used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and the first antenna port set; the demodulation configuration parameter further includes information of at least one second time-frequency resource used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and a second set of antenna ports.

Further, the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of antenna port sub-groups, wherein the first antenna port set information is specifically that each antenna port sub-group of the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource indicates whether the antenna port sub-group is used for the network device to send the reference signal for measurement or not by using one bit. Furthermore, the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and each antenna port subgroup in the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

Optionally, both the at least one first time-frequency resource and the at least one second time-frequency resource include a third time-frequency resource, and both the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set include a first antenna port, wherein the reference signals received on the third time-frequency resource and the first antenna port are used for both measurement and demodulation.

Optionally, the first time-frequency resource includes W resource blocks RB, and the W RBs include a time unit in the time domain, and the W RBs are smaller than the system bandwidth in the frequency domain; the second time-frequency resource comprises W resource blocks RB, the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than the system bandwidth in a frequency domain; wherein W is a positive integer.

Optionally, the processor 1002, when configured to receive the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter, is specifically configured to receive a first message, where the first message includes the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter.

Optionally, the processor 1002, when configured to receive the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter, is specifically configured to receive a second message, where the second message includes the measurement configuration parameter; a third message is received, the third message including the demodulation configuration parameter.

The user equipment 1000 may also execute the method executed by the user equipment in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 to fig. 8, and the embodiments of the present invention are not described herein again.

In the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1, a network device 200 and a user device 300 may be included.

The user equipment 200 may comprise a configuration unit and a transmission unit, wherein,

a determining unit, configured to determine measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters, where the measurement configuration parameters include at least one first antenna port set information for transmitting a reference signal for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters include at least one second antenna port set information for transmitting a reference signal for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for both transmitting the reference signal for measurement and transmitting the reference signal for demodulation.

A sending unit, configured to send the measurement configuration parameter and the demodulation configuration parameter.

The transmitting unit is further configured to transmit a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port in the first set of antenna ports; and transmitting a reference signal for demodulation on an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports.

The network device 200 may also execute the method executed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 5 to 8, and implement the functions of the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 5 to 8, which are not described herein again in the embodiments of the present invention.

The user equipment 300 may comprise a receiving unit, a measuring unit and a demodulation unit, wherein,

the receiving unit is configured to receive measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters sent by a network device, where the measurement configuration parameters include at least one first antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters include at least one second antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for both the network device to send reference signals for measurement and the network device to send reference signals for demodulation; receiving a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports; receiving reference signals for demodulation at antenna ports of the second set of antenna ports;

the measurement unit is configured to perform channel measurement by the receiving unit receiving a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port in the first antenna port set;

the demodulation unit is configured to demodulate data by the reception unit receiving the reference signal for demodulation at the antenna port of the second set of antenna ports.

The user equipment 300 may also execute the method executed by the user equipment or the UE in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 8, and implement the functions of the user equipment in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 8, which are not described herein again in the embodiments of the present invention.

Of course, it should be understood that the network device 200 and the user device 300 in the communication system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may also be the network device 900 according to the embodiment shown in fig. 9 and the user device 1000 according to the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer-readable storage medium 1100 for storing a computer program including instructions for performing the method performed by the network device in fig. 5-8.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium 1200 for storing a computer program, where the computer program includes instructions for executing the method performed by the user equipment or UE in fig. 5-8.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a reference signal, the method comprising:

the network equipment transmits measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters, wherein the measurement configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of first antenna port set information used for transmitting reference signals for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters comprise at least one piece of second antenna port set information used for transmitting reference signals for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a general reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the general reference signal antenna port set can be used for transmitting reference signals for measurement and reference signals for demodulation;

the network device transmitting a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports;

the network device transmits reference signals for demodulation on antenna ports of the second set of antenna ports.

2. The method of claim 1,

the measurement configuration parameters further include information of at least one first time-frequency resource for the network device to send reference signals for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and a first set of antenna ports;

the demodulation configuration parameters further include information of at least one second time-frequency resource, where the at least one second time-frequency resource is used for the network device to transmit a reference signal for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and a second set of antenna ports.

3. The method of claim 2,

the general reference signal antenna port set is divided into N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets, and the N mutually disjoint third antenna port sets contain the same number of antenna ports, wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1;

each time-frequency resource including the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource corresponds to one of the third antenna port sets, respectively.

4. The method of claim 3,

and dividing the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource into a plurality of antenna port subgroups, wherein the first antenna port set information specifically indicates whether each antenna port subgroup of the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is used for sending a reference signal for measurement or not by using one bit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and each antenna port subgroup in the third set of antenna ports to which the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

6. The method of claim 2,

the at least one first time-frequency resource and the at least one second time-frequency resource both comprise third time-frequency resources, and the first set of antenna ports and the second set of antenna ports both comprise first antenna ports,

wherein the reference signals transmitted on the third time-frequency resource and the first antenna port are used for both measurement and demodulation.

7. The method of claim 2,

the information of the first time-frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information;

the information of the second time-frequency resource comprises frequency domain resource information and time domain unit information.

8. The method of claim 2,

the first time-frequency resource comprises W Resource Blocks (RB), the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than a system bandwidth in a frequency domain; and/or

The second time-frequency resource comprises W resource blocks RB, the W RB comprises a time domain unit in a time domain, and the W RB is smaller than the system bandwidth in a frequency domain;

wherein W is a positive integer.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the sending measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters comprises:

transmitting a first message including the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters.

10. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the sending measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters comprises:

sending a second message, the second message including the measurement configuration parameters;

sending a third message, the third message including the demodulation configuration parameters.

11. A method for transmitting a reference signal, the method comprising:

receiving measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters sent by a network device, wherein the measurement configuration parameters include at least one piece of first antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters include at least one piece of second antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement and can be used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation;

receiving and measuring reference signals on antenna ports of the first set of antenna ports;

receiving and demodulating a reference signal at an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports.

12. The method of claim 11,

13. The method of claim 12,

14. The method of claim 13,

and dividing the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource into a plurality of antenna port subgroups, wherein the first antenna port set information specifically indicates whether each antenna port subgroup of the third antenna port set corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is used for the network device to send a reference signal for measurement or not by using one bit.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and wherein each antenna port subgroup in the third set of antenna ports to which the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

16. The method of claim 12,

wherein the reference signals received on the third time-frequency resource and the first antenna port are used for both measurement and demodulation.

17. The method of claim 12,

18. The method of claim 12,

wherein W is a positive integer.

19. The method according to any of claims 11 to 18, wherein the receiving the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters sent by the network device comprises:

receiving a first message comprising the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters.

20. The method according to any of claims 11 to 18, wherein the receiving the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters sent by the network device comprises:

receiving a second message, the second message including the measurement configuration parameters;

receiving a third message, the third message comprising the demodulation configuration parameters.

21. A network device, comprising: a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver, the processor to perform the method of:

transmitting, by the transmitter, measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters, the measurement configuration parameters including at least one first antenna port set information for transmitting a reference signal for measurement, the demodulation configuration parameters including at least one second antenna port set information for transmitting a reference signal for demodulation, the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belonging to a common reference signal antenna port set, each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set being usable for transmitting both a reference signal for measurement and a reference signal for demodulation;

transmitting, by the transmitter, a reference signal for measurement on an antenna port of the first set of antenna ports;

transmitting, by the transmitter, a reference signal for demodulation on an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports.

22. The network device of claim 21,

the measurement configuration parameters further include information of at least one first time-frequency resource for transmitting a reference signal for measurement on the at least one first time-frequency resource and a first set of antenna ports;

the demodulation configuration parameters further include information of at least one second time-frequency resource for transmitting reference signals for demodulation on the at least one second time-frequency resource and a second set of antenna ports.

23. The network device of claim 22,

24. The network device of claim 23,

25. The network device of claim 24, wherein the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and wherein each antenna port subgroup in the third set of antenna ports to which the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

26. The network device of claim 22,

27. The network device of claim 22,

28. The network device of claim 22,

wherein W is a positive integer.

29. The network device of any of claims 21 to 28, wherein the sending measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters comprises:

30. The network device of any of claims 21 to 28, wherein the sending measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters comprises:

31. A user device, comprising: a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver, the processor to perform the method of:

receiving, by the receiver, measurement configuration parameters and demodulation configuration parameters sent by a network device, where the measurement configuration parameters include at least one first antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement, and the demodulation configuration parameters include at least one second antenna port set information used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation, where the first antenna port set and the second antenna port set belong to a common reference signal antenna port set, and each antenna port of the common reference signal antenna port set can be used for the network device to send reference signals for measurement and can also be used for the network device to send reference signals for demodulation;

receiving and measuring, by the receiver, reference signals on antenna ports of the first set of antenna ports;

receiving and demodulating, by the receiver, a reference signal at an antenna port of the second set of antenna ports.

32. The user equipment of claim 31,

33. The user equipment of claim 32,

34. The user equipment of claim 33,

35. The user equipment of claim 34, wherein the first time-frequency resource is divided into a plurality of time-frequency sub-resources, and each antenna port subgroup in the third set of antenna ports to which the first time-frequency resource corresponds to one time-frequency sub-resource of the first time-frequency resource.

36. The user equipment of claim 32,

37. The user equipment of claim 32,

38. The user equipment of claim 32,

wherein W is a positive integer.

39. The user equipment according to any of claims 31 to 38, wherein in the process of receiving, by the receiver, the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters sent by the network device, the processor is specifically configured to:

receiving, by the receiver, a first message including the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters.

40. The user equipment according to any of claims 31 to 38, wherein in the process of receiving, by the receiver, the measurement configuration parameters and the demodulation configuration parameters sent by the network device, the processor is specifically configured to:

receiving, by the receiver, a second message comprising the measurement configuration parameters;

receiving, by the receiver, a third message, the third message including the demodulation configuration parameter.

41. A communication system, comprising:

a network device according to any one of claims 21 to 30; and

the user equipment of any of claims 31 to 40.