CN109756255B

CN109756255B - Channel measurement method and user equipment

Info

Publication number: CN109756255B
Application number: CN201711058952.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王文会; 戎璐; 李波杰; 毕晓艳; 韩玮
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-11-01
Filing date: 2017-11-01
Publication date: 2022-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 2037-11-01
Also published as: WO2019085637A1; CN109756255A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a channel measuring method, which comprises the steps of determining N antennas in M antennas, wherein M is greater than 0, and M is greater than or equal to N is greater than 0; the method comprises the steps of sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas in M antennas, and receiving channel state information determined by access equipment based on the uplink reference signals. The embodiment of the invention also provides the user equipment. The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is that N antennas in M antennas transmit N uplink reference signals so as to measure the channel. Compared with the method and the device for channel measurement by using all antennas, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention only uses partial antennas for channel measurement, in other words, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention carries out channel measurement by using the subset of the antenna array, thereby being beneficial to reducing the overhead brought by CSI feedback.

Description

Channel measurement method and user equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to channel measurement technologies, and in particular, to a channel measurement method and user equipment.

Background

The advent of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology has revolutionized wireless communications. By deploying multiple antennas on the transmitting end device and the receiving end device, the MIMO technology can significantly improve the performance of the wireless communication system. For example, in a diversity scenario, the MIMO technique can effectively improve transmission reliability; under a multiplexing scene, the MIMO technology can greatly improve the transmission throughput.

In order to further improve system performance, the next generation wireless communication system will upgrade MIMO technology, and deploy more antennas at the transmitting end device and the receiving end device, where the upgraded MIMO technology is also referred to as massive MIMO (massive MIMO) technology. According to the research progress of the current industry boundary on large-scale MIMO, the number of antennas deployed on the base station side can reach 64, 128 or more, and the number of antennas deployed on the terminal side is also correspondingly improved. It is not difficult to imagine that the large increase in the number of antennas is expected to greatly improve the performance of the next generation wireless communication system.

However, in the implementation, the massive MIMO technology still faces some challenges. For example, an increase in the number of antennas means that feeding back Channel State Information (CSI) will bring more overhead. If the overhead is not effectively controlled, the performance improvement caused by the increase of the number of antennas is greatly offset, and even the performance is possibly reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, it is actually necessary to provide a channel measurement method, which helps to reduce CSI feedback overhead due to the increase of the number of antennas.

Meanwhile, the user equipment is provided, which is beneficial to reducing CSI feedback overhead caused by the increase of the number of antennas.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a channel measurement method, including:

determining N antennas in M antennas, wherein M is greater than 0, and M is greater than or equal to N is greater than 0;

the method comprises the steps of sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas in M antennas, and receiving channel state information determined by access equipment based on the uplink reference signals.

In one possible design, the determining N antennas among the M antennas includes:

sending M uplink reference signals through the M antennas;

receiving antenna indication information fed back by the access equipment based on the M uplink reference signals, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating the N antennas;

and determining the N antennas according to the antenna indication information.

receiving downlink reference signals transmitted by the access equipment through the M antennas;

determining the N antennas based on the downlink reference signals.

determining X antennas based on the downlink reference signals, wherein M is more than or equal to X and more than or equal to N;

transmitting antenna recommendation information to the access device, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the determined number X of antennas;

receiving antenna indication information fed back by the access equipment based on the antenna recommendation information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating the number N of antennas;

determining the N antennas among the X antennas based on the antenna indication information.

transmitting antenna recommendation information to the access device, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the determined X antennas;

receiving antenna indication information fed back by the access equipment based on the antenna recommendation information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating N antennas;

determining the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the sending antenna recommendation information to the access device includes sending antenna recommendation information to the access device when it is determined that a preset condition is satisfied.

In one possible design, the method further includes:

and receiving configuration information from the access equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring the preset conditions.

In one possible design, the antenna recommendation information is specifically used to indicate a difference between the number X and the current number of antennas.

In one possible design, the antenna indication information is specifically used to indicate a difference between the number of antennas N and the current number of antennas.

According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a user equipment, including:

the processing module is used for determining N antennas in the M antennas, wherein M is greater than 0, and M is greater than or equal to N and greater than 0;

and the receiving and sending module is used for sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas in the M antennas and receiving the channel state information determined by the access equipment based on the uplink reference signals.

In one possible design, the transceiver module is further configured to transmit M uplink reference signals through the M antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the M uplink reference signals, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the N antennas; the processing module is specifically configured to determine the N antennas according to the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the transceiver module is further configured to receive, through the M antennas, downlink reference signals transmitted by the access device; the processing module is specifically configured to determine the N antennas based on the downlink reference signal.

In one possible design, the transceiver module is further configured to receive, through the M antennas, downlink reference signals transmitted by the access device; the processing module is specifically used for determining X antennas based on the downlink reference signal, wherein M > X is not less than N; the transceiver module is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the determined number X of antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the antenna recommendation information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the number N of antennas; the processing module is further configured to determine the N antennas among the X antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the transceiver module is further configured to receive, through the M antennas, downlink reference signals transmitted by the access device; the processing module is specifically used for determining X antennas based on the downlink reference signal, wherein M > X is not less than N; the transceiver module is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the determined X antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the antenna recommendation information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas; the processing module is further configured to determine the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the processing module is further configured to determine whether a preset condition is met; the receiving and sending module is further used for sending antenna recommendation information to the access equipment when the processing module judges that the preset conditions are met.

In a possible design, the transceiver module is further configured to receive configuration information from an access device, where the configuration information is used to configure the preset condition; the processing module is further configured to configure the preset condition according to the configuration information.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a user equipment, including:

the processor is used for determining N antennas in the M antennas, wherein M is greater than 0, and M is greater than or equal to N > 0;

the transceiver is used for sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas in the M antennas and receiving channel state information determined by the access equipment based on the uplink reference signals.

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to transmit M uplink reference signals through the M antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by an access device based on the M uplink reference signals, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the N antennas; the processor is specifically configured to determine the N antennas according to the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive downlink reference signals transmitted by the access device through the M antennas; the processor is specifically configured to determine the N antennas based on the downlink reference signals.

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive downlink reference signals transmitted by the access device through the M antennas; the processor is specifically configured to determine X antennas based on the downlink reference signal, where M > X ≧ N; the transceiver is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the determined number X of antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the antenna recommendation information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate a number N of antennas; the processor is further configured to determine the N antennas among the X antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive downlink reference signals transmitted by the access device through the M antennas; the processor is specifically configured to determine X antennas based on the downlink reference signal, where M > X ≧ N; the transceiver is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the determined X antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the antenna recommendation information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas; the processor is further configured to determine the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In one possible design, the processor is further configured to determine whether a preset condition is met; the transceiver is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device when the processor determines that a preset condition is satisfied.

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive configuration information from an access device, where the configuration information is used to configure the preset condition; the processor is further configured to configure the preset condition according to the configuration information.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an antenna feedback method, including:

receiving M uplink reference signals sent by user equipment through M antennas;

determining N antennas based on M uplink reference signals, wherein M is more than or equal to N and is more than 0;

feeding back antenna indication information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating N antennas.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an antenna feedback method, including:

transmitting a downlink reference signal;

receiving antenna recommendation information from user equipment, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the number X of antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signals;

determining the number N of antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

feeding back antenna indication information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating the number N of antennas so that the user equipment can determine N antennas in the X antennas, wherein the user equipment is configured with M antennas, and M is more than or equal to X and more than or equal to N and more than 0.

According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an antenna feedback method, including:

transmitting a downlink reference signal;

receiving antenna recommendation information from user equipment, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating X antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signals;

determining N antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

feeding back antenna indication information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating N antennas, and the user equipment is configured with M antennas, and M is greater than or equal to X and greater than or equal to N > 0.

According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an access device, including:

the receiving and sending module is used for receiving M uplink reference signals sent by the user equipment through M antennas;

the processing module is used for determining N antennas based on M uplink reference signals, wherein M is more than or equal to N and is greater than 0;

the transceiver module is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the N antennas.

According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an access device, including:

the receiving and sending module is used for transmitting a downlink reference signal and receiving antenna recommendation information from user equipment, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the number X of antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signal;

the processing module is used for determining the number N of the antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

the receiving and sending module is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the number N of antennas, so that the user equipment determines N antennas among the X antennas, where the user equipment is configured with M antennas, and M is greater than or equal to X and greater than or equal to N > 0.

According to a ninth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an access device, including:

the receiving and sending module is used for transmitting a downlink reference signal and receiving antenna recommendation information from user equipment, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating X antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signal;

the processing module is used for determining N antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

the receiving and sending module is further used for feeding back antenna indication information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating N antennas, M antennas are configured on the user equipment, and M is greater than or equal to X and greater than or equal to N > 0.

According to a tenth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an access device, including:

the transceiver is used for receiving M uplink reference signals sent by user equipment through M antennas;

the processor is used for determining N antennas based on M uplink reference signals, wherein M is more than or equal to N and is more than 0;

the transceiver is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas.

According to an eleventh aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an access device, including:

the transceiver is used for transmitting a downlink reference signal and receiving antenna recommendation information from user equipment, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the number X of antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signal;

a processor for determining a number N of antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

the transceiver is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the number N of antennas, so that the user equipment determines N antennas among the X antennas, where the user equipment is configured with M antennas, and M ≧ X ≧ N > 0.

According to a twelfth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an access device, including:

the transceiver is used for transmitting a downlink reference signal and receiving antenna recommendation information from user equipment, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating X antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signal;

a processor configured to determine N antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

the transceiver is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas, and the user equipment is configured with M antennas, and M ≧ X ≧ N > 0.

In particular implementations, the processor may be configured to perform, for example and without limitation, baseband related processing, and the transceiver may be configured to perform, for example and without limitation, radio frequency transceiving. The above devices may be respectively disposed on separate chips, or at least a part or all of the devices may be disposed on the same chip, for example, the transceiver may be disposed on the transceiver chip. For another example, the processor may be further divided into an analog baseband processor and a digital baseband processor, wherein the analog baseband processor may be integrated with the transceiver on the same chip, and the digital baseband processor may be disposed on a separate chip. With the development of integrated circuit technology, more and more devices can be integrated on the same chip, for example, a digital baseband processor can be integrated on the same chip with various application processors (such as, but not limited to, a graphics processor, a multimedia processor, etc.). Such a Chip may be referred to as a System on Chip. Whether each device is separately located on a different chip or integrated on one or more chips often depends on the specific needs of the product design. The embodiment of the present invention does not limit the specific implementation form of the above device.

According to a thirteenth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a processor for performing the above-mentioned various methods. In the course of performing these methods, the steps relating to sending and receiving can be understood as the process of outputting as well as receiving inputs. For example, when N uplink reference signals are transmitted through N antennas of M antennas, it can be understood that the processor outputs the N uplink reference signals so that the N uplink reference signals are transmitted through the M antennas. It is understood that, between outputting the N uplink reference signals and transmitting the N uplink reference signals through M antennas, other processing may be required. For another example, when receiving the channel state information determined by the access device based on the uplink reference signal, the processor may be understood as receiving the channel state information input to the processor, where the channel state information is determined by the access device based on the uplink reference signal. For another example, when the antenna recommendation information is sent to the access device, it may be understood that the processor outputs the antenna recommendation information so as to send the antenna recommendation information to the access device. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that operations involving a processor, such as transmission, and reception, may be more generally understood as operations involving processor outputs and receive inputs than those directly performed by the radio frequency circuitry and antenna, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise not inconsistent with its actual functioning or inherent logic in the associated description.

In particular implementations, the processor may be a processor dedicated to performing the methods, or may be a processor executing computer instructions in a memory to perform the methods, such as a general purpose processor. The Memory may be a non-transitory (non-transitory) Memory, such as a Read Only Memory (ROM), which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor or may be separately disposed on different chips.

According to a fourteenth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium including instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the various methods described above. Further, the computer-readable storage medium is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

According to a fourteenth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the various methods described above.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is that N antennas in M antennas transmit N uplink reference signals so as to measure the channel. Compared with the method and the device for channel measurement by using all antennas, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention only uses partial antennas for channel measurement, in other words, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention carries out channel measurement by using the subset of the antenna array, thereby being beneficial to reducing the overhead brought by CSI feedback.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an exemplary schematic diagram of a wireless communication network in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flow chart of a channel measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary logical structure of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary logical structure of an access device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of an access device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The next generation wireless communication system currently under development may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) system or a 5G system. With the help of a large-scale MIMO technology, a more accurate beam forming technology, a precoding technology and/or a receiving combination technology, a next generation wireless communication system is expected to obtain larger diversity gain and antenna array gain, and the system capacity and the spectrum utilization rate are further improved.

However, the performance improvement is not without cost, and the increase in the number of antennas also adds complexity to the system design. For example, in the case that the number of antennas is greatly increased, feeding back CSI will bring more overhead. For example, the increase of the number of antennas means that more Reference Signals (RS) need to be configured to obtain CSI, and accordingly, more time-frequency resources are occupied for transmitting the Reference signals. For another example, the increase of the number of antennas means the increase of the scale of the channel matrix, and the CSI calculation process will bring a larger amount of calculation. For another example, the increase of the number of antennas means that the amount of information of the calculated CSI is larger, and the feedback CSI occupies more time-frequency resources. If the number of antennas is increased without effective control, the system performance may be reduced rather than improved. Therefore, the overhead problem of good feedback CSI needs to be solved by adopting the massive MIMO technology.

Due to the influence of antenna correlation and other factors, in actual data transmission, the contribution of partial antennas in the antenna array to the data transmission is small and can be ignored. In other words, the antennas in the antenna array that contribute to data transmission are typically a subset of the antenna array, not the entire antenna array. It is understood that the CSI overhead corresponding to the subset of the antenna array is smaller than the CSI overhead corresponding to the entire antenna array. Therefore, determining CSI based on the subset of the antenna array helps to reduce the overhead of feeding back CSI. Further, the subset of the antenna array may vary with the channel environment, and therefore, before determining the CSI based on the subset of the antenna array, the subset needs to be determined first.

The embodiment of the invention provides a technical scheme, which can determine the CSI based on the subset of the antenna array rather than the whole antenna array, and is used for reducing the overhead caused by CSI feedback. The technical solutions provided by the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

Fig. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a wireless communication network 100 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication network 100 includes base stations 102-106 and terminal devices 108-122, wherein the base stations 102-106 can communicate with each other via backhaul (backhaul) links (shown as straight lines between the base stations 102-106), and the backhaul links can be wired backhaul links (e.g., optical fiber, copper cable) or wireless backhaul links (e.g., microwave). The terminal devices 108-122 can communicate with the corresponding base stations 102-106 via wireless links (as indicated by the broken lines between the base stations 102-106 and the terminal devices 108-122).

The base stations 102-106 generally act as access devices to provide wireless access services to the terminal devices 108-122 generally acting as user devices. Specifically, each base station corresponds to a service coverage area (which may also be referred to as a cell, as shown by the oval areas in fig. 1), and a terminal device entering the service coverage area can communicate with the base station through a wireless signal to receive a wireless access service provided by the base station. The service coverage areas of the base stations may overlap, and terminal devices in the overlapping areas can receive wireless signals from a plurality of base stations, so that the base stations can cooperate with each other to provide services for the terminal devices. For example, multiple base stations may use a Coordinated multipoint (CoMP) technology to provide services for terminal devices in the overlapping area. For example, as shown in fig. 1, there is an overlap between service coverage areas of base station 102 and base station 104, and terminal device 112 is located in the overlap area, so that terminal device 112 can receive wireless signals from base station 102 and base station 104, and base station 102 and base station 104 can cooperate with each other to provide service for terminal device 112. For another example, as shown in fig. 1, the service coverage areas of base station 102, base station 104, and base station 106 have a common overlapping area, and terminal device 120 is located in the overlapping area, so that terminal device 120 can receive wireless signals from

base stations

102, 104, and 106, and

base stations

102, 104, and 106 can cooperate with each other to provide service for terminal device 120.

Depending on the wireless communication technology used, the base station may also be referred to as a node B (NodeB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an Access Point (AP), and the like. In addition, the base station may be divided into a Macro base station for providing a Macro cell (Macro cell), a micro base station for providing a micro cell (Pico cell), a Femto base station for providing a Femto cell (Femto cell), and the like according to the size of the service coverage area provided. As wireless communication technology continues to evolve, future base stations may also take on other names.

The terminal devices 108-122 may be various wireless communication devices with wireless communication functions, such as, but not limited to, a mobile cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a wireless data card, a wireless Modem (Modem), or a wearable device such as a smart watch. With the advent of Internet of Things (IOT), more and more devices that did not have communication capabilities before, such as but not limited to, home appliances, vehicles, tool devices, service devices, and service facilities, began to obtain wireless communication capabilities by configuring wireless communication units so that they could access a wireless communication network and receive remote control. Such a device has a wireless communication function due to the arrangement of the wireless communication unit, and thus also belongs to the category of wireless communication devices. Furthermore, the terminal devices 108-122 may also be referred to as mobile stations, mobile devices, mobile terminals, wireless terminals, handheld devices, clients, and the like.

The base stations 102 to 106 and the terminal devices 108 to 122 may be configured with Multiple antennas to support MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology. Further, the base stations 102 to 106 and the terminal devices 108 to 122 may support both Single-User MIMO (SU-MIMO) technology and Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO), where the MU-MIMO may be implemented based on Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) technology. Due to the configuration of Multiple antennas, base stations 102-106 and terminal devices 108-122 may also flexibly support Single Input Single Output (SISO), Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO), and Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) technologies to implement various Diversity (such as, but not limited to, Transmit Diversity and Receive Diversity) and Multiplexing technologies, where the Diversity technologies may include, but not limited to, Transmit Diversity (TD) technology and Receive Diversity (RD) technology, and the Multiplexing technology may be Spatial Multiplexing (Spatial Multiplexing) technology. Moreover, the various techniques described above may also include various implementations, for example, the Transmit Diversity techniques may include, but are not limited to, Space-Time Transmit Diversity (STTD), Space-Frequency Transmit Diversity (SFTD), Time-Switched Transmit Diversity (TSTD), Frequency-Switched Transmit Diversity (FSTD), Orthogonal Transmit Diversity (OTD), Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD), and the like, as well as Diversity schemes derived, evolved, and combined from the above Diversity schemes. For example, the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard currently adopts Space Time Block Coding (STBC), Space Frequency Block Coding (SFBC), CDD and other transmission diversity methods. The transmit diversity has been described generally by way of example. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that transmit diversity includes a variety of other implementations in addition to the examples described above. Therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting the technical solution of the present invention, which should be construed to be applicable to various possible transmit diversity schemes.

In addition, the base stations 102-106 and the terminal devices 108-122 may communicate using various wireless communication technologies, such as, but not limited to, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (Orthogonal FDMA, OFDMA) technology, Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) technology, Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) technology, and evolution and derivation of these technologies. The above-mentioned wireless communication Technology is adopted as a Radio Access Technology (RAT) by many wireless communication standards, so as to construct various wireless communication systems (or networks) widely known today, including but not limited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), CDMA2000, Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), WiFi defined by 802.11 series standards, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-a), and Evolution systems of these wireless communication systems. Unless otherwise specified, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to the above-mentioned various wireless communication technologies and wireless communication systems. Furthermore, the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably.

It should be noted that the wireless communication network 100 shown in fig. 1 is only for example and is not used to limit the technical solution of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the wireless communication network 100 may include other devices in a particular implementation, and that the number of base stations and terminal devices may be configured according to particular needs.

Fig. 2 is an exemplary flow chart of a channel measurement method 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In particular implementations, the channel measurement method 200 may be performed by, for example, but not limited to, a user equipment. Further, the user equipment can be, for example, but not limited to, the terminal equipment 108-122 shown in FIG. 1.

Step 202, determining N antennas in M antennas, wherein M is greater than 0, and M is greater than or equal to N is greater than 0.

In a specific implementation process, each of the M antennas may be implemented by one antenna element, or may be implemented by a plurality of antenna elements, and the specific implementation process is clearly described in the prior art, and is not described herein again. In the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the antenna may be understood as an antenna port, and thus may be replaced with the antenna port. In other words, M antennas may be understood as M antenna ports, N antennas may be understood as N antenna ports, and the like. The concept of antenna ports has been clearly described in the prior art and the present invention is therefore not described in detail here.

Step 204, sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas of the M antennas, and receiving channel state information determined by the access device based on the uplink reference signals.

In a specific implementation process, the uplink Reference Signal may be, for example and without limitation, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) or other Reference signals, such as other Reference signals transmitted by the user equipment and received by the access device for channel measurement on a channel from the user equipment to the access device. Further, the access devices may be, for example, but not limited to, the base stations 102-106 shown in FIG. 1.

The details contained in the above channel state information may refer to the prior art, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limit this. For example, when performing downlink channel measurement, the access device transmits a reference signal, and the user equipment performs downlink channel measurement according to the reference signal, thereby obtaining downlink channel state information. When the uplink channel measurement is carried out, the user equipment transmits a reference signal, and the access equipment carries out the uplink channel measurement according to the reference signal, thereby obtaining the uplink channel state information. It is obvious that, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the channel state information determined by the access device based on the uplink reference signal is the uplink channel state information. Generally, the types of information included in the downlink channel state information and the uplink channel state information may be the same or different. In general, the downlink channel state information and the uplink channel state information may include at least one of the following information: modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), Precoding Matrix (Precoding Matrix) information, number of transport layers (layers), and the like. For specific contents of the downlink channel state information and the uplink channel state information, reference may be made to the prior art, and embodiments of the present invention do not limit the specific contents. In addition, the specific presentation forms of the information in the downlink channel state information and the uplink channel state information may be the same or different, and the specific content may refer to the prior art, which is not limited in the present invention. For example, the downlink channel state Information may be transmitted through Uplink Control Information (UCI), in which the MCS may be transmitted through a Modulation and coding scheme and redundancy version (MCS) field. The uplink channel state Information may be transmitted through Downlink Control Information (DCI), and in the DCI, the Precoding matrix Information and the number of transmission layers may be indicated through Precoding Information and a number of layers field (Precoding Information and number of layers) in the DCI.

As can be seen from the method 200, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, N uplink reference signals are transmitted by N antennas of M antennas, so as to perform channel measurement. Compared with the method and the device for channel measurement by using all antennas, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention only uses partial antennas for channel measurement, in other words, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention carries out channel measurement by using the subset of the antenna array, thereby being beneficial to reducing the overhead brought by CSI feedback.

In a specific implementation process, various methods may be adopted to determine N antennas among M antennas, and the specific method adopted in the embodiment of the present invention is not limited. For ease of understanding, the specific implementation may use, for example and without limitation, the following method to determine N antennas among M antennas.

The first method comprises the following steps:

in a first method, the determining N antennas among the M antennas includes:

user equipment sends M uplink reference signals through M antennas;

receiving antenna indication information fed back by access equipment based on M uplink reference signals, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating the N antennas;

and determining the N antennas according to the antenna indication information.

The first method may be applied to a Time-Division Duplexing (TDD) system, and may also be applied to a Frequency-Division Duplexing (FDD) system.

In the first method, the purpose of the ue sending M uplink reference signals through M antennas is to facilitate the access device to determine N antennas of the M antennas, such as but not limited to the N antennas with the best transmission quality or transmission quality, by measuring the M uplink reference signals. It can be seen that the M uplink reference signals may be any type of uplink reference signals capable of achieving the above purpose, and for example, the uplink reference signals may be the same as or different from the N uplink reference signals. Meanwhile, the embodiment of the present invention does not limit whether the same uplink reference signal exists in the M uplink reference signals and the N uplink reference signals. In addition, the access device may set a standard used when determining the N antennas from the M antennas according to specific needs, for example, refer to one or more factors such as transmission quality and interference, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. For example, the access device may determine the N antennas with the best transmission quality among the M antennas by using various methods, and a specific implementation manner thereof belongs to the prior art, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

In addition, in various implementation schemes provided by the embodiments of the present invention, various information transmitted between the user equipment and the access device, for example, the above-mentioned channel state information, antenna indication information, and antenna recommendation information to be described below, may adopt various implementation forms as long as it can indicate corresponding technical characteristics. For example, in a specific implementation process, the indication mode is various, for example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated may be directly indicated; the information to be indicated can also be indicated by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the information to be indicated have an association relationship; it is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other part of the information to be indicated is known. The specific indication method may refer to the prior art, such as but not limited to the indication methods specified in the existing various communication protocols, which is not limited by the present invention. In addition, the information to be indicated may be sent together as a whole, or may be sent separately by dividing into a plurality of sub-information, and the sending periods and/or sending timings of these sub-information may be the same or different. The specific sending method may refer to the prior art, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Suitably, for the first method, the access device needs to perform an antenna feedback method, which includes:

receiving M uplink reference signals sent by user equipment through M antennas;

The second method comprises the following steps:

in a second method, the determining N antennas among the M antennas includes:

receiving downlink reference signals transmitted by access equipment through the M antennas;

determining the N antennas based on the downlink reference signals.

The second method described above may be applied to a TDD system.

Specifically, the purpose of the ue receiving the downlink reference signal transmitted by the access device through the M antennas is to determine N antennas of the M antennas by measuring the downlink reference signal, for example, but not limited to, the N antennas with the best signal reception quality or transmission quality. In a TDD system, uplink transmission and downlink transmission occupy the same carrier, and therefore, the channel environments of uplink transmission and downlink transmission can be considered to be the same or similar. Based on the reciprocity (reciprocity) of the channels, the N antennas with the best reception quality among the M antennas on the same carrier wave may also be considered as the N antennas with the best transmission quality among the M antennas. In addition, the reference signal may be any type of downlink reference signal that can achieve the above object, and the number of the downlink reference signals is not limited as long as the above object can be achieved. Specifically, the Reference Signal may be, for example, but not limited to, a Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS), a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), or a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). The user equipment may set the criteria used when determining the N antennas from the M antennas according to specific needs, for example, refer to one or more factors such as reception quality and interference, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the user equipment may determine the N antennas with the best reception quality among the M antennas by using various methods, and a specific implementation manner thereof belongs to the prior art, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The third method comprises the following steps:

in a third method, determining N antennas among the M antennas includes:

determining X antennas based on the downlink reference signals, wherein M is more than or equal to X and more than or equal to N > 0;

The third method described above can be applied to a TDD system.

For the related technical content of receiving the downlink reference signal transmitted by the access device through the M antennas, reference may be made to the second method described above. Meanwhile, the technical means for determining the X antennas based on the downlink reference signal may be similar to the technical means for determining the N antennas based on the downlink reference signal in the second method, except that the number of determined antennas may be different.

In the third method, the ue may determine the number X of antennas based on the downlink reference signal, and report the number X to the access device, so that the access device determines the number N of antennas to be used finally based on the number. It can be seen that in the third method, the user equipment cannot determine N available antennas by itself, and needs to negotiate with the access device. In contrast, it can be seen that in the second method described above, the user equipment determines N antennas by itself without further negotiation with the access device. The access device may determine the number N of antennas according to, for example, but not limited to, the current load of the access device itself. In addition, the number N of antennas determined by the access device is generally less than or equal to the number X of antennas reported by the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment may report the determined antenna number X through the antenna recommendation information, and the access equipment may indicate the determined antenna number N through the antenna indication information. In addition, the antenna recommendation information may specifically indicate, for example and without limitation, a difference between the number X and a current antenna number, where the current antenna number refers to a number of antennas that currently transmit the uplink reference signal so that the access device determines the channel state information based on the uplink reference signal, and therefore, the current antenna number may be, for example and without limitation, a last Transmission Time Interval (TTI). Similarly, the antenna indication information may specifically indicate, for example and without limitation, a difference between the number of antennas N and the current number of antennas, or a difference between the number of antennas N and the number of antennas X.

After receiving the antenna indication information, the user equipment may determine N antennas to be finally used according to the antenna indication information, and the specific method for determining the N antennas is not limited in the present invention. For example, the ue may select N antennas with the best reception quality from the X antennas (or the M antennas), and consider the N antennas as the N antennas with the best transmission quality based on channel reciprocity.

Suitably, for the third method, the access device needs to perform an antenna feedback method, where the method includes:

transmitting a downlink reference signal;

In addition, the specific content carried by the antenna indication information in the first method and the third method is different. As described above, in the first method, the antenna indication information fed back by the access device is used to indicate N antennas determined by the access device based on the M uplink reference signals; in the second method, the antenna indication information fed back by the access device is used to indicate the number N of antennas fed back by the access device based on the number X of antennas. It can be seen that, in the first method, the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas, and in the third method, the antenna indication information only needs to indicate the number N of antennas, and does not need to indicate which antennas the N antennas are specifically. Meanwhile, the access device may determine the number N of antennas by using various methods, such as, but not limited to, the current processing burden.

It should be noted that the number N of antennas indicated by the access device is generally less than or equal to the number X of antennas reported by the user equipment. However, in a specific implementation process, the number N of antennas may be greater than the number X of antennas, in which case, the user equipment needs to determine the number N of antennas from M antennas. Specifically, when the number X of antennas is greater than M, it indicates that all M antennas of the ue can transmit uplink reference signals so that the access device determines the channel state information.

The fourth method comprises the following steps:

in a fourth method, determining N antennas among the M antennas includes:

determining the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

The third method described above can be applied to a TDD system.

The fourth method is substantially the same as the third method, except that in the third method, the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the number of antennas X, the antenna indication information is used for indicating the number of antennas N, and the user equipment determines N antennas among the X antennas, and in the fourth method, the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating X antennas, the antenna indication information is used for indicating N antennas, and the user equipment can determine the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In a fourth method, it is desirable for the access device to perform an antenna feedback method, where the method includes:

transmitting a downlink reference signal;

determining N antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

In addition, other technical contents described in connection with the above-described third method are also applicable to the fourth method.

For the third method and the fourth method, the step of sending the antenna recommendation information to the access device may be further optimized, for example, sending the antenna recommendation information to the access device includes sending the antenna recommendation information to the access device when it is determined that the preset condition is met. Further, the preset condition may be configured by the access device. Specifically, the ue may receive configuration information from the access device, where the configuration information is used to configure the preset condition, and determine the preset condition according to the configuration information. Correspondingly, the access device needs to generate the configuration information and send the generated configuration information.

In a specific implementation process, a preset condition may be set based on a comparison result between the determined number X of antennas and the reference number, for example, the preset condition may be that the number X is not equal to the reference number, the number X is smaller than the reference number, or the number X is greater than the reference number. The reference number may be, for example and without limitation, the current number of antennas described above, or an average value of the number of antennas that transmit the uplink reference signal so that the access device determines the channel state information based on the uplink reference signal within a latest preset time period, and the preset time period may be, for example and without limitation, one or more TTIs. In short, when the number X of antennas is the same as or differs from the current number of antennas by a small amount, it is not necessary to report the antenna recommendation information. It should be understood that the preset conditions are only examples, and in a specific implementation process, the preset conditions are not limited by the embodiments of the present invention.

Alternatively, when reporting the number of antennas X through the antenna recommendation information, the specific number of antennas X may not be indicated, but only whether the number of antennas needs to be increased or decreased may be indicated.

In addition, a set of the number of antennas, for example, {0, 1, 2, 4}, may also be preset, in which case the value of the number of antennas N may be selected from the set. Meanwhile, the value of the number X of antennas may also be selected from the set. In this way, when reporting the antenna number X through the antenna recommendation information, the antenna number X may also be indicated as the several values before or after the current antenna number in the antenna number set.

In each implementation scheme provided in the embodiment of the present invention, various information, such as antenna indication information, antenna recommendation information, configuration information, and the like, transmitted between the user equipment and the access equipment may be implemented by using the following signaling:

physical layer signaling;

media access control layer signaling;

radio resource control signaling.

Physical Layer signaling, also referred to as Layer 1 (L1) signaling, may be typically carried by a control portion in a physical Layer frame. Typical examples of the L1 signaling are Downlink Control Information (DCI) carried in a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and Uplink Control Information (UCI) carried in a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) defined in the LTE standard. In some cases, the L1 signaling may also be carried by a data part in a Physical layer frame, for example, UCI may also be sometimes carried by a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). It is to be appreciated that the transmission period or signaling period of the L1 signaling is usually the period of the physical layer frame, so such signaling is usually used to implement some dynamic control to convey some frequently changing information, for example, the resource allocation information can be transmitted by physical layer signaling. For example, if the antenna recommendation information is carried by the UCI, a specific one or more bits may be allocated in the UCI to carry the antenna recommendation information for transmitting with other information that may be carried by the UCI, such as, but not limited to, a scheduling request, CQI, PMI, RI, ACK/NACK, and the like. When the UCI carrying the antenna recommendation information is transmitted through the PUCCH, a specific format may be set for such UCI, so that the access device recognizes that the UCI carries the antenna recommendation information according to the format. When the UCI carrying the antenna recommendation information is transmitted through the PUSCH, a specific transmission resource (e.g., a time-frequency resource) may be allocated for the UCI, so that the access device acquires the UCI at the transmission resource.

Media Access Control (MAC) Layer signaling belongs to Layer 2 signaling, which may be typically carried by, for example and without limitation, a header of a Layer 2 frame. The header may also carry information such as, but not limited to, a source address and a destination address. In addition to the frame header, the second layer frame typically contains a frame body. In some cases, the L2 signaling may also be carried by the body of the second layer frame. Typical examples of the second layer signaling are the signaling carried in a Frame Control (Frame Control) field in a header of a MAC Frame in the 802.11 series standard, or a MAC Control Entity (MAC-CE) defined in some protocols. The second layer frame may typically be carried in the data portion of the physical layer frame. The various information related to the embodiments of the present invention, such as but not limited to antenna indication information and antenna recommendation information, may also be sent through other second layer signaling besides media access control layer signaling.

Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling belongs to Layer 3 signaling, which is typically some Control message, and L3 signaling may be typically carried in a frame body of a second Layer frame. The transmission period or control period of the L3 signaling is usually long, and is suitable for transmitting some information that does not change frequently, for example, in some existing communication standards, the L3 signaling is usually used to carry some configuration information. The various information related to the embodiment of the present invention, such as but not limited to antenna indication information and antenna recommendation information, may also be sent through other layer three signaling besides RRC signaling.

The above description is only a schematic description of the physical layer signaling, the MAC layer signaling, the RRC signaling, the first layer signaling, the second layer signaling, and the third layer signaling, and specific details of the three signaling may refer to the prior art, and therefore are not described herein again.

It should be noted that in the implementation process, no matter which method is adopted to determine N antennas among M antennas, the access device may allocate corresponding reference signal resources in advance, and the allocation process may be based on a request of the user equipment, and may also be based on various a priori information held by the access device, including, for example and without limitation, various information collected by the access device during an interaction between the access device and the user equipment. Furthermore, the above-described allocation procedure can also be carried out on the basis of corresponding provisions in the communication standard. In addition, if a scheme of determining N antennas according to the downlink reference signal based on reciprocity of the uplink and downlink channels is adopted, when the number of the transmit-receive antennas of the user equipment is not equal, the downlink reference signal is received only by using the number of the receive antennas equal to the number of the transmit antennas of the user equipment.

The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention may need to indicate the antennas, for example, but not limited to, in the first method, N antennas are indicated by the antenna indication information, or in the fourth method, X antennas are indicated by the antenna recommendation information, and N antennas are indicated by the antenna indication information. In a specific implementation process, various methods may be used to indicate an antenna, and the specific method is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention. For ease of understanding, the antenna may be indicated using, for example and without limitation, the methods described below. For convenience of description, the antennas to be indicated, such as the N antennas or the X antennas, are referred to as selected antennas.

Specifically, the selected antenna may be indicated by means of a bitmap (bitmap). For example, a corresponding bit sequence is set for M antennas, and each bit in the bit sequence corresponds to one antenna among the M antennas. When the bit is 0, the antenna corresponding to the bit is not selected; when the bit takes 1, the antenna corresponding to the bit is selected.

For another example, the selected antenna may be indicated in combination with a system frame number and a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) scrambling code of the DCI. Wherein the antenna selection may be indicated by a CRC scrambling code. In this case, M systematic frames may be received continuously, and for each systematic frame, whether the antenna corresponding to the systematic frame is selected is determined through the CRC. Thus, the selected antenna of the M antennas can be identified through the M system frames.

For another example, the selected antenna may be indicated by a precoding matrix, where each antenna in the M antennas is indicated by a corresponding element in the precoding matrix, and if a value of an element is zero, the antenna corresponding to the element is not selected; if the value of an element is not zero, the antenna corresponding to the element is selected. Alternatively, each antenna in the M antennas may also be indicated by a corresponding row or column in the precoding matrix, and if the row or column contains a non-zero element, the antenna corresponding to the row or column is selected; if the row or column does not contain non-zero elements, the antenna corresponding to the row or column is not selected. For example, if each antenna is sequentially indicated by each row of the precoding matrix, when the precoding matrix is:

it is indicated that the first and third antennas are selected and the second and fourth antennas are not selected because the first and third rows of the precoding matrix contain non-zero elements and the second and fourth rows do not. Similarly, when the precoding matrix is:

and when the second antenna and the fourth antenna are selected, the first antenna and the third antenna are not selected. For another example, when the precoding matrix is:

then, it indicates that the first to fourth antennas are all selected.

It is to be understood that, if the selected antenna is indicated by the precoding matrix, the antenna indication information and the antenna recommendation information may include an indication of the precoding matrix, such as an index of the precoding matrix. In this case, the corresponding precoding matrix may be searched for by the precoding matrix index, and then the selected antenna may be determined based on the above rule. It is understood that in this case, the precoding matrix index corresponds to the selected antenna, and therefore, the selected antenna may also be directly determined by the precoding matrix index without searching for the corresponding precoding matrix and then determining the selected antenna based on the above rule.

If the number of antennas needs to be indicated, for example, in the third method, the number of antennas X is indicated by the antenna recommendation information, or the number of antennas N is indicated by the antenna indication information, the indication may also be performed in a precoding matrix manner. For example, for each row in the precoding matrix, if the row contains non-zero elements, it indicates that one antenna is selected. In this way, the number of antennas can be determined by calculating the number of rows containing non-zero elements in the precoding matrix. It will be understood that other forms of elements in the precoding matrix may be used instead of the rows, such as columns, or the elements in the precoding matrix may be divided into a number of groups of elements, and the groups of elements may be used instead of the rows, to achieve the same function.

Similarly, if the number of antennas is indicated by the precoding matrix, the antenna indication information and the antenna recommendation information include an indication of the precoding matrix, for example, an index of the precoding matrix. In this case, the corresponding precoding matrix may be searched for by the precoding matrix index, and then the number of antennas may be determined based on the above rule. It is understood that in this case, the precoding matrix index corresponds to the number of antennas, and therefore, the number of antennas can be directly determined through the precoding matrix index without searching for the corresponding precoding matrix and then determining the number of antennas based on the above rule.

If the antenna indication information and the antenna recommendation information include the precoding matrix index, the selected antenna or the number of antennas may also be determined in other manners (for example, what preset condition the precoding matrix index satisfies). For example, the selected antenna or the number of antennas may be determined according to a range in which the precoding matrix index is located. For example, if the precoding matrix index is between 16 and 23, the selected antennas are the first antenna and the third antenna, and the number of antennas is 2. It should be noted that in determining the antennas or number of antennas, other information may be incorporated in addition to the reference precoding matrix index, such as, but not limited to, the number of data layers, which is typically indicated by the RI.

In a specific implementation process, a corresponding validity period may also be set for the determined N antennas or the number N of antennas, in other words, the determined N antennas or the number N of antennas corresponds to a validity period. The length of the validity period may be, for example, but not limited to, one or more TTIs, and the like. The validity period may be indicated by, for example, but not limited to, at least one of an effective time, an ineffective time, and a validity period. The validity period may be predetermined in the communication protocol, or may be configured to the user equipment by the access equipment. For example, the access device may indicate to the user device the start-stop moment of the validity period.

Furthermore, an effective condition may also be set for the indicated N antennas, or the number N of antennas. In a specific implementation process, the validation condition may be that, for example, if the N antennas or the number of antennas indicated for multiple consecutive times is the same, the N antennas or the number of antennas N is started to be applied. For another example, the validation condition may be that the indicated N antennas or the number of antennas remains unchanged for a preset time period. It should be understood that the above various schemes for indicating the antennas and the number of antennas are only used for examples, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention do not limit the specific indication method.

In the specific implementation process, there are various ways of indicating, for example, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated; the information to be indicated can also be indicated by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the information to be indicated have an association relationship; it is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other part of the information to be indicated is known. The specific indication method may refer to the prior art, such as but not limited to the indication methods specified in the existing various communication protocols, which is not limited by the present invention. In addition, the information to be indicated may be sent together as a whole, or may be sent separately by dividing into a plurality of sub-information, and the sending periods of these sub-information may be the same or different. The specific sending method may refer to the prior art, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In view of this, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, reference may be made to the above description for specific solutions adopted when indicating relevant information (for example, but not limited to antennas or the number of antennas) in various information (for example, but not limited to antenna indication information and antenna recommendation information, etc.) transmitted between the user equipment and the access device.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary logical structure of a user equipment 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the user equipment 300 includes a processing module 302 and a transceiver module 304.

The processing module 302 is configured to determine N antennas among M antennas, where M is greater than 0 and M ≧ N > 0;

the transceiving module 304 is configured to send N uplink reference signals through N antennas of the M antennas, and receive channel state information determined by the access device based on the uplink reference signals.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver module 304 is further configured to send M uplink reference signals through the M antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the M uplink reference signals, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the N antennas; the processing module 302 is specifically configured to determine the N antennas according to the antenna indication information.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver module 304 is further configured to receive, through the M antennas, a downlink reference signal transmitted by the access device; the processing module 302 is specifically configured to determine the N antennas based on the downlink reference signal.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver module 304 is further configured to receive, through the M antennas, a downlink reference signal transmitted by the access device; the processing module 302 is specifically configured to determine X antennas based on the downlink reference signal, where M is greater than or equal to X is greater than or equal to N > 0; the transceiver module 304 is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the determined number X of antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the antenna recommendation information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the number N of antennas; the processing module 302 is further configured to determine the N antennas among the X antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver module 304 is further configured to receive, through the M antennas, a downlink reference signal transmitted by the access device; the processing module 302 is specifically configured to determine X antennas based on the downlink reference signal, where M is greater than or equal to X is greater than or equal to N; the transceiver module 304 is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the determined X antennas, and receive antenna indication information fed back by the access device based on the antenna recommendation information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas; the processing module 302 is further configured to determine the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

In a specific implementation process, the processing module 302 is further configured to determine whether a preset condition is met; the transceiver module 304 is further configured to send antenna recommendation information to the access device when the processing module determines that a preset condition is met.

In a specific implementation process, configuration information from an access device is received, and the configuration information is used for configuring the preset condition.

In a specific implementation process, the antenna recommendation information is specifically used to indicate a difference between the number X and the current number of antennas.

In a specific implementation process, the antenna indication information is specifically used to indicate a difference between the number N of antennas and the current number of antennas.

The user equipment 300 is configured to perform the channel measurement method 200, and the related technical content has been described in detail above in conjunction with the method 200, and therefore will not be described in detail here.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of a user equipment 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4, the user equipment 400 includes a processor 402, a transceiver 404, a plurality of antennas 406, a memory 408, an I/O (Input/Output) interface 410, and a bus 412. The memory 408 is further operable to store instructions 4082 and data 4084. Further, the processor 402, the transceiver 404, the memory 408, and the I/O interface 410 are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 412, and a plurality of antennas 406 are coupled to the transceiver 404. In particular implementations, processor 402, transceiver 404, memory 408, and I/O interface 410 may be communicatively coupled to each other using connections other than bus 412.

The Processor 402 may be a general-purpose Processor, such as, but not limited to, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or a special-purpose Processor, such as, but not limited to, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and the like. Further, the processor 402 may be a combination of multiple processors. In particular, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 402 may be configured to execute the operations executed by the processing module 302. The processor 402 may be a processor specially designed to perform the above operations, or may be a processor that reads and executes the instructions 4082 stored in the memory 408, and the processor 402 may need the data 4084 in the process of performing the above operations.

Transceiver 404 is configured to transmit signals through at least one of a plurality of antennas 406 and receive signals through at least one of a plurality of antennas 406. In particular, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the transceiver 404 may be specifically configured to perform the operation performed by the transceiver module 304 through at least one antenna of the multiple antennas 406.

The Memory 408 may be various types of storage media, such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), flash Memory, optical Memory, and registers. The memory 408 is specifically configured to store the instruction 4082 and the data 4084, and the processor 402 may perform the above operations by reading and executing the instruction 4082 stored in the memory 408, where the data 4084 may be needed in the process of performing the above operations.

I/O interface 410 is used to receive instructions and/or data from and output instructions and/or data to peripheral devices.

It should be noted that in a specific implementation, the user equipment 400 may also include other hardware devices, which are not listed here.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary logical structure of an access device 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, access device 500 includes a processing module 502 and a transceiver module 504.

In a first scenario:

the transceiver module 504 is configured to receive M uplink reference signals sent by the user equipment through M antennas;

the processing module 502 is configured to determine N antennas based on M uplink reference signals, where M ≧ N > 0;

the transceiver module 504 is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas.

In a second scenario:

the transceiver module 504 is configured to transmit a downlink reference signal and receive antenna recommendation information from the user equipment, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate the number X of antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signal;

the processing module 502 is configured to determine the number N of antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

the transceiver module 504 is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate the number N of antennas, so that the ue determines N antennas among the X antennas, where the ue is configured with M antennas, and M is greater than or equal to X and greater than or equal to N > 0.

In a third scenario:

the transceiver module 504 is configured to transmit a downlink reference signal and receive antenna recommendation information from the user equipment, where the antenna recommendation information is used to indicate X antennas determined by the user equipment based on the downlink reference signal;

the processing module 502 is configured to determine N antennas based on the antenna recommendation information;

the transceiver module 504 is further configured to feed back antenna indication information, where the antenna indication information is used to indicate N antennas, where the ue is configured with M antennas, and M ≧ X ≧ N > 0.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of an access device 600 according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 6, access device 600 includes a processor 602, a transceiver 604, a plurality of antennas 606, a memory 608, an I/O (Input/Output) interface 610, and a bus 612. Memory 608 is further used to store instructions 6082 and data 6084. Further, the processor 602, the transceiver 604, the memory 608, and the I/O interface 610 are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 612, and the plurality of antennas 606 are coupled to the transceiver 604. In particular implementations, processor 602, transceiver 604, memory 608, and I/O interface 610 may be communicatively coupled to each other using a connection other than bus 612.

The Processor 602 may be a general-purpose Processor, such as but not limited to a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or a special-purpose Processor, such as but not limited to a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and so on. Further, the processor 602 may be a combination of multiple processors. In particular, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 602 may be configured to execute the operations executed by the processing module 502. The processor 602 may be a processor specially designed to perform the above operations, or may be a processor that reads and executes the instructions 6082 stored in the memory 608, and the data 6084 may be needed by the processor 602 in the course of performing the above operations.

The transceiver 604 is configured to transmit signals through at least one of the plurality of antennas 606 and receive signals through at least one of the plurality of antennas 606. In particular, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the transceiver 604 may be specifically configured to perform the operation performed by the transceiver module 504 through at least one antenna of the multiple antennas 606.

The Memory 608 may be various types of storage media, such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), flash Memory, optical Memory, and registers. The memory 608 is specifically configured to store instructions 6082 and data 6084, and the processor 602 may perform the above operations by reading and executing the instructions 6082 stored in the memory 608, where the data 6084 may be needed.

I/O interface 610 is used to receive instructions and/or data from and output instructions and/or data to peripheral devices.

It should be noted that in a specific implementation process, the access device 600 may also include other hardware components, which are not listed herein.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

In summary, the above description is only an example of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of channel measurement, comprising:

sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas in the M antennas, and receiving channel state information determined by the access equipment based on the uplink reference signals;

the determining N antennas among the M antennas comprises:

transmitting antenna recommendation information to the access device, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the determined number X of antennas; receiving antenna indication information fed back by the access equipment based on the antenna recommendation information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating the number N of antennas; determining the N antennas among the X antennas based on the antenna indication information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

transmitting antenna recommendation information to the access device, wherein the antenna recommendation information is used for indicating the determined X antennas; receiving antenna indication information fed back by the access equipment based on the antenna recommendation information, wherein the antenna indication information is used for indicating N antennas; determining the N antennas based on the antenna indication information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining N antennas among the M antennas comprises:

sending M uplink reference signals through the M antennas;

and determining the N antennas according to the antenna indication information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining N antennas among the M antennas comprises:

determining the N antennas based on the downlink reference signals.

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the sending antenna recommendation information to the access device comprises sending antenna recommendation information to the access device when it is determined that a preset condition is satisfied.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

6. The method according to any of claims 1-3, 5, wherein the antenna recommendation information is specifically for indicating a difference between the number X relative to a current number of antennas.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-3, 5, wherein the antenna indication information is specifically used for indicating a difference between the number of antennas N relative to a current number of antennas.

8. A user device, comprising:

the receiving and sending module is used for sending N uplink reference signals through N antennas in the M antennas and receiving channel state information determined by the access equipment based on the uplink reference signals;

when the processing module is configured to determine N antennas among the M antennas, the processing module is specifically configured to: