CN111490860B

CN111490860B - Reference signal transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111490860B
Application number: CN201910024527.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘建琴
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-01-10
Filing date: 2019-01-10
Publication date: 2021-09-14
Anticipated expiration: 2039-01-10
Also published as: WO2020143689A1; CN111490860A

Abstract

The application provides a reference signal transmission method and device, relates to the technical field of communication, and is used for realizing frequency hopping transmission of reference signals when a resource allocation mode of PRB interleaving is adopted. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first configuration information from access network equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to transmit frequency domain resources of reference signals at least two moments; the terminal equipment determines a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each moment in the at least two moments according to the first configuration information, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced discontinuous PRBs; and the terminal equipment sends the reference signal to the access network equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment.

Description

Reference signal transmission method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting a reference signal.

Background

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-advanced (LTE-a) system, uplink channel measurement of a user is implemented by sending a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), and an access network device obtains uplink channel state information by measuring a received SRS. At present, in an LTE/LTE-a system, SRS signal transmission adopts a resource allocation manner of a continuous Physical Resource Block (PRB), different SRS transmission bandwidth configurations exist under different system bandwidths, and when the configured SRS transmission bandwidth is smaller than a channel bandwidth to be measured, channel quality measurement of the channel bandwidth to be measured can be completed through multiple frequency hopping.

However, in the unlicensed frequency band, the SRS signal transmission adopts a PRB interleaved resource allocation manner, the entire system bandwidth is divided into a plurality of interleaved PRB clusters, and unlike the conventional SRS signal transmission scheme of continuous PRBs, each PRB cluster occupies the entire system bandwidth in the form of a discrete comb, so the conventional SRS frequency hopping scheme and design principle are no longer applicable.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a reference signal transmission method and device, which are used for realizing frequency hopping transmission of reference signals when a resource allocation mode of PRB interweaving is adopted.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, a method for transmitting a reference signal is provided, where the method includes: the terminal device receives first configuration information from the access network device, where the first configuration information is used to indicate the terminal device to transmit frequency domain resources of a reference signal at least two moments, where the at least two moments may refer to at least two transmission time points of the reference signal, and the time points may be represented by a radio frame, a subframe, a time slot, or an OFDM symbol, and the reference signal may be a demodulation reference signal, a channel sounding reference signal, or a preamble signal of a random access channel, and the like; the terminal equipment determines a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each moment in at least two moments according to the first configuration information, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced discontinuous PRBs; and the terminal equipment sends the reference signal to the access network equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment. According to the technical scheme, the frequency hopping transmission of the reference signal can be realized when a resource allocation mode of PRB interweaving is adopted, so that the time delay of channel quality measurement is reduced, the power consumption of terminal equipment is reduced, and the effect of saving power is achieved.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first configuration information includes at least one of the following information: the frequency domain resource index, a PRB cluster corresponding to at least two time instants, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two time instants, a PRB cluster corresponding to a first time instant of the at least two time instants (the first time instant may be any time instant of the at least two time instants, for example, the first time instant is a starting time instant of the at least two time instants), or a frequency hopping interval (optionally, the frequency hopping interval may also be agreed by the access network device and the terminal device in advance, or defined by a standard, and the like). The possible implementation manner can improve the flexibility and diversity of the configuration of the first configuration information for the terminal equipment by the access network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the frequency hopping interval is at least one PRB cluster, that is, the frequency hopping interval is at least one PRB cluster, and may be one or multiple PRB clusters. The possible implementation manner provides a simple and effective frequency hopping interval, so that the terminal device can quickly determine the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment according to the first configuration information, and the efficiency of the terminal device for transmitting the reference signal is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first time is a starting time of the at least two times. In the possible implementation manner, when the first time is the starting time, the terminal device can directly determine the corresponding PRB cluster in the starting time according to the first configuration information, so that the efficiency of the terminal device in transmitting the reference signal in the corresponding PRB cluster in the starting time is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any two adjacent PRB clusters of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced. In the possible implementation manner, at least three PRB clusters corresponding to each time can be uniformly dispersed, so that reference signals are transmitted on the dispersed PRB clusters, and the accuracy of channel quality measurement is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information is related to a candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data, where the candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data is at least one PRB cluster predefined for uplink data transmission. In the possible implementation manner, the accuracy of the access network device measuring the channel quality according to the received reference signal can be improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time of the at least two times is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times. In the possible implementation manner, the relevance of the reference signal transmitted by the terminal device in the frequency hopping manner can be improved.

In a second aspect, a method for transmitting a reference signal is provided, the method including: the access network equipment sends first configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to transmit frequency domain resources of the reference signal at least two moments; the access network equipment determines a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each moment in at least two moments, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced discontinuous PRBs; and the access network equipment receives the reference signal sent by the terminal equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment. According to the technical scheme, the frequency hopping transmission of the reference signal can be realized when a resource allocation mode of PRB interweaving is adopted, so that the time delay of channel quality measurement is reduced, the power consumption of terminal equipment is reduced, and the effect of saving power is achieved.

In one possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first configuration information includes at least one of the following information: the resource allocation method comprises the steps of frequency domain resource index, PRB clusters corresponding to at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to each moment of at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to the first moment of at least two moments, or frequency hopping interval. The possible implementation manner can improve the flexibility and diversity of the configuration of the first configuration information for the terminal equipment by the access network equipment.

In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the frequency hopping interval is at least one PRB cluster. The possible implementation manner provides a simple and effective frequency hopping interval, so that the terminal device can quickly determine the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment according to the first configuration information, and the efficiency of the terminal device for transmitting the reference signal is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first time is a starting time of the at least two times. In the possible implementation manner, when the first time is the starting time, the terminal device can directly determine the corresponding PRB cluster in the starting time according to the first configuration information, so that the efficiency of the terminal device in transmitting the reference signal in the corresponding PRB cluster in the starting time is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any two adjacent PRB clusters of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced. In the possible implementation manner, at least three PRB clusters corresponding to each time can be uniformly dispersed, so that reference signals are transmitted on the dispersed PRB clusters, and the accuracy of channel quality measurement is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information is related to a candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data, where the candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data is at least one PRB cluster predefined for uplink data transmission. In the possible implementation manner, the accuracy of the access network device measuring the channel quality according to the received reference signal can be improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time of the at least two times is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times. In the possible implementation manner, the relevance of the reference signal transmitted by the terminal device in the frequency hopping manner can be improved.

In a third aspect, an apparatus for transmitting a reference signal is provided, the apparatus comprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive first configuration information from an access network device, where the first configuration information is used to instruct a terminal device to transmit frequency domain resources of a reference signal at least two moments; the processing unit is used for determining a PRB cluster corresponding to each moment in at least two moments according to the first configuration information, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced and discontinuous PRBs; and a sending unit, configured to send the reference signal to an access network device on the PRB cluster corresponding to each time.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first configuration information includes at least one of the following information: the resource allocation method comprises the steps of frequency domain resource index, PRB clusters corresponding to at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to each moment of at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to the first moment of at least two moments, or frequency hopping interval.

In one possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the frequency hopping interval is at least one PRB cluster.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first time is a starting time of the at least two times.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to three PRB clusters, any two adjacent PRB clusters of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information is related to a candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data, where the candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data is at least one PRB cluster predefined for uplink data transmission.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time of the at least two times is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times.

In a fourth aspect, an apparatus for transmitting a reference signal is provided, the apparatus comprising: a sending unit, configured to send first configuration information to a terminal device, where the first configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to transmit frequency domain resources of a reference signal at least two moments; the processing unit is used for determining a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each moment in at least two moments, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally-spaced discontinuous PRBs; and a receiving unit, configured to receive the reference signal sent by the terminal device on the PRB cluster corresponding to each time.

In one possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the first configuration information includes at least one of the following information: the resource allocation method comprises the steps of frequency domain resource index, PRB clusters corresponding to at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to each moment of at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to the first moment of at least two moments, or frequency hopping interval.

In one possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the frequency hopping interval is at least one PRB cluster.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the first time is a starting time of at least two times.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any two adjacent PRB clusters of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information is related to a candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data, where the candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data is at least one PRB cluster predefined for uplink data transmission.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time of the at least two times is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times.

In another aspect of the present application, there is provided a reference signal transmission apparatus, which is a terminal device or a chip built in the terminal device, the apparatus including: a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, the memory storing code and data therein, the processor executing the code in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the reference signal transmission method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In another aspect of the present application, there is provided a reference signal transmission apparatus, which is an access network device or a chip built in the access network device, the apparatus including: a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, the memory storing code and data therein, the processor executing the code in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the reference signal transmission method provided by the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In yet another aspect of the present application, there is provided a communication system comprising an access network device and a terminal device; the terminal device is a terminal device provided in any of the above aspects, and is configured to execute the reference signal transmission method provided in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect; the access network device is the access network device provided in any of the above aspects, and is configured to execute the reference signal transmission method provided in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a further aspect of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which instructions are stored, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the reference signal transmission method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a further aspect of the present application, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the reference signal transmission method provided by the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a further aspect of the present application, a computer program product is provided, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the reference signal transmission method as provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a further aspect of the present application, a computer program product is provided, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the reference signal transmission method provided by the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

It is understood that any one of the apparatuses, communication systems, computer storage media or computer program products of the reference signal transmission methods provided above is used to execute the corresponding methods provided above, and therefore, the beneficial effects achieved by the apparatuses, communication systems, computer storage media or computer program products can refer to the beneficial effects of the corresponding methods provided above, and are not described herein again.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a reference signal transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a radio frame according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a PRB cluster provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a frequency hopping interval provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a first schematic structural diagram of a reference signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a reference signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c or a-b-c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second", and the like do not limit the number and the execution order.

It is noted that, in the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean exemplary, illustrative, or descriptive. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

The reference signal transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a global system for mobile communications (GSM), a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a CDMA2000 system, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-a) system, and other various communication systems.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 1, the communication system includes an access network device 101 and a terminal device 102.

In this application, the access network device is a device deployed in a radio access network to provide a wireless communication function for a terminal device. The access network device may include various forms of macro Base Stations (BSs), micro base stations (also referred to as small stations), relay stations, or access points, etc. In systems using different radio access technologies, names of devices having radio access functions may be different, for example, in an LTE system, the devices are called evolved node bs (enbs) or enodebs, and in a third generation (3G) system, the devices are called node bs (node bs). For convenience of description, in this application, it is referred to as an access network device, sometimes referred to as a base station.

The terminal devices referred to in the embodiments of the present application may include various handheld devices, vehicle mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication capability. The terminal device may be referred to as a wireless device, or may also be referred to as a Mobile Station (MS), a terminal (terminal), a User Equipment (UE), and so on. The terminal device may be a terminal device including a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a cellular phone (cellular phone), a smart phone (smart phone), a wireless data card, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) computer, a tablet computer, a modem (modem) or modem processor (modem processor), a handheld device (hand), a laptop (laptop computer), a netbook, a cordless phone (cordless phone), or a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a bluetooth device, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal, or the like. For convenience of description, in this application, it is simply referred to as terminal equipment or UE.

The terminal device may support one or more wireless technologies for wireless communication, such as 5G, LTE, WCDMA, CDMA 1X, time division-synchronous code division multiple access (TS-SCDMA), GSM, 802.11, and so on. The terminal device may also support carrier aggregation techniques.

Multiple terminal devices may perform the same or different services. For example, mobile broadband services, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services, ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) services for terminal devices, and so on.

The access network device 101 has a scheduling function of sharing a channel, and has a function of establishing scheduling based on a history of packet data transmitted to the terminal device 102, where scheduling is to have a mechanism to effectively allocate physical layer resources to obtain statistical multiplexing gain when a plurality of terminal devices 102 share transmission resources. In addition, a plurality of terminal devices 102 may be located in the serving cell of the access network device 101, and the serving cell of the access network device 101 may include one or more serving cells, which may also be referred to as cells. The terminal apparatus 102 has a function of transmitting and receiving data through a communication channel established with the access network apparatus 101. The terminal device 102 performs transmission or reception processing of the shared channel according to information transmitted by the access network device 101 through the scheduling control channel. The access network device 101 and the terminal device 102 perform data reception and transmission between each other through a communication channel, which may be a wireless communication channel, and in the wireless communication channel, there is at least a shared channel that is shared among the plurality of terminal devices 102 for transmitting and receiving packets and a scheduling control channel for transmitting allocation of the shared channel and a corresponding scheduling result and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 102 may transmit a Reference Signal (RS) to the access network device 101, where the RS may be used for measuring channel quality, or for performing coherent detection and data demodulation on the terminal device 102. Specifically, the terminal device 102 may send a reference signal according to an instruction of the access network device 101, and the access network device 101 may determine uplink channel state information of the terminal device 102 according to the received reference signal, and perform operations such as frequency domain selection scheduling and power control according to the obtained channel state information.

Further, the communication system may further include other network elements, for example, in an LTE communication system, the communication system may further include a Serving Gateway (SGW), a packet data gateway (PGW), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and the like, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a reference signal transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method can be applied to the communication system shown in fig. 1, and referring to fig. 2, the method includes the following steps.

S201: the access network equipment sends first configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to transmit frequency domain resources of the reference signals at least two moments.

The at least two moments refer to at least two transmission time points of the reference signal, that is, time points at which the terminal device transmits the reference signal in a frequency hopping manner, and the at least two moments may correspond to at least two hops, that is, transmission of each hop corresponds to one moment. The at least two time instants may include two or more time instants, and each time instant may be represented by a time domain resource. Optionally, the time domain resource corresponding to each time instant may be represented by a radio frame, a subframe, a time slot, or an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. For example, as shown in fig. 3, taking a radio frame structure of an LTE system as an example, the length of the radio frame is 10ms, each 1ms is a subframe, and the number of slots included in each subframe is different according to system parameters, for example, when 15kHz, a subframe is equivalent to a slot, when 30kHz, a subframe includes 2 slots, when 60kHz, a subframe includes 4 slots, and the like, and fig. 3 illustrates that a subframe includes 2 slots. If the at least two moments include a moment 1 and a moment 2, the time domain resource corresponding to the moment 1 may be a time slot #0, and the time domain resource corresponding to the moment 2 may be a time slot #3 or any other time slot other than the time slot #0, and the like, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. Here, slot #0 refers to a slot denoted by 0, and slot #3 refers to a slot denoted by 3.

In addition, the reference signal may refer to a signal used for measuring channel quality, or for signal detection or data demodulation. Alternatively, the reference signal may be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), a Random Access Channel (RACH), or the like. For convenience of description, the SRS is hereinafter described as an example, but the present application is not limited thereto.

In the unlicensed frequency band, the SRS transmission adopts a Physical Resource Block (PRB) interleaving resource allocation manner, the whole system bandwidth is divided into a plurality of PRB clusters in an interleaving manner, and a plurality of PRBs included in each PRB cluster are distributed in the whole system bandwidth in a distributed manner. Specifically, in the unlicensed frequency band, when the terminal device transmits the SRS to the access network device in the frequency hopping manner, the access network device may send first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information may be used to indicate that the terminal device transmits the frequency domain resources of the SRS at least two moments, that is, the access network device indicates, through the first configuration information, that the terminal device transmits the frequency domain resources of the SRS in the frequency hopping manner. Optionally, the first configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to transmit some parameters related to frequency hopping of the SRS, for example, a starting position of frequency hopping, a frequency hopping interval, a frequency hopping pattern, and the like. It should be understood that, instead of explicitly indicating the SRS frequency domain resource location information at each of the at least two time instants in the first configuration information, the terminal device implicitly determines the SRS frequency domain resource at each of the at least two time instants according to the first configuration information, which is within the protection scope of the present application.

Optionally, the access network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through a higher layer signaling, for example, the higher layer signaling may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, and the like; or, the access network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through a physical layer signaling, for example, the physical layer signaling may be downlink control information or the like; alternatively, the access network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through a higher layer signaling and a physical layer signaling, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

S202: the terminal device receives the first configuration information from the access network device. The first configuration information is consistent with the first configuration information in S201, and for details, reference may be made to the following description of the first configuration information.

S203: and the terminal equipment determines the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment in at least two moments according to the first configuration information.

When the terminal device receives the first configuration information, the terminal device may determine, according to the first configuration information, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two times, where each PRB cluster is composed of a plurality of equally spaced and discontinuous PRBs. For example, in fig. 4, a schematic diagram of a PRB cluster is shown, where the PRB cluster includes 4 PRBs, and an interval between any two adjacent PRBs is 2 PRBs, and the PRB cluster specifically includes PRB1, PRB4, PRB7, and PRB 10. Taking a system bandwidth of 20MHz as an example, the number M of PRB clusters into which the entire system bandwidth is divided and the candidate value of the number N of PRBs included in each PRB cluster under different subcarrier intervals are shown in table 1 below. As can be seen from the value of N, the number of PRBs included in different PRB clusters may be non-uniform, and taking the subcarrier spacing as 15kHz and M as 12 as an example, it can be seen from the last column in table 1 that the number of PRBs included in one of the 12 PRB clusters is 8, and the number of PRBs included in one of the PRB clusters is 9.

TABLE 1

It should be understood that there may be one PRB cluster, and the PRBs constituting this PRB cluster may be non-equally spaced, for example, when the system bandwidth includes a number of PRBs that is not evenly divisible by the total number of PRB clusters, it may be allowed that there is at least one PRB cluster composed of non-equally spaced discontinuous multiple PRBs. Optionally, the first configuration information may include at least one of the following information: the resource allocation method comprises the steps of frequency domain resource index, PRB clusters corresponding to at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to each moment of at least two moments, PRB clusters corresponding to the first moment of at least two moments, or frequency hopping interval.

In an embodiment, the first configuration information may include a frequency domain resource index and a PRB cluster corresponding to a first time of the at least two times.

Optionally, in another embodiment, the first configuration information may include information that includes PRB clusters corresponding to at least two time instants and PRB clusters corresponding to a first time instant of the at least two time instants.

Optionally, in another embodiment, the first configuration information may include information about a PRB cluster and a frequency hopping interval corresponding to a first time of the at least two times.

Optionally, in another embodiment, the first configuration information may include information that includes a PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two time instants.

Optionally, in another embodiment, the first configuration information may include information such as a frequency domain resource index, a PRB cluster corresponding to at least two time instants, and a PRB cluster corresponding to a first time instant of the at least two time instants.

It should be noted that, the frequency hopping interval may be configured by the access network device to the terminal device through the first configuration information, or may be a certain predefined value, for example, a certain numerical value specified in a standard, a certain value specified by the access network device and the terminal device, and the like, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. In addition, when the first configuration information includes a plurality of different information, the access network device may send the plurality of different information to the terminal device at one time, or may send one or more of the plurality of different information to the terminal device by sending the plurality of different information to the terminal device a plurality of times. Each of the above information will be described below.

Taking the reference signal as the SRS, the frequency domain resource index may also be referred to as an SRS frequency domain resource index, and is used to index the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS, the SRS frequency domain resource index may be used to indicate the SRS frequency domain resource configured at a cell level, and each SRS frequency domain resource configured at the cell level may correspond to one or more SRS frequency domain resources configured at a user level. For example, in the predefined SRS frequency domain resource configuration as shown in table 2.1 and table 2.2 below, C_SRSSRS frequency-domain resource index, B, which may represent a cell-level configuration_SRSSRS frequency domain resource index, m, which may represent user-level configuration_SRSIndicating SRS frequency corresponding to SRS frequency domain resource indexA domain resource. Index B is shown in Table 2.1_SRS0 and B_SRSThe index B is shown in table 2.2 for the SRS frequency domain resource corresponding to 1_SRS2 and B_SRSSRS frequency domain resource corresponding to 3, N_bMay refer to the granularity of the segmentation of the frequency domain resource corresponding to the index relative to the frequency domain resource corresponding to the previous index. In tables 2.1 and 2.2 below, by C_SRSA set of (4) user-level configured SRS frequency-domain resources can be determined, according to B_SRSThe SRS frequency domain resource configured for the terminal device may be specifically determined to be one of the group.

Optionally, the SRS frequency domain resource index may be used to indicate a maximum frequency domain resource of SRS frequency hopping of user-level configurations, where the maximum frequency domain resource of SRS frequency hopping of each user-level configuration corresponds to a target SRS frequency domain resource to be measured by the user, and the maximum frequency domain resource of SRS frequency hopping of each user-level configuration corresponds to a starting SRS frequency domain resource of several candidate SRS frequency hopping. And the terminal equipment starts frequency hopping from the initial SRS frequency domain resource index according to the first configuration information until traversing the maximum frequency domain resource of the SRS frequency hopping is completed. Also taking table 2.1 and table 2.2 as an example, the access network device may configure the initial SRS frequency domain resource index of SRS frequency hopping to be B_SRSAnd the SRS frequency domain resource index is 0. Then, as shown in table 2.1 and table 2.2, it can be known that the initial SRS frequency domain resource of SRS frequency hopping is a resource composed of PRB cluster 1, PRB cluster 5 and PRB cluster 11, and the maximum SRS frequency domain resource of SRS frequency hopping is a resource composed of PRB clusters 1-12, where 1-12 are serial numbers of PRB clusters. The terminal equipment transmits the SRS on the PRB cluster 1, the PRB cluster 5 and the PRB cluster 11 at the time point of the first SRS transmission according to the first configuration information of the access network equipment, and transmits the SRS on the B cluster at the time point of the second SRS transmission_SRSSubtracting B from SRS frequency domain resources corresponding to 1_SRSThe remaining resources after the SRS frequency domain resource corresponding to 2 are transmitted, that is, the PRB cluster 3, the PRB cluster 7, and the PRB cluster 9. At the time point of the third SRS transmission, the SRS is in B_SRSSubtracting B from SRS frequency domain resource corresponding to 0_SRSThe transmission is performed on the resources remaining after the SRS frequency domain resource corresponding to 1, that is, the PRB cluster 2, the PRB cluster 4, the PRB cluster 6, the PRB cluster 8, the PRB cluster 10, and the PRB cluster 12.

TABLE 2.1

TABLE 2.2

It should be noted that the SRS frequency domain resources shown in table 2.1 and table 2.2 are only exemplary and do not limit the embodiments of the present application. The PRB clusters corresponding to at least two time instants may refer to a set of PRB clusters corresponding to each of the at least two time instants. Optionally, the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two moments may also be upper level SRS frequency domain resources, and the lower level SRS frequency domain resources may be subsets of the upper level SRS frequency domain resources, that is, the PRB cluster corresponding to the first moment in the at least two moments is a subset of the PRB cluster corresponding to the second moment or the third moment in the at least two moments. For example, taking the SRS frequency domain resource index in table 2.1 and table 2.2 above as an example, the PRB cluster corresponding to at least two time instants may be 6(1,3,5,7,9,11), and the at least two time instants include a first time instant, a second time instant and a third time instant, so that the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time instant may be 1(1), the PRB cluster corresponding to the second time instant may be 3(1,5,11), and the PRB cluster corresponding to the third time instant may be 6(1,3,5,7,9, 11).

Note that 6 of the above 6(1,3,5,7,9,11) represents the number of PRB clusters, that is, 6 PRB clusters; 1. 3,5,7,9 and 11 are the serial numbers of 6 PRB clusters, i.e. PRB cluster 1, PRB cluster 3, PRB cluster 5, PRB cluster 7, PRB cluster 9 and PRB cluster 11, respectively. Other similar expressions have the same meanings, and are not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

The first time of the at least two times may refer to any one of the at least two times; optionally, the first time may be a starting time, that is, a time when the terminal device transmits the SRS for the first time in one round of SRS frequency hopping.

The frequency hopping interval may refer to an interval between PRB clusters for two adjacent SRS transmissions; optionally, the frequency hopping interval may be at least one PRB cluster, that is, the frequency hopping interval may be one PRB cluster or multiple PRB clusters. For example, the PRB clusters for two adjacent SRS transmissions are 3(1,5,9) and 3(3,7,11), respectively, and the hopping interval may be 2, that is, the hopping interval is two PRB clusters.

In one possible embodiment, the first configuration information may include: the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times and the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time, and when the terminal device receives the first configuration information, the terminal device may determine the PRB cluster corresponding to each time according to the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times, and information such as the number of PRB clusters included in the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time and intervals between adjacent PRB clusters. For example, the at least two time instants include a first time instant and a second time instant, the PRB cluster corresponding to the at least two time instants is 6(1,3,5,7,9,11), and if the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time instant is 3(1,5,11), the PRB cluster corresponding to the second time instant may be determined to be 3(3,7, 9).

In one possible embodiment, the first configuration information may include: and the PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments, when the terminal equipment receives the first configuration information, the terminal equipment can directly acquire the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment. For example, the at least two time instants include a first time instant and a second time instant, and the first configuration information may include information that a PRB cluster corresponding to the first time instant is 3(1,5,11), and a PRB cluster corresponding to the second time instant is 3(3,7, 9).

In one possible embodiment, the first configuration information may include: and when the terminal device receives the first configuration information, the terminal device may determine the PRB cluster corresponding to each time according to the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time and the frequency hopping interval. For example, as shown in fig. 5, the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time included in the first configuration information is denoted as PRB cluster x, the frequency hopping interval is p PRB clusters, then the PRB cluster corresponding to the next time may be x + p, the PRB cluster corresponding to the next time may be x +2p, and so on. When the sequence number of the corresponding PRB cluster at a certain time exceeds the total number of PRB clusters, (x + mp) mod N, where N may represent the total number of PRB clusters included in the entire system bandwidth, mod represents the remainder operation, and m represents a sequence number of frequency hopping, for example, the mth frequency hopping, etc. For example, the at least two time instants include a first time instant and a second time instant, where the PRB cluster corresponding to the first time instant is 3(1,5,9), and the frequency hopping interval is 2, and the PRB cluster corresponding to the second time instant may be 3(1+2,5+2,9+2) ═ 3(3,7,11), that is, the PRB cluster 1, the PRB cluster 5, and the PRB cluster 9 at the first time instant undergo frequency hopping at 2 intervals, and the PRB cluster corresponding to the second time instant becomes PRB cluster 3, PRB cluster 7, and PRB cluster 11.

Optionally, in the above three possible embodiments, when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any two adjacent PRB clusters of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced. For example, assume that a certain time corresponds to k PRB clusters, k is an integer and k is greater than or equal to 3. Where k PRB clusters are denoted y (1), y (2), …, and y (k), y (k-1) -y (k-2) - … -y (2) -y (1).

In a possible embodiment, the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information is related to a candidate frequency domain resource of uplink data, and the candidate frequency domain resource of the uplink data is at least one PRB cluster predefined for uplink data transmission. When the terminal device receives the first configuration information, the terminal device may determine, according to a relationship between the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information and the candidate frequency domain resource of the uplink data, a PRB cluster corresponding to each time.

In the unlicensed frequency band, transmission of uplink data (e.g., a physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH) is also implemented based on PRB clusters, some frequency domain resources may be predefined for transmission of the uplink data in advance, and the predefined frequency domain resources may include one or more PRB clusters. Since the channel quality measurement result of the SRS is mainly used for resource allocation of a subsequent uplink data channel, the access network device may bind the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS with the predefined frequency domain resource for transmitting the uplink data through the first configuration information, so that the measurement of the channel quality may be maximally matched with the transmission of future uplink data.

For example, the predefined candidate resources for uplink data may be as shown in table 3 below, where the candidate frequency domain resources for 8 uplink data (i.e. indexes 0 to 7) are shown in table 3, the candidate frequency domain resources corresponding to the same subband identifier may include different PRB clusters, and the candidate frequency domain resources corresponding to different subband identifiers may include the same PRB cluster, where a subband (subband) may refer to at least one non-overlapping frequency domain resource subset dividing the system bandwidth into which each subband is further composed of at least one continuous or discontinuous PRB or PRB cluster, for example, in table 3 below, the entire system bandwidth is divided into 5 subbands, each subband is composed of 10 PRBs, where the candidate frequency domain resource for uplink data identified by index 0 is one PRB cluster composed of PRB0 and PRB5 on subband 0, the candidate frequency domain for uplink data identified by index 1 is PRB0 on subband 0, PRB1, PRB5 and PRB 6. And the candidate frequency domain of the uplink data identified by index 2 is one PRB cluster consisting of PRB0 and PRB5 on subband 1.

TABLE 3

Index	Sub-band identification	Candidate resource (PRB number)
			0	0	(0,5)
1	0	(0,1,5,6)
			2	1	(0,5)
3	1	(0,1,2,3,5,6,7,8)
			4	2	(0,5)
5	2	(0,1,2,5,6,7)
			6	3	(0,5)
7	4	(0,5)

It should be understood that the system bandwidth may also be directly divided into a predefined plurality of PRB clusters, and the candidate resource for predefined uplink data is at least one of the predefined plurality of PRB clusters. For example, the predefined candidate resource of the uplink data is a candidate resource corresponding to any one of the configuration indexes in table 4 below, and taking the configuration index 2 as an example, the corresponding candidate resource of the uplink data is a PRB cluster (0,1,2,5,6, 7).

TABLE 4

Index	Candidate resource (PRB cluster number)
		0	(0,5)
1	(0,1,5,6)
		2	(0,1,2,5,6,7)
3	(0,1,2,3,5,6,7,8)

Specifically, the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS may be the same as or related to the candidate frequency domain resource for the uplink data, and the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS is determined by offsetting different numbers of PRBs from the candidate frequency domain resource for the uplink data. For example, as shown in fig. 6, for one subband (including 10 PRBs, corresponding reference numerals are respectively indicated as 0 to 9), if the PRBs for transmitting uplink data are 0,1,5 and 6, the PRBs for transmitting SRS may be 0,1,5 and 6 when the offset is 0 PRBs, the PRBs for transmitting SRS may be 1,2,6 and 7 when the offset is 1 PRB, the PRBs for transmitting SRS may be 2,3,7 and 8 when the offset is 2 PRBs, and the PRBs for transmitting SRS may be 3,4,8 and 9 when the offset is 3 PRBs. Alternatively, the access network device may configure the index of the candidate frequency domain resource of the uplink data to the terminal device, and simultaneously configure the offset of the frequency domain resource of the SRS with respect to the candidate frequency domain resource of the uplink data to the terminal device, for example, the access network device configures the index 5 in table 2 above to the terminal device, and simultaneously configures the offset of the SRS frequency domain resource with respect to the candidate frequency domain resource of the uplink data corresponding to the index of 1 PRB, so that the terminal device may deduce that the frequency domain resource of the SRS is a PRB cluster consisting of a set of PRBs (1,2,3,6,7,8) on subband 2 based on the above information, the set of PRBs refers to a set consisting of PRBs denoted by the

reference numerals

1,2,3,6,7, and 8, that is, the set of PRBs (1,2,3,6,7,8) includes PRB1, PRB2, PRB3, PRB6, PRB7, and PRB 8.

Optionally, the access network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through a higher layer signaling, for example, the higher layer signaling may be an RRC signaling or the like; or, the access network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through a physical layer signaling, for example, the physical layer signaling may be downlink control information or the like; alternatively, the access network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through a higher layer signaling and a physical layer signaling, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Accordingly, based on the candidate resource of the uplink data, the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS may be predefined directly as shown in tables 5.1 and 5.2 below. For example, in SRS frequency domain resource index of 0-3, B_SRSWhen the frequency domain resource is 1, the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS is a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (0,1,2,5,6,7), a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (1,2,3,6,7,8), a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (2,3,4,7,8,9), and a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (3,4,5,8,9,0), and the corresponding offsets are 0 PRB, 1 PRB, 2 PRB, and 3 PRB, respectively, compared with the PRB set (0,1,2,5,6,7) of the candidate resource of the uplink data in the above table 2; in SRS frequency domain resource index of 0-3, B_SRSWhen the frequency domain resource is 2, the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS is a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (0,1,5,6), a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (1,2,6,7), a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (2,3,7,8), and a PRB cluster consisting of a PRB set (3,4,8,9), and the corresponding offsets are 0 PRB, 1 PRB, 2 PRB and 3 PRB, respectively, compared with the PRB set (0,1,5,6) of the candidate resource of the uplink data in table 2; in SRS frequency domain resource index of 0-3, B_SRSWhen the frequency domain resource for transmitting the SRS is 3, the frequency domain resource is a PRB cluster including a PRB set (0,5), a PRB cluster including a PRB set (1,6), a PRB cluster including a PRB set (2,7), and a PRB cluster including a PRB set (3,8), and the corresponding offsets are 0 PRB, 1 PRB, 2 PRB, and 3 PRB, respectively, compared to the PRB set (0,5) of the candidate resource for uplink data in table 2.

TABLE 5.1

TABLE 5.2

The candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data shown in tables 3 and 4 and the frequency domain resources for SRS transmission shown in tables 5.1 and 5.2 are only exemplary, and do not limit the embodiments of the present application.

S204: the access network equipment determines a PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two moments. Optionally, step S204 and steps S201 to S203 are not in sequence, and step S204 and step S203 are executed in parallel in fig. 2 of the present application as an example for description, but the present application is not limited to this.

Specifically, before the access network device sends the first configuration information to the terminal device, the access network device may first determine a PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two time instants, and then send the first configuration information to the terminal device, where S204 is located before S201. Or, when the access network device sends the first configuration information to the terminal device, the access network device has not determined the PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two times, where S204 is located after S201, and S204 and S202-S203 may not be in sequence.

It should be noted that a specific process of determining, by the access network device, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments is similar to the specific process of determining, by the terminal device, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments in S203, and details of this process are not repeated in this embodiment of the present application.

S205: and the terminal equipment sends the reference signal to the access network equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment.

Specifically, after the terminal device determines the PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two time instants, the terminal device may send the SRS on the PRB cluster corresponding to each time instant. For example, at least two time points are the slot #0 and the slot #3 in the radio frame shown in fig. 3, the PRB cluster corresponding to the slot #0 is 3(1,5,11), and the PRB cluster corresponding to the slot #3 is 3(3,7,9), so that the terminal device may transmit the SRS to the access network device through 3 PRB clusters, namely the PRB cluster 1, the PRB cluster 5, and the PRB cluster 11, in the slot #0, and transmit the SRS to the access network device through 3 PRB clusters, namely the PRB cluster 3, the PRB cluster 7, and the PRB cluster 9, in the slot # 3.

Here, the slot #0 is a slot denoted by reference numeral 0, and the slot #3 is a slot denoted by reference numeral 3. In addition, 3 of 3(1,5,11) herein indicates the number of PRB clusters, i.e., 3 PRB clusters, and 1,5, and 11 are the numbers of the 3 PRB clusters, i.e., PRB cluster 1, PRB cluster 5, and PRB cluster 11, respectively. Other similar expressions have the same meanings, and are not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

S206: and the access network equipment receives the reference signal sent by the terminal equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment.

Specifically, the access network device may receive, at each time, the SRS transmitted by the terminal device on the corresponding PRB cluster. After the access network device receives the SRS sent by the terminal device, the access network device may perform channel quality measurement based on the SRS, and further perform subsequent operations such as resource allocation based on a channel quality measurement result. For example, at least two time points are a slot #0 and a slot #3 in the radio frame shown in fig. 3, the PRB cluster corresponding to the slot #0 is 3(1,5,11), and the PRB cluster corresponding to the slot #3 is 3(3,7,9), so that the access network device may receive, on the slot #0, the SRS transmitted by the terminal device through the 3 PRB clusters identified by 1,5, and 11, and receive, on the slot #3, the SRS transmitted by the terminal device through the 3 PRB clusters identified by 3,7, and 9.

In the embodiment of the application, the access network device configures the first configuration information for the terminal device, and when receiving the first configuration information, the terminal device determines the PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two moments according to the first configuration information, so that the reference signal is sent to the access network device on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment, so that the terminal device can transmit the reference signal in a frequency hopping manner in an unlicensed frequency band, and further, measurement of channel quality in the unlicensed frequency band is achieved. In addition, the access network device can also reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, achieve the effect of power saving and reduce the time delay of channel quality measurement by configuring the first configuration information for the terminal device, and can also maximally utilize the channel quality measurement result when the frequency domain resource for transmitting the reference signal is related to the candidate frequency domain resource of the uplink data.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It will be appreciated that the various network elements, such as terminal equipment and access network equipment. To implement the above functions, it includes hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. 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 application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device and the access network device may be divided into functional modules according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. The following description will be given by taking the division of each function module corresponding to each function as an example:

fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the reference signal transmission device according to the above-described embodiment, in the case of an integrated unit. The reference signal transmission apparatus may be a terminal device, and the reference signal transmission apparatus includes: a receiving unit 701, a processing unit 702 and a transmitting unit 703. Wherein, the receiving unit 701 is configured to support the reference signal transmitting apparatus to execute S202 in the foregoing method embodiment; the processing unit 702 is configured to support the reference signal transmitting apparatus to perform S203 in the above method embodiment, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein; the sending unit 703 is configured to support the reference signal transmission apparatus to execute S205 in the foregoing method embodiment. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Based on the hardware implementation, the processing unit 702 in this application may be a processor of a reference signal transmission apparatus, the receiving unit 701 may be a receiver of the reference signal transmission apparatus, the sending unit 703 may be a transmitter of the reference signal transmission apparatus, and the transmitter and the receiver may be integrated together to be used as a transceiver, and a specific transceiver may also be referred to as a communication interface.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible logic structure of the reference signal transmission apparatus according to the foregoing embodiments, provided for an embodiment of the present application. The reference signal transmission device may be a terminal device or a chip built in the terminal device, and includes: a processor 802 and a communications interface 803. The processor 802 is configured to control and manage the actions of the reference signal transmission apparatus, for example, the processor 802 is configured to support the reference signal transmission apparatus to execute S203 in the above-described method embodiment, and/or other processes for the technology described herein. In addition, the reference signal transmission apparatus may further include a memory 801 and a bus 804, and the processor 802, the communication interface 803, and the memory 801 are connected to each other through the bus 804; the communication interface 803 is used to support the reference signal transmission apparatus to perform communication; the memory 801 is used to store the program codes and data of the reference signal transmission apparatus.

The processor 802 may be, among other things, a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The bus 804 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (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 thick line is shown in FIG. 8, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the reference signal transmission device according to the above-described embodiment, in the case of an integrated unit. The reference signal transmission apparatus may be an access network device, and the reference signal transmission apparatus includes: a transmitting unit 901, a processing unit 902 and a receiving unit 903. Wherein, the sending unit 901 is configured to support the reference signal transmission apparatus to execute S201 in the foregoing method embodiment; the processing unit 902 is configured to support the reference signal transmission apparatus to perform S204 in the above method embodiment, and/or measure the channel quality according to the received reference signal; the receiving unit 903 is configured to support the reference signal transmitting apparatus to execute S206 in the foregoing method embodiment. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Based on the hardware implementation, the processing unit 902 in this application may be a processor of a reference signal transmission apparatus, the sending unit 901 may be a transmitter of the reference signal transmission apparatus, the receiving unit 903 may be a receiver of the reference signal transmission apparatus, and the transmitter and the receiver may be integrated together to be used as a transceiver, and a specific transceiver may also be referred to as a communication interface.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible logic structure of the reference signal transmission apparatus according to the foregoing embodiments, provided for an embodiment of the present application. The reference signal transmission device may be an access network device or a chip built in the access network device, and includes: a processor 1002, and a communication interface 1003. The processor 1002 is configured to control and manage the reference signal transmission apparatus, for example, the processor 1002 is configured to enable the reference signal transmission apparatus to perform S204 in the above method embodiment, measure channel quality according to the received reference signal, and/or other processes for the technology described herein. Further, the reference signal transmission device includes a memory 1001 and a bus 1004, and the processor 1002, the communication interface 1003, and the memory 1001 are connected to each other by the bus 1004; the communication interface 1003 is used for supporting the reference signal transmission device to perform communication; the memory 1001 is used to store the program codes and data of the reference signal transmission apparatus.

The processor 1002 may be, among other things, a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The bus 1004 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (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 thick line is shown in FIG. 10, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

In another embodiment of the present application, a readable storage medium is further provided, where the readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor executes the steps of the terminal device in the reference signal transmission method provided in the foregoing method embodiment. The aforementioned readable storage medium may include: u disk, removable hard disk, read only memory, random access memory, magnetic or optical disk, etc. for storing program codes.

In another embodiment of the present application, a readable storage medium is further provided, where the readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor executes the steps of the access network device in the reference signal transmission method provided in the foregoing method embodiment. The aforementioned readable storage medium may include: u disk, removable hard disk, read only memory, random access memory, magnetic or optical disk, etc. for storing program codes.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the at least one processor of the device may read the computer-executable instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the at least one processor executes the computer-executable instructions to cause the device to perform the steps of the terminal device in the reference signal transmission method provided by the above-mentioned method embodiment.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the at least one processor of the device may read the computer-executable instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the execution of the computer-executable instructions by the at least one processor causes the device to implement the steps of accessing the network device in the provided reference signal transmission method.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a communication system, including an access network device and a terminal device; the terminal device or a chip built in the terminal device may be the reference signal transmission apparatus provided in fig. 7 or fig. 8, and is configured to execute the steps of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment; and/or the access network device or a chip built in the access network device is the reference signal transmission apparatus provided in fig. 9 or fig. 10, and is configured to perform the steps of the access network device in the above-described method embodiment.

In the embodiment of the application, the access network device configures the first configuration information for the terminal device, and when receiving the first configuration information, the terminal device determines the PRB cluster corresponding to each of at least two moments according to the first configuration information, so that the reference signal is sent to the access network device on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment, so that the terminal device can transmit the reference signal in a frequency hopping manner in an unlicensed frequency band, and further, measurement of channel quality in the unlicensed frequency band is achieved. In addition, the access network device can also reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, achieve the effect of power saving and reduce the time delay of channel quality measurement by configuring the first configuration information for the terminal device.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for reference signal transmission, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first configuration information from access network equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to transmit frequency domain resources of reference signals at least two moments;

the terminal equipment determines a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each moment in the at least two moments according to the first configuration information, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced discontinuous PRBs;

and the terminal equipment sends the reference signal to the access network equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration information comprises at least one of: a frequency domain resource index, a PRB cluster corresponding to the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to a first of the at least two moments, or a frequency hopping interval.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the hop interval is at least one PRB cluster.

4. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that said first moment in time is a starting moment in time of said at least two moments in time.

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any adjacent two of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency domain resources indicated by the first configuration information relate to candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data, and the candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data are at least one predefined PRB cluster for uplink data transmission.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the PRB clusters corresponding to a first time instance of the at least two time instances are a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two time instances.

8. A method for reference signal transmission, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that access network equipment sends first configuration information to terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to transmit frequency domain resources of reference signals at least two moments;

the access network equipment determines a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced and discontinuous PRBs;

and the access network equipment receives the reference signal sent by the terminal equipment on the PRB cluster corresponding to each moment.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first configuration information comprises at least one of: a frequency domain resource index, a PRB cluster corresponding to the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to a first of the at least two moments, or a frequency hopping interval.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the hop interval is at least one PRB cluster.

11. Method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein said first moment in time is a starting moment in time of said at least two moments in time.

12. The method according to any of claims 8-11, wherein when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any adjacent two of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the frequency domain resources indicated by the first configuration information relate to candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data, and the candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data are predefined at least one PRB cluster used for uplink data transmission.

14. The method according to any of claims 8-13, wherein the PRB cluster corresponding to a first time of the at least two times is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times.

15. A terminal device, characterized in that the terminal device comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first configuration information from an access network device, where the first configuration information is used to indicate frequency domain resources for the terminal device to transmit reference signals at least two moments;

a processing unit, configured to determine, according to the first configuration information, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two time instants, where one PRB cluster is formed by multiple equally spaced and discontinuous PRB;

a sending unit, configured to send the reference signal to the access network device on the PRB cluster corresponding to each time.

16. The terminal device of claim 15, wherein the first configuration information comprises at least one of the following information: a frequency domain resource index, a PRB cluster corresponding to the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to a first of the at least two moments, or a frequency hopping interval.

17. The terminal device of claim 16, wherein the hop interval is at least one PRB cluster.

18. The terminal device according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the first time is a starting time of the at least two times.

19. A terminal device according to any of claims 15-18, wherein when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to three PRB clusters, any adjacent two of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced.

20. The terminal device of claim 15, wherein the frequency domain resource indicated by the first configuration information is related to a candidate frequency domain resource for uplink data, and the candidate frequency domain resource for uplink data is at least one predefined PRB cluster for uplink data transmission.

21. The terminal device according to any of claims 15-20, wherein the PRB cluster corresponding to a first time instance of the at least two time instances is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two time instances.

22. An access network device, characterized in that the access network device comprises:

a sending unit, configured to send first configuration information to a terminal device, where the first configuration information is used to indicate frequency domain resources for the terminal device to transmit a reference signal at least two moments;

the processing unit is used for determining a Physical Resource Block (PRB) cluster corresponding to each time in the at least two times, wherein one PRB cluster consists of a plurality of equally spaced and discontinuous PRBs;

and a receiving unit, configured to receive the reference signal sent by the terminal device on the PRB cluster corresponding to each time.

23. The access network device of claim 22, wherein the first configuration information comprises at least one of: a frequency domain resource index, a PRB cluster corresponding to the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to each of the at least two moments, a PRB cluster corresponding to a first of the at least two moments, or a frequency hopping interval.

24. The access network device of claim 23, wherein the hop interval is at least one PRB cluster.

25. The access network device according to claim 23 or 24, wherein the first time is a starting time of the at least two times.

26. The access network equipment according to any of claims 22-25, wherein when each of the at least two time instants corresponds to at least three PRB clusters, any adjacent two of the at least three PRB clusters are equally spaced.

27. The access network device of claim 22, wherein the frequency domain resources indicated by the first configuration information are related to candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data, and the candidate frequency domain resources for uplink data are at least one pre-defined PRB cluster for uplink data transmission.

28. The access network equipment according to any of claims 22-27, wherein the PRB cluster corresponding to a first time of the at least two times is a subset of the PRB clusters corresponding to the at least two times.

29. A reference signal transmission device is characterized in that the reference signal transmission device is a terminal device or a chip built in the terminal device, and the device comprises: a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, the memory having code and data stored therein, the processor executing the code in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the reference signal transmission method of any of claims 1-7.

30. A reference signal transmission device is characterized in that the reference signal transmission device is an access network device or a chip built in the access network device, and the device comprises: a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, the memory having code and data stored therein, the processor executing the code in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the reference signal transmission method of any of claims 8-14.

31. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to execute the reference signal transmission method of any one of claims 1-7.

32. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the reference signal transmission method of any one of claims 8-14.