CN115866632A

CN115866632A - Communication method and related device

Info

Publication number: CN115866632A
Application number: CN202111108181.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 蒋亿贵
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-09-22
Filing date: 2021-09-22
Publication date: 2023-03-28
Also published as: WO2023045905A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method and a related device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment receives first information from the terminal equipment, wherein the first information comprises time information or first time length; the number information is used for indicating the number of times that a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment fall into each preset range within preset time; the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time; the network equipment determines the scanning time of the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) according to the first information. According to the scheme, the scanning time of the SRS can be determined, so that a more accurate SRS measurement result can be obtained, the network equipment is assisted to better perform operations such as scheduling of uplink resources, and the performance of an air interface is improved.

Description

Communication method and related device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a communication method and a related apparatus.

Background

In the wireless communication field, a base station may obtain channel information of an uplink channel through a channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) sent by a terminal device to perform uplink scheduling, or obtain channel information of a downlink channel through channel reciprocity to perform downlink scheduling and transmission.

Generally, a base station acquires channel information of an uplink channel with an SRS whose first received signal quality exceeds a preset threshold. However, in the process of transmitting the SRS in the form of electromagnetic waves in the wireless channel, after the SRS propagates through different paths, the time for each component to reach the base station may be different, and the channel information determined in the above manner may be inaccurate.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which can improve the accuracy of SRS measurement, further assist a base station to better perform scheduling of uplink resources, and improve the performance of an air interface.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including: the network equipment receives first information from the terminal equipment, wherein the first information comprises time information or first time length; the number information is used for indicating the number of times that a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment fall into each preset range within preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise a first downlink signal, wherein a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold value for the first time, and the second time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold value for the last time; the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time; the network equipment determines the scanning time of the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) according to the first information. By the method, the scanning time of the SRS can be determined, so that a more accurate SRS measurement result can be obtained, network equipment is assisted to perform operations such as scheduling of uplink resources better, and the performance of an air interface is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first information includes frequency information, each preset range includes a first range and a second range, and a maximum value in the first range is not greater than a minimum value in the second range; the network device determines the scanning time of the SRS according to the first information, including: if the ratio of the number of times that the signal receiving time difference falls within the second range to the total number of times is greater than a preset threshold, the network device determines that the SRS scanning time at least comprises a first time and a second time, wherein a time difference exists between the first time and the second time, and the SRS scanning time is the time for starting scanning the SRS; wherein the time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range.

The signal receiving time difference represented by the second range is larger, which indicates that the degree of multipath phenomenon in the current environment is stronger, the influence of the multipath phenomenon on the communication quality is larger, or indicates that the multipath of the downlink signal is rich. Then, it is very likely that the measurement result obtained by the network device scanning the SRS once is inaccurate, and therefore, the network device determines that the scanning time of the SRS includes at least the first time and the second time.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first information includes a first time length, and the determining, by the network device, the SRS scanning time according to the first information includes: the network device determines that the scanning time of the SRS at least includes a first time and a second time, and the second time is a time obtained by adding the first time length to the second time.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network equipment scans the SRS according to the first time and the second time to obtain a first channel quality and a second channel quality; the network equipment selects the measurement result with the strongest channel quality in the first channel quality and the second channel quality; and the network equipment determines the modulation and coding strategy MCS of the terminal equipment based on the measurement result with the strongest channel quality. It should be noted that the network device may also perform other operations such as scheduling uplink resources, calculating a TA value corresponding to the terminal device, performing uplink channel estimation, beam management, and the like according to the measurement result with the strongest channel quality.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first time length is an average value, a median value, or a mode value of a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals; or, the first time length is a time length of a preset range in which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within a maximum number of times.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating each preset range.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, the method further includes: the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to send the first information. In this way, when the network device needs the first information, the network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device to obtain the first information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network equipment sends second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference or not; the network equipment receives the capability information from the terminal equipment; the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, and the first indication information comprises: if the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment. By the method, the network equipment can detect the capability of the terminal equipment, and the subsequent operation is carried out after the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, so that the problem of resource waste caused by insufficient capability of the terminal equipment can be avoided.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the receiving, by the network device, first information from a terminal device includes: the network equipment receives first information from the terminal equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). In this way, the uplink and downlink overhead of the air interface can be saved.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the sending period of the terminal device aiming at the first information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first downlink signal is one or more of the following signals: a synchronization signal block SSB, a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal TRS and a data signal in a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method of communication, the method comprising: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment determines a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment within preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise a first downlink signal, wherein a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between first time and second time, the first time is the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold for the first time, and the second time is the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold for the last time; the terminal equipment sends first information to network equipment; the first information includes frequency information or a first time length, the frequency information is used to indicate the frequency at which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within respective preset ranges, and the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first time length is an average value, a median value, or a mode value of a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals; or, the first time length is a time length of a preset range in which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within a maximum number of times.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal equipment receives configuration information from the network equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating each preset range; or, the terminal device prestores the configuration information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the sending, by the terminal device, the first information to the network device includes: the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send the first information; and the terminal equipment sends the first information to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, before the terminal device receives the first indication information sent by the network device, the method further includes: the terminal device receives second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the terminal device has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference or not; and the terminal equipment sends the capability information to the network equipment according to the second indication information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the sending, by the terminal device, the first information to the network device includes: and under the condition that the current time reaches the transmission period, the terminal equipment transmits the first information to the network equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). In this way, the uplink and downlink overhead of the air interface can be saved.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the sending period of the terminal device aiming at the first information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first downlink signal is one or more of the following signals: a synchronization signal block SSB, a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal TRS and a data signal in a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled with a memory; the memory for storing program code; the processor is configured to invoke the program code from the memory to perform the method as described in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or to perform the method as described in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus including a logic circuit and an input-output interface for inputting first information from a terminal device; the logic circuit is used for determining the scanning time of the sounding reference signal SRS according to the first information; the logic circuit is further configured to process the first information and perform a method as described in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a logic circuit and an input/output interface, where the logic circuit is configured to determine a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the communication apparatus within a preset time; the input/output interface is used for sending first information to the network equipment; the logic circuit is configured to process the plurality of signal reception time differences and to perform a method as described in the second aspect above or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions that, when executed, cause a method as described in the first aspect or any of its possible implementations, or cause a method as described in the second aspect or any of its possible implementations, to be implemented.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions for causing a method as described above in the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or for causing a method as described above in the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect to be implemented, when the computer program or instructions are run on a computer.

According to the scheme, the terminal equipment can observe the multipath phenomenon through the received downlink signal and send the observation result (namely the first information) to the network equipment, the network equipment can determine the SRS scanning time based on the observation result, so that a more accurate SRS measurement result can be obtained, the network equipment can be assisted to better perform operations such as scheduling of uplink resources, and the performance of an air interface is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below.

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a multipath phenomenon provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of some of the first and second times provided by embodiments of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

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

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application are described in more detail below.

The terminology used in the following embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present application. As used in the specification of the present application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," "the," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the listed items. The term "plurality" as used in this application means two or more.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," "third," and the like in the description and claims of the present application and in the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used is interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the application described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or server that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

The embodiment of the present application may be applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1, where the network architecture shown in fig. 1 is a network architecture of a wireless communication system, the network architecture generally includes a terminal device and a network device, and the number and the form of each device do not limit the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that, the wireless communication systems mentioned in the embodiments of the present application include, but are not limited to: internet of things (IoT), long Term Evolution (LTE), fifth-generation mobile communication (5 th-generation, 5G) system, sixth-generation mobile communication (6 th-generation, 6G) system, and future mobile communication system. In some embodiments, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Network, a Vehicle-to-X (V2X) Network, a non-terrestrial Network (NTN), a satellite and High-Altitude platform (HAP), an enhanced internet of things (LTE enhanced MTO, eMTC), other networks, and the like. In other embodiments, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to communication radar integration, terahertz, and higher frequency communication systems, and the like, and the present application is not particularly limited.

The network device related to the embodiment of the present application may be a Base Station (BS), where the BS may provide communication services to multiple terminal devices, and multiple Base stations may also provide communication services to the same terminal device. In the embodiment of the present application, a base station is an apparatus deployed in a radio access network to provide a terminal device with a wireless communication function. The base station device may be a base station, a relay station, or an access point. The base station may be an eNB or an eNodeB (evolved NodeB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE). The base station device may also be a Radio controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. The base station device may also be a base station device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network. The base station device may also be a wearable device or a vehicle mounted device or the like. In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device; or may be a device, such as a system-on-chip, capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, and the device may be installed in the network device. For example, the network device may be a Centralized Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU). The CU here completes the functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence layer protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and may also complete the functions of a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP); the DU performs functions of a radio link control (rlc) layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of the base station, and may also perform functions of a part of or all of a physical layer, and for detailed descriptions of the above protocol layers, reference may be made to related technical specifications of the third generation partnership project (3 rd generation partnership project,3 gpp).

The terminal device related to the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a terminal, and may be a device having a wireless transceiving function. The terminal device referred to in the embodiments of the present application may include various User Equipments (UEs) having a wireless communication function, an access terminal, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a UE terminal, a wireless communication device, a UE agent, or a UE apparatus. An access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with Wireless communication capability, a computing device or other processing device connected to a Wireless modem, an unmanned aerial vehicle (or simply, a drone), a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal may be a terminal; it may also be a device, such as a system-on-chip, capable of supporting the terminal to implement the function, which may be installed in the terminal. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a device to device (D2D) system, a machine to machine (M2M) system, a vehicle to electrical networking (V2X) system in which a vehicle communicates with anything, and the like.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to next-generation microwave scenes, NR-based microwave scenes or Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) scenes and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device and the terminal device may be fixed in position or may be movable. The network equipment and the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; it may also be deployed on airborne airplanes, balloons and satellite vehicles. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the terminal device.

The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art knows that along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

Next, some concepts related to the embodiments of the present application will be described.

1. Multipath phenomenon

Multipath phenomenon generally refers to the propagation phenomenon of a signal transmitted by a network device through different paths to reach a terminal device. There are various influences on the environment of signal transmission (transmission in the form of electromagnetic waves), such as scattering of electromagnetic waves by the atmosphere, reflection and refraction of electromagnetic waves by the ionosphere, and reflection of electromagnetic waves by surface objects such as vehicles, buildings, mountains, etc., which may cause multipath phenomena. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multipath phenomenon provided in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the network device transmits a signal to the terminal device, illustratively, via path 1 (reflection from the building), path 2 (direct transmission), and path 3 (reflection from the vehicle), and finally arrives at the terminal device. The three transmission paths may have different transmission delays and the signal strength (alternatively referred to as signal quality) of the signals received through the three transmission paths may also differ. The multipath phenomena at different signal receiving ends are different, and the more the signal receiving end detects the paths through a measuring channel, the more the multipath phenomenon is serious; since the superposition of the signals may be destructive (superposition of peaks and troughs), this is more likely to cause problems such as bit errors or dropped calls.

2. Guard Interval (GI) and Cyclic Prefix (CP)

In order to reduce inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by multipath transmission (also referred to as inter-symbol interference), the art proposes an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) concept, where the OFDM technology is one of the key technologies adopted by Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, and the basic idea is to decompose a data stream into several independent low-rate bit streams, divide the bit streams into multiple subcarriers in a frequency domain, and then transmit the multiple subcarriers in parallel. To eliminate the intersymbol interference caused by multipath effect and other factors to the maximum extent, the OFDM technique sets an idle transmission period, called a guard interval, in each OFDM symbol. A cyclic prefix is filled in a guard interval of the OFDM symbol to ensure that the number of waveform periods contained in a delayed copy of the OFDM symbol in a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) period is also an integer. Thus, signals with time delay less than the guard interval will not generate intersymbol interference during demodulation.

3. Ultra CP phenomenon

In a wireless communication system, a terminal device (e.g., UE) performs timing based on a reference signal (synchronization signal and PBCH block, SSB) or Tracking Reference Signal (TRS)) transmitted from a network device (e.g., a base station). The super CP phenomenon is a phenomenon in which a timing difference between a first path (a reference signal whose first received signal quality exceeds a preset threshold) and a last path (the reference signal whose last received signal quality exceeds the preset threshold) in a signal measured by using a reference signal (SSB/TRS) exceeds a CP length.

The ultra CP phenomenon is a relatively serious multipath phenomenon. This is because the occurrence of the super CP phenomenon indicates that the timing point difference determined by the first path and the last path of the signal is large, and since the timing point is selected according to the first path in the received reference signal in the process of measuring the channel by the UE, it is likely that the timing point selection of the UE is erroneous, which causes problems such as error code and call drop. The serious over-CP phenomenon can even cause the measuring channel to detect false paths because the multi-path difference exceeds the measuring range of the measuring channel, and the timing is adjusted to be offset.

4. Timing Advance (TA)

In a wireless communication system, in order to ensure orthogonality of transmission and avoid intra-cell interference in normal communication between a terminal device (e.g., UE) and a network device (e.g., base station), uplink and downlink time synchronization is required between the terminal device and the network device. The uplink and downlink time synchronization includes the following meanings: downlink synchronous frames sent by a base station to all UE accessed to the base station need to be aligned at an air interface, uplink random access signal frames sent by all UE accessed to the base station need to be aligned at the air interface, and simultaneously all the uplink frames and the downlink frames need to be aligned at the air interface of the base station. The downlink time synchronization of all the UEs accessed to the same base station can be completed when the UE performs cell search, that is, after the cell search is completed, the base station can ensure that downlink data of all the UEs accessed to the base station are aligned at an air interface of the base station; the uplink time synchronization is that after the base station performs measurement, the base station issues a TA value corresponding to each UE, so as to adjust the time for the UE to send uplink data, so that the purpose that the UE sends uplink data in advance is achieved, and finally, the uplink data of each UE is aligned with the air interface of the base station.

5. Channel sounding reference signals (sounding reference signals/sounding reference systems, SRS)

The SRS is an uplink signal sent by the UE to the base station, and can help the base station to obtain Channel State Information (CSI) of the UE, so as to provide a reference for uplink resource scheduling of the base station. The channel state information describes how the communication signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, fading, and power attenuation over distance. In a wireless communication system, a base station may perform uplink channel estimation using SRS, select a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) of a UE, perform uplink resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive-in-multiple-out (MIMO) and beam management, and so on. For example, the base station may calculate a TA value corresponding to the UE according to the SRS measurement result. In a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a base station may also estimate an uplink channel matrix by using an SRS, and use the uplink channel matrix for downlink beamforming.

The SRS may include Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), and other information. RSRP is the average of the received signal power, i.e. the subcarrier power, over all Resource Elements (REs) carrying reference signals within a certain symbol. SINR refers to the ratio of the strength of a received useful signal to the strength of a received interfering signal (noise and interference); this can be simply understood as "signal-to-noise ratio".

6. Large TA phenomenon generated by tangent plane/tangent beam

In high frequency communication, a base station has beam scanning, and a UE has receiving surface switching, and the UE must be accompanied by switching of a service beam (or referred to as a transmission beam) of the base station or a receiving beam (antenna surface) of the UE during movement of the UE. Different transmission beams (for example, different transmission angles) of the base station may reach different distances from the same antenna surface of the UE, and the UE may trigger the serving beam handover of the base station with different timing differences; the action of switching the receiving antenna plane by the UE is equivalent to changing the path of the serving beam of the base station to the UE, and may also be accompanied by different degrees of timing differences.

When the timing difference generated by the behavior of the tangent plane (i.e. switching the receiving antenna plane of the UE) and the beam cutting (i.e. switching the transmitting beam of the base station) is large, the UE triggers a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) enhancement algorithm with probability to adjust the timing to a normal position. But since the length of each slot (slot) is very low in a high frequency communication scenario, the length of the CP is very short. Illustratively, in some embodiments, each slot length of the high frequency is 1/4 of the low frequency and is 1/8 of LTE, and also for the CP length, the high frequency is 1/4 of the low frequency and is 1/8 of LTE, only 570ns, and the propagation distance is only 170m; in this case, the super CP phenomenon is easily induced. Since the base station measures the SRS and performs uplink resource scheduling according to the first path in the received SRS as a measurement result, in this case, the uplink TA corresponding to the UE may not be accurately determined, which may cause uplink and downlink error codes or call drop. In view of this, the scheme in the embodiments of the present application is proposed.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may observe a multipath phenomenon through a downlink signal, and send an observation result to the network device, and the network device may determine the scan time of the SRS based on the observation result. Optionally, when the observation result indicates that the multipath phenomenon is severe, the network device may increase the number of SRS measurements, thereby obtaining a more accurate SRS measurement result. By the communication method and the communication device, the accuracy of SRS measurement can be improved, so that network equipment is assisted to better perform uplink resource scheduling, and the performance of an air interface is improved.

Referring to fig. 3, it is a flowchart of a communication method provided in this embodiment, and the method may be implemented based on the system shown in fig. 1. The method includes, but is not limited to, the following steps.

S101, the network equipment sends a plurality of downlink signals to the terminal equipment.

The downlink signal is one or more of the following signals: a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), a channel-state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), and a data signal in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Wherein the PDSCH is used to carry data from the transport channel (DSCH).

It is to be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, a PDSCH, a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) are examples of a downlink data channel, a downlink control channel, and an uplink data channel, and in different systems and different scenarios, the data channel and the control channel may have different names, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Similarly, the SSB, CSI-RS, and TRS are examples of a downlink reference signal, and the downlink reference signal may have different names in different systems and different scenarios, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

S102, after receiving a plurality of downlink signals from the network equipment, the terminal equipment determines a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment within a preset time.

The preset time may be determined by indication information issued by the network device to the terminal device, or the terminal device prestores the preset time. For example, the predetermined time may be 1 second, 2 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, and so on. It should be noted that the value of the preset time may be set according to the needs of the actual application scenario, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Specifically, each of the plurality of downlink signals corresponds to a signal reception time difference. Wherein the plurality of downlink signals includes a first downlink signal. Taking the first downlink signal as an example, the signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between the first time and the second time. Specifically, the first time is a time when the terminal device receives the first downlink signal with the signal quality exceeding a preset threshold for the first time, and the second time is a time when the terminal device receives the first downlink signal with the strongest signal quality, or a time when the terminal device receives the first downlink signal with the signal quality exceeding the preset threshold for the last time. In another words, the first downlink signal whose signal quality received by the terminal device for the first time exceeds the preset threshold may be referred to as a first path of the first downlink signal, the first downlink signal whose signal quality received by the terminal device is the strongest may be referred to as a strongest path of the first downlink signal, and the first downlink signal whose signal quality received by the terminal device for the last time exceeds the preset threshold may be referred to as a last path of the first downlink signal. That is, the signal reception time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is the reception time difference between the head path and the tail path of the first downlink signal, or the reception time difference between the head path and the strongest path of the first downlink signal.

It should be noted that the signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal may reflect the strength of the multipath phenomenon in the current environment, or may be understood as reflecting whether the multipath of the first downlink signal is rich or not. If the signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is small, it indicates that the degree of the multipath phenomenon in the current environment is weak, the influence of the multipath phenomenon on the communication quality is small, or that the multipath of the first downlink signal is not rich. If the signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is large, it indicates that the degree of the multipath phenomenon in the current environment is strong, the influence of the multipath phenomenon on the communication quality is large, or that the multipath of the first downlink signal is rich.

S103, the terminal device sends the first information to the network device.

The first information includes frequency information or a first time length, the frequency information is used to indicate the frequency at which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within respective preset ranges, and the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

First, the selection of each preset range will be further described.

For example, for high frequency communication, the range may be divided by {75,250,500,586} as a boundary point. The respective preset ranges may be as follows: the first preset range: the signal receiving time difference is less than or equal to 75ns; the second preset range is: the signal receiving time difference is greater than or equal to 75ns and less than 250ns; the third preset range: the signal receiving time difference is more than or equal to 250ns and less than 500ns; the fourth preset range: the signal receiving time difference is greater than or equal to 500ns and less than 586ns; the fifth preset range: the signal receiving time difference is greater than or equal to 586ns.

In yet another example, for low frequency communications, the range may be divided with a {300,1000,2000,2343} demarcation point. The respective preset ranges may be as follows: the first preset range: the signal receiving time difference is less than or equal to 300ns; the second preset range is: the signal receiving time difference is more than or equal to 300ns and less than 1000ns; the third preset range: the signal receiving time difference is more than or equal to 1000ns and less than 2000ns; the fourth preset range: the signal receiving time difference is greater than or equal to 2000ns and less than 2343ns; the fifth preset range: the signal receiving time difference is 2343ns or more.

It should be noted that the selection of the above-mentioned demarcation points is only an example, in practical applications, both the numerical values and the numbers of the demarcation points may be adjusted according to actual situations, and in different communication systems or different application scenarios, different values and numbers of the demarcation points may correspondingly exist, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. It will be understood that each preset range includes at least a first range and a second range, and the maximum value in the first range is not greater than the minimum value in the second range.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to indicate the respective preset range. After the terminal device receives the configuration information from the network device, the terminal device determines the respective preset ranges based on the configuration information. In yet another possible implementation, the terminal device has the configuration information pre-stored therein.

In some embodiments, the terminal device determines a receiving time difference of each downlink signal in the plurality of received downlink signals within a preset time, and then counts the number of times that the receiving time differences of the plurality of signals corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall into each preset range, so as to generate the number information.

Next, the first time length will be further described.

In a possible implementation manner, the first time length is an average value, a median value, or a mode value of a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals.

The average value (or referred to as an average, or a value of the average) is a number representing a trend in a set of data sets, and is a sum of all data in a set of data divided by the number of the set of data. It is an index that reflects the trend in the data set. Optionally, the average may be an arithmetic average or a weighted average. In the case where the average is a weighted average, different preset ranges may correspond to different weights.

The median (or referred to as median, median value) is a value at the middle position in a group of data arranged in order of magnitude, and represents a value in a sample, population or probability distribution. For a finite number set, one of the median values can be found by sorting the magnitudes of all the observed values (i.e., the multiple signal reception time differences in the embodiment of the present application). If there are an even number of observations, the median is usually taken as the average of the two most intermediate values.

The mode value (or the value of the number, the norm and the dense number), means a value with a significant central tendency point on the statistical distribution, representing the general level of the data; this is understood to be the value that occurs the most frequently in a set of data. In some cases, the mode may be several in a set of numbers. In this embodiment of the application, if there are a plurality of mode values, optionally, the terminal device may send all the mode values to the network device as the first time length, or the terminal device may send an average value (an arithmetic average value, or a weighted average value) of the mode values to the network device as the first time length.

In another possible implementation manner, the first time length is a time length during which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall into a preset range with the largest number of times. The selection manner of the preset range may refer to the description in the above, and will not be described herein. In some cases, there may be a plurality of the preset ranges falling the most number of times. In this embodiment of the application, if there are multiple preset ranges that fall into the maximum number of times, optionally, the terminal device may send all the time lengths of the multiple preset ranges that fall into the maximum number of times as the first time length to the network device, or the terminal device may select one preset range (any one, or one with the largest preset range value) from the multiple preset ranges that fall into the maximum number of times, and send the time length of the one preset range as the first time length to the network device. Illustratively, if the preset ranges that fall the most frequently are [250,500) (ns) and [500,586) (ns), then the first length of time may be [500,586) (ns), which is the largest one of the preset range values.

S104, after the network equipment receives the first information from the terminal equipment, the network equipment determines the scanning time of the sounding reference signal SRS according to the first information.

Wherein the scanning time of the SRS is the time for starting scanning the SRS. The scanning time of the SRS includes a first time, which is determined based on the time of the terminal device configured by the network device to transmit the SRS, and may be regarded as a basic time for scanning the SRS. In a possible implementation manner, the SRS transmitted by the terminal device is a periodic SRS, a transmission period of the periodic SRS may be configured through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling transmitted by the network device to the terminal device, and the network device may determine the first time based on the configured transmission period. In still another possible implementation manner, the SRS transmitted by the terminal device is an aperiodic SRS, a transmission time of the aperiodic SRS may be configured through Downlink Control Information (DCI) transmitted by the network device to the terminal device, and the network device may determine the first time based on the configured transmission time.

In some embodiments, the first information includes times information. The number information may refer to the description in step S103, and is not described herein again. The respective preset ranges include a first range and a second range, and a maximum value in the first range is not greater than a minimum value in the second range. Optionally, the method for the network device to determine the scan time of the SRS according to the first information may be: if the ratio of the number of times that the signal receiving time difference falls within the second range to the total number of times is greater than a preset threshold, the network device determines that the scanning time of the SRS at least comprises a first time and a second time, and a time difference exists between the first time and the second time; wherein the time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range.

Illustratively, the preset threshold may be 60%,70%, etc., and there may be a plurality of possible values. The ratio of the number of times the signal reception time difference falls within the second range to the total number of times is greater than the predetermined threshold value, indicating that the signal reception time difference falls mostly within the second range. And because the signal receiving time difference represented by the second range is larger, the situation shows that the degree of multipath phenomenon in the current environment is stronger, the influence of the multipath phenomenon on the communication quality is larger, or the multipath of the downlink signal is rich. Then, it is highly likely that the measurement results obtained by the network device scanning the SRS based on the first time are inaccurate, and therefore, the network device determines that the SRS scanning time includes at least the first time and the second time.

The time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range. Illustratively, the second range is [250,500) (ns), and the time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range, e.g., the time difference may be 250ns, 300ns, 350ns, 400ns, etc. time values. Since most of the signal receiving time difference of the downlink signal falls within the second range, the probability that the network device detects the SRS with stronger signal quality at the second time determined based on the second range and the first time is very high for the uplink signal according to the symmetry of the downlink signal and the uplink signal.

In some possible embodiments, the network device prestores a scanning time difference corresponding to a second range (i.e., a time difference between the first time and the second time), where the second time is a sum of the first time and the scanning time difference corresponding to the second range. Alternatively, the respective preset ranges may be a greater number of preset ranges, and referring to the example in S103 described above, the respective preset ranges may include 5 preset ranges from the first preset range to the fifth preset range. The preset value of the network equipment has scanning time difference corresponding to each range.

Referring to fig. 4, a diagram of some of the first time and the second time provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown. In fig. 4, each preset range includes a first preset range, a second preset range, and a third preset range. Each preset range has its corresponding scan time difference.

In other embodiments, the first information includes a first length of time. The first time period may refer to the description in step S103, and is not described herein again. Optionally, the first time length is a specific time value, and then, the method for the network device to determine the scan time of the SRS according to the first information may be: the network device determines that the scanning time of the SRS at least includes a first time and a second time, and the second time is a time obtained by adding the first time length to the second time.

Optionally, the first time length is a plurality of specific time values, and an average (an arithmetic average, or a weighted average) of the plurality of time values may be used as a scanning time difference (i.e. a time difference between the first time and the second time), then, the manner for the network device to determine the scanning time of the SRS according to the first information may be: the network device determines that the scanning time of the SRS at least includes a first time and a second time, where the second time is a time obtained by adding the scanning time difference to the second time, and the scanning time difference is determined by a plurality of time values included in the first time length.

Optionally, the first time length is one or more time ranges. For a time range, there may be a corresponding scan time difference. For a plurality of time ranges, a plurality of scanning time differences can be determined from the first time length, and the network device can optionally select one scanning time difference or select one scanning time difference with the largest value. The network device may then determine a second time based on the first time and the determined scan time difference.

Since the first time length indicates a statistical characteristic of a signal receiving time difference of the downlink signal, according to symmetry of the uplink signal and the downlink signal, for the uplink signal, at a second time determined based on the first time length and the first time, there is a high possibility that the network device detects the SRS with a high signal quality.

In some embodiments, after performing step S104, the method may further include: the network equipment scans the SRS according to the first time and the second time to obtain a first channel quality and a second channel quality; the network equipment selects the measurement result with the strongest channel quality in the first channel quality and the second channel quality; the network equipment determines a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) of the terminal equipment based on the measurement result with the strongest channel quality. The first channel quality and the second channel quality may be expressed as RSRP, SINR, and other parameters describing the channel quality. The measurement result with the strongest channel quality indicates that the corresponding channel quality is better than another measurement result, which may be, for example, the measurement result with the highest RSRP or the highest SINR. It should be noted that some parameters describing the channel quality may also have smaller values, which indicate that the channel quality is better, and the "strongest channel quality" herein does not represent "the highest value of the parameters describing the channel quality". In addition, the network device may also perform other operations such as scheduling of uplink resources, calculating a TA value corresponding to the UE, performing uplink channel estimation, beam management, and the like according to the measurement result with the strongest channel quality, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

By the method, under the condition that the degree of the multipath phenomenon in the current environment is determined to be stronger, the network equipment can adjust the scanning time of the SRS, so that a more accurate SRS measurement result can be obtained, the network equipment can be assisted to better perform operations such as scheduling of uplink resources, and the performance of an air interface can be improved.

Some possibilities are described below, which extend on the basis of the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 3.

In some possible implementations, before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, the method further includes: the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to send the first information. After the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device sends the first information to the network device according to the first indication information. In this way, when the network device needs the first information, the network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device to obtain the first information.

Optionally, before the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the network device may first determine whether the terminal device has a capability of measuring a signal receiving time difference. After determining that the terminal device has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device. In some possible implementations, the method further includes: the network equipment sends second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference or not; after the terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device, the terminal device sends the capability information to the network device according to the second indication information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information from the terminal device. Specifically, the manner of sending the first indication information to the terminal device by the network device is as follows: if the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment. By the method, the network equipment can detect the capability of the terminal equipment, and the subsequent operation is carried out after the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, so that the problem of resource waste caused by insufficient capability of the terminal equipment can be avoided.

In some possible implementation manners, the manner in which the network device receives the first information from the terminal device is as follows: the network device receives first information from the terminal device through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). That is, the terminal device transmits the first information to the network device following the data signal. In this way, the uplink and downlink overhead of the air interface can be saved.

Optionally, in this implementation, the method further includes: the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the sending period of the terminal device aiming at the first information. The method for sending the first information to the network equipment by the terminal equipment comprises the following steps: after the terminal device receives the third indication information from the network device, and when the current time reaches the transmission period, the terminal device transmits the first information to the network device through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

For example, the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information may be carried in at least one of the following signaling: radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling, and Downlink Control Information (DCI). It should be noted that as communication technology evolves, the names of these signaling may change. In other possible implementations, the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information may also be carried in other signaling.

It is to be understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the network device and the terminal device include hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and method 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 driven hardware depends on the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 50 includes a transceiver 501 and a processing unit 502, which are described in detail below.

In one embodiment:

a transceiving unit 501, configured to receive first information from a terminal device, where the first information includes time information or a first time length; the number information is used for indicating the number of times that a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment fall into each preset range within preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise a first downlink signal, wherein a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold value for the first time, and the second time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold value for the last time; the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

A processing unit 502, configured to determine a scanning time of the sounding reference signal SRS according to the first information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first information includes frequency information, each preset range includes a first range and a second range, and a maximum value in the first range is not greater than a minimum value in the second range; the processing unit 502 is specifically configured to: if the ratio of the number of times that the signal receiving time difference falls within the second range to the total number of times is greater than a preset threshold, determining that the scanning time of the SRS at least comprises a first time and a second time, wherein a time difference exists between the first time and the second time, and the scanning time of the SRS is the time for starting scanning the SRS; wherein the time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 502 is further configured to: scanning the SRS according to the first time and the second time to obtain a first channel quality and a second channel quality; selecting the measurement result with the strongest channel quality in the first channel quality and the second channel quality; and determining the modulation and coding strategy MCS of the terminal equipment based on the measurement result with the strongest channel quality.

In a possible implementation manner, the first time length is an average value, a median value, or a mode value of a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals; or, the first time length is a time length of a preset range in which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within a maximum number of times.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is further configured to: and sending configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating each preset range.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit is further configured to: and sending first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send the first information.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is further configured to: sending second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference or not; receiving capability information from the terminal device; the transceiving unit 501 is specifically configured to: and if the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, sending the first indication information to the terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is specifically configured to: and receiving first information from the terminal equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is further configured to: and sending third indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the sending period of the terminal equipment for the first information.

In one possible implementation, the first downlink signal is one or more of the following signals: a synchronization signal block SSB, a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal TRS and a data signal in a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH.

In the above embodiment, the communication device 50 may be a network device, an apparatus in a network device, or an apparatus capable of being used in cooperation with a network device. Specifically, the operations performed by the units of the communication apparatus 50 shown in fig. 5 may refer to the related contents related to the network device in the embodiment of the method corresponding to fig. 3, and will not be described in detail here. The above units can be realized by hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. In one embodiment, the functions of the transceiving unit 501 and the processing unit 502 in the above description may be implemented by one or more processors in the communication device 50.

In this embodiment, the communication device 50 determines the SRS scanning time according to first information sent by the terminal device, where the first information may indicate a sensing condition of the terminal device on a multipath phenomenon through a downlink signal, and the communication device 50 determines the SRS scanning time through the first information, which may improve accuracy of SRS measurement, obtain a more accurate SRS measurement result, assist the communication device 50 in better scheduling uplink resources, and improve performance of an air interface.

In another embodiment:

a processing unit 502, configured to determine a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the communication apparatus within a preset time; the plurality of downlink signals include a first downlink signal, a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the communication device receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold for the first time, and the second time is a time when the communication device receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or a time when the communication device receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold for the last time.

A transceiving unit 501, configured to send first information to a network device; the first information includes frequency information or a first time length, the frequency information is used to indicate the frequency at which multiple signal receiving time differences corresponding to the multiple downlink signals fall into respective preset ranges, and the first time length is obtained based on the multiple signal receiving time differences corresponding to the multiple downlink signals received by the communication device within the preset time.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is further configured to: receiving configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating each preset range; alternatively, the communication device has the configuration information pre-stored therein.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is specifically configured to: receiving first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the communication device to send the first information; and sending the first information to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is further configured to: receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the communication device to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the communication device has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference or not; and sending the capability information to the network equipment according to the second indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is specifically configured to: and under the condition that the current time reaches a transmission period, transmitting the first information to the network equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiving unit 501 is further configured to: and receiving third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the transmission period of the communication device for the first information.

In the above embodiment, the communication device 50 may be a terminal device, may be a device in a terminal device, or may be a device that can be used in cooperation with a terminal device. Specifically, the operations performed by the units of the communication apparatus 50 shown in fig. 5 may refer to the related contents related to the terminal device in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 3, and are not described in detail here. The above units can be implemented in hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. In one embodiment, the functions of the transceiving unit 501 and the processing unit 502 in the above description may be implemented by one or more processors in the communication device 50.

In this embodiment, the communication device 50 determines a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the communication device 50 within a preset time, determines first information according to the plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals, and sends the first information to the network device. The first information may indicate a sensing situation of the communication apparatus 50 on the multipath phenomenon through the downlink signal, and the first information may assist the network device to determine the SRS scanning time, may improve the accuracy of SRS measurement, and obtain a more accurate SRS measurement result.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 60 may be configured to implement the method described in the foregoing method embodiment, and specific reference may be made to the description in the foregoing method embodiment.

The communication device 60 may include one or more processors 601. The processor 601 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, etc. The processor 601 may be used to control a communication device (e.g., a network device chip, a terminal device chip, etc.), execute a software program, and process data of the software program.

Optionally, one or more memories 602 may be included in the communication device 60, on which program codes 603 may be stored, and the program codes may be executed on the processor 601, so that the communication device 60 performs the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 602 may also store data. The processor 601 and the memory 602 may be provided separately or may be integrated together. Alternatively, the memory 602 may be located outside the communication device 60 and coupled to the communication device 60 in some manner.

Optionally, the communication device 60 may also include a transceiver 604. The transceiver 604 may be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver, or a transceiving circuit, etc., for implementing transceiving functions. The transceiver 604 may include a receiver and a transmitter, and the receiver may be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc. for implementing a receiving function; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or a transmission circuit, etc. for implementing the transmission function.

In one embodiment:

a processor 601, configured to receive first information from a terminal device through a transceiver 604, where the first information includes time information or a first time length; the number information is used for indicating the number of times that a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment fall into each preset range within preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise a first downlink signal, wherein a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold value for the first time, and the second time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold value for the last time; the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

The processor 601 is further configured to determine a scanning time of the sounding reference signal SRS according to the first information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first information includes number information, the preset ranges include a first range and a second range, and a maximum value in the first range is not greater than a minimum value in the second range; the processor is specifically configured to: if the ratio of the number of times that the signal receiving time difference falls within the second range to the total number of times is greater than a preset threshold, determining that the scanning time of the SRS at least comprises a first time and a second time, wherein a time difference exists between the first time and the second time, and the scanning time of the SRS is the time for starting scanning the SRS; wherein the time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range.

In one possible implementation, the processor 601 is further configured to: scanning the SRS according to the first time and the second time to obtain a first channel quality and a second channel quality; selecting the measurement result with the strongest channel quality in the first channel quality and the second channel quality; and determining the modulation and coding strategy MCS of the terminal equipment based on the measurement result with the strongest channel quality.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to send configuration information to the terminal device through the transceiver 604, where the configuration information is used to indicate the respective preset range.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to send, through the transceiver 604, first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to send, by the transceiver 604, second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device sends capability information, and the capability information is used to indicate whether the terminal device has a capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference; receiving capability information from the terminal device; the processor 601 is specifically configured to: and if the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, sending the first indication information to the terminal equipment.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver 604 is specifically configured to: and receiving first information from the terminal equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to transmit, through the transceiver 604, third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to indicate a transmission period of the terminal device for the first information.

In the above embodiment, the communication device 60 may be a network device, or may be a chip, a system-on-chip, a processor, or the like, which supports the network device to implement the method described above. Specifically, the operations performed by the communication device 60 may refer to the related contents related to the network device in the embodiment of the method corresponding to fig. 3, and will not be described in detail here.

In this embodiment, the communication device 60 determines the SRS scanning time according to the first information sent by the terminal device, where the first information may indicate a situation that the terminal device perceives a multipath phenomenon through a downlink signal, and the communication device 60 determines the SRS scanning time according to the first information, which may improve accuracy of SRS measurement, obtain a more accurate SRS measurement result, assist the communication device 60 to better perform scheduling of uplink resources, and improve performance of an air interface.

In another embodiment:

a processor 601, configured to determine a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the communications apparatus within a preset time; the plurality of downlink signals include a first downlink signal, a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the first downlink signal with the signal quality exceeding a preset threshold is received by the communication device for the first time, and the second time is a time when the first downlink signal with the strongest signal quality is received by the communication device for the first time or a time when the first downlink signal with the signal quality exceeding the preset threshold is received by the communication device for the last time.

A processor 601, further configured to send first information to a network device through a transceiver 604; the first information includes frequency information or a first time length, the frequency information is used to indicate the frequency at which multiple signal receiving time differences corresponding to the multiple downlink signals fall into respective preset ranges, and the first time length is obtained based on the multiple signal receiving time differences corresponding to the multiple downlink signals received by the communication device within the preset time.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to receive configuration information from the network device through the transceiver 604, where the configuration information is used to indicate the respective preset range; alternatively, the communication device has the configuration information pre-stored therein.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to receive, through the transceiver 604, first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the communication apparatus to transmit the first information; and sending the first information to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to receive, through the transceiver 604, second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the communication apparatus transmits capability information, and the capability information is used to indicate whether the communication apparatus has a capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference; and sending the capability information to the network equipment according to the second indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to transmit, through the transceiver 604, the first information to the network device through a physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, when the current time arrives at the transmission cycle.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 601 is further configured to receive, through the transceiver 604, third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate a transmission period of the communication apparatus for the first information.

In the above embodiment, the communication device 60 may be a terminal device, or may be a chip, a chip system, a processor, or the like that supports the terminal device to implement the method. Specifically, the operations performed by the communication device 60 may refer to the related contents related to the terminal device in the embodiment of the method corresponding to fig. 3, and will not be described in detail here.

In this embodiment, the communication device 60 determines a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the communication device 60 within a preset time, determines first information according to the plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals, and sends the first information to the network device. The first information may indicate a sensing situation of the communication apparatus 60 on the multipath phenomenon through the downlink signal, and the first information may assist the network device to determine the SRS scanning time, may improve the accuracy of SRS measurement, and obtain a more accurate SRS measurement result.

In another possible design, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface circuit. The transmit and receive circuitry, interfaces or interface circuitry used to implement the receive and transmit functions may be separate or integrated. The transceiver circuit, the interface circuit or the interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code/data, or the transceiver circuit, the interface circuit or the interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In yet another possible design, the communication device 60 may include circuitry that may implement the functionality of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments.

The processors and transceivers described herein may be implemented on Integrated Circuits (ICs), analog ICs, radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs), mixed signal ICs, application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), electronic devices, and the like.

The communication apparatus in the above description of the embodiment may be a network device or a terminal device, but the scope of the communication apparatus described in the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication apparatus may not be limited by fig. 6. The communication means may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. The communication means may be, for example:

(1) A stand-alone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or system-on-chip or subsystem;

(2) A set of one or more ICs, which optionally may also include memory components for storing data, program code;

(3) An ASIC, such as a Modem (Modem);

(4) A module that may be embedded within other devices;

(5) Receivers, smart terminals, wireless devices, handsets, mobile units, in-vehicle devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, and the like;

(6) Others, and so forth.

For the case that the communication device may be a chip or a system of chips, see the schematic diagram of the chip shown in fig. 7. The chip 70 shown in fig. 7 includes a logic circuit 701 and an input-output interface 702. The number of the logic circuits 701 may be one or more, and the number of the input/output interfaces 702 may be more.

For the case that the chip is used to implement the functions of the network device in the embodiment of the present application:

an input/output interface 702, configured to receive first information from a terminal device, where the first information includes time information or a first time length; the number information is used for indicating the number of times that a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment fall into each preset range within preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise a first downlink signal, wherein a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold value for the first time, and the second time is a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or a time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold value for the last time; the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

A logic circuit 701, configured to determine a scanning time of the sounding reference signal SRS according to the first information.

The logic circuit 701 is further configured to process the first information, and the operations performed by the logic circuit 701 may refer to the description of the network device in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 3.

For the case that the chip is used for realizing the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application:

a logic circuit 701, configured to determine a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within a preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise a first downlink signal, a signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signal is a time difference between a first time and a second time, the first time is a time when the terminal device receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds a preset threshold for the first time, and the second time is a time when the terminal device receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality is strongest, or a time when the terminal device receives the first downlink signal of which the signal quality exceeds the preset threshold for the last time.

An input/output interface 702, configured to send first information to a network device; the first information includes frequency information or a first time length, the frequency information is used to indicate the frequency at which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within respective preset ranges, and the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

The logic circuit 701 is further configured to process a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals, and the operations performed by the logic circuit 701 may refer to the description of the terminal device in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 3.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) set forth in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design requirements of the overall system. 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 embodiments of the present application.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the functionality of any of the above-described method embodiments.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functionality of any of the above-described method embodiments.

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. The processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application occur in whole or in part when the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. 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 computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (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 includes one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Drive (SSD)), among others.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: the first, second, etc. numerical references mentioned in this application are only for convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope and sequence of the embodiments of this application.

Predefinition in this application may be understood as defining, predefining, storing, pre-negotiating, pre-configuring, curing, or pre-firing.

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

It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

Claims

1. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment receives first information from terminal equipment, wherein the first information comprises frequency information or first time length;

the frequency information is used for indicating the frequency that a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment in a preset time fall into each preset range; the plurality of downlink signals comprise first downlink signals, the signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signals is the time difference between first time and second time, the first time is the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signals with the signal quality exceeding a preset threshold value for the first time, and the second time is the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signals with the strongest signal quality or the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signals with the signal quality exceeding the preset threshold value for the last time; the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time;

and the network equipment determines the scanning time of the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) according to the first information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first information includes number-of-times information, the respective preset ranges include a first range and a second range, and a maximum value in the first range is not greater than a minimum value in the second range;

the network device determines the scanning time of the SRS according to the first information, and the method comprises the following steps:

if the ratio of the number of times that the signal receiving time difference falls within the second range to the total number of times is greater than a preset threshold, the network device determines that the SRS scanning time at least comprises a first time and a second time, wherein a time difference exists between the first time and the second time, and the SRS scanning time is the time for starting scanning the SRS;

wherein a time difference between the first time and the second time is included in the second range.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

the network equipment scans the SRS according to the first time and the second time to obtain a first channel quality and a second channel quality;

the network equipment selects the measurement result with the strongest channel quality in the first channel quality and the second channel quality;

and the network equipment determines the modulation and coding strategy MCS of the terminal equipment based on the measurement result with the strongest channel quality.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first time length is an average value, a median value, or a mode value of a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals;

or the first time length is a time length of a preset range in which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall within a maximum number of times.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

and the network equipment sends configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating each preset range.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, the method further comprises:

the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, and the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send the first information.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

the network equipment sends second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference;

the network equipment receives the capability information from the terminal equipment;

the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, and the first indication information comprises:

and if the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment.

8. The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, comprising:

and the network equipment receives first information from the terminal equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

and the network equipment sends third indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the sending period of the terminal equipment aiming at the first information.

10. The method according to any of claims 1-9, wherein the first downlink signal is one or more of the following: a synchronization signal block SSB, a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal TRS and a data signal in a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH.

11. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment determines a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal equipment within preset time; the plurality of downlink signals comprise first downlink signals, the signal receiving time difference corresponding to the first downlink signals is the time difference between first time and second time, the first time is the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signals with the signal quality exceeding a preset threshold value for the first time, and the second time is the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signals with the strongest signal quality or the time when the terminal equipment receives the first downlink signals with the signal quality exceeding the preset threshold value for the last time;

the terminal equipment sends first information to network equipment; the first information includes frequency information or a first time length, the frequency information is used to indicate the frequency at which a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals fall into respective preset ranges, and the first time length is obtained based on a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the terminal device within the preset time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first time length is an average value, a median value, or a mode value of a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to the plurality of downlink signals;

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the terminal equipment receives configuration information from the network equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating each preset range;

or, the terminal device prestores the configuration information.

14. The method according to any of claims 11-13, wherein the terminal device sends the first information to a network device, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send the first information;

and the terminal equipment sends the first information to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein before the terminal device receives the first indication information sent by the network device, the method further comprises:

the terminal device receives second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to send capability information, and the capability information is used for indicating whether the terminal device has the capability of measuring the signal receiving time difference or not;

and the terminal equipment sends the capability information to the network equipment according to the second indication information.

16. The method according to any of claims 11-13, wherein the terminal device sends the first information to a network device, comprising:

and under the condition that the current time reaches a sending period, the terminal equipment sends the first information to the network equipment through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

the terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating a sending period of the terminal device for the first information.

18. The method according to any of claims 11-17, wherein the first downlink signal is one or more of the following: a synchronization signal block SSB, a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal TRS and a data signal in a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH.

19. A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory;

the memory for storing program code;

the processor to invoke the program code from the memory to perform the method of any of claims 1-18.

20. A communication apparatus comprising a logic circuit and an input-output interface,

the input/output interface is used for inputting first information from the terminal equipment;

the logic circuit is used for determining the scanning time of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) according to the first information;

the logic circuitry is further configured to process the first information and perform the method of any of claims 1-10.

21. A communication apparatus comprising a logic circuit and an input-output interface,

the logic circuit is configured to determine a plurality of signal receiving time differences corresponding to a plurality of downlink signals received by the communication device within a preset time;

the input/output interface is used for sending first information to the network equipment;

the logic circuit is configured to process the plurality of signal receive time differences and to perform the method of any one of claims 11-18.

22. A computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions that, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1-18 to be implemented.

23. A computer program product, comprising a computer program or instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-18 when the computer program or instructions is run on a computer.