CN116724580A

CN116724580A - Reference signal transmission method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN116724580A
Application number: CN202180088676.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李怡然; 余健; 郭志恒; 邵家枫
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-01-20
Filing date: 2021-01-20
Publication date: 2023-09-08
Also published as: WO2022155824A1

Abstract

The application provides a reference signal transmission method and a communication device, which can enable terminal equipment and first network equipment to align the configuration mode of reference signals on at least two time units and realize interference measurement. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment and the network equipment determine a first configuration, wherein the first configuration is whether zero-power uplink reference signals and/or demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are included in at least two time units; the terminal device sends the zero power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network device on the at least two time units based on the first configuration, where the zero power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement. Correspondingly, the first network device receives the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal device on the at least two time units.

Description

Reference signal transmission method and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a reference signal transmission method and a communication device.

Background

In a wireless communication system, when a network device performs uplink scheduling, downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) may be sent in a downlink time unit to instruct a terminal device to allocate, modulate, and encode time-frequency resources during uplink transmission. However, if the DCI indicates the scheduling information transmitted by the terminal device in each uplink time unit, the DCI overhead is excessive and the utilization of the physical downlink resources is not high.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a reference signal transmission method and a communication device, which can enable terminal equipment to flexibly configure zero-power uplink reference signals and DMRS on at least two time units, and is beneficial to reducing the cost of physical resources.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting a reference signal is provided, where an execution body of the method may be a terminal device or a chip applied in the terminal device. The following describes an example in which the execution subject is a terminal device. Comprising the following steps: the terminal equipment determines a first configuration, wherein the first configuration is whether zero-power uplink reference signals and/or demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are included on at least two time units; the terminal device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS to the first network device over the at least two time units based on the first configuration, the zero-power uplink reference signal being used for interference measurement.

It should be understood that the signal transmitting power on the time-frequency resource where the zero-power uplink reference signal is located is zero, i.e. the terminal device does not send any signal on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the zero-power uplink reference signal. In this way, the first network device may perform interference measurements on time units that include zero-power uplink reference signals. Or it is understood that the first network device may perform interference measurement on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the zero-power uplink reference signal. In addition, the zero power uplink reference signal may be another name, which is not limited by the present application.

According to the reference signal transmission method, the first configuration is respectively determined through the terminal equipment and the first network equipment, so that whether the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS are transmitted on at least two time units or not is determined, the terminal equipment can flexibly configure the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS on at least two time units, and the cost of physical resources is reduced.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, a first configuration includes: the terminal equipment determines the first configuration according to first indication information of the first network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment transmits the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS on at least two time units; or the terminal equipment determines the first configuration according to the first transmission rule agreed by the protocol.

Optionally, the first indication information is carried in DCI. For example, an indication field is configured in the DCI, where the indication field is used to indicate whether to send the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS on the at least two time units. The indication field may be one or more available fields configured by the existing protocol for DCI, one or more reserved fields configured by the existing protocol for DCI, or one or more newly added fields not defined by the existing protocol for DCI, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first sending rule includes at least one of the following: the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, the first time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the first time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises a zero-power uplink reference signal and a DMRS; or, the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the second time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one second time unit comprises zero-power uplink reference signals and does not comprise a DMRS; alternatively, the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one third time unit does not include zero power uplink reference signals; the first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the first network equipment, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the second network equipment.

It will be appreciated that when the second time unit is located after the first time unit and the second time unit are consecutive. If the channel characteristic of the second time unit is slower, in order to reduce the DMRS overhead, the terminal device on the second time unit may not transmit the DMRS signal, and the receiving end may use the DMRS of the first time unit to perform channel estimation.

It should also be appreciated that the terminal device may obtain the frame structures of the first network device and the second network device in advance when determining the first configuration according to the first transmission rule agreed by the protocol. For example, the terminal device may receive network information or system information of the first network device and the second network device, thereby determining frame structures of the two network devices.

According to the reference signal transmission method, under the long TTI scheduling, the terminal equipment and the first network equipment can flexibly configure the time units for transmitting the zero-power reference signal and the DMRS, namely flexibly configure the physical resources for interference measurement and channel estimation, and on the basis of ensuring lower DCI overhead, the overhead of the physical resources for interference measurement and channel estimation can be flexibly reduced according to actual conditions, and the uplink throughput is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal equipment determines a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS; the terminal device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS to the first network device on the at least two time units based on the first configuration, including: and the terminal equipment sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network equipment on the time-frequency resource based on the second configuration.

According to the reference signal transmission method, the terminal equipment and the first network equipment can flexibly configure the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the time-frequency resources occupied by the DMRS, so that the first network equipment can measure the interference of different time-frequency resource positions, the resource collision can be reduced, the DMRS signal for channel estimation is prevented from being subjected to continuous strong interference, and the accuracy of channel estimation is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, the second configuration includes: the terminal equipment determines the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or indicated to the terminal equipment by the first network equipment through signaling.

The set of time-frequency resource patterns may be configured by the first network device for the terminal device by radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling, for example, which embodiments of the application are not limited.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, the second configuration includes: the terminal device determines the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network device, where the indication information is used to indicate an index of the DMRS in a DMRS code division multiplexing (code division multiplexing, CDM) packet.

It should be understood that the second indication information and the first indication information may be indicated by different fields in one DCI or may be indicated by two DCIs, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the DMRS corresponds to a first time-frequency resource in a first DMRS CDM group, where the first DMRS CDM group is a DMRS CDM group corresponding to a CDM configuration type of the DMRS, the zero-power uplink reference signal is a second time-frequency resource, and the second time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource except the first time-frequency resource in a time-frequency resource where the first DMRS CDM group is located.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, a second configuration includes: the terminal equipment determines the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by a protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises: there is an association between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned association relationship may be expressed in the form of a formula or a function, or may be expressed in the form of a text description, which is not limited thereto.

In the embodiment of the application, the relation between the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit can be predefined, and the terminal equipment can determine the zero-power time-frequency resource pattern on each time unit according to the scheduled time unit, thereby saving signaling overhead.

In summary, in the embodiment of the present application, under long TTI scheduling, that is, when a signaling schedules a plurality of time units, for the case that the DMRS and the zero power uplink reference signal in a single time unit may be configured independently, the first network device may instruct the terminal device whether to send the zero power uplink reference signal or the DMRS in each uplink time unit, which is favorable for flexibly reducing the overhead of physical resources of interference measurement and channel estimation in combination with practical situations. For the situation that the DMRS and the zero-power uplink reference signal cannot independently appear in a single time unit, the first network device can instruct the terminal device to flexibly configure the zero-power uplink reference signal of different time units and the time-frequency resource pattern of the DMRS, so that on one hand, the first network device is beneficial to measuring the interference of different time-frequency resource positions, on the other hand, the first network device is beneficial to reducing the resource collision, and the DMRS for channel estimation is avoided from being continuously and strongly interfered by the second network device.

In a second aspect, another method for transmitting a reference signal is provided, where the method may be implemented by a network device or a chip applied in the network device. The following describes an example in which the execution subject is a network device. Comprising the following steps: the first network device determines a first configuration, wherein the first configuration is whether zero-power uplink reference signals and/or demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are included on at least two time units; the first network device receives the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS sent by the terminal device on the at least two time units, where the zero-power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, after the first network device determines the first configuration, the method further includes: the first network device sends first indication information to the terminal device according to the first configuration, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS on at least two time units; or the first network device determines the first configuration according to a first transmission rule agreed by a protocol.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first sending rule includes at least one of the following: the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, the first time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the first time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises a zero-power uplink reference signal and a DMRS; or, the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the second time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one second time unit comprises zero-power uplink reference signals and does not comprise a DMRS; alternatively, the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one third time unit does not include zero power uplink reference signals; the first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the first network equipment, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the second network equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first network device determines a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS; the first network device receives the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS sent by the terminal device on the at least two time units, including: the first network device receives the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal device on the time-frequency resource.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, after the determining, by the first network device, the second configuration further includes: and the first network device sends second indication information to the terminal device according to the second configuration, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or the first network device is configured for the terminal device.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, after the determining, by the first network device, the second configuration further includes: the first network device sends second indication information to the terminal device according to the second configuration, where the second indication information is used to indicate the index of the DMRS in the DMRS code division multiplexing CDM packet.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the DMRS corresponds to a first time-frequency resource in a first DMRS CDM group, where the first DMRS CDM group is a DMRS CDM group corresponding to a CDM configuration type of the DMRS, the zero-power uplink reference signal is a second time-frequency resource, and the second time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource excluding the first time-frequency resource in a time-frequency resource where the first DMRS CDM group is located.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, by the first network device, a second configuration includes: the first network device determines the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by a protocol, and the second transmission rule comprises: there is an association between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.

In a third aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: for performing the method in any of the possible implementations of the first aspect described above. In particular, the apparatus comprises means for performing the method in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect described above.

In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the first aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software.

In another design, the communication device is a communication chip that may include an input circuit or interface for transmitting information or data and an output circuit or interface for receiving information or data.

In another design, the communication device is a communication apparatus that may include a transmitter for transmitting information or data and a receiver for receiving information or data.

In another design, the communication device is configured to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, where the communication device may be configured in a terminal device, or the communication device itself is the terminal device.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided another communication apparatus comprising: for performing the method in any of the possible implementations of the second aspect described above. In particular, the communication device comprises means for performing the method in any of the possible implementations of the second aspect described above.

In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the second aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software.

In another design, the communication apparatus is configured to perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect, where the communication apparatus may be configured in the first network device, or the apparatus itself is the first network device.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor, a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to call and run the computer program from the memory, such that the device performs the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In one design, the processor is one or more and the memory is one or more.

In one design, the memory may be integrated with the processor or the memory may be separate from the processor.

In a sixth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided comprising a processor, a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being configured to invoke and run the computer program from the memory such that the apparatus performs the method in any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In one design, the processor is one or more and the memory is one or more.

In one design, the communication device further includes a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver), which may be separate or integrated together and referred to as a transceiver (transceiver).

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) which, when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of any one of the aspects.

In an eighth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of any one of the aspects.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising means for implementing the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, and means for implementing the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In one possible design, the communication system may further include other devices that interact with the terminal device and/or the first network device in the solution provided by the embodiments of the present application.

In a tenth aspect, another communication system is provided, comprising at least one of the above terminal devices and at least one of the above first network devices.

In one possible design, the communication system may further comprise at least one of the above-described second network devices.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a possible frame structure employed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of one possible time cell relationship provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a reference signal transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an indication field carrying first indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another indication field carrying first indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency resource pattern set according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of 6 configurations of DMRS CDM packets provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a DMRS pattern according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of still another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme provided by the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) system, a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system, a New Radio (NR) system, or other evolved communication system, a next generation mobile communication system of a 5G communication system, and the like.

The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as: a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment, etc.

The terminal device may be a device providing voice/data connectivity to a user, e.g., a handheld device with wireless connectivity, an in-vehicle device, etc. Currently, examples of some terminal devices include: a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, palmtop, mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), wearable device, virtual Reality (VR) device, augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), wireless terminal in unmanned (self driving), wireless terminal in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), cellular phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, wearable device, terminal device in future communication land-based network (public land mobile network), and the like, without limiting the application thereto.

By way of example and not limitation, in the present application, the terminal device may be a terminal device in an internet of things (internet of things, ioT) system. The internet of things is an important component of the development of future information technology, and is mainly technically characterized in that objects are connected with a network through a communication technology, so that man-machine interconnection and an intelligent network for the interconnection of the objects are realized. The terminal device in the embodiment of the application can be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear by applying wearable technology and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. A wearable device is a portable device that may be worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize powerful functions through software support and data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in machine type communication (machine type communication, MTC). The terminal device may be a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip, a vehicle-mounted unit, or the like, which are built in the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle may implement the method provided by the present application through the built-in vehicle-mounted module, vehicle-mounted component, vehicle-mounted chip, or vehicle-mounted unit, or the like. Therefore, the embodiment of the application can also be applied to the Internet of vehicles, such as the vehicle external connection (vehicle to everything, V2X), the long-term evolution technology of workshop communication (long term evolution-vehicle, LTE-V), the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology and the like.

The network device to which the present application relates may be a device in communication with a terminal device, which may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device, may be a transmission receiving point (transmission reception point, TRP), may also be an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, may also be a home base station (e.g. home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), may also be a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, or may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., may also be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, may also be a gNB in an NR system, and may also be a city base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a femto base station, etc., the present application is not limited thereto.

In one network architecture, the network devices may include Centralized Unit (CU) nodes, or Distributed Unit (DU) nodes, or radio access network (radio access network, RAN) devices including CU nodes and DU nodes, or RAN devices including control plane CU nodes (CU-CP nodes) and user plane CU nodes (CU-UP nodes) and DU nodes.

The network device provides services for the cell, and the terminal device communicates with the cell through transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) allocated by the network device, where the cell may belong to a macro base station (e.g., macro eNB or macro gNB, etc.), or may belong to a base station corresponding to a small cell (small cell), where the small cell may include: urban cells (metro cells), micro cells (micro cells), pico cells (pico cells), femto cells (femto cells) and the like, and the small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmitting power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 includes a first network device 110, a second network device 120, and a terminal device 130. The terminal device 130 is within a common coverage area of the first network device 110 and the second network device 120, and thus the first network device 110 and the terminal device 130 may communicate via a wireless connection, and the second network device 120 and the terminal device 130 may also communicate via a wireless connection.

Communications may be classified into different types according to the kinds of transmitting nodes and receiving nodes. In general, sending information from a network device to a terminal device is referred to as Downlink (DL) communication or downlink transmission, and sending information from a terminal device to a network device is referred to as Uplink (UL) communication or uplink transmission. Thus, in fig. 1, the first network device 110 may send information (the information may also be simply referred to as downlink information) to the terminal device 130 for downlink communication; the terminal device 130 may send information to the first network device 110 for uplink communication (the information may also be simply referred to as uplink information); the second network device 120 may send information to the terminal device 130 for downlink communication (the information may also be simply referred to as downlink information); the terminal device 130 may send information (which may also be referred to simply as uplink information) to the second network device 120 for uplink communication.

In one possible scenario, the first network device 110 in fig. 1 is a micro base station and the second network device 120 is a macro base station.

It should be understood that fig. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram for easy understanding, and the communication system 100 may further include other numbers of network devices or terminal devices, or include other types of devices, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a possible frame structure employed by an embodiment of the present application. In the frame structure shown in fig. 2, D represents a downlink time unit, U represents an uplink time unit, S represents a hybrid uplink and downlink time unit (i.e., S may be a time unit for uplink transmission or a time unit for downlink transmission), and S may be referred to as a flexible time unit. As shown in fig. 2, the first frame structure is DSUUU, and the second frame structure is DDDSU.

Assuming that the first network device 110 in fig. 1 performs information transmission with the terminal device 130 by using the first frame structure, and the second network device 120 performs information transmission with the terminal device 130 by using the second frame structure, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, in a case where the first network device 110 performs uplink transmission (U) with the terminal device 130 and simultaneously the second network device 120 performs downlink transmission (D or S) with the terminal device 130, uplink information received by the first network device 110 from the terminal device 130 may overlap downlink information sent by the second network device 120 to the terminal device 130, and downlink information sent by the second network device 120 to the terminal device 130 may be interference information for uplink information received by the first network device 110 from the terminal device 130, where the interference information may cause uplink information of the terminal device 130 to be not accurately demodulated. In other words, the downlink data sent by the second network device 120 to the terminal device 130 may cause interference to the uplink data sent by the terminal device 130 to the first network device 110, i.e. the second network device 120 may cause interference to the first network device 110. Therefore, the first network device 110 needs to measure the interference of the second network device 120, so as to perform interference suppression according to the measurement result, so as to solve the interference problem, and better demodulate the uplink information from the terminal device 130.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in fig. 3, the scenario includes a network device 310, a network device 320, a terminal device 330, and a terminal device 340. Terminal device 330 and terminal device 340 are within the coverage of network device 310, i.e., cell (cell) 1. The terminal device 340 is within the coverage of the network device 320, i.e. cell 2. As can be seen from fig. 3, there is an overlap area of coverage of network device 310 and network device 320. In the overlapping area, one terminal device may communicate with multiple network devices, which may cause the transmission signals of the terminal devices in the overlapping area to interfere with the transmission signals of other terminal devices.

Illustratively, terminal device 330 performs uplink transmission with network device 310, and terminal device 340 performs uplink transmission with network device 320. However, when the network device 310 receives the uplink signal from the terminal device 330, the network device 310 may also receive the uplink signal from the terminal device 340 sent to the network device 320, so that the network device 310 cannot accurately demodulate the uplink signal from the terminal device 330. Therefore, the uplink signal of the terminal device 340 will cause interference to the uplink signal of the terminal device 330, and interference measurement is required to solve the interference problem.

It should be understood that fig. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram for easy understanding, and the communication system 300 may further include other numbers of network devices or terminal devices, or include other types of devices, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

In general, when the network device performs uplink scheduling, the network device may send DCI in a downlink time unit, and instruct, by using the DCI, information such as time-frequency resource allocation, modulation, and coding during uplink transmission by the terminal device. The DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH). In the above-mentioned frame structure of the action master (for example, the first frame structure DSUUU shown in fig. 2), if the DCI indicates the scheduling information transmitted by the terminal device on each uplink time unit in each uplink time unit, the DCI overhead is excessive, which further causes a deficiency of physical downlink resources. Therefore, in order to effectively reduce the signaling overhead of DCI in uplink scheduling, one possible implementation manner is to schedule two or more time units with one piece of DCI or schedule two or more time-frequency resource units with one piece of DCI, so that the signaling overhead of DCI in uplink scheduling is effectively reduced. In the present application, the technique of scheduling transmission over multiple time units with 1 DCI is collectively referred to as long transmission time interval (transmission time interval, TTI) scheduling. Other names may be used for this technology, and embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard.

Under the long TTI scheduling, in the prior art, every time unit of uplink transmission, a network device uses DMRS at the same location to perform channel estimation. In the case of one DCI scheduling one time unit, the zero-power uplink reference signal may also use the same location distribution over different time units.

On the one hand, in the scheduling manner, if the channel between the terminal device and the network device is a slowly varying channel, as the channel characteristics change slowly with time, channel estimation is performed in each time unit, which causes a certain resource waste and is not beneficial to the improvement of uplink throughput. Moreover, DMRS time-frequency resources at the same location enable only interference at the location of a fixed Resource Element (RE) to be measured at different time units, and if there is continuous strong interference, DMRS at the fixed location may collide with resources to some extent (i.e. the DMRS at the same resource unit is subjected to continuous strong interference), which results in a decrease in channel estimation performance and affects demodulation performance. Therefore, configuring DMRS at the same position in each time unit cannot guarantee the performance of channel estimation, and affects demodulation and decoding of data.

On the other hand, with the scheduling method, for the zero-power uplink reference signal, there are some time units, and interference measurement may not be needed. Therefore, transmitting the zero-power uplink reference signal by the terminal device in each uplink time unit increases the resource overhead for interference measurement, and is disadvantageous to the improvement of uplink throughput.

In view of this, the present application provides a method for transmitting a reference signal and a communication device, which enable a terminal device to flexibly configure a zero-power uplink reference signal and a DMRS on at least two time units, so as to reduce the overhead of physical resources.

Before describing the transmission method of the reference signal provided by the present application, some terms or terminology used in the present application will be explained, which terms or terminology also form part of the summary of the application.

1. Demodulation reference signal

DMRS is a sequence known to the transceiver and mapped on time-frequency resources with known positions. For the receiving end to demodulate and decode the received data. Taking uplink transmission as an example, the transmitting end adopts the same precoding and antenna port as the uplink transmission signal to transmit the DMRS, and because the DMRS and the uplink transmission signal experience the same fading channel, the receiving end can estimate the equivalent fading channel experienced by the uplink signal transmission based on the received DMRS signal and the known DMRS sequence, and complete demodulation of uplink data based on the estimated equivalent channel state information. The downlink transmission is similar to the uplink transmission and will not be described here again.

2. Zero power uplink reference signal

Corresponding to the reference signal, the zero-power uplink reference signal means that the transmitting power of the transmitting end on some time-frequency resources is zero, that is, the terminal equipment does not transmit any signal on the time-frequency resources corresponding to the zero-power uplink reference signal, so that the receiving end can perform interference measurement based on the received zero-power uplink reference signal. Or understood that the receiving end can obtain the interference channel state information when the terminal equipment does not have the transmission signal at the position of the time-frequency resource corresponding to the zero-power uplink reference signal, which is helpful for the receiving end to carry out interference measurement. In addition, the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal may be referred to as a muting resource. The names of the zero power uplink reference signals are merely exemplary, and any descriptions with the same functions may be used as the zero power uplink reference signals in the present application, which is not limited in this respect.

3. Time cell

The time unit is a time domain unit for data transmission, and may include a radio frame (radio frame), a subframe (subframe), a slot (slot), a minislot (mini-slot), or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM) symbol (symbol) or the like. In the 5G New Radio (NR), the OFDM symbol may also be referred to as a time domain symbol, or may simply be referred to as a symbol. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a possible time unit relationship according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the time domain length of one radio frame is 10ms. One radio frame may include 10 radio subframes, and the time domain length of one radio subframe is 1ms. One radio subframe may include one or more slots, and specifically how many slots a subframe includes is related to the subcarrier spacing. For the case of a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15kHz, the time domain length of one slot is 1ms. One slot includes 14 symbols. In the present application, the time unit may include one or more of a slot, a frame, a subframe, and a symbol, and may also include other units for characterizing the time domain length, which is not limited by the present application.

Before describing the transmission method of the reference signal provided by the application, the following description is made.

First, in the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information is referred to as information to be indicated, and in a specific implementation process, there may be various ways of indicating the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as indicating the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indicated indirectly by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the information to be indicated have an association relation. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. The indication of specific information may also be achieved by means of a pre-agreed (e.g. protocol-specified) arrangement of the individual information, for example.

Second, in the embodiments shown herein, terms and english abbreviations, such as zero-power uplink reference signal, time-frequency resource pattern (pattern), etc., are given as exemplary examples for convenience of description, and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. The present application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in existing or future protocols that perform the same or similar functions.

Third, the first, second and various numerical numbers in the embodiments shown below are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, different information, different time units, etc.

Fourth, the "protocol" referred to in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, and may include, for example, an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and related protocols applied in future communication systems, which is not limited in the present application.

Fifth, "plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b, and c may represent: a, b, or c, or a and b, or a and c, or b and c, or a, b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

The reference signal transmission method 500 provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 5. The method 500 may be applied to the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1 and the communication system 300 shown in fig. 3, as well as to other communication systems. Taking the communication system 100 as an example, the first network device in the method 500 may be the first network device 110 in fig. 1, the second network device may be the second network device 120 in fig. 1, and the terminal device may be the terminal device 130 in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 5, the method 500 includes the steps of:

s501, the terminal equipment determines a first configuration.

S502, the first network device determines a first configuration.

The first configuration is whether a zero power uplink reference signal and a demodulation reference signal DMRS are included on at least two time units.

And S503, the terminal device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS to the first network device on the at least two time units based on the first configuration, where the zero-power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement. Accordingly, the first network device receives the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS transmitted from the terminal device on at least two time units.

It should be appreciated that the resource elements occupied by the DMRS described above may also be used for interference measurements on resource elements where no DMRS is sent.

According to the reference signal transmission method, the first configuration is respectively determined through the terminal equipment and the first network equipment, so that whether the DMRS and/or the zero-power uplink reference signal is transmitted on at least two time units is determined, the terminal equipment can flexibly configure the DMRS and the zero-power uplink reference signal on at least two time units, and physical resource overhead for interference measurement and channel estimation is reduced.

Optionally, the first configuration may be determined by DCI of the first network device, where the DCI indicates whether the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS is included in at least two time units.

According to the reference signal transmission method, under long TTI scheduling, the terminal equipment and the first network equipment can flexibly configure the time units for transmitting the zero-power reference signal and the DMRS, namely flexibly configure the physical resources for interference measurement and the physical resources for channel estimation, so that the cost of the physical resources for interference measurement and channel estimation can be effectively reduced on the basis of ensuring lower DCI cost, and the uplink throughput is improved.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device and the first network device may determine the first configuration through two possible implementation manners.

In a first possible implementation, the terminal device may determine the first configuration according to the first indication information of the first network device. The first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS on at least two time units. The method can enable the terminal equipment to flexibly configure the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS on at least two time units.

Alternatively, the first indication information may be carried in DCI. For example, an indication field is configured in the DCI, where the indication field is used to indicate whether to send the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS on the at least two time units. The indication field may be one or more available fields configured by the existing protocol for DCI, one or more reserved fields configured by the existing protocol for DCI, or one or more newly added fields not defined by the existing protocol for DCI, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that the above indication field may be indicated by a bitmap or a bit state, etc., which is not limited by the present application.

Optionally, the first indication information is carried in an indication field, where the indication field may include a plurality of sub-indication fields, where each of the plurality of sub-indication fields corresponds to one time unit and indicates each time unit separately, where in this case, a possible manner is that a number of bits of the indication field is equal to a number of time units under the long TTI scheduling of a number of bits of each sub-indication field, or a number of bits of the indication field may also be greater than a number of time units under the long TTI scheduling of a number of bits of the sub-indication field. The above indication field may also jointly indicate a plurality of consecutive time units, that is, each sub-indication field indicates a plurality of consecutive time units, so as to reduce signaling overhead of the first indication information. It should be understood that the number of bits of the indication field is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In the embodiment of the application, before the first network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the first network device and the terminal device can determine the corresponding relation between different bit values and different meanings of the indication field in the first indication information in a predefined mode or a preconfigured mode.

The meaning of the indication field carrying the first indication information will be described in detail below by taking the indication of the indication field by means of a bit state as an example, with reference to fig. 6 and 7.

Illustratively, a separately indicated embodiment is described in connection with fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an indication field carrying first indication information according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the first network device schedules three time units through a long TTI scheduling technique, where 2 bits are used to indicate the transmission situation of the DMRS and the zero power uplink reference signal on each time unit, where the number of bits in the indication field of the first indication information is equal to 2*3 =6. Table one lists the correspondence between the different bit values and the different meanings of each sub-indication field in the first indication information. In table one, the current time is the time unit corresponding to one sub-indication field.

List one

Sub-indication field	Meaning of indication
00	No zero power uplink reference signal and DMRS are transmitted on the current time unit
01	Transmitting only zero power uplink reference signals in the current time unit
10	Transmitting only DMRS on the current time unit
11	On the current time unit, the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS are transmitted

It should be understood that the above manner of separate indication may be applicable to a scenario where the number of time units scheduled in long TTI scheduling is small, where each sub-indication field separately indicates one time unit, and flexibility of zero-power uplink reference signal and DMRS configuration on each time unit may be increased, but embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

An embodiment of the joint indication is exemplarily described in connection with fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an indication field carrying first indication information according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 7, when the first network device schedules a plurality of time units through the long TTI scheduling technology, the transmission situations of the zero power uplink reference signal and the DMRS on every two consecutive time units are respectively indicated by using 2 bits. Table two lists the correspondence between the different bit values and the different meanings of each sub-indication field in the first indication information.

Watch II

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, before the first network device sends DCI to the terminal device, the first network device and the terminal device may determine the number of time units indicated by the above association in a predefined manner or in a preconfigured manner.

It should be further understood that the above-mentioned joint indication manner may be applicable to a scenario where the number of time units scheduled in the long TTI scheduling is large, and in the above-mentioned table two are taken as an example where each sub-indication field jointly indicates two time units, and the number of time units that each sub-indication field can jointly indicate may also be other positive integers greater than 2.

In a second possible implementation manner, the terminal device and the first network device may determine the first configuration according to a transmission rule agreed by a protocol. This approach is beneficial to reducing the overhead of the downlink control information. The embodiment of the application refers to the transmission rule as a first transmission rule.

As an alternative embodiment, the first transmission rule may include at least one of the following:

1. the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, the first time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the first time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS.

2. The at least two time units include at least one second time unit, the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the second time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal and does not include the DMRS.

3. The at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure and the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one third time unit does not include the zero power uplink reference signal.

The first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal device to communicate with the first network device, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal device to communicate with the second network device, that is, in the communication system, signal transmission with opposite directions may exist on the same time unit for the terminal device. In one possible design, the first frame structure and the second frame structure are the frame structures shown in fig. 2.

It should be understood that, if the second time unit is a subsequent time unit of the continuously scheduled first time unit, and the channel characteristic of the second time unit is relatively slow, in order to reduce DMRS overhead, the terminal device on the second time unit may not transmit the DMRS signal, and the receiving end may use the DMRS of the first time unit to perform channel estimation.

It should also be appreciated that the terminal device may obtain the frame structures of the first network device and the second network device in advance when determining the first configuration according to the first transmission rule agreed by the protocol. The terminal device may determine the frame structure of the first network device and the second network device by receiving network information or system information of the two network devices, for example.

For the first transmission rule, specifically, if one time unit is in a different frame structure, the transmitted signal includes an uplink signal and a downlink signal, the first configuration is configured to transmit the DMRS and the zero-power uplink reference signal on the time unit. If one time unit is in different frame structures, the transmitted signals are uplink signals, and the first configuration is that zero-power uplink reference signals are not sent on the time unit. If one time unit is in a different frame structure, the transmitted signal has an uplink signal and a downlink signal, the first configuration is to send a zero-power uplink reference signal on the time unit, and if the time unit is a later time unit which is continuously scheduled, the DMRS is not sent on the time unit.

The following describes the first transmission rule in detail with reference to fig. 1 and 2, and table three lists the first transmission rule in different situations. In table three, S is a time unit for downlink transmission.

Watch III

The first network device schedules three consecutive time units by a long TTI scheduling technique: time cell #2, time cell #3, and time cell #4. From Table three, it can be seen that:

(1) In the first uplink time unit (time unit # 2) under the long TTI schedule, the frame structure of the second network device is downlink transmission, and the frame structure of the first network device is uplink transmission. At this time, the terminal device transmits the DMRS and the zero power uplink reference signal on the time unit.

(2) In the second uplink time unit (time unit # 3) under the long TTI schedule, the DMRS of time unit #2 may be used for estimation in order to reduce DMRS overhead, assuming that the current channel characteristics change slowly. Therefore, the terminal device may not transmit DMRS signals under the time unit, but the terminal device transmits zero-power uplink reference signals over the time unit because interference measurement is required.

(3) When the first network device and the second network device corresponding to the third uplink time unit (time unit # 4) under the long TTI scheduling are both uplink time units, the second network device does not have interference to the first network device, and interference measurement is not required. Therefore, the terminal device may not transmit the zero-power uplink reference signal on the time unit, but whether to transmit the DMRS signal may be determined according to specific channel characteristics.

As an optional embodiment, after the terminal device and the first network device determine the first configuration, the method 500 further includes:

the terminal device and the first network device determine a second configuration. The second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS.

And the terminal equipment sends a zero-power uplink reference signal and/or a DMRS to the first network equipment on the time-frequency resource based on the second configuration. Correspondingly, the first network device receives the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS from the terminal device on the time-frequency resource.

According to the reference signal transmission method, the terminal equipment can flexibly configure the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the time-frequency resources occupied by the DMRS, the first network equipment is facilitated to measure the interference from the second network equipment at different time-frequency resource positions, the resource collision is reduced, the DMRS signal for channel estimation is prevented from being subjected to continuous strong interference by the second network equipment, and therefore the accuracy of channel estimation is improved.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device and the first network device may determine the second configuration through two possible implementation manners.

In one aspect, the terminal device may determine the second configuration according to second instruction information of the first network device.

Optionally, the second indication information may be used to indicate a time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, where the time-frequency resource pattern includes location information of a time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS.

In one possible design, the first network device and the terminal device may use multiple time-frequency resource patterns, and the second indication information directly indicates one of the available patterns. It should be understood that the plurality of time-frequency resource patterns usable by the first network device and the terminal device may be regarded as one set of time-frequency resource patterns.

In another possible design, the network device and the terminal device may use multiple time-frequency resource patterns, where the multiple time-frequency resource patterns may be divided into different time-frequency resource pattern sets, each time-frequency resource pattern set includes two or more time-frequency resource patterns, and each time-frequency resource set includes multiple different time-frequency resource patterns. At this time, the second indication information indicates the time-frequency resource pattern used by the terminal device for uplink transmission by indicating one time-frequency resource pattern in one time-frequency resource pattern set, and because the usable time-frequency resource pattern is divided into a plurality of time-frequency resource pattern sets, the number of the time-frequency resource patterns included in each time-frequency resource pattern set is smaller or far smaller than the number of the usable time-frequency resource patterns, so that the signaling overhead of the second indication information can be reduced.

In the two modes, specific indication modes can be two modes: in one mode, the second indication information includes an indication field of one time-frequency resource pattern, and different status values of the indication field of the time-frequency resource pattern correspond to different time-frequency resource patterns. In a second mode, the second indication information includes an indication field of a time-frequency resource pattern, where the indication field of the time-frequency resource pattern indicates the time-frequency resource pattern by means of a bit bitmap, that is, each bit in the indication field of the time-frequency resource pattern corresponds to a time-frequency resource pattern, and different values of each bit indicate that the time-frequency resource pattern corresponding to the bit pattern is available or unavailable.

It should be understood that when the usable time-frequency resource pattern is divided into a plurality of sets of time-frequency resource patterns, the division manner may be predefined by a protocol or the first network device is configured for the terminal device.

The set of time-frequency resource patterns may be indicated to the terminal device by RRC signaling by the first network device, for example.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a set of time-frequency resource patterns according to an embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the set of time-frequency resource patterns shown in fig. 8 includes a plurality of time-frequency resource patterns, each time-frequency resource pattern representing: under long TTI scheduling, when the terminal equipment needs to send the DMRS and the zero power uplink reference signal on at least two time units at the same time, the time-frequency resources occupied by the two signals of the DMRS and the zero power uplink reference signal are occupied.

Illustratively, in fig. 8, the set of time-frequency resource patterns includes 6 kinds of time-frequency resource patterns, and at least 3 bits of indication field is required to indicate in order to distinguish each time-frequency resource pattern. An index of a different time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal is indicated with 3 bits per time unit. For example, referring to fig. 2 and 8, the second indication information is 001000010, where 001 corresponds to transmission time unit #0, 000 time unit #1 and 010 time unit #2, and the terminal device transmits the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS on time unit #0, time unit #1 and time unit #2 by using time-frequency resource patterns corresponding to index numbers 1, 0 and 2, respectively.

Alternatively, the second indication information may be further used to indicate an index of the DMRS in a DMRS code division multiplexing (code division multiplexing, CDM) packet.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device needs to send the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS at the same time on one time unit, the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal is the remaining time-frequency resource except the time-frequency resource occupied by the DMRS in the time-frequency resources of the DMRS CDM packet.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of 6 configurations of DMRS CDM packets (groups) provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the 6 configurations correspond to 6 indexes of 0 to 5, respectively. The index of the DMRS CDM group may be determined by configuring 3 bits of indication information for each time unit. If the DMRS CDM group index is 1, that is, it means that the DMRS signal is transmitted on the time-frequency resource of the diagonal zone, and the zero-power uplink reference signal is transmitted on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the other DMRS CDM group.

In a second mode, the terminal device and the first network device may determine the second configuration according to a transmission rule agreed by a protocol. The transmission rule includes: there is an association between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units. This transmission rule is referred to as a second transmission rule in the embodiment of the present application.

The above-described association can be predefined by the complementary function mod (i, K), for example. Wherein i represents the ith time unit in the long TTI scheduling, K is a configured parameter, and if K is not configured, K is the total number of configured time-frequency resource patterns by default. It should be appreciated that the 0 th time unit in the long TTI schedule corresponds to i=0. When the index of the time unit satisfies mod (i, K) =1, on the time unit, the terminal device may transmit a zero-power uplink reference signal and DMRS using a time-frequency resource pattern with an index of 1; when the time element index satisfies mod (i, K) =2, the terminal device may transmit a zero power uplink reference signal and DMRS using a time-frequency resource pattern with index of 2 on the time element.

It should be appreciated that the above association relationship may also be determined by other functions or other manners, which the present application is not limited to.

In summary, in the embodiment of the present application, under the long TTI scheduling, for the case that the DMRS and the zero power uplink reference signal in a single time unit may occur independently, the first network device may instruct the terminal device whether to send the zero power uplink reference signal or the DMRS in the current uplink time unit, which is favorable for flexibly reducing the overhead of physical resources of interference measurement and channel estimation in combination with practical situations. For the situation that the DMRS and the zero-power uplink reference signal cannot independently appear in a single time unit, the first network device can instruct the terminal device to flexibly configure the zero-power uplink reference signal of different time units and the time-frequency resource pattern of the DMRS, so that on one hand, the first network device is beneficial to measuring the interference of the second network device in different time-frequency resource positions, on the other hand, the first network device is beneficial to reducing resource collision, and the DMRS for channel estimation is avoided from being continuously and strongly interfered by the second network device.

The embodiment of the application also provides another reference signal transmission method, which is suitable for another communication system shown in fig. 10.

Fig. 10 illustrates another communication system 1000 provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the scenario includes a network device 1010, a network device 1020, a network device 1030, a terminal device 1040, and a terminal device 1050. Terminal 1040 and terminal 1050 are within the coverage of network 1010, i.e., cell 1. Terminal device 1050 is within the coverage area of network device 1020, i.e., cell 2. As can be seen in fig. 10, there is an overlap area in the coverage of network device 1010, network device 1020, and network device 1030. In the overlapping area, one terminal device may communicate with multiple network devices, which may cause the transmission signals of the terminal devices in the overlapping area to interfere with the transmission signals of other terminal devices.

Illustratively, the terminal device 1040 performs uplink transmission with the network device 1010, and the terminal device 1050 performs uplink transmission with the network device 1020, however, when the network device 1010 receives an uplink signal from the terminal device 1040, the network device 1010 may also receive an uplink signal from the terminal device 1050 sent to the network device 1020, so that the network device 1010 cannot accurately demodulate the uplink signal from the terminal device 1040. Therefore, the uplink signal of the terminal device 1050 may cause interference to the uplink signal of the terminal device 1040, and interference measurement is required to solve the interference problem.

In view of this, the present application also provides another reference signal transmission method, by configuring different DMRS patterns for the terminal devices in different cells so as to be staggered in time, for performing interference measurement, so that interference caused by the terminal devices in the overlapping area during uplink transmission is effectively reduced.

The method of the embodiment of the application can be executed by the network equipment, and the information interaction can be carried out among a plurality of network equipment with overlapped coverage areas so as to determine the number of cells needing to be configured, for example, the interaction is carried out through an Xn interface. In the following, a cell is taken as an example to describe the same operation performed by the network device and the terminal device in other cells, which is not described in detail. The method comprises the following steps:

step 1, a network device sends indication information to a terminal device, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the time domain position occupied by a DMRS. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the indication information from the network device.

And step 2, the terminal equipment sends the DMRS to the network equipment based on the indication information. Accordingly, the network device receives the DMRS from the terminal device.

It should be appreciated that the above indication information may indicate the time domain location of the DMRS on one time unit through RRC signaling or DCI signaling. The indication manner of the DCI may refer to the manner of the DCI indication field provided in the embodiment of the present application, and will not be described herein. Other time domain locations on the time cell besides the time domain location of the DMRS may be used to configure a zero power uplink reference signal to measure interference from terminal devices of different cells.

It should also be appreciated that in long TTI scheduling, the DMRS and zero power uplink reference signals may be selected to be transmitted once every N time units per interval, with no DMRS and zero power uplink reference signals transmitted by other time units. Wherein N may be determined in a predefined manner, or may be determined according to an RRC signaling configuration or in a manner indicated by DCI. The specific manner of determination is not limited in this regard. In order to reduce signaling overhead, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a DMRS pattern according to an embodiment of the present application. In fig. 11, other time domain location terminal devices except for the DMRS transmit a zero power uplink reference signal for the network device to perform interference measurement. Each cell in fig. 10 represents a resource unit, and each time domain unit corresponds to an index of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in terms of the horizontal axis.

In combination with the scenario shown in fig. 10, as shown in fig. 11 (a), when the index of the time domain location indicated by the indication information sent by the network device 1010 is 0 and 1, the terminal device of the cell 1 sends the DMRS on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations 0 and 1, the network device 1010 may measure the interference of the terminal device in the cell 2 on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations with indexes 2 and 3, and the network device 1010 may measure the interference of the terminal device in the cell 3 on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations with indexes 4 and 5.

In combination with the scenario shown in fig. 10, as shown in fig. 11 (b), when the index of the time domain location indicated by the indication information sent by the network device 1020 is 2 and 3, the terminal device of the cell 2 sends the DMRS on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations 2 and 3, the network device 1020 may measure the interference of the terminal device in the cell 1 on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations with indexes 0 and 1, and the network device 1020 may measure the interference of the terminal device in the cell 3 on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations with indexes 4 and 5.

In combination with the scenario shown in fig. 10, as shown in fig. 11 (c), when the index of the time domain location indicated by the indication information sent by the network device 1030 is 4 and 5, the terminal device of the cell 3 sends the DMRS on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations 4 and 5, the network device 1030 may measure the interference of the terminal device in the cell 1 on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations with the indexes of 0 and 1, and the network device 1030 may measure the interference of the terminal device in the cell 2 on the resource units corresponding to the time domain locations with the indexes of 2 and 3.

In the embodiment of the application, the DMRS configured by the terminal equipment in each cell is completely staggered in the time domain, and the configuration mode can effectively perform interference measurement and can also improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the above processes do not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic of the processes, and should not be construed as limiting the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The transmission method of the reference signal according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 5 to 11, and the communication device according to the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 12 to 14.

Fig. 12 shows a communication apparatus 1200 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 1200 includes: a processing module 1210 and a transmitting module 1220.

Wherein, the processing module 1210 is configured to determine a first configuration, where the first configuration is configured to determine whether a zero-power uplink reference signal and/or a demodulation reference signal DMRS is included on at least two time units; a sending module 1220, configured to send, based on the first configuration, the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network device over at least two time units, where the zero-power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement.

Optionally, the processing module 1210 is further configured to: determining the first configuration according to first indication information of the first network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the apparatus 1200 sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS on at least two time units; or determining the first configuration according to a first transmission rule agreed by the protocol.

Optionally, the first sending rule includes at least two of the following: the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, the first time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the first time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises a zero-power uplink reference signal and a DMRS; the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the second time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal and does not include DMRS; alternatively, the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one third time unit does not include zero power uplink reference signals; the first frame structure is a frame structure used by the apparatus 1200 to communicate with a first network device, and the second frame structure is a frame structure used by the apparatus 1200 to communicate with a second network device.

Optionally, the processing module 1210 is further configured to: determining a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS; the sending module 1220 is further configured to: and based on the second configuration, transmitting the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network device on the time-frequency resource.

Optionally, the processing module 1210 is further configured to: the second configuration is determined according to second indication information of the first network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate a time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, and the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or the first network device is configured for the apparatus 1200.

Optionally, the processing module 1210 is further configured to: and determining the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the index of the DMRS in the DMRS Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) packet.

Optionally, the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal is a set of time-frequency resources where a DMRS CDM packet corresponding to the CDM configuration type of the DMRS is located, and the time-frequency resource occupied by the DMRS is removed.

Optionally, the processing module 1210 is further configured to: determining the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by the protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises: an association exists between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.

In an alternative example, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 1200 may be specifically a terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, and the apparatus 1200 may be used to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the terminal device in the foregoing method 500, which is not repeated herein.

Fig. 13 shows another communication apparatus 1300 provided by an embodiment of the present application, the apparatus 1300 comprising: a processing module 1310, a receiving module 1320, and a transmitting module 1330.

Wherein, the processing module 1310 is configured to determine a first configuration, where the first configuration is at least whether the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the demodulation reference signal DMRS are included in at least two time units; a receiving module 1320, configured to receive a zero power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS sent by the terminal device on the at least two time units, where the zero power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement.

Optionally, a sending module 1330, configured to send, to a terminal device, first indication information according to the first configuration, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or DMRS on at least two time units; the processing module 1310 is further configured to determine the first configuration according to a first transmission rule agreed by the protocol.

Optionally, the first transmission rule includes at least one of: the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, the first time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the first time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises a zero-power uplink reference signal and a DMRS; the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure, and the second time unit is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal and does not include DMRS; alternatively, the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, and the first configuration is that: the at least one third time unit does not include zero power uplink reference signals; the first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the device, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the second device.

Optionally, the processing module 1310 is further configured to: determining a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS; the receiving module 1320 is further configured to: and receiving the zero power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal equipment on the time-frequency resource.

Optionally, the sending module 1330 is further configured to: and sending second indication information to the terminal equipment according to the second configuration, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or the device is configured for the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the sending module 1330 is further configured to: and sending second indicating information to the terminal equipment according to the second configuration, wherein the second indicating information is used for indicating the index of the DMRS in the CDM grouping of the DMRS code division multiplexing.

Optionally, the processing module 1310 is further configured to: determining the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by the protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises: there is an association between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.

In an alternative example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 1300 may be specifically the first network device in the foregoing embodiment, and the apparatus 1300 may be used to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the first network device in the foregoing method 500, which is not repeated herein.

It should be appreciated that apparatus 1200 and apparatus 1300 herein are embodied in the form of functional modules. The term module herein may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor, etc.) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality.

The apparatus 1200 and the apparatus 1300 described above have the functionality to implement the corresponding steps in the method 500 described above; the above functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In an embodiment of the present application, the apparatus 1200 and the apparatus 1300 may also be chips or chip systems, for example: system on chip (SoC). The application is not limited herein.

Fig. 14 illustrates yet another communication device 1400 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 1400 includes a processor 1410, a transceiver 1420, and a memory 1430. Wherein the processor 1410, the transceiver 1420, and the memory 1430 communicate with each other through an internal connection path, the memory 1430 is configured to store instructions, and the processor 1410 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1430 to control the transceiver 1420 to transmit signals and/or receive signals.

It should be understood that the apparatus 1400 may be specifically a terminal device or a first network device in the foregoing embodiment, or the functions of the terminal device or the first network device in the foregoing embodiment may be integrated in the apparatus 1400, and the apparatus 1400 may be configured to perform the respective steps and/or flows corresponding to the terminal device or the first network device in the foregoing embodiment. Alternatively, the memory 1430 may include read-only memory and random access memory and provide instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory may also store information of the device type. The processor 1410 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor executes the instructions, the processor may perform steps and/or flows corresponding to the terminal device or the first network device in the above-described method embodiment.

It is to be appreciated that in embodiments of the application, the processor 1410 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), which may also be other general purpose processors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

In implementation, the steps of the method 500 described above may be performed by integrated logic circuitry in hardware or instructions in software in the processor 1410. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with an embodiment of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in processor 1410, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in processor 1410. The software modules may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in memory, and the processor 1410 executes instructions in the memory to perform the steps of the method described above in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, a detailed description is not provided herein.

The present application further provides a communication system that may include the terminal device (i.e., apparatus 1200) shown in fig. 12 and the first network device (i.e., apparatus 1300) shown in fig. 13.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program for implementing the method corresponding to the terminal device shown in various possible implementation manners in the above embodiments.

The present application provides another computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program for implementing the method corresponding to the first network device shown in the various possible implementation manners in the foregoing embodiments.

The present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) which, when run on a computer, is capable of executing the method corresponding to the terminal device shown in the various possible implementations of the embodiments described above.

The present application provides another computer program product comprising a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) which, when run on a computer, can perform the method corresponding to the first network device as shown in the various possible implementations of the embodiments described above.

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 solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

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

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method for transmitting a reference signal, comprising:

determining a first configuration, wherein the first configuration is whether zero-power uplink reference signals and/or demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are included on at least two time units;

and based on the first configuration, transmitting the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network device on the at least two time units, wherein the zero-power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement.
The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first configuration comprises:

determining the first configuration according to first indication information of the first network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS on at least two time units; or,

And determining the first configuration according to a first transmission rule agreed by a protocol.
The method of claim 2, wherein the first transmission rule comprises at least one of:

the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, and the first time unit is an uplink time unit in a first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in a second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS;

the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, and the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal thereon, and does not include the DMRS; or,

the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, the first configuration being: the zero power uplink reference signal is not included in the at least one third time unit;

The first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the first network equipment, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the second network equipment.
A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS;

the transmitting the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to a first network device over the at least two time units based on the first configuration comprises:

and based on the first configuration and the second configuration, transmitting the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network device on the time-frequency resources of the at least two time units.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the second configuration comprises:

and determining the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or the first network device is configured for the terminal device.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the second configuration comprises:

and determining the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the index of the DMRS in the DMRS code division multiplexing CDM packet.
The method of claim 6, wherein the time-frequency resources occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal are time-frequency resources occupied by the DMRS removed from a set of time-frequency resources where DMRS CDM packets corresponding to a CDM configuration type of the DMRS are located.
The method of claim 4, wherein the terminal device determining the second configuration comprises:

determining the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by a protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises:

and an association relation exists between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.
A method for transmitting a reference signal, comprising:

determining a first configuration, wherein the first configuration is whether zero-power uplink reference signals and/or demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are included on at least two time units;

And receiving the zero-power uplink reference signals and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal equipment on the at least two time units, wherein the zero-power uplink reference signals are used for interference measurement.
The method of claim 9, wherein the first configuration is determined according to a first transmission rule agreed upon by a protocol; or,

after determining the first configuration, the method further comprises:

and sending first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for the first configuration.
The method of claim 10, wherein the first transmission rule comprises at least one of:

the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, and the first time unit is an uplink time unit in a first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in a second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS;

the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, and the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal thereon, and does not include the DMRS; or,

The at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, the first configuration being: the zero power uplink reference signal is not included in the at least one third time unit;

the first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the first network equipment, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the second network equipment.
The method of any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS;

the receiving the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal device on the at least two time units includes:

and receiving the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal equipment on the time-frequency resources of the at least two time units.
The method of claim 12, wherein after the determining the second configuration, the method further comprises:

And sending second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or configured by the first network equipment for the terminal equipment.
The method of claim 12, wherein after the determining the second configuration, the method further comprises:

and sending second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the index of the DMRS in the DMRS code division multiplexing CDM packet.
The method of claim 14, wherein the time-frequency resources occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal are time-frequency resources occupied by the DMRS removed from a set of time-frequency resources where DMRS CDM packets corresponding to a CDM configuration type of the DMRS are located.
The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the second configuration comprises:

determining the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by a protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises:

and an association relation exists between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.
A communication device, comprising:

a processing module, configured to determine a first configuration, where the first configuration is at least whether a zero-power uplink reference signal and/or a demodulation reference signal DMRS is included on at least two time units;

and a sending module, configured to send, based on the first configuration, the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to a first network device on the at least two time units, where the zero-power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement.
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing module is further to:

determining the first configuration according to first indication information of the first network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the device sends the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS on at least two time units; or,

and determining the first configuration according to a first transmission rule agreed by a protocol.
The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first transmission rule comprises at least one of:

the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, and the first time unit is an uplink time unit in a first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in a second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS;

The at least two time units include at least one second time unit, and the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal thereon, and does not include the DMRS; or,

the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, the first configuration being: the zero power uplink reference signal is not included in the at least one third time unit;

the first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the device to communicate with the first network equipment, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the device to communicate with the second network equipment.
The apparatus of any of claims 17 to 19, wherein the processing module is further to:

determining a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS;

The sending module is further configured to: and based on the second configuration, transmitting the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS to the first network device on the time-frequency resources of the at least two time units.
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing module is further to:

and determining the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or the first network device is configured for the device.
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing module is further to:

and determining the second configuration according to second indication information of the first network equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the index of the DMRS in the DMRS code division multiplexing CDM packet.
The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the zero-power uplink reference signal occupies time-frequency resources that are occupied by the DMRS removed from a set of time-frequency resources that the DMRS CDM packet corresponding to the CDM configuration type of the DMRS is located in.
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing module is further to:

determining the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by a protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises:

and an association relation exists between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.
A communication device, comprising:

a processing module, configured to determine a first configuration, where the first configuration is at least whether a zero-power uplink reference signal and/or a demodulation reference signal DMRS is included on at least two time units;

and a receiving module, configured to receive the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal device on the at least two time units, where the zero-power uplink reference signal is used for interference measurement.
The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

and a sending module: and the terminal equipment is used for sending first indication information to the terminal equipment according to the first configuration.
The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processing module is further to:

and determining the first configuration according to a first transmission rule agreed by a protocol.
The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first transmission rule comprises at least one of:

the at least two time units include at least one first time unit, and the first time unit is an uplink time unit in a first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in a second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one first time unit comprises the zero-power uplink reference signal and the DMRS;

the at least two time units include at least one second time unit, and the second time unit is an uplink time unit in the first frame structure and is a downlink time unit in the second frame structure, and the first configuration is as follows: the at least one second time unit includes the zero-power uplink reference signal thereon, and does not include the DMRS; or,

the at least two time units include at least one third time unit, and the third time unit is an uplink time unit in both the first frame structure and the second frame structure, the first configuration being: the zero power uplink reference signal is not included in the at least one third time unit;

The first frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the device, and the second frame structure is a frame structure adopted by the terminal equipment to communicate with the second device.
The apparatus of any one of claims 25 to 28, wherein the processing module is further to:

determining a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is the time-frequency resource occupied by the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS;

the receiving module is further configured to: and receiving the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the DMRS sent by the terminal equipment on the time-frequency resource.
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for transmitting is further for:

and sending second indication information to the terminal equipment according to the second configuration, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the zero-power uplink reference signal and/or the time-frequency resource pattern occupied by the DMRS, the time-frequency resource pattern belongs to a time-frequency resource pattern set, and the time-frequency resource pattern set is predefined by a protocol or the device is configured for the terminal equipment.
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for transmitting is further for:

And sending second indicating information to the terminal equipment according to the second configuration, wherein the second indicating information is used for indicating the index of the DMRS in the DMRS code division multiplexing CDM packet.
The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the zero-power uplink reference signal occupies time-frequency resources that are occupied by the DMRS removed from a set of time-frequency resources that the DMRS CDM packet corresponding to the CDM configuration type of the DMRS is located in.
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the processing module is further to:

determining the second configuration according to a second transmission rule agreed by a protocol, wherein the second transmission rule comprises:

and an association relation exists between the index of the time-frequency resource pattern of the zero-power uplink reference signal and the index of the time unit in the at least two time units.
A communication system comprising the apparatus of any one of claims 18 to 24 and the apparatus of any one of claims 25 to 33.
A communication device, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a computer program which, when invoked by the processor, causes the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 16.
A computer program product comprising computer program code for causing a computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 when said computer program code is run on a computer.
A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 16.