CN117413590A

CN117413590A - Method and apparatus for determining guard period position for SRS antenna switching

Info

Publication number: CN117413590A
Application number: CN202180098105.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: H·梅田; 杜蕾; J·P·卡加莱南; 朴咏敏
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2021-05-11
Filing date: 2021-05-11
Publication date: 2024-01-16
Also published as: WO2022236657A1; EP4338515A1

Abstract

Example embodiments of methods and apparatus for determining guard period locations for sounding reference signal antenna switching are disclosed. A method implemented at a terminal device may include receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The method may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period during which SRS antenna switching occurs based on the indication of the predetermined rule.

Description

Method and apparatus for determining guard period position for SRS antenna switching

Technical Field

Various example embodiments described herein relate generally to communication technology and, more particularly, relate to methods and apparatus for determining a location of a guard period for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna port switching.

Background

In the 5G new air interface (NR), a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) may be used to estimate Uplink (UL) channel quality on a bandwidth or bandwidth portion (BWP). SRS may also be used to estimate Downlink (DL) channel quality when channel reciprocity is applicable, for example in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of example embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of various example embodiments. It should be noted that this summary is not intended to identify key features of the essential elements or to define the scope of the example embodiments, and is only intended to introduce some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is provided below.

In a first aspect, an example embodiment of a terminal device is provided. The terminal device may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code stored thereon. The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to perform operations comprising receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The operations may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period during which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on an indication of a predetermined rule.

In a second aspect, an example embodiment of a network device is provided. The network device may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code stored thereon. The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to perform operations comprising configuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The operations may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on a predetermined rule.

In a third aspect, an example embodiment of a method implemented at a terminal device is provided. The method may include receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The method may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on an indication of a predetermined rule.

In a fourth aspect, an example embodiment of a method implemented at a network device is provided. The method may include configuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The method may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on a predetermined rule.

In a fifth aspect, an example embodiment of an apparatus is provided. The apparatus may include means for receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The apparatus may further include means for determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on an indication of a predetermined rule.

In a sixth aspect, an example embodiment of an apparatus is provided. The apparatus may include means for configuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The apparatus may further include means for determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on a predetermined rule.

In a seventh aspect, an example embodiment of a computer program is provided. The computer program may include instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The instructions, when executed by at least one processor of a terminal device, may cause the terminal device to perform operations comprising receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports. The operations may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on an indication of a predetermined rule.

In an eighth aspect, an example embodiment of a computer program is provided. The computer program may include instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The instructions, when executed by at least one processor of a network device, may cause the network device to perform operations comprising configuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching. The operations may further include determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on a predetermined rule.

Other features and advantages of the exemplary embodiments of the present application will become apparent from the following description of the specific exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the exemplary embodiments of the present application.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example communication network.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example antenna port switching for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example SRS resource set configuration.

Fig. 4 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 5A is a diagram illustrating example rules for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 5B is a diagram illustrating example rules for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating example rules for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 7A is a diagram illustrating example rules for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 7B is a diagram illustrating example rules for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 8 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 9 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 10 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments.

Fig. 11 is a functional block diagram illustrating an apparatus implemented at a user equipment device according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 12 is a functional block diagram illustrating a device implemented at a network device according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a communication system according to an example embodiment.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements. Repeated descriptions of the same elements will be omitted.

Detailed Description

Some example embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The following description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known circuits, techniques, and components have been shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts and features described.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to any suitable entity or device that may provide a cell or coverage area through which a terminal device may access a network or receive services. The network device may be generally referred to as a base station. The term "base station" as used herein may refer to a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), or a gNB. A base station may be implemented as a macro base station, a relay node, or a low power node such as a pico base station or a femto base station. A base station may be comprised of several distributed network units, such as a Central Unit (CU), one or more Distributed Units (DUs), one or more Remote Radio Heads (RRHs), or Remote Radio Units (RRUs). The number and functionality of these distributed units depends on the split RAN architecture chosen.

As used herein, the term "terminal device" or "user equipment" (UE) refers to any entity or device capable of wirelessly communicating with a network device or with each other. Examples of terminal devices may include mobile phones, mobile Terminals (MT), mobile Stations (MS), subscriber Stations (SS), portable Subscriber Stations (PSS), access Terminals (AT), computers, wearable devices, in-vehicle communication devices, machine Type Communication (MTC) devices, D2D communication devices, V2X communication devices, sensors, and the like. The term "terminal device" may be used interchangeably with UE, user terminal, mobile station, or wireless device.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication network 100 (such as a 5GNR network) in which aspects of the present application may be implemented. Referring to fig. 1, a communication network 100, which may be part of a larger network, may include a base station 120, shown as a gNB, and a User Equipment (UE) device 110 in communication with the gNB 120 on Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) channels. The gNB 120 may include multiple antenna elements and support multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques including, for example, spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. UE 110 may have multiple antenna ports corresponding to different communication channels and the channel quality of one antenna port may be different from the channel quality of another antenna port. UE 110 may be configured to transmit a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) to gNB 120 on SRS resources and may determine the number of SRS and/or SRS resources based on the number of antenna ports. The gNB 120 may measure channel quality based on the received SRS.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example uplink SRS transmission over multiple antenna ports. In the example shown in fig. 2, UE 110 may have four antenna ports 232, 234, 236, 238 connected to Tx/Rx switches 222, 224, 226, 228, respectively. Assume that UE 110 supports an antenna switching capability "t2r4" for a TDD Carrier Component (CC) or frequency band, where "t2" indicates that UE 110 may use up to two transmit (Tx) chains, and "r4" indicates that UE 110 may use up to four receive (Rx) chains. Antenna ports 232, 234 may be configured to transmit and receive signals, while antenna ports 236, 238 may be configured to receive only signals other than SRS transmissions. In this example, since the number of Tx chains is smaller than the number of Rx antennas, UE 110 needs to switch the Tx chains from antenna ports 232, 234 to antenna ports 236, 238 in order to probe (sound) spatial channels from all Rx antennas, as shown in fig. 2.

According to the 3GPP technical specification, SRS antenna switching may require a guard period of Y symbols, in which UE 110 does not transmit any other signals. Table 1 below shows the shortest guard period requirement. Referring to table 1, when the subcarrier spacing (SCS) Δf is less than 120kHz, the shortest guard period is one OFDM symbol, and when the subcarrier spacing Δf is 120kHz, the shortest guard period is two OFDM symbols. This means that UE 110 should have the ability to complete SRS antenna switching within one or two OFDM symbols.

Table 1: shortest guard period Y


			μ	Δf＝2 ^μ ·15[kHz]	Y symbol]
0	15	1
			1	30	1
2	60	1
			3	120	2

However, when the gNB 120 schedules SRS resources for the UE 110, two SRS resources in the SRS resource set may be separated by more than Y symbols. For example, referring to fig. 3, the set of SRS resources configured for UE 110 may include SRS resources 1 provided in symbol 8 of a slot and SRS resources 2 provided in symbol 13 of the slot. SRS resources 1, 2 may be mapped to different antenna ports and they may be referred to as SRS resource pairs. Therefore, a guard period is required between SRS resources 1 and 2 to perform antenna switching. In the example shown in fig. 3, four symbols exist between SRS resource 1 and SRS resource 2, and UE 110 may perform antenna switching in any one or two consecutive symbols of the four symbols. Since the gNB 120 does not know in which symbols the antenna switching occurs, it does not schedule UL transmission or DL reception of the UE 110 in any of the four symbols. Thus, at least two of the four symbols are wasted because they are not used for antenna switching or signal transmission/reception. This problem becomes more serious in the context of Carrier Aggregation (CA) or multi-RAT dual connectivity (MR-DC). Assuming a CA scenario where one TDD band and four FDD bands are aggregated on UE 110 and the five bands share antennas, as shown in fig. 3, at least additional (2 UL symbols +2 DL symbols) 4 bands = 16 symbols would be wasted in this case, which would result in performance loss for these bands.

Hereinafter, example embodiments of methods, apparatuses, and systems for determining a location of a guard period of SRS antenna switching will be discussed. It should be understood that the term "SRS resource" refers to a period such as an OFDM symbol in which SRS is transmitted, and the term "guard period" refers to a period such as an OFDM symbol in which SRS antenna switching occurs. And during the guard period the UE does not send any other signals. When the location of the guard period is determined, the gNB may schedule UL transmission or DL reception of the UE in symbols located between SRS resources but not occupied by the guard period. Therefore, waste of symbol resources will be avoided or minimized, and resource utilization efficiency of the service band will be improved.

Fig. 4 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments. In some implementations, the operations shown in fig. 4 may be performed by UE 110 and gNB 120 shown in fig. 1.

Referring to fig. 4, at 310, UE 110 may receive an SRS resource set configuration from gNB 120. The SRS resource set configuration may include one or more SRS resource sets configured by, for example, higher layer parameters SRS-resource set, and one of the one or more SRS resource sets may include one or more SRS resources configured by, for example, higher layer parameters SRS-resource set. The SRS resources may occupy one or more (e.g., 1, 2, or 4) consecutive OFDM symbols, e.g., within the last 6 symbols of the slot. In some embodiments, SRS resources may also occupy any other symbol within a slot. At least one SRS resource set among the one or more SRS resource sets may be configured for SRS antenna switching as discussed above with reference to fig. 2. For example, when UE 110 is configured with higher layer parameter usage in SRS-resource set to "antenna switching," SRS resource set is configured for antenna switching. The set of SRS resources for antenna switching may include two or more SRS resources for SRS transmission on different antenna ports and antenna switching is required between two SRS resources associated with different antenna ports.

At 320, UE 110 may determine a time domain position of a guard period for SRS antenna switching based on a predetermined rule. It is to be understood that the predetermined rule refers to a rule or criterion that determines a time domain position of the guard period relative to a position of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. Some examples of the predetermined rule will be discussed in detail later. The rules may be preconfigured at UE 110, for example, by a UE vendor that considers UE capabilities. Through operation 320, ue 110 may determine an accurate timing, such as one or two consecutive OFDM symbols, to perform SRS antenna switching.

At 330, UE 110 may send a predetermined rule to the gNB 120 such that the gNB 120 may also be aware of the guard period position. In some embodiments, the predetermined rule may be sent prior to operation 310 of receiving the SRS resource set configuration from the gNB 120. For example, UE 110 may send the predetermined rule while reporting UE capabilities to the gNB 120. UE 110 may actively send a capability report including a predetermined rule to the gNB 120, for example, during initial attachment to the network or during a tracking area update procedure, or in response to a capability query received from the gNB 120. In some embodiments, UE 110 may send a predetermined rule to gNB 120 after operation 310 of receiving the SRS resource set configuration.

Then, at 340, the gNB 120 may determine a time domain position of the guard period for SRS antenna switching based on the received predetermined rule. When the gNB 120 knows the exact location of the guard period where SRS antenna switching occurs, the gNB 120 can schedule UL and/or DL signaling on symbols other than the guard period, e.g., on symbols between SRS resources of the SRS resources used for antenna switching but not occupied or overlapped by the guard period. Therefore, the resource utilization efficiency of the service frequency band will be improved.

In order to better understand the above operation, some examples of the predetermined rule for determining the guard period position will be discussed below with reference to fig. 5A, 5B, 6, 7A, and 7B. Referring first to fig. 5A and 5B, in some examples, the set of SRS resources configured for UE 110 may include SRS resources 1 and 2 for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports, and SRS resources 1 and 2 may be configured in the same slot or in different slots. For example, in fig. 5A, SRS resource 1 is located in slot n and SRS resource 2 is located in slot n+1. In fig. 5B, SRS resources 1, 2 are both located in slot n.

When UE 110 receives the SRS resource set configuration as shown in fig. 5A or 5B in operation 310, UE 110 may determine a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to a predetermined rule in operation 320. For example, UE 110 may position a guard period immediately before or immediately after the corresponding SRS resources 1 and 2, which may be one or two OFDM symbols, depending on the subcarrier spacing (SCS) Δf as shown in table 1 above. UE 110 may use a bit to indicate the location of the guard period. For example, as shown in fig. 5A and 5B, a bit "0" indicates that the guard period is located immediately before the SRS resource, and a bit "1" indicates that the guard period is located immediately after the SRS resource. In some embodiments, UE 110 may position the guard period before and after SRS resources considering radio resource management requirements such as power change. Two bits may then be used to indicate the guard period position. For example, bit "10" indicates that the guard period is located before the SRS resource, bit "01" indicates that the guard period is located after the SRS resource, and bit "11" indicates that the guard period is located before and after the SRS resource. For example, when the subcarrier spacing Δf of the service band is less than 120kHz, bit "11" indicates that 1 symbol before the SRS resource and 1 symbol after the SRS resource are used as the guard period, and when the subcarrier spacing Δf is 120kHz, bit "11" indicates that two symbols before the SRS resource and two symbols after the SRS resource are used as the guard period. In operation 330 of fig. 4, UE 110 may inform the predetermined rule to the gNB 120 by transmitting a bit(s). Then, in operation 340, the gNB 120 may determine a guard period position based on the received bit(s).

Fig. 6 illustrates another example of a rule for determining a guard period position, where a guard period is located between two SRS resources in a set. Referring to fig. 6, the set of SRS resources configured for UE 110 may include SRS resources 1 and 2 (i.e., SRS1 and SRS 2) for SRS transmission on different antenna ports, and SRS resources 1 and 2 are configured within the same slot n. In some embodiments, SRS resources may be configured in the last 6 symbols in a slot, and the maximum interval between SRS resources 1 and 2 in the set may include 4 symbols. Depending on the subcarrier spacing Δf as shown in table 1 above, any one or two consecutive symbols of the 4 interval symbols may be used as the guard period. It should be appreciated that the interval between SRS resources 1 and 2 in the set may further comprise 3 symbols, 2 symbols, or 1 symbol, depending on the SRS resource configuration. A bit mask or bitmap may be used to identify one or two symbols in an interval used as a guard period, and the bit mask may have a length (in bits) equal to the interval (in symbols). For example, when the interval between SRS resources 1, 2 includes 4 symbols, the bit mask "1100" indicates that the first two symbols are used as the guard period, or the bit mask "0010" indicates that the third symbol is used as the guard period. When the interval between SRS resources 1, 2 includes 2 symbols and the subcarrier spacing Δf is smaller than 120kHz, the bit mask "10" indicates that the first symbol is used as the guard period and the bit mask "01" indicates that the second symbol is used as the guard period. It should be appreciated that when the interval includes 2 symbols and the subcarrier spacing Δf is 120kHz, or when the interval includes 1 symbol, no bit mask is required because all interval symbols will be used as a guard period.

Table 2 shows an example of a bitmask representing a rule to determine the guard period position. In table 2, a bit mask is provided at each interval length and subcarrier spacing Δf. It should be appreciated that table 2 is given as an example and that the bitmask may be provided in another manner. For example, the bitmask may be provided at every subcarrier spacing Δf < 120kHz or Δf=120 kHz per interval. That is, the bitmask is the same for Δf=15, 30, 60 kHz. In some embodiments, SRS resources may be applied anywhere in the slot, and the maximum interval between SRS resources 1, 2 in the SRS resource set will be up to 12 symbols. Thus, the bitmask may have a maximum length of 12 bits. In some embodiments, the bitmask may have an extended length to further cover, for example, 1 or 2 symbols before SRS resource 1 and/or 1 or 2 symbols after SRS resource 2.

Table 2: bitmasks for each interval and subcarrier spacing

In operation 330 of fig. 4, UE 110 may notify the predetermined rules to the gNB 120 by sending the bitmask shown in table 2 to the gNB 120. As described above, the bitmask may be transmitted before or after operation 310 of receiving the SRS resource set configuration from the gNB 120. The gNB 120 may then determine the location of the guard period by selecting an appropriate bitmask in operation 340. For example, if the scheduled SRS resources 1, 2 in the set have a spacing of 3 symbols and the subcarrier spacing Δf is 60kHz, the gNB 120 will use the bitmask g ₁ g ₂ g ₃ To determine the location of the guard period.

Fig. 7A and 7B illustrate another example of a rule for determining the guard period position. Referring to fig. 7A and 7B, the set of SRS resources configured for UE 110 may include SRS resources 1 and 2 (e.g., SRS1 and SRS 2) for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports, and SRS resources 1 and 2 may be configured in different slots (fig. 7A) or in the same slot (fig. 7B). In this example, an offset parameter GP offset may be used to indicate an offset of the guard period relative to the corresponding SRS resource.

Referring to fig. 7A, when SRS resources 1, 2 are configured in different slots, an offset parameter gp_offset may indicate that a guard period starts from a (gp_offset+1) symbol after a corresponding SRS resource. For example, if gp_offset is 0, one or two consecutive symbols immediately following the SRS resource are used as the guard period. If gp_offset is 2, the guard period starts at the third symbol after the corresponding SRS resource. In some embodiments, an offset parameter may be used with the position bit(s) to indicate whether the guard period is before and/or after the corresponding SRS resource, as shown in fig. 5A and 5B. For example, if the offset parameter is 1 and the position bit is 0, the guard period is located before the SRS resource and there is 1 symbol between the guard period and the SRS resource. If the offset parameter is 1 and the position bit is 1, a guard period is located after each of the SRS resources 1 and 2, and there are 1 symbol between the guard period and each of the SRS resources 1 and 2.

Fig. 7B shows an example in which SRS resources 1, 2 in the SRS resource set are configured in the same slot. The guard period may be located between SRS resources 1 and 2, and the offset parameter gp_offset may indicate an offset of the guard period from the first SRS resource (i.e., SRS resource 1). For example, if the offset parameter gp_offset is 2, the guard period starts from the third symbol after SRS resource 1. If the offset parameter gp_offset is 0, the guard period is located immediately after SRS resource 1. Table 3 shows an example of an offset parameter indicating the position of the guard period. In table 3, each interval and subcarrier spacing provides parameters, and it should be understood that in some embodiments, the offset parameters may be the same for subcarrier spacings less than 120 kHz.

Table 3: offset parameters for each interval and subcarrier spacing

In operation 330 of fig. 4, UE 110 may notify the predetermined rule to the gNB 120 by sending offset parameter(s). As described above, the offset parameter may be transmitted before or after operation 310 of receiving the SRS resource set configuration from the gNB 120. Then, in operation 340, the gNB 120 may determine a location of the guard period based on the received offset parameter.

Some examples of rules for determining the location of the guard period have been discussed above with reference to fig. 5A-7B. It will be appreciated that the present application is not limited to these examples and that the rules may also be expressed in other forms as long as the time domain position of the guard period can be indicated.

Fig. 8 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining the location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments. The operations shown in fig. 8 may be performed, for example, by UE 110 and gNB 120 shown in fig. 1. It should be appreciated that some of the operations in fig. 8 may be similar to those shown in fig. 4, and the following description will focus on operations different from those in fig. 4.

Referring to fig. 8, at 410, UE 110 may receive a rule from gNB 120 to determine a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching. In some embodiments, the gNB 120 may pre-configure a rule to determine the guard period position, and when the UE 110 is initially connected to the gNB 120, the gNB 120 sends the rule to the UE 110. For example, the gNB 120 may send the rules in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration or reconfiguration message. In some embodiments, when the gNB 120 receives a UE capability report indicating that the UE supports SRS antenna switching, the gNB 120 may send rules to the UE 110. In some embodiments, when the gNB 120 configures SRS resources for the UE 110, the gNB 120 may send rules to the UE 110. For example, the rule may be included in SRS resource set configurations transmitted from the gNB 120 to the UE 110.

At 420, UE 110 may receive SRS resource set configuration from gNB 120. Operation 420 may be substantially similar to operation 310 in fig. 4, except that in some embodiments, the SRS resource set configuration transmitted in operation 420 may further include a rule to determine a guard period position as described above with reference to operation 410.

At 430, the gNB 120 can determine a location, such as one or two OFDM symbols, of a guard period for SRS antenna switching based on the rule. The gNB 120 does not schedule UL and/or DL signaling for the UE 110 during the guard period. Conversely, the gNB 120 may schedule UL and/or DL signaling on symbols other than the guard period.

UE 110 may also determine the location of the guard period based on the rule at 440. Then, UE 110 will perform SRS antenna switching during the determined guard period and perform signal transmission/reception on other symbols. Therefore, the resource utilization efficiency of the service band will be improved.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the rules for determining the guard period position may be preconfigured at UE 110 and sent from UE 110 to gNB 120. In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the rule for determining the guard period position may be preconfigured at the gNB 120 and it is sent from the gNB 120 to the UE 110. It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, the rules for determining guard period positions may be preconfigured at both UE 110 and gNB 120, and that UE 110 need not send/receive rules to/from gNB 120. It may further reduce the signaling overhead of the network. It should be appreciated that the rules used in fig. 8 may refer to the rules in the foregoing embodiments.

Fig. 9 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments. The operations shown in fig. 9 may be performed, for example, by UE 110 and gNB 120 shown in fig. 1. It should be appreciated that some of the operations in fig. 9 may be similar to those shown in fig. 4 and 8, and the following description will focus on operations different from those in fig. 4 and 8.

Referring to fig. 9, at 510, UE 110 may receive an SRS resource set configuration from gNB 120. In this embodiment, the SRS resource set configuration includes at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching.

At 520, UE 110 and gNB 120 may determine locations of guard periods for SRS antenna switching, respectively, according to predetermined rules. In some embodiments, the rule may be preconfigured at UE 110 and have been sent from UE 110 to gNB 120. In some embodiments, the rule may be preconfigured at the gNB 120 and have been sent from the gNB 120 to the UE 110. In some embodiments, rules may be preconfigured at both UE 110 and gNB 120 and no rule transmission is required therebetween.

At 530, UE 110 may determine whether the guard period position determined at operation 520 is available. For example, referring to fig. 3, symbol 9 may be determined as a guard period according to the rules at operation 520, but symbol 9 may not be available for the guard period for some reasons such as implementation restrictions.

If UE110 determines at operation 530 that the guard period position determined at operation 520 is available, UE110 may use the guard period to perform antenna switching for SRS transmission. On the other hand, if UE110 determines at operation 530 that the guard period position determined at operation 520 is not available, then at 540, UE110 may determine a new actual time domain position for the guard period. For example, referring to fig. 3, if symbol 9 determined according to a predetermined rule is not available at operation 520, if symbol 10-12 is available, UE110 may alternatively select any one of symbols 10-12 as a guard period for antenna switching. At this time, the actual guard period determined at UE110 is different from the guard period determined at gNB 120.

Then, at 550, UE110 may notify the gNB 120 of the actual guard period determined at UE110, such that the gNB 120 and UE110 may agree on the location of the guard period. UE110 will perform SRS antenna switching during the actual guard period and gNB 120 will not schedule DL and/or UL signaling for UE110 during the actual guard period.

Fig. 10 is a signaling diagram illustrating example operations for determining a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to example embodiments. The operations shown in fig. 10 may be performed, for example, by UE110 and gNB 120 shown in fig. 1. It should be understood that some of the operations in fig. 10 may be the same as or similar to those shown in fig. 9, and the following description will focus on the differences between the embodiment shown in fig. 10 and the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

Referring to fig. 10, at 510, UE 110 may receive an SRS resource set configuration including at least one SRS resource set for SRS antenna switching from gNB 120, and at 520, UE 110 and gNB 120 may determine a location of a guard period for SRS antenna switching according to a predetermined rule, respectively. As described above, the rule may be preconfigured at UE 110 and have been sent from UE 110 to gNB 120, may be preconfigured at gNB 120 and have been sent from gNB 120 to UE 110, or may be preconfigured at both UE 110 and gNB 120.

At 560, the gNB 120 may determine whether the guard period position determined at operation 520 is available. For example, referring to fig. 3, according to the rule at operation 520, symbol 9 may be determined as a guard period, but symbol 9 may not be available for the guard period because the gNB 120 has allocated symbol 9 to other frequency bands for the UE 110 and/or other UEs with higher priorities.

If the gNB 120 determines at operation 560 that the guard period position determined at operation 520 is available, the gNB 120 may consider that the UE 110 will perform antenna switching during the guard period, and thus the gNB 120 will not schedule signaling for the UE 110 during the guard period. On the other hand, if the gNB 120 determines at operation 560 that the guard period position determined at operation 520 is not available, then at 570 the gNB 120 may determine a new actual time domain position of the guard period. For example, the gNB 120 may consider resource allocations for other frequency bands of the UE 110 and/or other UEs and select one or two appropriate symbols as the guard period for antenna switching. At this time, the actual guard period determined at the gNB 120 is different from the guard period determined at the UE 110.

Then, at 580, the gNB 120 may transmit the actual guard period determined at operation 570 to the UE 110, such that the gNB 120 and the UE 110 can agree on the location of the guard period. UE 110 will perform SRS antenna switching during the actual guard period and the gNB 120 will not schedule DL and/or UL signaling for UE 110 during the actual guard period.

Fig. 11 is a functional block diagram of an apparatus 600 illustrated in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. Device 600 may be implemented at or as part of a terminal device, such as UE 110 described above. Referring to fig. 11, apparatus 600 may include a first means 610 for receiving an SRS resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching. The at least one SRS resource set may include two or more SRS resources for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports.

The apparatus 600 may further include second means 620 for determining a time domain position of a guard period in which SRS antenna switching occurs based on the indication of the predetermined rule. The predetermined rule may indicate a time domain position of the guard period relative to SRS resources in the at least one SRS resource set for antenna switching. For example, the SRS resource set may include at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports, and the guard period may be located before and/or after the respective SRS resources. In some embodiments, the guard period may be located between two SRS resources when at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports include two SRS resources configured within a same slot.

In some embodiments, optionally, the apparatus 600 may further comprise third means 630 for sending the predetermined rule to a network device such as the above-mentioned gNB 120. The predetermined rule may be preconfigured at UE 110 and sent to the gNB 120 before or after the UE 110 receives the set of SRS resources for SRS antenna switching. For example, UE 110 may send a predetermined rule to the gNB 120 in a capability report.

In some embodiments, optionally, the apparatus 600 may further comprise fourth means 640 for receiving a predetermined rule from a network device such as the above-described gNB 120. The predetermined rule may be pre-configured at the gNB 120 and it is sent from the gNB 120 to the UE 110 together with or before the gNB 120 sends the SRS resource set configuration to the UE 110.

In some embodiments, optionally, the device 600 may further comprise: fifth means 650 for determining an actual time domain position of the guard period when the guard period position determined according to the predetermined rule is not available; and sixth means 660 for reporting the actual time domain position of the guard period to the network device. For example, if the guard period position determined according to the predetermined rule is not available for some reasons, such as implementation restrictions, the UE 110 may determine a new available position for the guard period and report the new position to the gNB 120.

In some embodiments, optionally, the device 600 may further comprise seventh means 670 for receiving an indication of an actual time domain position of the guard period from the network device. For example, if the gNB 120 recognizes that the guard period position determined according to the predetermined rule is not available because it has been allocated to other frequency bands of the UE 110 or other UEs having higher priority, the gNB 120 will determine a new actual time domain position and notify the UE 110 of the new actual position.

Fig. 12 is a functional block diagram of an apparatus 700, illustrated in accordance with an example embodiment. Device 700 may be implemented at or part of a network device, such as the above-described gNB 120. Referring to fig. 12, apparatus 700 can comprise first means 710 for configuring a terminal device, such as UE 110 described above, with SRS resource set configuration. The SRS resource set configuration may include at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching. The at least one SRS resource set may include two or more SRS resources for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports.

The apparatus 700 may further comprise second means 720 for determining a time domain position of a guard period in which SRS antenna switching occurs based on an indication of a predetermined rule. The predetermined rule may indicate a time domain position of the guard period relative to SRS resources in the at least one SRS resource set for antenna switching. For example, the SRS resource set may include at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports, and the guard period may be located before and/or after the respective SRS resources. In some embodiments, the guard period may be located between two SRS resources when at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on different antenna ports include two SRS resources configured within a same slot.

In some embodiments, optionally, the apparatus 700 may further comprise third means 730 for receiving a predetermined rule from a terminal device, such as the UE 110 described above. The predetermined rules may be preconfigured at UE 110 and sent to the gNB 120 before or after the gNB 120 configures the SRS resource set configuration to UE 110. For example, the gNB 120 may receive the predetermined rule in a capability report sent from the UE 110.

In some embodiments, optionally, the apparatus 700 may further comprise fourth means 740 for sending predetermined rules to a terminal device, such as the UE 110. The predetermined rule may be pre-configured at the gNB 120 and it is sent from the gNB 120 to the UE 110 together with or before the gNB 120 sends the SRS resource set configuration to the UE 110.

In some embodiments, optionally, the apparatus 700 may further comprise fifth means 750 for receiving an indication of an actual time domain position of the guard period from the terminal device. For example, when the guard period position determined according to the predetermined rule is not available, UE 110 may determine a new available position for the guard period and report the new guard period position to the network device. The gNB 120 and the UE 110 may then agree on the location of the guard period for SRS antenna switching.

In some embodiments, optionally, the device 700 may further comprise: sixth means 760 for determining an actual time domain position of the guard period when the guard period position determined according to the predetermined rule is not available; and seventh means 770 for transmitting the actual time domain position of the guard period to the terminal device. For example, if the gNB 120 identifies that the guard period position determined according to the predetermined rule is not available because it has been allocated to other frequency bands of the UE 110 or other UEs with higher priority, the gNB 120 will determine a new actual time domain position for the guard period and inform the UE 110 of the new actual position. The gNB 120 and the UE 110 may then agree on the location of the guard period for SRS antenna switching.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example communication system 800 in which example embodiments of the present application may be implemented. As shown in fig. 13, the communication system 800 may include a terminal device 810 that may be implemented as the UE 110 described above, and a network device 820 that may be implemented as the gNB 120 described above. Although fig. 13 shows only one network device 120, it should be understood that the terminal device 810 may communicate wirelessly with both network devices, for example, in an MR-DC scenario.

Referring to fig. 13, a terminal device 810 may include one or more processors 811, one or more memories 812, and one or more transceivers 813 interconnected by one or more buses 814. The one or more buses 814 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optics, or other optical communications device. Each of the one or more transceivers 813 can include a receiver and a transmitter connected to a plurality of antennas 816. Terminal device 810 may communicate wirelessly with network device 820 via multiple antennas 816. The one or more memories 812 may include computer program code 815. The one or more memories 812 and the computer program code 815 may be configured to, when executed by the one or more processors 811, cause the terminal device 810 to perform operations and procedures related to the UE 110 as described above.

The network device 820 may include one or more processors 821, one or more memories 822, one or more transceivers 823, and one or more network interfaces 827 interconnected by one or more buses 824. The one or more buses 824 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optics, or other optical communications device. Each of the one or more transceivers 823 may include a receiver and a transmitter connected to a plurality of antennas 826. Network device 820 may operate as a base station for terminal device 810 and communicate wirelessly with terminal device 810 via a plurality of antennas 826. One or more of the network interfaces 827 may provide a wired or wireless communication link by which the network device 820 can communicate with other network devices, entities, or functions. The one or more memories 822 may include computer program code 825. The one or more memories 822 and the computer program code 825 may be configured to, when executed by the one or more processors 821, cause the network device 820 to perform operations and procedures related to the gNB 120 as described above.

The one or more processors 811, 821 described above may be of any suitable type suitable for a local technology network, and may include one or more processors in a general purpose processor, special purpose processor, microprocessor, digital Signal Processor (DSP), processor-based multi-core processor architecture, and special purpose processors such as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) based development. The one or more processors 811, 821 may be configured to control and operate in cooperation with other elements of the terminal/network device to implement the processes described above.

The one or more memories 812, 822 may include at least one tangible storage medium in various forms, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can include, for example, random Access Memory (RAM) or cache memory, but is not limited to. The non-volatile memory may include, but is not limited to, for example, read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, and the like. Further, the one or more memories 812, 822 may include, but are not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the above.

Network device 820 may be implemented as a single network node or split/distributed across two or more network nodes, such as a Central Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), using different functional partitioning architectures, and different interfaces.

It should be understood that the blocks in the figures may be implemented in various ways, including software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. In some example embodiments, one or more of the blocks may be implemented using software and/or firmware (e.g., machine executable instructions stored in a storage medium). Some or all of the blocks in the figures may be implemented at least in part by one or more hardware logic components in addition to or in place of machine-executable instructions. For example, but not limited to, illustrative types of hardware logic that may be used include Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), application Specific Standard Products (ASSPs), systems On Chip (SOCs), complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), and the like.

Some example embodiments also provide computer program code or instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, may cause an apparatus or device to perform the above-described processes. The computer program code for carrying out processes of the example embodiments may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The computer program code may be provided to one or more processors or controllers of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations to be specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

Some example embodiments also provide a computer program product or a computer-readable medium having computer program code or instructions stored therein. A computer readable medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a machine-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Moreover, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the application, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular example embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate example embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single example embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single example embodiment can also be implemented in multiple example embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example of implementing the claims.

Abbreviations used in the specification and/or drawings are defined as follows:

BS base station

CA carrier aggregation

FDD frequency division duplexing

gNB nested generation base station

MR-DC multi-RAT dual connectivity

NR new air interface

OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

RRC radio resource control

SCS subcarrier spacing

SRS sounding reference signal

TDD time division duplexing

UE user equipment

Claims

1. A terminal device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to:

receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration including at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports; and

Based on the indication of the predetermined rule, a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs is determined.

2. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined rule indicates a time domain position of the guard period relative to SRS resources in one of the at least one SRS resource set.

3. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein one of the at least one SRS resource set comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmission on one or more different antenna ports and the guard period is located before and/or after the respective SRS resource.

4. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein one of the at least one SRS resource set comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmission on one or more different antenna ports, and the guard period is between two of the at least two SRS resources when the two SRS resources are configured within a slot.

5. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to:

The predetermined rule is transmitted to a network device before or after receiving the SRS resource set configuration for the SRS antenna switching.

6. The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the predetermined rule is sent from the terminal device to the network device in a capability report.

7. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to:

the predetermined rule is received from a network device.

8. The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the predetermined rule is received with or prior to receiving the SRS resource set configuration.

9. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to:

determining an actual time domain position of the guard period when the position determined based on the predetermined rule is not available; and

reporting the actual time domain position of the guard period to a network device.

10. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to:

an indication of an actual time domain position of the guard period is received from a network device, wherein the actual time domain position of the guard period is different from the time domain position of the guard period determined based on the predetermined rule.

11. A network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to:

configuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration including at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports; and

based on a predetermined rule, a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs is determined.

12. The network device of claim 11, wherein the predetermined rule indicates a time domain position of the guard period relative to SRS resources in one of the at least one SRS resource set.

13. The network device of claim 11, wherein one of the at least one SRS resource set comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on one or more different antenna ports and the guard period is located before and/or after the respective SRS resource.

14. The network device of claim 11, wherein one of the at least one set of SRS resources comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on one or more different antenna ports, and the guard period is between two of the at least two SRS resources when the two SRS resources are configured within a slot.

15. The network device of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to:

a predetermined rule is received from a terminal device before or after configuring the SRS resource set configuration for the terminal device.

16. The network apparatus of claim 15, wherein the predetermined rule is received in a capability report from the terminal device.

17. The network device of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to:

and transmitting the predetermined rule to the terminal equipment.

18. The network device of claim 17, wherein the predetermined rule is transmitted at the same time as or prior to transmitting the SRS resource set configuration to the terminal device.

19. The network device of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to:

determining an actual time domain position of the guard period when the time domain position determined based on the predetermined rule is not available; and

and transmitting the actual time domain position of the protection period.

20. The network device of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to:

an indication of an actual time domain position of the guard period is received from the terminal device, the actual time domain position of the guard period being different from the time domain position of the guard period determined based on the predetermined rule.

21. A method implemented at a terminal device, comprising:

a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs is determined based on an indication of a predetermined rule.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the predetermined rule indicates a time domain position of the guard period relative to SRS resources in one of the at least one SRS resource set.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein one of the at least one SRS resource set comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on one or more different antenna ports and the guard period is located before and/or after the respective SRS resource.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein one of the at least one set of SRS resources comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on one or more different antenna ports, and the guard period is between two of the at least two SRS resources when the two SRS resources are configured within one slot.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the predetermined rule is sent from the terminal device to the network device in a capability report.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

the predetermined rule is received from a network device.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the predetermined rule is received with or prior to receiving the SRS resource set configuration.

29. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

30. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

31. A method implemented at a network device, comprising:

a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs is determined based on a predetermined rule.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the predetermined rule indicates a time domain position of the guard period relative to SRS resources in one of the at least one SRS resource set.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein one of the at least one SRS resource set comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on one or more different antenna ports and the guard period is located before and/or after the respective SRS resource.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein one of the at least one set of SRS resources comprises at least two SRS resources for SRS transmissions on one or more different antenna ports, and the guard period is between two of the at least two SRS resources when the two SRS resources are configured within a slot.

35. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the predetermined rule is received in a capability report from the terminal device.

37. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

and transmitting the predetermined rule to the terminal equipment.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the predetermined rule is transmitted with or prior to transmitting the SRS resource set configuration to the terminal device.

39. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

40. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

and transmitting the actual time domain position of the protection period.

41. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration including at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports; and

means for determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on an indication of a predetermined rule.

42. An apparatus, comprising:

means for configuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration including at least one SRS resource set configured for SRS antenna switching between different antenna ports; and

means for determining a time domain position of a guard period in which the SRS antenna switching occurs based on a predetermined rule.

43. A computer program comprising instructions stored on a computer readable medium, which when executed by at least one processor of a terminal device, cause the terminal device to:

44. A computer program comprising instructions stored on a computer-readable medium that, when executed by at least one processor of a network device, cause the network device to:

and determining the time domain position of the protection period when the SRS antenna switching occurs based on a preset rule.