CN117478179A

CN117478179A - Method for determining aggregation level of downlink control channel and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN117478179A
Application number: CN202210857735.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 普晗晔; 高叶楠; 葛晨晖
Original assignee: Shanghai Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-20
Filing date: 2022-07-20
Publication date: 2024-01-30

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method for determining the aggregation level of a downlink control channel and a communication device, which can accurately determine the AL of a PDCCH in a multi-stream space stream scene. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment sends a first reference signal and first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back first Channel State Information (CSI), and the first CSI is Channel Quality Indication (CQI) corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the terminal equipment for measuring the first reference signal; the network equipment receives first CSI from the terminal equipment; and the network equipment determines the aggregation level of the downlink control channel according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI. The column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for transmitting a downlink control channel.

Description

Method for determining aggregation level of downlink control channel and communication device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method for determining an aggregation level of a downlink control channel and a communication device.

Background

Carried in the physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) is downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) containing resource allocation information and other control information of one or more terminal devices. The network device may obtain the channel quality of the downlink channel according to the channel quality indicator (channel quality indicator, CQI) fed back after the terminal device performs the channel quality information (channel state information, CSI) measurement, and determine the aggregation level (aggregation level, AL) of the PDCCH, i.e. the number of control channel elements (control channel element, CCE) occupied by the PDCCH, according to the CQI.

However, in a special scenario, the CQI fed back by the terminal device is inaccurate, and thus the AL of the PDCCH determined by the network device is also inaccurate.

Disclosure of Invention

The method and the communication device for determining the aggregation level of the downlink control channel can accurately determine the AL of the PDCCH in a multi-stream space stream scene.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, a method for determining an aggregation level of a downlink control channel is provided, where the method may be performed by a network device, or may be performed by a component of the network device, for example, a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip of the network device, or may be implemented by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device. The following description is made by taking this method as an example by the network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment sends a first reference signal and first indication information to the terminal equipment, receives first CSI from the terminal equipment, and determines the AL of the downlink control channel according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI. The first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back first Channel State Information (CSI), the first CSI is CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the terminal equipment measuring a first reference signal, the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for sending a downlink control channel. In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is used to indicate the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix obtained by measuring the first reference signal by the terminal device, where the number of columns of the first precoding matrix is 1, so that the CQI fed back by the terminal device is the CQI corresponding to one spatial stream, there is no interference between multiple spatial streams, and the CQI fed back by the terminal device corresponds to the one spatial stream one by one, so that the CQI can accurately reflect the channel quality of the downlink channel. Therefore, based on the method for determining the aggregation level of the downlink control channel provided by the embodiment of the application, the AL of the downlink control channel can be accurately determined in a multi-stream space stream scene.

In a second aspect, a method for determining an aggregation level of a downlink control channel is provided, where the method may be performed by a terminal device, or may be performed by a component of the terminal device, for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the terminal device, or may be implemented by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of a network device function. The following description will be made with an example in which the method is executed by the terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives a first reference signal and first indication information from the network device, and sends first CSI to the network device. The first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back the first CSI. The first CSI is CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by a terminal device measuring a first reference signal, the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for transmitting a downlink control channel. The CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI is used to determine an AL of the downlink control channel. In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is used to indicate the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix obtained by measuring the first reference signal by the terminal device, where the number of columns of the first precoding matrix is 1, so that the CQI fed back by the terminal device is the CQI corresponding to one spatial stream, there is no interference between multiple spatial streams, and the CQI fed back by the terminal device corresponds to the one spatial stream one by one, so that the CQI can accurately reflect the channel quality of the downlink channel. Therefore, based on the method for determining the aggregation level of the downlink control channel provided by the embodiment of the application, the AL of the downlink control channel can be accurately determined in a multi-stream space stream scene.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information, where the first information is information for indicating that a rank of feedback allowed by the RI restriction parameter is 1, the RI restriction parameter is used to indicate that the rank of feedback allowed by the terminal device, and the rank suggests to the terminal device that the network device sends a spatial stream number corresponding to downlink data. The first information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back the first CSI. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device limits the rank indicated by RI in the first CSI fed back by the terminal device to be only allowed to be 1, and further, the precoding matrix indicated by PMI in the first CSI is also a precoding matrix with a column number of 1, so that the CQI in the first CSI is a CQI corresponding to the rank of 1.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the RI limiting parameter is one or more of the following: type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single panel RI-restriction, type I multi panel rank indication restriction type I-multi panel RI-restriction, type II rank indication restriction type II-RI-restriction, or type II port selection rank indication restriction type II-port selection-RI-restriction.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the first indication information is further used to instruct the terminal device to feed back time domain resource information and/or frequency domain resource information of the first CSI. That is, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device may feed back the first CSI on the time domain resource and/or the frequency domain resource indicated by the first indication information.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the time domain resource information of the first CSI fed back by the terminal device includes periodic information and/or aperiodic information. Optionally, the periodic information may include information indicating that the terminal device periodically feeds back the first CSI and/or information indicating that the terminal device semi-continuously feeds back the first CSI. The terminal equipment feeds back the first CSI semi-continuously is that the terminal equipment feeds back the first CSI periodically after receiving an instruction for activating the semi-continuously to send the first CSI.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the first CSI further includes a precoding matrix indicator PMI, where the PMI is used to indicate the first precoding matrix.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and the network equipment transmits a downlink control channel according to the first precoding matrix. Wherein the first precoding matrix is used as a transmission weight of the downlink control channel. That is, in order to avoid that the precoding vector sent by the network device to the downlink control channel is not matched with the downlink control channel, in the embodiment of the present application, the column number of the first precoding matrix in the first CSI fed back by the terminal device is 1, that is, the first precoding matrix corresponds to only one precoding vector, and the precoding vector is more matched with the actual channel characteristic of the downlink control channel, so that the network device uses the precoding vector to send the downlink control channel, and the performance of the downlink control channel can be improved.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the above methods. The communication means may be a network device of the first aspect, or a device comprising the network device, such as a chip; alternatively, the communication means may be the terminal device in the above second aspect, or a device including the above terminal device. The communication device comprises corresponding modules, units or means (means) for realizing the method, and the modules, units or means can be realized by hardware, software or realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions described above.

In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement the transmitting and/or receiving functions of any of the above aspects and any possible implementation thereof. The transceiver module may be formed by a transceiver circuit, transceiver or communication interface. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functions of any of the aspects described above and any possible implementation thereof.

In some possible designs, the transceiver module includes a transmitting module and a receiving module for implementing the transmitting and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation thereof, respectively.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of the above aspects. The communication means may be a network device of the first aspect, or an apparatus comprising the network device, such as a chip; alternatively, the communication device may be the terminal device in the second aspect, or a device including the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: a processor; the processor is configured to couple to the memory and to execute the method according to any of the above aspects in accordance with the instructions in the memory after reading the instructions. The communication means may be a network device of the first aspect, or an apparatus comprising the network device, such as a chip; alternatively, the communication device may be the terminal device in the second aspect, or a device including the terminal device.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a communications device (e.g. which may be a chip or a system of chips) comprising a processor for carrying out the functions of any of the aspects described above. In one possible design, the communication device further includes a memory for holding necessary program instructions and data. When the communication device is a chip system, the communication device may be formed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

The technical effects caused by any one of the design manners of the third aspect to the eighth aspect may be referred to the technical effects caused by the different design manners of the first aspect or the second aspect, and are not repeated herein.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising the network device of the above aspect and the terminal device of the above aspect.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram one of a network device for transmitting PDCCH and PDSCH provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method for determining an aggregation level of a downlink control channel according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram two of a network device sending PDCCH and PDSCH according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a second terminal device according to the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For the convenience of understanding the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, a brief description of the related technology of the present application is first given. Briefly described as follows:

first, space division multiplexing (space division multiplexing, SDM)

Space division multiplexing refers to dividing space by an array antenna to form different beams in different directions, each beam can provide a non-interference transmission path, so that space domain resources on the same frequency domain resource can be multiplexed. In other words, space division multiplexing can provide a single terminal device with a plurality of independently transmitted data streams using uncorrelation (i.e., orthogonality) between transmission paths without increasing spectrum bandwidth, thereby improving the capacity and transmission rate of a link. Wherein each of the plurality of independently transmitted data streams may be referred to as a spatial stream. Each spatial stream may be transmitted by multiple physical antennas in the network device.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, each physical antenna of the plurality of physical antennas may refer to an array element (may also be referred to as an array element) in the array antenna, which is generally described herein, and will not be described herein.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, one spatial stream corresponds to one beam direction in one beam group. Wherein one or more beams may be included within a beam group.

Second, layer mapping (layer mapper)

The purpose of layer mapping is to map data sent by a network device to multiple spatial streams. Wherein the number of layers is equal to the number of spatial streams. It will be appreciated that in embodiments of the present application, layers do not interfere with each other.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, after layer mapping, data sent by the network device may obtain a spatial stream symbol stream corresponding to each spatial stream. Wherein each spatial stream symbol stream may be carried by a plurality of antenna ports.

Third, antenna port (antenna port)

An antenna port defines a channel on a certain symbol. The antenna port is a logical concept, and one antenna port may correspond to one physical transmitting antenna or may correspond to a plurality of physical transmitting antennas. The antenna ports may be distinguished by Reference Signals (RSs) (also referred to as pilots): in the downlink (the link where the network device sends signals to the terminal device), the downlink and the downlink reference signals are in one-to-one correspondence, and if one reference signal is transmitted through multiple physical antennas, the multiple physical antennas correspond to the same antenna port; if two different reference signals are transmitted through the same physical antenna, the physical antenna corresponds to two independent antenna ports.

For example, an antenna port corresponding to the demodulation reference signal (de-modulation reference signal, DMRS) may be referred to as a DMRS port, and a corresponding channel state information reference signal (channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS) antenna port may be referred to as a CSI-RS port.

Table one exemplarily shows the correspondence of part of reference signals and antenna port numbers in a New Radio (NR) system.

List one

Referring to table one, in an NR system, PDSCH DMRS may support 12 antenna ports and CSI-RS may support 32 antenna ports (including 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, and 32). It will be appreciated that the antenna port numbers in table one are merely exemplary, and other numbering schemes are possible, and embodiments of the present application are not specifically limited thereto.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the channel experienced by the signal sent through the antenna port may be estimated by the RS corresponding to the antenna port.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the number of layers is the same as the number of PDSCH DMRS ports. Illustratively, taking the spatial stream number (layer number) as 2, and the 2 spatial streams are the spatial stream #1 and the spatial stream #2, respectively, the symbol stream of the spatial stream #1 and the symbol stream of the spatial stream #2 may be obtained after the layer mapping, then the network device inserts PDSCH DMRS #1 in the symbol stream of the spatial stream #1, inserts PDSCH DMRS #2 in the symbol stream of the spatial stream #2, then the network device maps the symbol stream of the spatial stream #1 and PDSCH DMRS #1 to the antenna port 1000, and maps the symbol stream of the spatial stream #2 and PDSCH DMRS #2 to the antenna port 1001. Wherein, the data transmitted by the antenna port 1000 and the symbols transmitted by the antenna port 1001 may be subjected to resource mapping and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM) processing to obtain pdsch#1 (i.e., spatial stream # 1) and pdsch#2 (i.e., spatial stream # 2), and then the network device transmits the pdsch#1 and pdsch#2 through the antenna array. Accordingly, the terminal device receives pdsch#1 and pdsch#2 from the network device. It will be appreciated that for the terminal device signals coming from only antenna port 1000 and antenna port 1001, which is equivalent to two equivalent channels between the network device and the terminal device, the terminal device can complete channel estimation of the equivalent channels through PDSCH DMRS #1 and PDSCH DMRS #2.

Fourth, channel matrix

Taking the multiple-input multiple-output (multiple input multiple output, MIMO) system shown in fig. 1 as an example, as shown in fig. 1, the network device has Nt transmitting antennas, and the terminal device has Nr receiving antennas. Wherein, the transmission signal is X, and the reception signal is Y, the relationship shown in formula (1) can be satisfied between the reception signal Y and the transmission signal X.

Y=hx+n formula (1)

Wherein X is a column vector containing Nt elements, Y is a column vector containing Nr elements, the channel matrix H is a matrix containing nr×nt elements, and N is additive gaussian noise. Illustratively, the channel matrix H may be a matrix shown in equation (2).

H of the ith row and jth column of the channel matrix H as shown in formula (2) _ij The channel gain from the jth transmit antenna to the ith receive antenna may be represented.

Fifth, precoding matrix (precoding matrix)

In a wireless communication system, a transmission signal may be preprocessed according to acquired channel information (e.g., channel matrix H). By way of example, part or all of interference between the symbol streams of the multi-layer spatial multiplexing stream after layer mapping can be eliminated in advance at the network device, so as to realize link adaptation of data transmission, that is, different data transmission modes are adopted according to different channel conditions, and the interference between the symbol streams of the multi-layer spatial multiplexing stream is reduced as much as possible. The matrix used when the network device performs the precoding processing is the "precoding matrix". The relationship between the received signal Y and the transmitted signal X after the network device adopts the precoding process in the case of neglecting the additive gaussian noise N can be expressed by the formula (3).

Y= HVX formula (3)

In formula (3), matrix V is a precoding matrix. It will be appreciated that to cancel interference in the channel matrix H, V may be the inverse of H ^-1 . Since H is multiplied by V to form a unitary matrix, i.e., y=hh ^-1 X=x so that interference of the channel can be cancelled.

It can be understood that multiplying V on the right of the channel matrix H corresponds to multiplying V on the left of the data corresponding to the transmission signal X. In other words, precoding the channel matrix H can be achieved by precoding the data corresponding to the transmission signal X.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, in the case where the channel matrix H is irreversible, the precoding matrix V may be obtained by decomposing the channel matrix H and performing channel estimation. The channel matrix H may be decomposed by singular value decomposition (singular value decomposition, SVD); alternatively, the eigenvalue decomposition (eigen value decomposition, EVD), or other matrix decomposition methods are also possible, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The process of obtaining the precoding matrix V by the channel matrix H is described below by taking SVD as an example.

1、SVD

In this embodiment of the present application, SVD decomposition is performed on the channel matrix H, so that equation (4) may be obtained.

H＝USV ^H Formula (4)

In formula (4), the matrix U is a unitary matrix of Nr×Nr elements, and the matrix V ^H The matrix S is a diagonal matrix of Nr×Nt elements. The column vector of the matrix U is the channel matrix H and the transposed matrix H thereof ^T Product HH of (2) ^T Is described. Matrix V ^H Is HH ^T Is described.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the matrix S may not be a square matrix. Illustratively, the matrix S may be a matrix as shown in equation (5).

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the number of elements with a value greater than or equal to the first threshold corresponding to the elements on the diagonal of the matrix S is the rank (rank) of the channel matrix H. Wherein the first threshold may be 0,0.1, or 0.2, etc.; alternatively, the first threshold may also be a condition number (condition number) corresponding to an S matrix for measuring the sensitivity of the matrix to a change, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the number of spatial streams (i.e., the number of layers) depends on the rank of the channel matrix H. For example, if the rank of the channel matrix H is 1, the spatial stream number is 1, and the network device does not use the spatial multiplexing technology; if the rank of the channel matrix H is 2, the spatial stream number is 2, which is generally described herein, and will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, "rank1" may be denoted as "rank1", and "rank2" may be denoted as "rank2". Similarly, "rank N" may be expressed as "rankN", where N is a positive integer, and is generally described herein, and will not be described in detail.

2. Precoding

Since the product of the unitary matrix itself and its conjugate transpose matrix is an identity matrix, equation (3) can be expressed as equation (6) after the channel matrix H is right multiplied by the precoding matrix V.

Y＝USV ^H Vx=usx formula (6)

It will be appreciated that US in equation (6) indicates that the MIMO channel is not completely decomposed into a plurality of channels independent of each other, but the transmission process has been improved according to the actual channel. Wherein matrix V ^H Is the conjugate transpose of the precoding matrix. That is, by performing SVD decomposition on the signal matrix H, not only the rank of the channel matrix H but also V can be obtained ^H A precoding matrix V is obtained.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the plurality of spatial stream symbol streams (symbol streams corresponding to DMRS ports) obtained through layer mapping may be transmitted by spreading the plurality of spatial stream symbols onto each logical antenna port (for example, CSI-RS port) through precoding (i.e., multiplying the precoding matrix by the left). Illustratively, taking the logical antenna port number of 4, the spatial stream number of 2, and the number of symbols in each spatial stream symbol stream of 1 as an example, the description is given in connection with the formula (7).

In formula (7), matrix L is a matrix corresponding to the spatial stream symbol. Wherein the number of row vectors of the matrix L is used to represent the number of spatial streams. The number of row vectors (number of rows) of the precoding matrix V is equal to the number of logical antenna ports, and the number of column vectors (number of columns) of the precoding matrix V is equal to the number of spatial streams (i.e., the number of DMRS ports). The column vectors of the precoding matrix V are precoding vectors, each precoding vector corresponding to a spatial stream. After multiplying the precoding matrix V with the matrix L, each spatial stream symbol stream (L ₁ Or l ₂ ) Is spread to each logical antenna port by a corresponding precoding vector (e.g., vector v ₁₁ l ₁ ，v ₂₁ l ₁ ，v ₃₁ l ₁ ，v ₄₁ l ₁ ] ^T Representing a spatial stream symbol stream l ₁ Are spread over the individual logical antenna ports) and each logical antenna port carries the sum of a plurality of precoded spatial stream symbol streams.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, each element in the precoding vector may represent a weight of a spatial stream corresponding to the precoding vector sent by each logical antenna port. Based on the weights of the spatial streams corresponding to the precoding vectors sent by the logic antenna ports represented by the elements in the precoding vectors, the signals sent by the logic antenna ports are linearly overlapped, so that a region with stronger signals can be formed in a certain direction of the space. That is, the precoding vector may indicate beam information of the transmission spatial stream, which may be a beam direction, a beam angle, or a beam index. The beam index may be an index of a reference signal. The reference signal may be a DMRS, sounding reference information (sounding reference signal, SRS), channel state information reference signal (channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS), or synchronization signal block (synchronization signal and physical downlink broadcast channel block, SSB), etc., which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

It should be appreciated that in the embodiments of the present application, the "precoding vector" may also be referred to as an "antenna weight vector", "angle vector", "digital beam (digital beam) vector", "spatial beam basis vector", or "spatial basis vector", etc. In other words, the "precoding vector", "antenna weight vector", "angle vector", "digital beam (digital beam) vector", "spatial beam basis vector", or "spatial basis vector" may be expressed interchangeably, and are described in detail herein, and will not be described in detail herein.

Sixth, codebook (code book)

A codebook is a set comprising a plurality of precoding matrices. Wherein the plurality of precoding matrices may be predefined. Codebooks may be divided into different types, such as type I (type I) codebooks and type II (type II) codebooks specified by the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) in technical specification (technical specification, TS) 38.214. The type I codebook may be divided into a type I single-panel codebook and a type II multi-panel codebook, and the type II codebook may be divided into a type II single-panel codebook and a type II multi-panel codebook, and specific design and implementation of the codebook may refer to the description of the TS38.214, which is not repeated herein.

Alternatively, in the embodiments of the present application, the "single panel" may be referred to as a "single antenna array plane", and the "multi-panel" may be referred to as a "multi-antenna array plane". In other words, the meaning of the "single panel" and the "single antenna array plane" are the same, and can be expressed interchangeably; the meaning of the multi-panel and the multi-antenna array plane are the same, and the multi-panel and the multi-antenna array plane can be expressed in a mutually-replaceable manner, and are uniformly described herein, and are not repeated.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the codebook may be stored in advance on the network device and the terminal device. Or the network device stores the codebook in advance, the network device sends the codebook to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the codebook from the network device. Or, the terminal device stores the codebook in advance, the terminal device sends the codebook to the network device, and the network device receives the codebook from the terminal device, which is not limited in detail in the embodiment of the present application.

Seventh, CSI measurement and feedback

The CSI measurement is that the terminal device receives a reference signal from the network device, performs channel estimation on the reference signal, further obtains CSI, and feeds back the CSI to the network device for precoding by the network device. Wherein the CSI may comprise one or more of: CQI, precoding matrix indicator (precoding matrix indicator, PMI), or Rank Indicator (RI). CQI is used to indicate whether the current channel is good or bad. The PMI is used to indicate the index of the codebook proposed by the terminal device. The RI is used to instruct the terminal device to suggest the network device to send the number of streams or layers of the spatial stream. It can be appreciated that the network device can determine the precoding matrix from the PMI and RI.

Illustratively, a codebook with a logical antenna port number of 2 is shown in Table two. As shown in table two, in case of rank1 (rank 1), there are 4 precoding matrices in total, and each precoding matrix has only one precoding vector.

Watch II

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine the rank of the channel matrix H by using SVD through CSI-RS pair channel estimation, that is, the terminal device may determine the RI according to the rank of the channel matrix H. Wherein the terminal device obtains a signal-to-noise ratio (signal to noise ratio, SNR) and/or a reference signal received power (reference signal receiving power, RSRP) of the spatial stream after demodulating the spatial stream, and determines the CQI based on the SNR and/or RSRP of the spatial stream. For example, when the terminal device uses CSI-RS for CSI measurement, the spatial stream may be a PDSCH data stream.

It can be understood that, since the PDSCH and the PDCCH are downlink channels, CSI obtained by the terminal device performing channel estimation on the PDSCH through CSI-RS may reflect channel characteristics of the PDCCH.

It can be appreciated that the larger the SNR of a spatial stream, the stronger the signal strength of the spatial stream when it reaches the terminal device; the smaller the SNR of a spatial stream, the weaker the signal strength of the spatial stream at the time of arrival at the terminal device can be considered. The larger the RSRP corresponding to the spatial stream, the stronger the signal strength of the spatial stream when the spatial stream reaches the terminal device can be considered; the smaller the RSRP corresponding to a spatial stream, the weaker the signal strength of the spatial stream when it reaches the terminal device can be considered.

Alternatively, in the embodiments of the present application, SNR may refer to a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR) after equalization, or SINR before equalization. Post-equalization SINR refers to the SINR of the spatial stream actually received after passing through the receiver of the terminal device, and pre-equalization refers to the SINR of the spatial stream received before the receiver of the terminal device.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the index range of CQI may be 0 to 15. Wherein each index value of the CQI may correspond to different information. Alternatively, the index range of CQI may be 0 to 31; alternatively, the index range of the CQI may be preconfigured by the network device and the terminal device; alternatively, the index range of the CQI may be agreed, which is not specifically limited by the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, when the number of streams of the spatial stream indicated by the RI is greater than 1, that is, when the terminal device suggests the network device to perform multi-stream spatial stream transmission on downlink data (that is, a multi-stream spatial stream scene), the CQI in the CSI is the CQI corresponding to the multi-stream spatial stream; and under the condition that the stream number of the spatial stream indicated by the RI is 1, namely the terminal equipment suggests the network equipment to transmit downlink data in a single stream spatial stream, the CQI in the CSI is the CQI corresponding to the single stream spatial stream. Wherein, the CQI corresponding to the single-stream space stream is different from the CQI corresponding to the multi-stream space stream. For example, assuming that the spatial stream number is 2, the terminal device may determine CQI according to the SNR or SINR respectively corresponding to the two spatial streams, for example, the terminal device may determine CQI according to the SNR or SINR with the smallest value of the two SNRs or SINRs; alternatively, the terminal device may determine the CQI according to the SNR or SINR with the largest of the two SNRs or SINRs; alternatively, the terminal device may determine the CQI according to an average of the two SNRs or SINRs, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Eighth, the network device determines AL of PDCCH according to CQI

After the network device receives the CQI from the terminal device, the AL of the PDCCH may be determined according to the index value of the CQI. Wherein the number of CCEs occupied by one PDCCH may be 1, 2, 4, 8 or even 16, i.e. AL may be 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16, and more AL may be supported in the future. It can be understood that the number of resources occupied by different ALs is different, the higher the AL is, the more resources are, the lower the coding rate of the corresponding control information is, the higher the robustness is, the farther the coverage is provided or the application to the area with poor channel is possible.

Alternatively, in one possible implementation, the network device may determine SINR from CQI and RI, and determine AL of PDCCH from SINR. Wherein, the higher the CQI value, the smaller the AL; the smaller the CQI value, the greater the AL. Illustratively, the SINR determined by the network device is the sum of the SINR adjustment value corresponding to the RI fed back by the terminal device, the adjustment factor, and the SINR corresponding to the CQI fed back by the terminal device. The value corresponding to the adjustment factor may be one tenth, one ninth, or one fifth of the SINR corresponding to the CQI, or may be a fixed value unrelated to the SINR corresponding to the CQI, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application. The SINR adjustment value corresponding to RI may be 10log ₁₀ rank, rank is rank; alternatively, the SINR adjustment value corresponding to RI may be another value, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner, the network device selects an AL higher than the spectral efficiency corresponding to the CQI fed back by the terminal device according to comparing the spectral efficiency corresponding to the CQI fed back by the terminal device with the spectral efficiency corresponding to the AL of the PDCCH. The correspondence between the AL of the PDCCH and the spectrum efficiency is determined according to a modulation coding scheme (modulation and coding scheme, MCS) set in the network device, that is, different correspondence between the AL of the PDCCH and the spectrum efficiency is provided under different MCSs.

Ninth, the network device transmits PDCCH and PDSCH based on the fed-back CSI

When the terminal equipment measures the CSI-RS to obtain a channel matrix H, and the rank is larger than 1, and the terminal equipment determines that the current downlink channel is suitable for multi-stream space stream transmission (the rank indicated by RI is larger than 1), the number of columns of precoding matrixes corresponding to the PMI and the RI fed back by the terminal equipment is larger than 1, and the CQI fed back by the terminal equipment is CQI corresponding to the multi-stream space stream indicated by the precoding matrix. The network device uses a first column of precoding vectors in a precoding matrix indicated by PMI and RI to send PDCCH and uses the precoding matrix to send PDSCH, and determines AL of the PDCCH according to CQI corresponding to the multi-stream space stream. For example, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network device transmitting PDCCH and PDSCH when RI indicates rank 2. As shown in fig. 2, the network device transmits pdsch#1 and pdsch#2 according to precoding matrices indicated by PMI and RI, respectively, wherein precoding vector #1 corresponding to transmitting pdsch#1 transmits PDCCH, i.e., pdsch#1 is identical to beam information of PDCCH. However, there is interference between the multi-stream spatial streams, resulting in the following problems:

Firstly, as the PDCCH only supports single-stream spatial stream transmission, in a multi-stream spatial stream scene, CQI corresponding to the multi-stream spatial stream is inaccurate due to the difference between the CQI corresponding to the multi-stream spatial stream and the actual channel characteristic of the PDCCH, and the network device needs to convert the CQI corresponding to the multi-stream spatial stream according to the rank indicated by RI to determine SINR, further resulting in the CQI deviating from the actual channel characteristic of the PDCCH, so that the AL of the PDCCH determined by the network device is inaccurate.

And secondly, under the scene that the terminal equipment feeds back the CSI to suggest the terminal equipment to use the multi-stream space stream, the network equipment selects a first precoding vector in the precoding matrix to send the PDCCH. However, the actual channel characteristics of the first precoding vector and the PDCCH may be different, and in particular, the greater the number of streams of the spatial stream, the greater the probability that the first precoding vector is different from the actual channel characteristics of the PDCCH.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a method for determining an aggregation level of a downlink control channel, which can accurately determine an AL of a PDCCH in a multi-stream spatial stream scenario.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Wherein, in the description of the present application, "/" means that the related objects are in a "or" relationship, unless otherwise specified, for example, a/B may mean a or B; the term "and/or" in this application is merely an association relation describing an association object, and means that three kinds of relations may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: there are three cases, a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. Also, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "a plurality" means two or more than two. "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, or c may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural. In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second", and the like are used to distinguish the same item or similar items having substantially the same function and effect. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the words "first," "second," and the like do not limit the amount and order of execution, and that the words "first," "second," and the like do not necessarily differ. Meanwhile, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion that may be readily understood.

In the embodiment of the application, the "indication" may include a direct indication and an indirect indication, and may also include an explicit indication and an implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (information for indicating the terminal device to feed back the first CSI, which is described below) is referred to as information to be indicated, and in a specific implementation process, there are various ways to indicate the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated may be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated, etc. 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. For example, the indication of the specific information may also be achieved by means of a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-specified) arrangement sequence of the respective information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to some extent.

In the embodiment of the present application, the "transmitting channel" may refer to transmitting data on a physical resource corresponding to the channel. For example, transmitting the PDSCH may refer to transmitting data on physical resources corresponding to the PDSCH, and transmitting the PDCCH may refer to transmitting data on physical resources corresponding to the PDCCH. Wherein the physical resources may include: time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems. For example: orthogonal frequency division multiple access (orthogonal frequency-division multiple access, OFDMA), single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and other systems, among others. The term "system" may be used interchangeably with "network". OFDMA systems may implement wireless technologies such as evolved universal wireless terrestrial access (evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA), ultra mobile broadband (ultra mobile broadband, UMB), and the like. E-UTRA is an evolved version of the universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunications system, UMTS). Various versions of 3GPP in long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) and LTE-based evolution are new versions using E-UTRA. The 5G communication system is the next generation communication system under study. The 5G communication system includes a non-independent Networking (NSA) 5G mobile communication system, an independent networking (SA) 5G mobile communication system, or an NSA 5G mobile communication system and an SA 5G mobile communication system. In addition, the communication system can be also suitable for future communication technologies, and the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is applicable. The above-mentioned communication system to which the present application is applied is merely illustrative, and the communication system to which the present application is applied is not limited thereto, and is generally described herein, and will not be described in detail.

In addition, the communication architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art can know, with evolution of the communication architecture and appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

As shown in fig. 3, a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, where the communication system includes one or more network devices 30 (fig. 3 illustrates that the communication system includes one network device 30 as an example), and one or more terminal devices 40 connected to each network device 30. Alternatively, different terminal devices 40 may communicate with each other.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device sends a first reference signal and first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to feed back the first CSI. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first reference signal and the first indication information from the network device, and transmits the first CSI to the network device. The first CSI is CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by a terminal device measuring a first reference signal, the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for transmitting a downlink control channel. The network equipment receives the first CSI from the terminal equipment and determines the AL of the downlink control channel according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI.

Specific implementations of the above schemes will be described in detail in the following embodiments, which are not described herein.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is used to indicate the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix obtained by measuring the first reference signal by the terminal device, where the first CSI is used to indicate the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix obtained by measuring the first reference signal by the terminal device, and the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, so that the CQI fed back by the terminal device is the CQI corresponding to one spatial stream, there is no interference between multiple spatial streams, and the CQI fed back by the terminal device corresponds to the one spatial stream one by one, so that the CQI can accurately reflect the channel quality of the downlink channel. Therefore, based on the method for determining the aggregation level of the downlink control channel provided by the embodiment of the application, the AL of the downlink control channel can be accurately determined in a multi-stream space stream scene.

Alternatively, the terminal device 40 in the embodiment of the present application may be a device for implementing a wireless communication function, such as a terminal or a chip or the like that may be used in the terminal. The terminal may be a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a terminal agent, a terminal apparatus, or the like in a 5G network or a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN). An access terminal may be a cellular telephone, cordless telephone, 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 capability, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device or wearable device, virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), wireless terminal in self-driving (self-driving), wireless terminal in telemedicine (remote medium), 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), etc. Alternatively, the terminal device may be mobile or fixed.

Alternatively, the network device 30 in the embodiment of the present application may be a device that communicates with the terminal device 40. The network device 30 may include TRP, base station, remote radio unit (remote radio unit, RRU) or baseband unit (BBU) of a separate base station (also referred to as Digital Unit (DU)), broadband network service gateway (broadband network gateway, BNG), aggregation switch, non-3 GPP access device, relay station or access point, and so forth. In fig. 3, a network device is taken as an example of a base station, which is generally described herein, and will not be described in detail. In addition, the base station in the embodiment of the present application may be a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communication, GSM) or code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) network, an NB (NodeB) in wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), an eNB or eNodeB (evolutional NodeB) in LTE, a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, a base station in a 5G communication system, or a base station in a future evolution network, etc., which is not particularly limited herein.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, both the network device 30 and the terminal device 40 may be configured with multiple antennas to support MIMO technology. Further, the network device 30 and the terminal device 40 may support single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) technology, and may support multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). Among other things, MU-MIMO technology may be implemented based on spatial division multiple access (space division Multiple access, SDMA) technology. Because of the multiple antennas configured, network device 30 and terminal device 40 may also flexibly support single-in single-out (Single Input Single Output, SISO) techniques, single-in multiple-out (Single Input Multiple Output, SIMO) and multiple-in single-out (Multiple Input Single Output, MISO) techniques to implement various diversity (e.g., without limitation, transmit diversity and receive diversity) and multiplexing techniques, which may include, without limitation, transmit diversity (transmit diversity, TD) techniques and receive diversity (receive diversity, RD) techniques, which may be spatial multiplexing (spatial multiplexing) techniques. And the various techniques described above may also include a variety of implementations, for example, transmit diversity techniques may include, but are not limited to: space-time transmit diversity (STTD), space-frequency transmit diversity (space-frequency transmit diversity, SFTD), time-switched transmit diversity (time switched transmit diversity, TSTD), frequency-switched transmit diversity (frequency switch transmit diversity, FSTD), orthogonal transmit diversity (orthogonal transmit diversity, OTD), cyclic delay diversity (cyclic delay diversity, CDD), and the like, and diversity obtained by deriving, evolving, and combining the above diversity methods. For example, currently, the LTE standard adopts a transmit diversity scheme such as space-time block coding (space time block coding, STBC), space-frequency block coding (space frequency block coding, SFBC), and CDD. The transmit diversity has been generally described above by way of example. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that transmit diversity includes a variety of other implementations in addition to the examples described above. Therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, which should be construed as being applicable to various possible transmit diversity schemes.

Optionally, the network device 30 and/or the terminal device 40 in the embodiments of the present application have a function of processing baseband signals, for example, a baseband high (BBH) function. Illustratively, the BBH may have one or more of coding (encoding), rate matching (rate-scrambling), scrambling (scrambling), modulation (modulation), layer mapping in the downstream direction, and the BBH may have one or more of decoding (encoding), rate-dematching (rate-scrambling), de-scrambling (de-scrambling), demodulation (de-modulation), channel estimation (channel estimation)/equalization (equalization) in the upstream direction.

Optionally, the network device 30 and/or the terminal device 40 in the embodiments of the present application have a processing function of processing the intermediate frequency signal and/or the radio frequency signal, and providing a part of the baseband signal, for example, a low-layer baseband processing (BBL) function. Illustratively, the BBL may have one or more of resource mapping (resource element mapping), digital beamforming (digital beam forming, DBF), inverse fast fourier transform (inverse fast Fourier transformation, IFFT), and cyclic prefix addition (cyclic prefix addition), analog beamforming (analog beam forming, ABF), analog-to-digital conversion (analog to digital) functions in the downstream direction, and the BBL may have one or more of fast fourier transform (fast fourier transformation, FFT) and band cyclic prefix removal (cyclic prefix removal), analog beamforming, analog-to-digital conversion, digital beamforming, resource demapping (resource element de-mapping) functions in the upstream direction.

Alternatively, the network device 30 and the terminal device 40 in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a communication apparatus, which may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Alternatively, the related functions of the terminal device 40 or the network device 30 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented by multiple devices together, or may be implemented by one or more functional modules in one device, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application. It will be appreciated that the above described functionality may be either a network element in a hardware device, or a software functionality running on dedicated hardware, or a combination of hardware and software, or a virtualized functionality instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

For example, the related functions of the terminal device 40 or the network device 30 in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by the communication apparatus 400 in fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 400 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 400 includes one or more processors 401, communication lines 402, and at least one communication interface (shown in fig. 4 by way of example only as including a communication interface 404, and one processor 401, as an example), and optionally may also include memory 403.

The processor 401 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

Communication line 402 may include a passageway for connecting between the various components.

The communication interface 404, which may be a transceiver module, is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet, RAN, wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), etc. For example, the transceiver module may be a device such as a transceiver, or the like. Optionally, the communication interface 404 may also be a transceiver circuit located in the processor 401, so as to implement signal input and signal output of the processor.

The memory 403 may be a device having a memory function. For example, but not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be self-contained and coupled to the processor via communication line 402. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 403 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the embodiments of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 401 to execute the instructions. The processor 401 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403, thereby implementing the method for determining the downlink control channel aggregation level provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 401 may perform a function related to processing of the method for determining the downlink control channel aggregation level provided in the embodiment described below, and the communication interface 404 is responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the memory 403 in the embodiment of the present application may be further configured to store information or parameters described in the following embodiments, for example, resource configuration information of the first reference signal, first indication information, codebook, and first CSI. Wherein the first CSI comprises one or more of: the terminal equipment measures CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the first reference signal, RI corresponding to the first precoding matrix, or PMI corresponding to the first coding matrix.

Computer-executable instructions in embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which embodiments of the present application are not particularly limited.

In a particular implementation, processor 401 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of FIG. 4, as an embodiment.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, the communication apparatus 400 may include a plurality of processors, such as the processor 401 and the processor 408 in fig. 4. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication apparatus 400 may further include an output device 405 and an input device 406. The output device 405 communicates with the processor 401 and may display information in a variety of ways.

The communication device 400 may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. For example, the communication apparatus 400 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a palm top computer (personal digital assistant, PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal device, an embedded device, or a device having a similar structure as in fig. 4. The embodiments of the present application are not limited to the type of communication device 400.

In connection with the schematic structural diagram of the communication apparatus 500 shown in fig. 5, taking the communication apparatus 400 as an example of the terminal device 40 in fig. 3, fig. 5 is an exemplary specific structural form of the terminal device 40 provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Wherein in some embodiments the functionality of processor 401 of fig. 4 may be implemented by processor 510 of fig. 5.

In some embodiments, the functionality of the communication interface 404 in fig. 4 may be implemented by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 550, the wireless communication module 560, etc. in fig. 5.

Wherein the antennas 1 and 2 are used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in terminal device 40 may be configured to cover a single or multiple communication bands. Different antennas may also be multiplexed to improve the utilization of the antennas. For example: the antenna 1 may be multiplexed into a diversity antenna of a wireless local area network. In other embodiments, the antenna may be used in conjunction with a tuning switch.

The mobile communication module 550 may provide a solution including 2G/3G/4G/5G wireless communication applied on the terminal device 40. The mobile communication module 550 may include at least one filter, switch, power amplifier, low noise amplifier (low noise amplifier, LNA), etc. The mobile communication module 550 may receive electromagnetic waves from the antenna 1, perform processes such as filtering, amplifying, and the like on the received electromagnetic waves, and transmit the processed electromagnetic waves to the modem processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 550 can amplify the signal modulated by the modem processor, and convert the signal into electromagnetic waves through the antenna 1 to radiate. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 550 may be disposed in the processor 510. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 550 may be disposed in the same device as at least some of the modules of the processor 510.

The wireless communication module 560 may be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 560 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 2, modulates the electromagnetic wave signals, filters the electromagnetic wave signals, and transmits the processed signals to the processor 510. The wireless communication module 560 may also receive a signal to be transmitted from the processor 510, frequency modulate it, amplify it, and convert it to electromagnetic waves for radiation via the antenna 2.

In some embodiments, antenna 1 and mobile communication module 550 of terminal device 40 are coupled, and antenna 2 and wireless communication module 560 are coupled, so that terminal device 40 may communicate with a network and other devices through wireless communication techniques.

In some embodiments, the functionality of memory 403 in FIG. 4 may be implemented by internal memory 521 in FIG. 5, or an external memory (e.g., micro SD card) to which external memory interface 520 is connected, or the like.

In some embodiments, the functionality of the output device 405 of FIG. 4 may be implemented by the display screen 594 of FIG. 5. The display screen 594 includes a display panel.

In some embodiments, the functionality of the input device 406 in FIG. 4 may be implemented by a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or the sensor module 580 in FIG. 5. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the terminal device 40 may further include one or more of an audio module 570, a camera 593, an indicator 592, a motor 591, keys 590, a SIM card interface 595, a USB interface 530, a charge management module 540, a power management module 541, and a battery 542, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It will be appreciated that the structure shown in fig. 5 does not constitute a specific limitation on the terminal device 40. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, terminal device 40 may include more or fewer components than shown, or certain components may be combined, certain components may be separated, or different arrangements of components. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

Alternatively, taking the communication apparatus 400 as an example of the network device 30 in fig. 3 in conjunction with the schematic structural diagram of the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4, fig. 6 is a specific structural form of the base station 60 provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Wherein the base station 60 includes one or more radio frequency units (e.g., RRUs 601) and one or more BBUs 602.

RRU601 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, etc., that may include at least one antenna feed system (i.e., antenna) 611 and a radio frequency unit 612. The RRU601 is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals and baseband signals. In some embodiments, the functionality of the communication interface 404 in fig. 4 may be implemented by the RRU601 in fig. 6.

The BBU602 is a control center of a network device, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly configured to perform baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and so on.

In some embodiments, the BBU602 may be formed by one or more single boards, where the multiple single boards may support a single access indicated radio access network (e.g., an LTE network), or may support different access schemes of radio access networks (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The BBU602 also includes a memory 621 and a processor 622, the memory 621 being configured to store necessary instructions and data. The processor 622 is configured to control the network device to perform the necessary actions. The memory 621 and processor 622 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and the processor may be separately provided on each board. It is also possible that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits. Wherein in some embodiments, the functions of processor 401 in fig. 4 may be implemented by processor 622 in fig. 6, and the functions of memory 403 in fig. 4 may be implemented by memory 621 in fig. 6.

Alternatively, the RRU501 and the BBU602 in fig. 6 may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, for example, a distributed base station, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the network device 30 in embodiments of the present application may support one or more of the following: spatial multiplexing, SU-MIMO, coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, precoding, resource mapping, IFFT, DBF, or ABF.

Optionally, the terminal device 40 at the time of this application may support one or more of the following: decoding, rate dematching, descrambling, demodulation, or channel estimation/equalization.

Next, with reference to fig. 7, a method for determining an aggregation level of a downlink control channel provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described by taking the downlink control channel as an example.

It should be understood that the names of signals between the devices or the names of parameters in the signals in the embodiments described below are only an example, and other names may be used in the specific implementation, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the PDCCH in the embodiments of the present application may also be another name as the communication architecture evolves and new traffic scenarios appear.

Taking the interaction between the network device 30 and the terminal device 40 shown in fig. 3 as an example, as shown in fig. 7, a method for determining a downlink control channel aggregation level according to an embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

S701, the network device sends a first reference signal and first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to feed back first channel state information CSI. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first reference signal and the first indication information from the network device. The first CSI is channel quality indication CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by a terminal device measuring a first reference signal, the number of columns of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for transmitting PDCCH. I.e., the CQI in the first CSI is the CQI corresponding to one precoding vector. In other words, the CQI is a CQI corresponding to a single stream spatial stream scenario.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the first reference signal may be a CSI-RS signal. Alternatively, the first reference signal may be another reference signal capable of performing CSI measurement on the PDSCH or PDCCH channel, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

The flow of transmitting CSI-RS by the network device is illustrated by taking PDSCH spatial stream carrying CSI-RS as an example. As described in the preamble of the detailed description, "the network device maps the symbol stream of the spatial stream #1 and PDSCH DMRS #1 to the antenna port 1000 and maps the symbol stream of the spatial stream #2 and PDSCH DMRS #2 to the antenna port 1001", the network device may precode data transmitted by the antenna port 1000 and the antenna port 1001 in a manner of a left-hand precoding matrix, and then spread the data of the antenna port 1000 and the antenna port 1001 to a plurality of CSI-RS ports. After each CSI-RS port is inserted into the CSI-RS, data transmitted by the plurality of CSI-RS ports are sent to the terminal equipment through the physical antenna. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the CSI-RS from the network device. The terminal device may obtain channel information (e.g., rank of channel matrix H) based on channel estimation by the CSI-RS, and then the terminal device may demodulate to obtain precoding information (e.g., precoding matrix) based on PDSCH DMRS #1 and PDSCH DMRS #2. In this way, the terminal device may determine RSRP, SNR and/or SINR corresponding to pdsch#1 and RSRP, SNR and/or SINR corresponding to pdsch#2 according to the obtained channel information and precoding information, and further the terminal device may obtain CQI, RI, PMI and other information corresponding to the CSI-RS.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the first reference signal and the first indication information may be separately transmitted. For example, the network device may first transmit the first reference signal and then transmit the first indication information. Alternatively, the network device may first send the first indication information and then send the first reference signal. Alternatively, the network device may send the first reference signal and the first indication information at the same time, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device may send the resource information of the first reference signal to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives resource information of the first reference signal from the network device. The resource information of the first reference signal is used for indicating the terminal equipment to measure the air interface resource of the first reference signal. The air interface resources include one or more of the following: time domain resources, frequency domain resources, or spatial domain resources. It is understood that the spatial resources may include numbers or indexes corresponding to antenna ports.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the resource information of the first reference signal may be sent simultaneously with the first indication information. Alternatively, the resource information and the first indication information of the first reference signal may be carried by the same message, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is associated with resource information of one or more first reference signals.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI is a CQI corresponding to rank 1. The rank is that the terminal device suggests that the network device sends the spatial stream number corresponding to the downlink data. Downlink data may be carried by PDSCH.

It should be understood that, as described in the preamble of the embodiment, the number of columns of the precoding matrix is equal to the rank, and the number of rows of the precoding matrix is the number of antenna ports (e.g., CSI-RS ports). It is understood that the number of columns of the first precoding matrix is 1, i.e. the first precoding matrix can be considered to comprise only one precoding vector. That is, the CQI in the first CSI corresponds to only one spatial stream.

S702, the terminal equipment sends first CSI to the network equipment. Accordingly, the network device receives the first CSI from the terminal device.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may send the first CSI to the network device on an uplink channel. The uplink channel may be a physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH).

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is further used to instruct the terminal device to feed back time domain resource information and/or frequency domain resource information of the first CSI. The time domain resource information fed back by the terminal device to the first CSI may include periodic information and/or aperiodic information. That is, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device may feed back the first CSI on the time domain resource and/or the frequency domain resource indicated by the first indication information. For example, for the terminal device to periodically feedback the first CSI, the terminal device may send the first CSI on the PUCCH. And the terminal equipment can send the first CSI on the PUSCH. And the terminal equipment is in semi-continuous feedback with the first CSI, and can send the first CSI on the PUCCH or the PUSCH. The terminal device semi-continuously feeding back the first CSI may refer to that the terminal device periodically feeds back the first CSI after receiving an instruction for activating the semi-continuously sending the first CSI.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the time domain resource information of the first CSI fed back by the terminal device may be configured in a feedback configuration type reportconfigtype field. Wherein, for the terminal device to periodically or semi-continuously feed back the first CSI, the network device may configure the period and slot offset of the terminal device to feed back the first CSI. The first CSI feedback configuration may be associated with one or two resource settings per period or semi-duration. For aperiodic feedback of the first CSI by the terminal device, the time for the terminal device to feedback the first CSI may be determined by the time slot in which the trigger signaling is located and the time slot offset. The slot offset may be indicated by trigger signaling. The trigger signaling may be indicated by DCI.

It should be appreciated that the above-described relevant configuration of the time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources for the terminal device to feed back the first CSI may be configured by higher layer signaling, e.g. radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling.

S703, the network equipment determines the AL of the PDCCH according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI. The network device may determine the AL of the PDCCH by using two manners of determining the AL of the PDCCH according to the CQI described in the preamble of the specific embodiment, which is not described herein.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is used to indicate the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix obtained by measuring the first reference signal by the terminal device, where the first CSI is used to indicate the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix obtained by measuring the first reference signal by the terminal device, and the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, so that the CQI fed back by the terminal device is the CQI corresponding to one spatial stream, there is no interference between multiple spatial streams, and the CQI fed back by the terminal device corresponds to the one spatial stream one to one, so that the CQI can accurately reflect the channel quality of the downlink channel where the spatial stream is located. Therefore, based on the method for determining the aggregation level of the downlink control channel provided by the embodiment of the application, the AL of the PDCCH can be accurately determined in a multi-stream space stream scene.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device converts the SINR according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI, and determines the AL of the PDCCH according to the converted SINR. The converted SINR is the sum of the SINR of the adjustment factor corresponding to the CQI fed back by the terminal device. The adjustment factor may be referred to in the preamble of the detailed description for the adjustment factor, and will not be described here again. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, when the SINR is converted according to the CQI, the SINR adjustment value corresponding to the RI described in the preamble of the specific embodiment is not introduced, so that the accuracy of determining the AL of the PDCCH by the network device may be further increased.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the first CSI further includes a PMI, where the PMI is used to indicate the first precoding matrix. Since the rank is fixed to 1, the network device may determine a codebook according to the PMI in the first CSI, and then select a precoding matrix corresponding to the precoding vector of 1, i.e., the first precoding matrix.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the first CSI further includes RI, where a rank indicated by the RI is 1.

Optionally, in the method for determining a downlink control channel aggregation level provided in the embodiment of the present application, after the network device determines an AL of the PDCCH according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI (step S703), the method further includes:

And S704, the network equipment sends the PDCCH to the terminal equipment according to the first precoding matrix. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the PDCCH from the network device. Wherein the first precoding matrix is used as a transmission weight of the PDCCH. That is, in order to avoid that the precoding vector of the PDCCH sent by the network device is not matched with the PDCCH, in the embodiment of the present application, the column number of the first precoding matrix in the first CSI fed back by the terminal device is 1, that is, the first precoding matrix corresponds to only one precoding vector, and the precoding vector is more matched with the actual channel characteristic of the PDCCH, so that the network device sends the PDCCH by using the precoding vector, and performance of the PDCCH can be improved.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, in the multi-stream spatial stream scenario, the beam information corresponding to the first precoding vector is different from the beam information corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the embodiment of the present application. For example, taking the network device to send PDCCH and PDSCH as shown in fig. 8, it is assumed that the terminal device measures the first reference signal to determine that the RI indicates rank 2, and the terminal device feeds back RI and PMI according to the RI indicated rank 2, so that the network device may determine a precoding matrix including two columns of precoding vectors, where the first precoding vector is the transmission weight of pdsch#1, and the second precoding vector is the transmission weight of pdsch#2. Assuming that the terminal device feeds back PMI and/or RI according to the first indication information, the network device may determine a first precoding matrix including a list of precoding vectors, and the first precoding matrix is a transmission weight of the PDCCH. Referring again to fig. 8, the beam information corresponding to the first precoding matrix is different from the beam information corresponding to the first precoding vector and the beam information corresponding to the second precoding vector.

The actions of the network device in steps S701 to S704 may be performed by the first network device by calling the application code stored in the memory 403 by the processor 401 in the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4, and the actions of the terminal device in steps S701 to S704 may be performed by the terminal device by calling the application code stored in the memory 403 by the processor 401 in the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information may be information used in a code book configuration (code book) in a CSI report configuration (CSI-report configuration) to limit a codebook corresponding to a rank greater than 1 indicated by using RI. Alternatively, the first indication information may be information for indicating that the codebook is configured to restrict the precoding matrix using the precoding matrix with a column number greater than 1 in the CSI reporting configuration. The CSI reporting configuration is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back the CSI. That is, the first indication information indicates that the feedback CSI of the terminal device is CSI information corresponding to rank 1 or CSI information corresponding to precoding matrix column number 1. In other words, the network device may instruct, through the first instruction information, the terminal device to feed back only CQI, PMI or RI corresponding to the single stream spatial stream (rank 1) in the multi-stream spatial stream scenario.

Optionally, in one possible implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information, where the first information is used to indicate that rank 1 information that is fed back by the terminal device allowed by the RI restriction parameter. The RI limitation parameter is used to indicate a rank that the terminal device allows feedback. The first information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back the first CSI. It can be appreciated that the rank that the terminal device allows feedback may refer to RI and PMI corresponding to the rank that the terminal device allows feedback. For example, if the rank of feedback allowed by the RI limiting parameter is 1, the terminal device allows to feed back RI and PMI corresponding to the rank of 1. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device limits the rank indicated by RI in the first CSI fed back by the terminal device to only 1, and further, the precoding matrix indicated by PMI in the first CSI is also a precoding matrix with a column number of 1, so that the CQI in the first CSI is a CQI corresponding to the rank of 1.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the RI limiting parameter may be one or more of the following: type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single panel RI-restriction, type I multi panel rank indication restriction type I-multi panel RI-restriction, type II rank indication restriction type II-RI-restriction, or type II port selection rank indication restriction type II-port selection-RI-restriction.

The rank of feedback allowed by the terminal device is illustrated by taking RI restriction parameters as type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single-RI-restriction. Wherein the type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single-RI-restriction is in the form of a 8-bit Bitmap, for example type I-single-RI-restriction= [ r7, r6, r5, r4, r3, r2, r1, r0]. Wherein bit r0 is the least significant bit (low significant bit, LSB) corresponding to a rank with index 0 and value 1; bit r7 is the most significant bit (most significant bit, MSB) and corresponds to a rank of 8 with index number 7, and the like, and will not be repeated here.

Assuming that bit r0 corresponds to rank 1, bit r1 corresponds to rank 2, … …, bit r7 corresponds to rank 8, the index number of the rank is i, i e {0, 1..7 }, i is also referred to as the rank number; RI is a bit corresponding to index i, rank v represents a rank value v, where v=i+1, and if bit RI is set to 0, PMI and RI of the rank corresponding to RI are not allowed to be fed back.

It should be understood that the foregoing is merely exemplary, and it may be further assumed that r0 corresponds to rank 8, … …, bit r7 corresponds to rank 1, and that if ri is a bit corresponding to index i, rank v represents a value of rank v, and v=8-i, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

For example, taking v=i+1 as an example, if typeI-single-RI-restriction= [ r7, r6, r5, r4, r3, r2, r1, r0] = [1,1,1,0,1,0,0,0], it may indicate that ranks are 8, 7, 6, and RI and PMI corresponding to 4 may be fed back, which is a multi-stream spatial stream scene at this time, and if rank indicated by the feedback RI of the terminal device is 4, CQI fed back by the terminal device is CQI corresponding to 4-stream spatial streams. That is, one CQI corresponds to channel quality of 4 spatial streams, and CQI values are small in this scenario due to interference between the 4 spatial streams.

For example, taking v=i+1 as an example, if typeI-single-RI-restriction= [ r7, r6, r5, r4, r3, r2, r1, r0] = [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1], it may be indicated that RI and PMI corresponding to rank 1 may be fed back, RI and PMI corresponding to other values may not be fed back, and in this case, in a single-stream spatial stream scenario, the CQI fed back by the terminal device is CQI corresponding to one spatial stream. That is, the first information may be information indicating that LSB is 1 and other bits are 0 in typeI-single-RI-restriction.

The first information may also be typeI-single-RI-restriction of [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1].

It should be understood that the above list of "information indicating LSB of typeI-single-RI-restriction is 1 and other bits are 0", and "typeI-single-RI-restriction is [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1]", is merely two examples of the first information, and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. The embodiments of the present application do not exclude the possibility of indicating that the rank indicated by the limiting RI is 1 or the number of columns of the precoding matrix is 1 or the codebook limit by other existing signaling or by newly added signaling.

It should be understood that the principle of the first information corresponding to the type I multi-panel rank indication restriction type I-multi-panel-RI-restriction, the type II rank indication restriction type II-RI-restriction, or the type II port selection rank indication restriction type II-port selection-RI-restriction is similar to that of the type I multi-panel rank indication restriction type I-multi-panel-RI-restriction, and specific reference may be made to the description about the first information in the type I multi-panel rank indication restriction type I-multi-panel-RI-restriction, which is not repeated herein.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information may be sent together as a whole, or may be sent separately by being divided into a plurality of sub-information, and the sending periods and/or sending timings of the sub-information may be the same or different. The specific transmission method is not limited in this application. The transmission period and/or the transmission timing of the sub-information may be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or may be configured by the transmitting end device by transmitting configuration information to the receiving end device. The configuration information may include, for example, but not limited to, one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control signaling (e.g., RRC signaling), medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer signaling, e.g., physical layer signaling, e.g., DCI.

It should be understood that, in general, the transmission period of the RI restriction parameter in the first indication information is long, so that the first indication information may be transmitted to the terminal device using MAC layer signaling or RRC signaling, but when CSI feedback is required to be frequently or dynamically indicated to the terminal device, the first indication information may be transmitted to the terminal device using physical layer signaling.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information may be sent through one message, or may be sent through multiple messages, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, among three types of signaling involved in the transmission of the first indication information: physical layer signaling, also known as layer1 (L1) signaling, may be carried generally by a control portion in a physical layer frame. A typical example of L1 signaling is DCI carried in PDCCH defined in LTE standard. In some cases, L1 signaling may also be carried by the data portion in the physical layer frame. It will be appreciated that the transmission period or signaling period of L1 signaling is typically the period of the physical layer frame, and thus such signaling is typically used to implement some dynamic control to convey some information that changes frequently, e.g., RI parameters may be conveyed by physical layer signaling. MAC layer signaling belongs to layer2 (L2) signaling, which may typically be carried by, for example, but not limited to, a frame header of a layer two frame. The frame header may also carry information such as, but not limited to, source address and destination address. The second layer frames typically contain a frame body in addition to the frame header. In some cases, L2 signaling may also be carried by the frame body of the second layer frame. Typical examples of the second layer signaling are the signaling carried in the frame control (frame control) field in the frame header of a MAC frame in the 802.11 series of standards, or a MAC control entity (MAC-CE) defined in some communication protocols. The second layer frame may typically carry the data portion of the physical layer frame. RRC signaling belongs to layer 3 signaling, which is typically some control messages, and L3 signaling may be typically carried in the frame body of the layer two frame. The transmission period or control period of L3 signaling is usually longer, and is suitable for transmitting some information that does not change frequently, for example, in some existing communication standards, L3 signaling is usually used to carry some configuration information. The present section describes only the principle descriptions of the physical layer signaling, the MAC layer signaling, the RRC signaling, the first layer signaling, the second layer signaling, and the third layer signaling, and specific details regarding the three signaling may refer to the prior art and are not described herein again.

It will be appreciated that in the various embodiments above, the methods and/or steps implemented by the network device may also be implemented by components (e.g., chips or circuits) that may be used in the network device; the methods and/or steps implemented by the terminal device may also be implemented by components (e.g., chips or circuits) available to the terminal device.

The above description has been presented mainly from the point of interaction between the network elements. Correspondingly, the embodiment of the application also provides a communication device which is used for realizing the various methods. The communication device may be a terminal device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above terminal device, or a component that may be used for the terminal device; alternatively, the communication device may be a network device in the foregoing method embodiment, or an apparatus including the foregoing network device, or may be a component that may be used in the network device, where, in order to implement the foregoing function, the communication device includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or a software module that performs each function. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the communication device may be divided according to the above embodiment of the method, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation.

For example, taking a communication apparatus as an example of the network device in the above method embodiment, fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a network device 900. The network device 900 comprises a transceiver module 901 and a processing module 902. The transceiver module 901 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, and may be, for example, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

The transceiver module 901 is configured to send a first reference signal and first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to feed back first CSI, where the first CSI is CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the terminal device measuring the first reference signal, a column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used to send a downlink control channel; the transceiver module 901 is further configured to receive a first CSI from a terminal device; a processing module 902, configured to determine an AL of the downlink control channel according to a CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information, where the first information is information for indicating that a rank of feedback of the terminal device allowed by the RI restriction parameter is 1, the RI restriction parameter is used to indicate that the terminal device allows the feedback rank, and the rank suggests to the terminal device that the network device sends a spatial stream number corresponding to downlink data, and the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to feedback the first CSI.

In one possible implementation, the RI restriction parameter is type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single panel-RI-restriction.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is further used to instruct the terminal device to feed back time domain resource information and/or frequency domain resource information of the first CSI.

In a possible implementation manner, the time domain resource information of the first CSI fed back by the terminal device includes periodic information and/or aperiodic information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first CSI further includes a PMI, where the PMI is used to indicate the first precoding matrix.

All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be cited to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which is not described herein.

In the present embodiment, the network device 900 is presented in a form of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that can provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the network device 900 may take the form of the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4.

For example, the processor 401 in the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4 may cause the communication apparatus 400 to execute the method for determining the downlink control channel aggregation level in the above-described method embodiment by calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403.

Specifically, the functions/implementation of the transceiver module 901 and the processing module 902 in fig. 9 may be implemented by the processor 401 in the communication device 400 shown in fig. 4 invoking computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403. Alternatively, the functions/implementation of the processing module 902 in fig. 9 may be implemented by the processor 401 in the communication device 400 shown in fig. 4 invoking computer executable instructions stored in the memory 403, and the functions/implementation of the transceiver module 901 in fig. 9 may be implemented by the communication interface 404 in the communication device 400 shown in fig. 4.

Since the network device 900 provided in this embodiment may execute the above-mentioned method for determining the downlink control channel aggregation level, the technical effects that can be obtained by the network device may refer to the above-mentioned method embodiment, and will not be described herein.

Or, for example, taking a communication device as an example of the terminal device in the above method embodiment, fig. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 100. The terminal device 100 comprises a transceiver module 1001 and a processing module 1002. The transceiver module 1001 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, and may be, for example, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

The transceiver module 1001 is configured to receive a first reference signal and first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct a terminal device to feed back first CSI, where the first CSI is CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the processing module 1002 measuring the first reference signal, a column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used to send a downlink control channel; the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to send a first CSI to a network device, where a CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix in the first CSI is used to determine an AL of a downlink control channel.

In the present embodiment, the terminal device 100 is presented in a form of dividing the respective functional modules in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that can provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal device 100 may take the form of the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4.

Specifically, the functions/implementation procedures of the transceiver module 1001 and the processing module 1002 in fig. 10 may be implemented by the processor 401 in the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403. Alternatively, the function/implementation procedure of the processing module 1002 in fig. 10 may be implemented by the processor 401 in the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4 invoking computer executable instructions stored in the memory 403, and the function/implementation procedure of the transceiver module 1001 in fig. 10 may be implemented by the communication interface 404 in the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4.

Since the terminal device 100 provided in this embodiment may execute the above-mentioned method for determining the downlink control channel aggregation level, the technical effects that can be obtained by the terminal device may refer to the above-mentioned method embodiment, and will not be described herein.

It should be noted that one or more of the above modules or units may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. When any of the above modules or units are implemented in software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions and is stored in a memory, a processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flows. The processor may be built in a SoC (system on a chip) or ASIC, or may be a separate semiconductor chip. The processor may further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGAs), PLDs (programmable logic devices), or logic circuits implementing dedicated logic operations, in addition to the cores for executing software instructions for operation or processing.

When the above modules or units are implemented in hardware, the hardware may be any one or any combination of a CPU, microprocessor, digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP) chip, micro control unit (microcontroller unit, MCU), artificial intelligence processor, ASIC, soC, FPGA, PLD, special purpose digital circuitry, hardware accelerator, or non-integrated discrete devices that may run the necessary software or that do not rely on software to perform the above method flows.

Optionally, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), where the communication device includes a processor, and the method is used to implement any of the method embodiments described above. In one possible design, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory for storing the necessary program instructions and data, and the processor may invoke the program code stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to perform the method of any of the method embodiments described above. Of course, the memory may not be in the communication device. When the communication device is a chip system, the communication device may be formed by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

Although the present application has been described herein in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed application, from a review of the figures, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Although the present application has been described in connection with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents that fall within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for determining a downlink control channel aggregation level, the method comprising:

the network equipment sends a first reference signal and first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to feed back first Channel State Information (CSI), the first CSI is Channel Quality Indication (CQI) corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the terminal equipment for measuring the first reference signal, the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for sending a downlink control channel;

the network equipment receives the first CSI from the terminal equipment;

and the network equipment determines the aggregation level of the downlink control channel according to the CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first indication information includes first information, the first information is information for indicating that a rank of feedback by the terminal device is 1 allowed by a rank indication RI restriction parameter, the RI restriction parameter is used for indicating that the terminal device allows feedback, the rank is a spatial stream number corresponding to downlink data that the terminal device suggests to the network device to send, and wherein the first information is used for indicating that the terminal device feeds back the first CSI.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the RI restriction parameter is a type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single-RI-restriction.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the first indication information is further used to instruct the terminal device to feed back time domain resource information and/or frequency domain resource information of the first CSI.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the terminal device feeding back the time domain resource information of the first CSI comprises periodic information and/or aperiodic information.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the first CSI further comprises a precoding matrix indication, PMI, the PMI to indicate the first precoding matrix.

7. A method for determining a downlink control channel aggregation level, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal device receives a first reference signal and first indication information from a network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to feed back first Channel State Information (CSI), the first CSI is Channel Quality Indication (CQI) corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the terminal device by measuring the first reference signal, the column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used for sending a downlink control channel;

And the terminal equipment sends the first CSI to the network equipment, wherein CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI is used for determining the aggregation level of the downlink control channel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first indication information includes first information, the first information is information for indicating that a rank of feedback by the terminal device is 1 allowed by a rank indication RI restriction parameter, the RI restriction parameter is used for indicating that the terminal device allows feedback, the rank is a spatial stream number corresponding to downlink data for the terminal device to suggest the network device to send, and wherein the first information is used for indicating that the terminal device feeds back the first CSI.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the RI restriction parameter is a type I single panel rank indication restriction type I-single-RI-restriction.

10. The method according to any of claims 7-9, wherein the first indication information is further used to instruct the terminal device to feed back time domain resource information and/or frequency domain resource information of the first CSI.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the terminal device feeding back the time domain resource information of the first CSI comprises periodic information and/or aperiodic information.

12. The method according to any of claims 7-11, wherein the first CSI further comprises a precoding matrix indication, PMI, the PMI being used to indicate the first precoding matrix.

13. A network device, wherein the network device comprises a transceiver module and a processing module;

the transceiver module is configured to send a first reference signal and first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to feed back first CSI, where the first CSI is a channel quality indication CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the terminal device measuring the first reference signal, a column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used to send a downlink control channel;

the transceiver module is further configured to receive the first CSI from the terminal device;

the processing module is configured to determine an aggregation level of the downlink control channel according to a CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI.

14. A terminal device, characterized in that the terminal device comprises a transceiver module and a processing module;

the transceiver module is configured to receive a first reference signal and first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to feed back first CSI, where the first CSI is a channel quality indication CQI corresponding to a first precoding matrix obtained by the processing module measuring the first reference signal, a column number of the first precoding matrix is 1, and the first precoding matrix is used to send a downlink control channel;

The transceiver module is further configured to send the first CSI to the network device, where a CQI corresponding to the first precoding matrix in the first CSI is used to determine an aggregation level of the downlink control channel.

15. A communication device, comprising:

a processor coupled to the memory;

the processor configured to execute a computer program stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-12.

16. A communication device, comprising:

a processor and interface circuit; wherein,

the interface circuit is used for receiving code instructions and transmitting the code instructions to the processor;

the processor is configured to execute the code instructions to perform the method of any of claims 1-12.

17. A communication device comprising a processor and a transceiver for information interaction between the communication device and other communication devices, the processor executing program instructions for performing the method of any of claims 1-12.

18. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-6 or cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 7-12.