CN117674932A

CN117674932A - Communication method and related device

Info

Publication number: CN117674932A
Application number: CN202211097004.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李茜; 阮良; 刘显达; 蔡世杰; 刘鹍鹏; 张哲宁
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-09-08
Filing date: 2022-09-08
Publication date: 2024-03-08
Also published as: WO2024051810A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a related device, which effectively reduce the computational complexity of terminal equipment with 8 antennas when processing high-flow data. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment determines a first antenna set and a second antenna set, wherein the first antenna set comprises M receiving antennas, the second antenna set comprises 8-M receiving antennas, M is 0< 8, and M is a positive integer; the network equipment sends a first CSI reporting instruction corresponding to the first antenna set and a second CSI reporting instruction corresponding to the second antenna set to the terminal equipment; and the terminal equipment sends a first CSI report corresponding to the first antenna set and a second CSI report corresponding to the second antenna set to the network equipment based on the received reporting instruction.

Description

Communication method and related device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and a related device.

Background

In a communication system, in order to meet the requirement that the peak transmission rate of the downlink reach 1.6 gigabits (Gbps). Accordingly, spectral efficiency is improved by using an 8 antenna (radio) receiver (simply referred to as an 8R receiver) during downlink transmission. An 8R receiver may refer to a receiver device comprising 8 receive antennas, e.g. a terminal device comprising 8 receive antennas. Compared with a 4R receiver, the 8R receiver can remarkably improve the downlink throughput of a single user in a cell and increase the coverage of cell edge users.

However, when the number of data streams transmitted in the communication system is high (for example, the number of data streams is greater than 4), the conventional 8R receiver is difficult to implement and has high computational complexity.

Therefore, a new 8R receiver architecture is needed to solve the problems of the conventional 8R receiver, such as high implementation difficulty and high computation complexity when transmitting high-stream data.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a related device, which effectively reduce the computational complexity of terminal equipment with 8 antennas when processing high-flow data.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, where the method may be applied to a terminal device, and may be performed by the terminal device, or may also be performed by a component (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.) configured in the terminal device, or may also be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

Illustratively, the method includes: determining a first antenna set and a second antenna set, wherein the first antenna set comprises M receiving antennas, the second antenna set comprises 8-M receiving antennas, M is 0< 8, and M is a positive integer; receiving a first channel state information (channel state information, CSI) reporting indication and a second CSI reporting indication, wherein the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are associated with a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), the first CSI reporting indication corresponds to the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting indication corresponds to the second antenna set; and sending a first CSI report and a second CSI report, wherein the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set, the first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI report instruction and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI report instruction and the CSI-RS.

Based on the method, the terminal equipment divides 8 self-contained receiving antennas into two antenna sets, and sends the CSI reports corresponding to the first antenna set and the second antenna set to the network equipment based on the reporting instructions and the CSI-RS by receiving reporting instructions configured by the network equipment for each antenna set, so that when the terminal equipment receives data streams, demodulation modules corresponding to the two antenna sets can respectively process the data streams received by the terminal equipment, and the computational complexity of the terminal equipment when processing the data streams is effectively reduced.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, before the determining the first antenna set and the second antenna set, the method further includes: and transmitting capability information of the terminal equipment, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment comprises two antenna sets.

The terminal device indicated by the capability information includes two antenna sets, which may be understood as that the terminal device includes two demodulation modules, or the terminal device may support to demodulate the received signals using the two antenna sets, respectively. The demodulation module is used for demodulating the data stream received by the terminal equipment.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining the first antenna set and the second antenna set includes: and determining the first antenna set and the second antenna set according to a preset rule, wherein the preset rule indicates M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set.

Determining the two antenna sets based on a preset rule may reduce resource overhead required by the network device for configuring the first antenna set and the second antenna set.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining the first antenna set and the second antenna set includes: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set; the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas are determined based on the first indication information.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: and receiving second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between a data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: and receiving third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the code word.

The terminal equipment adopts a decoding mode corresponding to the code word to decode the received data based on the third indication information, so that the efficiency of the terminal equipment for processing the data is improved.

In a second aspect, another communication method is provided, where the method may be applied to a network device, and may be performed by the network device, or may also be performed by a component (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.) configured in the network device, or may also be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the network device, which is not limited in this application.

Illustratively, the method includes: transmitting a first CSI reporting instruction and a second CSI reporting instruction, wherein the first CSI reporting instruction and the second CSI reporting instruction are associated with a CSI-RS, the first CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the second antenna set; a first CSI report and a second CSI report are received, the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set, the first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI reporting indication and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI reporting indication and the CSI-RS.

Based on the above, after the network device determines the antenna sets, corresponding reporting instructions are respectively configured for the two antenna sets on the terminal device, so that the terminal device receiving the configuration information can generate and report the CSI report corresponding to the first antenna set and the CSI report corresponding to the second antenna set based on the respective corresponding reporting instructions, and thus, when the terminal device receives the data stream, the two antenna sets can respectively process the data stream received by the terminal device, and the computational complexity of the terminal device when processing the data stream is effectively reduced.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: capability information of a terminal device is received, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal device comprises two antenna sets.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: determining a first set of antennas and a second set of antennas; and sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and sending second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and sending third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the code word.

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in a same reporting configuration; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in the same physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH).

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in different reporting configurations; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in different PUCCHs.

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first CSI report includes a first Rank Indicator (RI), and the second CSI report includes a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first CSI report includes a first precoding matrix indicator (pre-coding matrix indicator, PMI), and the second CSI report includes a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first CSI report includes a first RI, and the second CSI report includes a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on interaction information between the first antenna set and the second antenna set and the CSI-RS.

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first CSI report includes a first PMI and the second CSI report includes a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the interaction information and the CSI-RS.

With reference to the first aspect and the second aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect and the second aspect, a value range of the first RI and the second RI is agreed, or configured by a network device for a terminal device, or determined by the terminal device.

Based on the scheme, when the terminal equipment determines the measurement information in the CSI report, the times of traversing RI values can be reduced, the calculation rate of the terminal equipment is effectively improved, and the requirement on the calculation capability of the terminal equipment is lower.

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

In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to each other in performing the methods/operations/steps/actions described in any of the above aspects, where the modules may be implemented by hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software.

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

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

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

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

In a fourth aspect, there is provided another communications device comprising a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to invoke and run the computer program from the memory such that the communications device performs the method of any of the possible implementations of the above aspect.

Optionally, the processor is one or more, and the memory is one or more.

Alternatively, the memory may be integrated with the processor or the memory may be separate from the processor.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver), which may be arranged separately or may be integrated together, referred to as a transceiver (transceiver).

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication system comprising communication means for implementing the above-described first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect; alternatively, a communication device comprising means for implementing the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

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

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

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

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an 8R receiver;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic architecture diagram of an 8R receiver according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

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

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme provided by the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) system, a universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunications system, UMTS), a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile telecommunications system, a New Radio (NR) system or other evolved telecommunications system, a next generation mobile telecommunications system of a 5G telecommunications system, a sixth generation (6th generation,6G) telecommunications system, or a future telecommunications system, etc.

To facilitate an understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system suitable for use in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 includes at least two communication devices, for example, a network device 110 and a terminal device 120, wherein data communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may be performed through a wireless connection. Specifically, the network device 110 may send downlink data to the terminal device 120; terminal device 120 may also send upstream data to network device 110.

The network device in the communication system is used for determining the resource and the mode of data transmission and notifying the terminal device of the determined resource scheme and the determined data transmission mode. The terminal equipment is used for carrying out data transmission by adopting a resource allocation scheme and a data transmission mode determined by the network equipment according to the indication of the network equipment. The data transmission here includes reception of data and transmission of data.

The network device in this embodiment of the present application may be an access network device or a radio access network device, which may be a transmission receiving point (transmission reception point, TRP), an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, or a network device in a relay station, an access point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, and a 5G network, or a network device in a PLMN network of future evolution, or may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, or may be a gNB in an NR system, and the above-mentioned scheduling Node may be a city base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a femto base station, or the like, or a terminal device with a scheduling function. The present application is not limited in this regard.

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

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

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

The terminal device may be a device providing voice/data connectivity to a user, e.g., a handheld device with wireless connectivity, an in-vehicle device, etc. Currently, examples of some terminal devices include: a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, palmtop, mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), wearable device, virtual Reality (VR) device, augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), wireless terminal in unmanned (self driving), wireless terminal in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), cellular phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), handheld device with wireless communication function, public computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, wearable device, terminal device in a 5G network or a land-based communication terminal in the future (public land mobile network) is not limited to this network, etc.

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

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

It should be appreciated that fig. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram that is shown for ease of understanding only, and that other devices may be included in the communication system 100, which are not shown in fig. 1.

Currently, in a communication system, a terminal device uses a receiver including 8 antennas to receive downlink data, so as to improve the spectrum efficiency of downlink transmission in the communication system. Compared with a 4R receiver, the 8R receiver can not only remarkably improve the downlink throughput of single users in a cell, but also increase the coverage of cell edge users.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic architecture of an 8R receiver. As shown in fig. 2, the receiver (terminal device) includes 8 antennas. The signal model of the receiver is as follows:

Y＝HWX+n，

wherein Y is a signal received by a receiver, H is a channel matrix, W is a precoding matrix, X is a signal transmitted by a transmitting end, and n is noise of the receiver.

When the 8R receiver as shown in fig. 2 communicates with a network device (for example, the terminal device 120 in fig. 1 is an 8-antenna terminal device), the downlink forwarding flow is as follows:

reporting CSI: the network equipment configures a report configuration for the terminal equipment, the report configuration is associated with a CSI-RS, and the report configuration comprises a reporting instruction, wherein the reporting instruction corresponds to an 8R receiver and is used for indicating measurement information to be reported by the terminal equipment; the terminal device sends a CSI report based on the received report configuration, wherein the CSI report comprises a CSI, which is obtained based on the reporting indication and the CSI-RS measurement and corresponds to the whole 8R receiver.

Physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH) transmissions: when the number of transmission streams is smaller than 4, adopting single code word transmission; and when the transmission stream number is greater than 4, adopting two code words for transmission.

If high-flow data needs to be transmitted, the implementation difficulty is high and the calculation complexity is high when the 8R receiver shown in fig. 2 is adopted for receiving and processing the data.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method and related apparatus, by dividing 8 receiving antennas included in a terminal device into a first antenna set and a second antenna set, and configuring corresponding CSI reporting instructions for the two antenna sets respectively, so that the terminal device may report a first CSI report and a second CSI report corresponding to the two antenna sets respectively when reporting CSI reports, so that each antenna set may independently perform data receiving and processing, and effectively reduce the computational complexity of a receiver.

Before introducing the communication method provided in the present application, the following description will be made.

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

Second, in the embodiments shown herein, terms and english abbreviations, such as CSI, reporting configuration, reporting indication, etc., are given as exemplary examples for convenience of description, and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. This application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in existing or future protocols that perform the same or similar functions.

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

Fourth, in the embodiments shown below, "predefined" may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other manners in devices (including, for example, terminal devices and network devices) that may be used to indicate relevant information, and the specific implementation of the present application is not limited.

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

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

The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 3. The method may be applied to the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1, but embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. In fig. 3, the method is illustrated by taking the terminal device and the network device as the execution bodies of the interaction scheme, but the application is not limited to the execution bodies of the interaction scheme. For example, the terminal device in fig. 3 may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the terminal device to implement the method, or may be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device; the network device in fig. 3 may also be a chip, a system-on-a-chip, or a processor that supports the network device to implement the method, or may be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 300 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, the method 300 may include S301 to S303, and the steps shown in fig. 3 are described in detail below.

S301, a terminal device determines a first antenna set and a second antenna set, wherein the first antenna set comprises M receiving antennas, the second antenna set comprises 8-M receiving antennas, 0< M <8, and M is a positive integer.

Wherein M may take any one of values 1 to 7. By way of example, the first and second antenna sets may include the following 7 types of antennas:

1. m=1, the first set of antennas comprises 1 receive antenna, and the second set of antennas comprises 7 receive antennas.

2. M=2, the first set of antennas comprises 2 receive antennas, and the second set of antennas comprises 6 receive antennas.

3. M=3, the first set of antennas comprises 3 receive antennas, and the second set of antennas comprises 5 receive antennas.

4. M=4, the first antenna set includes 4 receive antennas, and the second antenna set includes 4 receive antennas.

5. M=5, the first set of antennas comprises 5 receive antennas, and the second set of antennas comprises 3 receive antennas.

6. M=6, the first set of antennas comprises 6 receive antennas, and the second set of antennas comprises 2 receive antennas.

7. M=7, the first set of antennas comprises 7 receive antennas, and the second set of antennas comprises 1 receive antenna.

It should be understood that there may be multiple antenna grouping modes in each mode. The antenna grouping will be described in detail with reference to fig. 4, taking m=4 as an example.

Fig. 4 shows an architecture of an 8-antenna receiver according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the 8 receiving antennas of the 8R receiver are divided into two groups, which respectively correspond to one antenna set, and each antenna set corresponds to one demodulation module, wherein the receiving antennas 1 to 4 belong to a first antenna set, correspond to a first demodulation module, and the receiving antennas 5 to 8 belong to a second antenna set, correspond to a second demodulation module. Illustratively, each antenna set after grouping may be considered a 4R receiver.

It should be appreciated that the demodulation module described above is configured to process the data streams received by the antenna set. Illustratively, the first demodulation module is configured to process data streams received by the first set of antennas, and the second demodulation module is configured to process data streams received by the second set of antennas.

It should also be appreciated that the grouping of the receive antennas described above is merely one example. For example, when m=4, the first antenna set includes receiving antennas 1, 3, 5, 7, and the second antenna set includes 2, 4, 6, 8; or when m=3, the first antenna set includes receiving antennas 1 to 3, and the second antenna set includes 4 to 8; or other combinations. The present application is not limited in this regard.

As shown in fig. 4, the signal model of the receiver is as follows:

that is to say,

wherein Y is ₁ For signals received by the first set of antennas H ₁ For a channel matrix measured based on CSI-RS received by the first antenna set, W ₁ Precoding matrix for first antenna set, X ₁ Is a transmission signal of a network device, n ₁ Is the noise vector for the first set of antennas. Y is Y ₂ For signals received by the second set of antennas H ₂ For the channel matrix measured based on the CSI-RS received by the second antenna set, W ₂ Precoding matrix for the second set of antennas, X ₂ Is a transmission signal of a network device, n ₂ Is the noise of the second set of antennas.

In one implementation, the terminal device may determine the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas based on a preset rule.

The preset rule indicates M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set. Or, the preset rule indicates correspondence between 8 receiving antennas and the first antenna set and the second antenna set. Or, the preset rule indicates the correspondence between the first antenna set and the second antenna set and 8 receiving antennas.

It should be understood that the preset rule may be a rule negotiated by the terminal device and the network device in the configuration stage; or may negotiate certain rules during the course of the signaling interaction. It may be set manually, based on historical data, or based on big data analysis. The setting manner of the preset rule is not limited in this application.

Illustratively, the preset rules are: the first antenna set comprises receiving antennas with antenna numbers of 1-4, and the second antenna set comprises receiving antennas with antenna numbers of 5-8; alternatively, the first antenna set includes receiving antennas with antenna numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7, and the second antenna set includes receiving antennas with antenna numbers 2, 4, 6, and 8; alternatively, the first antenna set includes receiving antennas with antenna numbers 1, 2, 5, and 6, and the second antenna set includes receiving antennas with antenna numbers 3, 4, 7, and 8; alternatively, the first set of antennas includes receive antennas with antenna numbers 3, 4, 5, 6 and the second set of antennas includes receive antennas with antenna numbers 1, 2, 7, 8. Wherein, 1 to 8 are the numbers of 8 receiving antennas.

It should be understood that the above preset rule only shows some combinations of the first antenna set and the second antenna set when m=4, and does not limit the two antenna sets in the embodiment of the present application.

In another implementation, the terminal device may determine the first set of antennas and the first set of antennas based on an indication of the network device. The network device determines a first antenna set and a second antenna set, and sends first indication information to the terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first indication information and determines the first antenna set and the second antenna set based on the first indication information.

Illustratively, the network device may divide the 8 receive antennas of the terminal device into two groups based on the following steps:

step one, based on formula (1), determining a receiving antenna i from 8 receiving antennas:

i＝max _i ((HH ^H ) ^_1 ) _i，i (1)

step two, based on the formula (2), determining 3 antennas with strong channel correlation with the antenna i:

max _j，j≠i ((HH ^H ) ^-1 ) _i，j (2)

wherein H represents a channel matrix of 8 receiving antennas, and i and j are antenna numbers.

The 4 antennas determined based on the formula (1) and the formula (2) are taken as one antenna set, for example, a first antenna set or a second antenna set, and the remaining 4 antennas are taken as one antenna set.

S302, a network device sends a first CSI reporting instruction and a second CSI reporting instruction to a terminal device, wherein the first CSI reporting instruction corresponds to a first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting instruction corresponds to a second antenna set. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first CSI reporting instruction and the second CSI reporting instruction.

The first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are associated with the CSI-RS. That is, when the terminal device performs CSI measurement reporting, the network device needs to send a first CSI reporting indication, a second CSI reporting indication, and a CSI-RS for the terminal device.

The first CSI reporting indication corresponds to the first antenna set and may be understood that the first CSI reporting indication is configured by the network device for the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting indication corresponds to the second antenna set and may be understood that the second CSI reporting indication is configured by the network device for the second antenna set. That is, the first CSI reporting indication is used to indicate measurement information that needs to be reported by the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting indication is used to indicate measurement information that needs to be reported by the second antenna set.

It should be understood that the above reporting indication indicates the type of measurement information reported by the terminal device, for example, PMI information, channel quality indication (channel quality indicator, CQI) information, RI information, or Layer Indicator (LI) information.

S303, the terminal equipment sends a first CSI report and a second CSI report to the network equipment, wherein the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, and the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first CSI report and the second CSI report.

The first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI reporting indication and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI reporting indication and the CSI-RS. That is, the first CSI report is a type of measurement information in the CSI report determined by the first antenna set based on the first CSI reporting indication; the second CSI report is that the second antenna set determines the type of measurement information in the CSI report based on a second CSI report instruction; measurement information in a CSI report is determined based on the CSI-RS.

The procedure for determining measurement information in a CSI report based on CSI-RS is described in two cases below. Illustratively, the first CSI report includes a first RI (e.g., denoted RI ₁ ) The second CSI report includes a second RI (e.g., denoted as RI ₂ ). Alternatively, the first CSI report includes a first RI (e.g., denoted as RI ₁ ) And a first PMI (e.g., noted as PMI ₁ ) The second CSI report includes a second RI (e.g., denoted as RI ₂ ) And a second PMI (e.g., noted as PMI ₂ )。

In the first case, if the two antenna sets on the terminal device are not interactable, RI ₁ 、PMI ₁ 、RI ₂ PMI (PMI) ₂ Is determined based on CSI-RS.

The fact that two antenna sets cannot be interacted is understood that the two demodulation modules corresponding to the two antenna sets are independent of each other, i.e. the terminal device can be regarded as two independent 4R receivers. Therefore, in this case, the calculation of the measurement information about CSI on each demodulation module may be independent, and reference may be made to the calculation process of the measurement information about CSI in the existing 4R receiver or the 8R receiver shown in fig. 2, which is not described herein.

In the second case, if two antenna sets on the terminal device can interact, RI ₁ 、PMI ₁ 、RI ₂ PMI (PMI) ₂ Is determined based on interaction information between the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas and CSI-RS.

The two antenna sets may interact with each other, which may be understood as that demodulation modules corresponding to the two antenna sets may interact with each other, i.e., information (e.g., channel information) on the two demodulation modules may be mutually transmitted to another demodulation module. Thus, in case two, the measurement information in the first CSI report and the second CSI report may be determined based on the interaction information between the first antenna set (first demodulation module) and the second antenna set (second demodulation module) and the CSI-RS.

The interaction information can be processedSolution to channel information, i.e. two antenna sets get H based on received CSI-RS measurements, respectively ₁ And H ₂ And the first antenna set can acquire H measured by the second antenna set ₂ The second antenna set can obtain H measured by the first antenna set ₁ . Wherein H is ₁ H is a channel matrix obtained by measuring CSI-RS received based on a first antenna set ₂ And a channel matrix obtained based on the CSI-RS measurement received by the second antenna set.

Illustratively, in the case where two antenna sets are interactable, the RI ₁ 、RI ₂ 、PMI ₁ PMI (PMI) ₂ The determination may be based on the following formula:

wherein W is ₁ Precoding matrix for first antenna set, W ₂ Precoding matrix, σ, for the second set of antennas ² PMI is the noise power ₁ For indicating W ₁ ，PMI ₂ For indicating W ₂ 。

Alternatively, RI in the above formula ₁ And RI ₂ The value range of (1) is agreed, or the network equipment is configured for the terminal equipment, or the value range is determined by the terminal equipment.

It should be understood that in RI ₁ And RI ₂ When the value range of (a) is determined by the terminal device, the terminal device may send the determined value range to the network device or may not send the determined value range to the network device, which is not limited in this application.

Illustratively, the protocol conventions (RI ₁ ，RI ₂ ) The range of values may be: (1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2), (2, 3), (3, 2) (3, 3), (3, 4), (4, 3), (4, 4). Further, the terminal device uses the above formula to traverse (RI ₁ ，RI ₂ ) Each set of values is obtained, the optimal solution of the function is W ₁ And W is ₂ . Based on the above calculation, multiple sets of RI can be determined ₁ ，RI ₂ ，PMI ₁ PMI (PMI) ₂ (i.e., each group of RI takes a value, corresponds to one group of PMI), when a plurality of groups of RI are determined ₁ ，RI ₂ ，PMI ₁ PMI (PMI) ₂ After the values of (2) are obtained, a set of values that maximize the function value may be determined based on the plurality of sets of values, and the set of values may be reported to the network device.

It should be appreciated that determining RI as described above ₁ ，RI ₂ ，PMI ₁ PMI (PMI) ₂ May be performed by the first demodulation module and/or the second demodulation module on the terminal device. Illustratively, RI ₁ ，RI ₂ ，PMI ₁ PMI (PMI) ₂ Determined by the first demodulation module, the first demodulation module sends the RI to the second demodulation module ₂ PMI (PMI) ₂ ；RI ₁ ，RI ₂ ，PMI ₁ PMI (PMI) ₂ Determined by the second demodulation module, the second demodulation module sends RI to the first demodulation module ₁ PMI (PMI) ₁ 。

It should be noted that, the above function is related to spectrum efficiency, that is, the requirement of the communication system on spectrum effect is high, the above formula may be used to determine RI and PMI; if the requirements of the communication system on the transmission capacity are high, the formulas related to the transmission capacity can be adopted to determine the RI and the PMI. That is, the RI and PMI may be determined according to the requirements of the communication system, thereby employing different calculation formulas. The manner in which RI and PMI are calculated is not limited in this application.

In the embodiment of the invention, after the network device and the terminal device determine the antenna sets, the network device configures the reporting indication for each antenna set for the terminal device, so that the terminal device receiving the reporting indication can report the CSI report corresponding to the first antenna set and the second antenna set based on the reporting indication and the CSI-RS, further, the two antenna sets on the terminal device can respectively process the data streams received by the two antenna sets, and the computational complexity of the terminal device when processing the data streams is effectively reduced.

As an alternative embodiment, prior to S301, the method 300 further includes: the terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device to the network device, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal device comprises two antenna sets. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information.

It should be understood that the terminal device indicated by the capability information includes two antenna sets may be understood that the terminal device includes two demodulation modules, or the terminal device may support demodulating the received signals using the two antenna sets, respectively. The demodulation module is used for demodulating the data stream received by the terminal equipment.

The two demodulation modules may be referred to as a first demodulation module and a second demodulation module, where the first demodulation module may be configured to process a data stream received on the first antenna set, and the second demodulation module may be configured to process a data stream received on the second antenna set, and a receiving antenna included in the first antenna set is different from a receiving antenna included in the second antenna set.

As an optional embodiment, the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in the same reporting configuration (reporting setting); the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in the same PUCCH.

As an optional embodiment, the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are respectively carried in different reporting configurations; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are respectively carried in different PUCCHs.

Illustratively, the network device sends one reporting setting to the terminal device, and the reporting setting includes two CSI reporting indications and corresponds to two antenna sets, respectively. Alternatively, the network device sends two reporting setting to the terminal device, and each reporting setting includes a CSI report indication corresponding to one antenna set. The specific description of reporting setting refers to the existing protocol, and will not be repeated here.

In combination with the above example, when two CSI reporting indications are carried in the same reporting setting, the CSI report reported by the terminal device may be fed back on one PUCCH. When the two CSI reporting indications are carried in the two reporting setting, the two CSI reports reported by the terminal device may be respectively carried on the two PUCCHs for feedback, i.e. one CSI report is carried on one PUCCH.

As an alternative embodiment, the method 300 further comprises: the network device sends second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second indication information.

Optionally, the network device sends a data stream to be transmitted. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the data stream to be transmitted and determines the data stream received by the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set based on the second indication information.

As an alternative embodiment, the method 300 further comprises: the network device sends third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between a data stream to be transmitted and a codeword. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the third indication information.

It should be noted that, the precoding manners corresponding to the data streams to be transmitted received by the same antenna set are the same, but the encoding manners may be different, that is, the data streams received by the same antenna set may correspond to different codewords. Therefore, the terminal device needs to further determine the correspondence between the data stream and the codeword, so as to decode the data stream.

The network device sends a data stream to be transmitted, for example. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the data stream; the terminal equipment determines data streams received by the first antenna set and the second antenna set based on the second indication information; determining a coding mode adopted by the received data stream based on the third indication information; the first demodulation module and the second demodulation module on the terminal equipment respectively adopt a decoding mode corresponding to the coding mode to decode the received data stream.

The first demodulation module is used for processing the data stream received by the first antenna set, and the second demodulation module is used for processing the data stream received by the second antenna set.

Optionally, in the case that the first antenna set and the second antenna set are not interactable, the network device and the terminal device may determine codewords corresponding to the first antenna set and the second antenna set by protocol convention or in a preconfigured manner. For example, it is determined that the first set of antennas receives the data stream of codeword 0 and the second set of antennas receives the data stream of codeword 1.

Illustratively, the codeword corresponding to the first antenna set is codeword 0 and the codeword corresponding to the second antenna set is codeword 1. That is, when the network device transmits a data stream to the terminal device, the data stream of codeword 0 needs to be transmitted to the first set of antennas, and the data stream of codeword 1 needs to be transmitted to the second set of antennas. In this way, when the terminal device receives the data stream, the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set may decode the received data stream based on the correspondence between the antenna set and the codeword.

It should be understood that the solution of the embodiment of the present application may be extended to a terminal device comprising N receiving antennas (N is an integer greater than 8). When the terminal device includes N receiving antennas, the N receiving antennas may be divided into P groups (P is an integer greater than or equal to 2), and the network device may configure P CSI reporting indications for the terminal device, corresponding to the P antenna sets respectively. And the terminal equipment reports P CSI reports corresponding to the P antenna sets based on the configuration of the network equipment. Likewise, regarding the reporting configuration of the P CSI reporting indication bearers, the number of PUCCHs of the CSI reporting bearers and the grouping manner of the P antenna sets may refer to the related description of the above method 300, which is not repeated here.

It should be further understood that the sequence numbers of the above processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and the internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The method of the embodiments of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 3 and 4, and the apparatus of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 5 and 6.

Fig. 5 is a communication device 500 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the apparatus 500 includes: a processing module 510 and a transceiver module 520.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus 500 is the terminal device described above, or a chip, a system-on-chip of the terminal device.

Wherein, the processing module 510 is configured to: determining a first antenna set and a second antenna set, wherein the first antenna set comprises M receiving antennas, the second antenna set comprises 8-M receiving antennas, M is 0< 8, and M is a positive integer; the transceiver module 520 is configured to: receiving a first CSI reporting instruction and a second CSI reporting instruction, wherein the first CSI reporting instruction and the second CSI reporting instruction are associated with a CSI-RS, the first CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the second antenna set; and sending a first CSI report and a second CSI report, wherein the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set, the first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI report indication and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI report indication and the CSI-RS.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: capability information of the apparatus 500 is transmitted, the capability information being used to indicate that the apparatus includes two antenna sets.

Optionally, the processing module 510 is further configured to: and determining the first antenna set and the second antenna set according to a preset rule, wherein the preset rule indicates M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set; the processing module 510 is further configured to: the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas are determined based on the first indication information.

Optionally, the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in the same reporting configuration; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in the same physical uplink control channel PUCCH.

Optionally, the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in different reporting configurations; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in different PUCCHs.

Optionally, the first CSI report includes a first RI, and the second CSI report includes a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

Optionally, the first CSI report includes a first PMI, and the second CSI report includes a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

Optionally, the first CSI report includes a first RI, and the second CSI report includes a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on interaction information between the first antenna set and the second antenna set and the CSI-RS.

Optionally, the first CSI report includes a first PMI, and the second CSI report includes a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the interaction information and the CSI-RS.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: and receiving second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between a data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: and receiving third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the code word.

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

In another possible implementation, the apparatus 500 is a network device, or a chip, a system-on-chip of a network device.

Wherein, the transceiver module 520 is used for: transmitting a first CSI reporting instruction and a second CSI reporting instruction, wherein the first CSI reporting instruction and the second CSI reporting instruction are associated with a CSI-RS, the first CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the second antenna set; and receiving a first CSI report and a second CSI report, wherein the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set, the first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI report indication and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI report indication and the CSI-RS.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: capability information of a terminal device is received, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal device comprises two antenna sets.

Optionally, the processing module 510 is configured to: determining a first set of antennas and a second set of antennas; the transceiver module 510 is further configured to: and sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: and sending second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set.

Optionally, the transceiver module 520 is further configured to: and sending third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the code word.

In an alternative example, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 500 may be specifically a network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and the apparatus 500 may be configured to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein for avoiding repetition.

It should be appreciated that the apparatus 500 herein is embodied in the form of functional modules. The term module herein may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor, etc.) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. In an alternative example, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 500 may be specifically a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing embodiment, or the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the foregoing embodiment may be integrated in the apparatus 500, and the apparatus 500 may be used to execute each flow and/or step corresponding to the terminal device or the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

The apparatus 500 has a function of implementing corresponding steps executed by the terminal device or the network device in the method; the above functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. For example, the transmitting module 510 may be a communication interface, such as a transceiver interface.

Fig. 6 is another communication device 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 600 includes a processor 610, a memory 620, and a transceiver 630. The processor 610, the memory 620 and the transceiver 630 are connected through an internal connection path, the memory 620 is used for storing instructions, and the processor 610 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 620, so that the apparatus 600 can execute the communication method provided by the above method embodiment.

It should be understood that the functions of the apparatus 500 in the above embodiments may be integrated in the apparatus 600, and the apparatus 600 may be used to perform the steps and/or flows corresponding to the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or the apparatus 600 may be further used to perform the steps and/or flows corresponding to the network device in the above method embodiments.

Alternatively, the memory 620 may include read-only memory and random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory may also store information of the device type. The processor 610 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor executes the instructions, the processor 610 may execute steps and/or flows corresponding to the terminal device in the method embodiment described above, or the processor 610 may execute steps and/or flows corresponding to the network device in the method embodiment described above.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present application, the processor 610 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), the processor 610 may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal process, DSP), ASICs, field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. The processor 610 may be a microprocessor or the processor 610 may be any conventional processor or the like.

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

The present application also provides a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of the terminal device or the network device in any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of the terminal device or the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method applied to a terminal device, the terminal device including 8 receiving antennas, the method comprising:

determining a first antenna set and a second antenna set, wherein the first antenna set comprises M receiving antennas, the second antenna set comprises 8-M receiving antennas, M is 0< 8, and M is a positive integer;

receiving a first Channel State Information (CSI) reporting instruction and a second CSI reporting instruction, wherein the first CSI reporting instruction and the second CSI reporting instruction are associated with a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), the first CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting instruction corresponds to the second antenna set;

and sending a first CSI report and a second CSI report, wherein the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set, the first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI report instruction and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI report instruction and the CSI-RS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the determining the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas, the method further comprises:

And transmitting capability information of the terminal equipment, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment comprises two antenna sets.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas comprises:

and determining the first antenna set and the second antenna set according to a preset rule, wherein the preset rule indicates M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas comprises:

receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set;

the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas are determined based on the first indication information.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in the same reporting configuration; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in the same physical uplink control channel PUCCH.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in different reporting configurations; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in different PUCCHs.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first rank indication, RI, and the second CSI report comprises a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first precoding matrix indicator, PMI, and the second CSI report comprises a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first RI and the second CSI report comprises a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on interaction information between the first antenna set and the second antenna set and the CSI-RS.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first PMI and the second CSI report comprises a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the interaction information and the CSI-RS.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the range of values of the first RI and the second RI is agreed upon, or configured by a network device for the terminal device, or determined by the terminal device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising:

and receiving second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between a data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

and receiving third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the code word.

14. A method of communication, for use with a network device, the method comprising:

transmitting a first Channel State Information (CSI) reporting instruction and a second CSI reporting instruction, wherein the first CSI reporting instruction and the second CSI reporting instruction are associated with a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), the first CSI reporting instruction corresponds to a first antenna set, and the second CSI reporting instruction corresponds to a second antenna set;

A first CSI report and a second CSI report are received, the first CSI report corresponds to the first antenna set, the second CSI report corresponds to the second antenna set, the first CSI report is determined based on the first CSI reporting indication and the CSI-RS, and the second CSI report is determined based on the second CSI reporting indication and the CSI-RS.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

capability information of a terminal device is received, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the terminal device comprises two antenna sets.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the method further comprises:

determining the first set of antennas and the second set of antennas;

and sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating M receiving antennas included in the first antenna set and/or 8-M receiving antennas included in the second antenna set.

17. The method according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in the same reporting configuration; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in the same physical uplink control channel PUCCH.

18. The method according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first CSI reporting indication and the second CSI reporting indication are carried in different reporting configurations; the first CSI report and the second CSI report are carried in different PUCCHs.

19. The method according to any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first rank indication, RI, and the second CSI report comprises a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first precoding matrix indicator, PMI, and the second CSI report comprises a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the CSI-RS.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first RI and the second CSI report comprises a second RI; the first RI and the second RI are determined based on interaction information between the first antenna set and the second antenna set and the CSI-RS.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first CSI report comprises a first PMI and the second CSI report comprises a second PMI; the first PMI and the second PMI are determined based on the interaction information and the CSI-RS.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the range of values of the first RI and the second RI is agreed upon by a protocol, or is configured by the network device for the terminal device, or is determined by the terminal device.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, further comprising:

and sending second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the first antenna set and/or the second antenna set.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises:

and sending third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the data stream to be transmitted and the code word.

26. A communication device comprising means for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 25.

27. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory;

the memory is used for storing a computer program;

the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 25.

28. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, which when executed by a processor, implements the method of any of claims 1 to 25.

29. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when run, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 25.