WO2025211591A1

WO2025211591A1 - Method and apparatus for transmitting a reference signal in a wireless communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2025211591A1
Application number: PCT/KR2025/002856
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nan Qu; Di SU; Zhongfeng ZHANG; Peng Lin; Chen QIAN; Feifei SUN; Bin Yu; Qi XIONG
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-04-03
Filing date: 2025-02-28
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-03
Also published as: CN120786672A

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. The present disclosure provides a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, a method performed by a second node, the first node and the second node. The method performed by the first node comprises: receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information comprising first information related to a first resource; receiving second configuration information, the second configuration information comprising second information of a second resource associated with a first reference signal; determining the second resource and a third resource associated with a guard band based on the first information and the second information, the guard band being related to the second resource, the second resource and the third resource being located on the first resource; and transmitting the first reference signal on the second resource. Based on a new signal transmission method provided by the present disclosure, the communication requirements can be better satisfied.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING A REFERENCE SIGNAL IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and in particular to a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, a method performed by a second node, the first node and the second node.

5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in “Sub 6GHz” bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in “Above 6GHz” bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz (THz) bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture/protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture/service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also called "Beyond 4G networks" or "Post-LTE systems".

In order to achieve a higher data rate, 5G communication systems are implemented in higher frequency (millimeter, mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase a transmission distance, technologies such as beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming and large-scale antenna are discussed in 5G communication systems.

In addition, in 5G communication systems, developments of system network improvement are underway based on advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, etc.

In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have been developed.

The present disclosure relates to transmitting a refence signal.

An objective of embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, and the first node, which can better satisfy the wireless communication requirements.

The beneficial effects achieved by the technical schemes provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide efficient communication methods in a wireless communication system.

To more clearly explain the technical schemes in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings to be used in the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be briefly introduced below.

FIGURE 1 illustrates a schematic structure diagram of a wireless network to which an embodiment of the present disclosure is applied;

FIGURES 2a and 2b illustrate schematic diagrams of wireless transmit and receive paths according to the present disclosure;

FIGURE 3a illustrates a schematic structure diagram of an example user equipment according to the present disclosure;

FIGURE 3b illustrates a schematic structure diagram of an example base station according to the present disclosure;

FIGURE 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by a first node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGURES 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6c and 7 illustrate schematic diagrams of several possible mapping patterns of reference signal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGURE 8 illustrates a schematic structure diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGURE 9 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a structure of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIGURE 10 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a structure of a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as disclosed herein.

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present application as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present application. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present application is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present application as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

The term “include” or “may include” refers to the existence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation or component which can be used in various embodiments of the present application and does not limit one or more additional functions, operations, or components. The terms such as “include” and/or “have” may be construed to denote a certain characteristic, number, step, operation, constituent element, component or a combination thereof, but may not be construed to exclude the existence of or a possibility of addition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof.

The term “or” used in various embodiments of the present application includes any or all of combinations of listed words. For example, the expression “A or B” may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.

Unless defined differently, all terms used herein, which include technical terminologies or scientific terminologies, have the same meaning as that understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present application belongs. Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary are to be interpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant field of art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the present application.

The various embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, broadband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system Frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunications systems (UMTS), global interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth generation (5G) systems or new wireless (NR) systems, etc. In addition, the various embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to future oriented communication technologies.

FIGURE 1 illustrates a schematic structure diagram of a wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

The wireless network 100 includes a gNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a private IP network, or other data networks.

Depending on a type of the network, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" can be used instead of "gNodeB" or "gNB". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. And, depending on the type of the network, other well-known terms such as "mobile station", "user station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal" or "user apparatus" can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE". For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, no matter whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone) or a fixed device (such as a desktop computer or a vending machine).

gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs include a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless PDA, etc. GNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs include a UE 115 and a UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101-103 can communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

The dashed lines show approximate ranges of the coverage areas 120 and 125, and the ranges are shown as approximate circles merely for illustration and explanation purposes. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on configurations of the gNBs and changes in the radio environment associated with natural obstacles and man-made obstacles.

As will be described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes can be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement, for example. Furthermore, gNB 101 can directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for those UEs. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 can directly communicate with the network 130 and provide direct wireless broadband access to the network 130 for the UEs. In addition, gNB 101, 102 and/or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

FIGURES. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, the transmission path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB, such as gNB 102, and the reception path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE, such as UE 116. However, it should be understood that the reception path 250 can be implemented in a gNB and the transmission path 200 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the reception path 250 is configured to support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

The transmission path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The reception path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

In the transmission path 200, the channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulated symbols. The Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) serial modulated symbols into parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is a size of the IFFT/FFT used in gNB 102 and UE 116. The size N IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. The Parallel-to-Serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) parallel time-domain output symbols from the Size N IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. The cyclic prefix addition block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. The up-converter 230 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the cyclic prefix addition block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at a baseband before switching to the RF frequency.

The RF signal transmitted from gNB 102 arrives at UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and operations in reverse to those at gNB 102 are performed at UE 116. The down-converter 255 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The Serial-to-Parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The Size N FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The Parallel-to-Serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signal into a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

Each of gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmission path 200 similar to that for transmitting to UEs 111-116 in the downlink, and may implement a reception path 250 similar to that for receiving from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmission path 200 for transmitting to gNBs 101-103 in the uplink, and may implement a reception path 250 for receiving from gNBs 101-103 in the downlink.

Each of the components in FIGs. 2a and 2b can be implemented using only hardware, or using a combination of hardware and software/firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in FIGs. 2a and 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a combination of software and configurable hardware. For example, the FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, in which the value of the size N may be modified according to the implementation.

Furthermore, although described as using FFT and IFFT, this is only illustrative and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer which is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

Although FIGs. 2a and 2b illustrate examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to FIGs. 2a and 2b. For example, various components in FIGs. 2a and 2b can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. Furthermore, FIGs. 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmission and reception paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

FIGURE 3a illustrates an example UE 116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of UE 116 shown in FIG. 3a is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a UE has various configurations, and FIG. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of the UE.

UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 303, a microphone 304, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 305. UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller/processor 307, an input/output (I/O) interface 308, an input device(s) 309, a display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an operating system (OS) 312 and one or more applications 313.

The RF transceiver 302 receives an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100 from the antenna 301. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 305, where the RX processing circuit 305 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to controller/processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

The TX processing circuit 303 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email or interactive video game data) from controller/processor 307. The TX processing circuit 303 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via the antenna 301.

The controller/processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute an OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, the controller/processor 307 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuit 305 and the TX processing circuit 303 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, the controller/processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

The controller/processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs residing in the memory 311, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The controller/processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an execution process. In some embodiments, the controller/processor 307 is configured to execute the application 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The controller/processor 307 is also coupled to an I/O interface 308, where the I/O interface 308 provides UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I/O interface 308 is a communication path between these accessories and the controller/processor 307.

The controller/processor 307 is also coupled to the input device(s) 309 and the display 310. An operator of UE 116 can input data into UE 116 using the input device(s) 309. The display 310 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and/or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). The memory 311 is coupled to the controller/processor 307. A part of the memory 311 can include a random access memory (RAM), while another part of the memory 311 can include a flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

Although FIG. 3a illustrates an example of UE 116, various changes can be made to FIG. 3a. For example, various components in FIG. 3a can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. As a specific example, the controller/processor 307 can be divided into a plurality of processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Furthermore, although FIG. 3a illustrates that the UE 116 is configured as a mobile phone or a smart phone, UEs can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

FIGURE 3b illustrates an example gNB 102 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of gNB 102 shown in FIG. 3b is for illustration only, and other gNBs of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a gNB has various configurations, and FIG. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of a gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

As shown in FIG. 3b, gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 374, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 376. In certain embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller/processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

RF transceivers 372a-372n receive an incoming RF signal from antennas 370a-370n, such as a signal transmitted by UEs or other gNBs. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 376, where the RX processing circuit 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 376 transmits the processed baseband signal to controller/processor 378 for further processing.

The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email or interactive video game data) from the controller/processor 378. TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes and/or digitizes outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

The controller/processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller/processor 378 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuit 376 and the TX processing circuit 374 according to well-known principles. The controller/processor 378 can also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller/processor 378 can perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process such as that performed through a BIS algorithm, and decode a received signal from which an interference signal is subtracted. A controller/processor 378 may support any of a variety of other functions in gNB 102. In some embodiments, the controller/processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

The controller/processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes residing in the memory 380, such as a basic OS. The controller/processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller/processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. The controller/processor 378 can move data into or out of the memory 380 as required by an execution process.

The controller/processor 378 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems through a backhaul connection or through a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 can support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when gNB 102 is implemented as a part of a cellular communication system, such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G or new radio access technology or NR, LTE or LTE-A, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs through wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network, such as the Internet, through a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication through a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

The memory 380 is coupled to the controller/processor 378. A part of the memory 380 can include an RAM, while another part of the memory 380 can include a flash memory or other ROMs. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as the BIS algorithm, are stored in the memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller/processor 378 to execute the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

As will be described in more detail below, the transmission and reception paths of gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuit 374 and/or RX processing circuit 376) support aggregated communication with FDD cells and TDD cells.

Although FIG. 3b illustrates an example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 3b. For example, gNB 102 can include any number of each component shown in FIG. 3a. As a specific example, the access point can include many backhaul or network interfaces 382, and the controller/processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as including a single instance of the TX processing circuit 374 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 376, gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

Production activities in the human society have an increasing demand for wireless data, so frequency spectrums gradually become scarce resources. How to improve the spectrum utilization of communication systems has always been a hot issue for practitioners. At present, low-frequency resources for wireless communication are crowded, and operating frequency bands of the communication systems are gradually developing towards higher frequency, so it is inevitable to conflict with radar systems that originally operate in high frequency bands. A cellular communication system and a radar system are highly similar in terms of background theoretical knowledge and hardware structure, so integrating the cellular communication system with the radar system can be used as a potential means to improve the spectrum efficiency. Meanwhile, the communication system and the radar system may also complement each other in performance to achieve a win-win result. Therefore, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC for short), as a hot research direction in the communication field, becomes one of candidate technologies of 6G. The core of an ISAC system is to use a same set of hardware devices to realize the function of sensing a surrounding environment at the expense of as little resource overhead as possible on the basis of ensuring basic communication functions. The sensing contents include the distance, orientation, speed and even type of an object in the surrounding environment. Unlike the technology of positioning an access terminal in the conventional communication system, the ISAC technology can also sense various information of a non-access object, thus greatly improving the capability of the communication system to dynamically adjust the operating state (scheduling, beam management, early warning of the access terminal, etc.) according to the surrounding environment.

At present, the most widely used communication systems are systems based on the 3GPP protocol, for example, 4G communication systems such as LTE and LTE-A, and 5G communication systems such as NR. The signal waveforms used in these communication systems are waveforms based on OFDM modulation. Considering forward compatibility, for example, OFDM communication signals can be used as sensing signals. Specifically, the sensing signal may be a physical signal and/or physical channel that can be used for sensing purposes. For example, when a sensing node is a base station, the sensing signal may be a downlink reference signal, a downlink physical channel or the like; and, when the sensing node is a terminal, the sensing signal may be an uplink/sidelink reference signal, an uplink/sidelink physical channel or the like. The sensing signal sent by the sensing node is reflected by a target reflector and then re-received by the sensing node in the form of echo. The distance, speed, orientation or other sensing information of the target object can be sensed by processing the echo signal. How to improve the performance of a communication system integrating multiple systems (e.g., an ISAC system) is a problem to be urgently solved.

A phase noise is a noise caused by components in the communication system, and each sampling point will be influenced by the phase noise during the actual communication. When the carrier frequency of the communication system is increased, the influence from the phase noise will gradually become obvious, thus influencing the constellation point of the received signal and influencing the demodulation performance. Based on this, the 3GPP has defined phase-tracking reference signals (PTRSs) to estimate a common phase error (CPE) between two symbols and perform CPE compensation on the result of channel estimation, thus improving the demodulation performance. In an ISAC scenario, the phase noise will also lead to the degradation of the sensing performance.

Therefore, how to improve or solve the influence from the phase noise in a communication system integrating multiple systems (e.g., an ISAC system) is also one of technical problems to be solved.

In order to optimize the communication system and solve or improve one or more of the existing problems, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, which can be performed by a first node or a second node in a communication system, and proposes a new method for transmitting a reference signal, which can be applied to, but not limited to, an ISAC system. Based on the schemes provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication requirements of the communication system integrating multiple systems can be satisfied.

Optionally, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first reference signal may include a reference signal used for phase noise estimation, e.g., a PTRS, so that the processing of the phase noise can be realized, wherein processing the phase noise may comprise estimating the phase noise and/or compensating the phase noise.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first node is a user equipment, and the second node may be a network node. The first node and the second node may also be electronic devices in a sidelink communication scenario (e.g., a device-to-device communication scenario). The user equipment may be a common mobile phone, a computer or other terminals, or may be other devices similar or equivalent to the user terminal. The network node may be a base station or other network nodes, e.g., a transmission/reception point (TRP), or may be a relay node.

It is to be noted that, some term names involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure may adopt the term names that already exist in the communication standards, while some term names may be newly added or defined term names. These newly added or defined term names may also adopt other names in future communication standards, or may be described in other ways (e.g., a paragraph of text description). The names or appellations of various information/messages/parameters/configurations involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure are not unique, and the names or appellations of these information/messages/parameters/configurations can be altered as long as the functions or contents of these information/messages/parameters/configurations or the explanations or descriptions of these information/messages/parameters/configurations can be corresponding or associated. For example, the "first reference signal related to phase noise estimation/reference signal used for phase noise estimation" in the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a PTRS, or may be signals with other names which are newly defined in future communication standards and used for phase noise estimation.

The technical schemes provided by the present disclosure and the technical effects achieved by the technical schemes will be described below by multiple optional implementations. The following implementations can be referred to, learnt from or combined with each other if not conflicted or contradicted, and the steps in different embodiments can be combined or replaced with each other if not conflicted. The same terms, similar features, similar implementation steps or the like in different implementations will not be repeated. For the interaction steps between different nodes, the corresponding scheme for a node on the other side can be derived based on the description of the scheme for a node on one side. For example, the first node receives a signal from the second node. Correspondingly, it can be concluded that the second node transmits the signal to the first node. In an embodiment including a plurality of steps, if there is no clear chronological order for the plurality of steps, the implementation order of the plurality of steps will not be uniquely defined in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the drawings. The text and the drawings are merely provided as examples to help readers to understand the present disclosure. They are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although some embodiments and examples have been provided, based on the contents disclosed herein, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that changes can be made to the illustrated embodiments and examples without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method provides a method for transmitting a reference signal. The first node may be a user equipment. The reference signal may be an uplink reference signal, and at this time, the first node is a transmit node/transmitter. Alternatively, the reference signal may be a downlink reference signal, and at this time the first node is a receiver. As shown in FIG. 4, the method comprises the following steps S410 to S440.

In step S410, first configuration information is received, the first configuration information including first information related to a first resource.

In step S420, second configuration information is received, the second configuration information including second information of a second resource associated with a first reference signal.

In step S430, the second resource and a third resource associated with a guard band are determined based on the first information and the second information, the guard band being related to the second resource, the second resource and the third resource being located on the first resource.

In step S440, the first reference signal is transmitted or received on the second resource.

The first reference signal may be an uplink reference signal or a downlink reference signal. The user equipment may receive, from a second node (e.g., a base station), a configuration related to the first resource and a configuration related to the second resource.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first resource may be interpreted as a mapping range of the reference signal, i.e., a resource range corresponding to the reference signal, which may be a resource range of a physical channel (service channel) corresponding to the reference signal or a resource range occupied by the reference signal. The reference signal may be mapped to some resources in the mapping range, e.g., some subcarriers on one or more OFDM symbols. For example, the reference signal is reused and transmitted on a physical channel, and the first resource may be a resource assigned to the physical signal. Here, the reference signal includes at least the first reference signal. The type or function of the first reference signal will not be limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. As an alternative, the first reference signal may be a reference signal used for phase noise estimation, e.g., a PTRS.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first reference signal may belong to a service channel (e.g., a physical shared signal, a physical control signal, a physical signal for sidelink communication, etc.), the first reference signal may be transmitted together with other physical signals (e.g., data, control information, etc.), and the first reference signal may not belong to the service channel.

The second resource is a resource which maps the first reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal, i.e., a resource actually occupied by the first reference signal. The second resource may include one or more first resource units. For example, the second resource includes a plurality of REs.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the guard band being related to the second resource comprises: at least one first resource unit in the second resource corresponds to a guard band, wherein the guard band includes at least one second resource unit adjacent to the first resource unit.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the guard band is a guard band of the second resource, i.e., a guard band related to the first reference signal. The guard band can reduce the interference of other possible signals to the first reference signal. The third resource associated with the guard band is a resource acting as the guard band.

Optionally, the guard band is used to map zero-power reference signals, or is not reused for any other physical channels or physical signals. That is, the third resource is used to map zero-power reference signals or is not occupied by any other physical signals or physical channels.

The step S430 in the embodiment of the present disclosure may also adopt a combination of one or more of the following description ways:

the second resource and the third resource associated with the guard band are determined based on the first information and the second information, wherein the third resource is related to the position of the second resource (for example, the resource units in the third resource are adjacent to the resource units in the second resource in position); and

the second resource and the third resource are determined based on the first information and the second information, wherein the third resource is related to the position of the second resource, and the third resource is used to map zero-power reference signals or is not reused for any other physical channels or physical signals.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first resource, the second resource and the third resource may be the same or different in resource granularity. For example, the first resource may include one or more resource blocks (RBs), the second resource may be one or more resource elements (REs), and the third resource may be at least one RE or at least one RB.

Optionally, the granularity of resource units may be a RE. The second resource may include at least one RE, some or all of which correspond to a guard band, and the guard band of one RE may be one or more REs or at least one RB.

Optionally, the guard band may be a guard band in the frequency domain, and the guard band of one first reference signal (first resource unit) may be one or more frequency domain units, adjacent to a time domain unit where the first reference signal is located, on a time unit where the first reference signal is located. That is, the at least one second resource unit is at least one resource unit adjacent to the first resource unit in the frequency domain.

Optionally, the guard band includes at least one frequency unit having a frequency domain index greater than the frequency domain index of the first resource unit, and/or at least one resource unit having a frequency index less than the frequency domain index of the first resource unit.

That is, the resources occupied by the guard band may include a resource having a frequency higher than that of the resource where the first reference signal is located and/or a resource having a frequency lower than that of the resource where the first reference signal is located.

Still taking one resource unit being one RE as an example, one frequency domain unit on one time unit having a guard band may also be described in such a way that one subcarrier on one symbol has a guard band in the frequency domain or one RE has a guard band in the frequency domain, and the guard band corresponding to one RE (or subcarrier) in the frequency domain includes a guard band on the upper side of the frequency domain and/or a guard band on the lower side of the frequency domain.

Optionally, adjacent first resource units (resources that map the first reference signal) are spaced by at least one resource unit, which is used to map zero-power reference signals or is not reused for any other physical channels or physical signals.

Here, adjacent may be adjacent in the frequency domain. In this optional scheme, resource units between the resource units (e.g., REs) that map the first reference signal can only map zero-power signals, or is not reused for any other physical signals or physical signals. It should also be understood that all resources between the REs that map the first reference signal are a guard band. The adjacent first resource units may be adjacent resources units within a certain frequency domain range, for example, adjacent first resource units in the same RB, or adjacent first resource units in at least two consecutive RBs. By this optional scheme, the interference between first reference signals can be reduced. For example, when the first reference signal is used for phase noise estimation, by this scheme, the accuracy of phase noise estimation can be improved.

Optionally, other physical signals or physical channels are mapped on at least one third resource unit on a time unit where the first resource unit is located, wherein at least one resource unit between adjacent first resource units and the third resource unit maps zero-power reference signals, or is not reused for any other physical signals or physical channels.

In this optional scheme, within the mapping range of the reference signal, other frequency domain units (third resource units) on the time unit (e.g., OFDM symbol) where the first reference signal is located may transmit other physical signals or physical channels except for the first reference signal, e.g., physical uplink/downlink shared channels, physical uplink/downlink control channels or the like. This scheme can improve the resource utilization. It should be understood that the third resource units are resource units in the first resource. Based on this scheme, within the mapping range of the reference signal, the first physical signal and other physical signals or physical channels can be simultaneously transmitted on the OFDM symbol where the first reference signal is located. Other OFDM symbols that do not transmit the first reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal can transmit other physical signals or physical channels.

For the convenience of description, in some embodiments, the time unit will be described by taking an OFDM symbol as an example. The mapping range of the reference signal includes one or more OFDM symbols, and the first reference signal may be mapped to at least one of these OFDM symbols.

Optionally, in order to reduce the interference between signals, there is at least one RE as a guard band in the frequency domain between an RE (resource unit) on which the first reference signal is mapped and an RE on which other physical signals are mapped on the same OFDM symbol, and the at least one RE is not used to transmit any other signals (i.e., being not reused for any other physical channels and/or physical signals) or can only map zero-power reference signals.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first configuration information and the second configuration information may be configured simultaneously or separately. For example, the steps S410 and S420 may be described as: receiving configuration information, the configuration information including first configuration information and second configuration information.

The first node may know a mapping pattern of the reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal according to the received first configuration information and second configuration information, and thus can transmit or receive the first reference signal on a resource corresponding to the first reference signal based on the mapping pattern.

The mapping pattern of the reference signal reflects a mapping style of the reference signal. Based on the mapping pattern, it can be determined that the reference signal is mapped on which resource units within the mapping range of the reference signal and which reference signal is mapped. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the mapping pattern at least includes the mapping style of the first reference signal. Optionally, the mapping pattern may also include mapping styles of other signals. For example, in addition to the first reference signal, a second reference signal is also transmitted on the first resource. The mapping pattern may represent the mapping styles of the first reference signal and the second reference signal.

A transmission method of the reference signal provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can know the second resource actually occupied by the first reference signal within the range of the first resource based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information, and then transmit or receive the first reference signal, and the third resource as a guard band can be further configured in the first resource, so that the transmission effect of the first reference signal can be effectively ensured within this resource range, and the communication requirements can be better satisfied.

In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the second configuration information may include information associated with at least one of:

a first frequency domain range, the first reference signal being in the first frequency domain range; a first density of the first reference signal; a frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal; an offset of the frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal relative to a frequency domain starting position of the first resource; the number of the first reference signal; a size of the guard band; and a position of the guard band.

The first frequency domain range is a frequency domain range on the first resource, and the frequency domain units in the second resource are resource units within the first frequency domain range. Optionally, the first frequency domain range may be a consecutive frequency domain range on one or more time units.

The first density includes a first frequency domain density and/or a first time domain density, wherein the first frequency domain density is a mapping density of the first reference signal within the first frequency domain range, and the first node may know, based on the first frequency domain density, which resources within the first frequency domain range are used to transmit the first reference signal. Optionally, the first time domain density is a time domain mapping density in the first resource of the first reference, and one or more time units actually occupied by the first reference signal may be determined based on the first time domain density. Optionally, at least one of the first time domain density and the first frequency domain density may also be predetermined. For example, the first reference signal is mapped on each time unit within the first resource range, or the first reference signal is mapped every other time unit within the first resource.

The frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal may be the frequency domain starting position of the first frequency domain unit in the second resource within the first frequency domain range (the resource actually occupied by the first reference signal), or may be the frequency domain starting position of the first frequency domain unit in the second resource within the first resource. For example, the first resource includes 3 RBs on one OFDM symbol, the first reference signal occupies the second and third RBs, and the first reference signal occupies the third RE on the second RB. The frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal may be the frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal within the second and third RBs (the frequency domain starting position of the third RE), or may be the frequency domain starting position in the three RBs (the frequency domain stating position of the 15th RE).

The frequency domain starting position of the first resource is a position of the first frequency domain unit in the first frequency resource. Based on the offset of the frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal relative to the frequency domain starting position of the first resource, the position of the first reference signal may be determined.

The number of the first reference signal is the number of resource units actually occupied by the first reference signal. Based on information related to the number, it may be determined which resource units in the first resource unit are used for the transmission of the first reference signal. Optionally, when there are multiple time units actually occupied by the first reference signal, the number may be a number on one time unit or a total number on the multiple time units.

The size of the guard band represents the number of resources occupied by the guard band, for example, the number of REs or RBs occupied by the guard band. A position of the guard band may be a position of the guard band within the first resource or a position of the guard band relative to the resource where the first reference signal is located (e.g., the RE occupied by the first reference signal or the RB where the RE is located). For example, the guard band of a resource unit in the second resource includes at least one resource having a frequency domain index greater than the frequency domain index of the resource unit and/or at least one resource unit having a frequency index less than the frequency domain index of the resource unit.

Optionally, the second configuration information further includes information associated with at least one of:

a second density of the first reference signal; a third density of the second reference signal; and a second frequency domain range, the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal being in the second frequency domain range.

In an optional scheme of the present disclosure, the mapping range of the reference signal may have at least two densities, and the at least two densities may include any one of:

the first density and the second density; the first density and the third density; the second density and the third density; and, the first density, the second density and the third density.

Each density may include a time domain density and/or a frequency domain density.

Optionally, the second frequency domain range may include all frequency domain units except for the first frequency domain range on the time unit corresponding to the first frequency domain range or some of the all frequency domain units, and the first reference signal or the second reference signal may be mapped within the second frequency domain range.

As an implementation, within the mapping range (the first resource) of the reference signal, the first reference signal may have two densities, including the first density and the second density, where the first density corresponds to the first frequency domain range, and the second density corresponds to the second frequency domain range. As an implementation, within the mapping range (the first resource) of the reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal may be transmitted, where the density of the first reference signal is the first density and/or the second density, and the density of the second density is the third density.

The first node may determine the second resource from the first resource based on one or more of the above information included in the second configuration information.

It is to be noted that, in the following embodiments of the present disclosure, in the contents involving the "reference signal", except where it is clearly stated that the reference signal is "the first reference signal", the reference signal can be interpreted as a reference signal mapped in the mapping pattern of the reference signal (a reference signal mapped in the resource range occupied by the first reference signal), which at least includes the first reference signal and may further include the second reference signal.

It should be understood that the first reference signal is a non-zero-power reference signal. The specific signal type or name of the first reference signal will not be uniquely limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Optionally, the first reference signal may be the existing reference signal (e.g., PTRS) in the communication system or a signal related to phase noise newly defined in the future standard. The signal may still be named as a reference signal, or may not have the word "reference" in its name.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the resources occupied by the reference signal may include one or more of a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, a spatial domain resource and a code domain resource. For example, the resources occupied by the reference signal may be the time domain resource and/or frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal. Optionally, when the mapping pattern is determined as a time domain mapping pattern and/or a frequency domain mapping pattern, the physical resource corresponding to the reference signal is a time domain resource and/or a frequency domain resource. Optionally, the second configuration information may include information related to the time domain resource and/or the frequency domain resource associated with the first reference signal, and based on the information, the time domain resource and/or the frequency domain resource in the first resource to which the first reference signal is mapped, i.e., the time domain resource and/or the frequency domain resource in the first resource actually occupied by the first reference signal, may be determined.

It should be understood that the first reference signal is a non-zero-power reference signal. In some of the following embodiments, the first reference signal will be described by taking a PTRS as an example.

A transmission scheme of the reference signal provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below from the dimension of the mapping pattern. It should be understood that the mapping pattern of the reference signal means a mapping style or mapping mode of the reference signal, i.e., which reference signal is transmitted on which reference units of the reference signal within the mapping range (resource range) of the reference signal (the reference signal is mapped to which resource units), and how the distribution relationship between resource units that transmit the reference signal is. The mapping pattern of the reference signal is determined based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the mapping pattern of the reference signal satisfies at least one of:

A. In a plurality of consecutive frequency domain units (first frequency domain range) on at least one time unit within the mapping range of the reference signal, the first reference signal is mapped to at least one first frequency domain unit (first resource unit) on the at least one time unit at the first density; and, on at least some frequency domain units (second frequency domain range) except for the plurality of consecutive frequency domain units on the at least one time unit, the first reference signal is mapped at the second density and/or the second reference signal is mapped at the third density;

B. At least one first frequency domain unit on at least one time unit mapped with the first reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal corresponds to a guard band, the guard band includes at least one second frequency domain unit (second resource unit) adjacent to the first frequency domain unit on the same time unit, and the guard band maps zero-power reference signals or is not reused for any other physical signals or physical channels;

C. Within the mapping range of the reference signal, guard bands corresponding to at least two first frequency domain units on the same unit are different in size, wherein a size of the guard band may represent the number of frequency domain resources corresponding to the at least one second frequency domain unit, for example, the number of frequency domain units included in the third resource associated with the guard band;

D. Within the mapping range of the reference signal, adjacent (e.g., adjacent in the frequency domain) first frequency domain units are spaced by at least one frequency domain unit which is used to map zero-power reference signals or is not used in any other physical signals or physical signals, that is, there is at least one resource unit as a guard band between two resource units mapped with the first reference signal; and

E. Within the mapping range of the reference signal, other physical signals except for the first reference signal are mapped on at least one third frequency domain unit on at least one time unit mapped with the first reference signal, wherein at least one frequency domain unit between the first frequency domain unit and the third frequency domain unit on the same time unit maps zero-power reference signals or is not reused for any other physical signals or physical channels.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the resource granularities of the time domain unit and the frequency domain unit will not be uniquely limited. Optionally, one time domain unit may be one OFDM symbol, one frequency unit may be one subcarrier, and one resource unit (including a time domain unit and a frequency domain unit) may be an RE/resource element group (REG)/RB/resource block group (RBG). For the convenience of description, in some of the following embodiments, one resource unit will be described by taking one RE (one OFDM symbol (symbol for short) in the time domain, or one subcarrier in the frequency domain) as an example.

In one possible implementation, the mapping range of the reference signal may be a resource range of the physical channel. The resource range of the physical channel means a resource range assigned to the physical channel, and the reference signal is mapped into resources assigned for physical channel transmission. For example, the reference signal is mapped to one or more REs according to a certain rule (e.g., calculating through a formula or looking up a table), wherein a plurality of consecutive frequency domain units on at least one time unit (e.g., one or more REs on one or more symbols) are located within the range of resources (e.g., common resource blocks (CRBs)) assigned to a physical channel (e.g., a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical channel in the sidelink communication, etc.). For example, the first node is a user equipment, the reference signal is an uplink reference signal, the reference signal may be transmitted together with a PUSCH, and the mapping range of the reference signal may be the resource range of the PUSCH assigned for the user equipment by the base station. The base station may configure the resource range of the physical signal through the first configuration information.

In another possible implementation, the mapping range of the reference signal may be defined as resources related to the reference signal, that is, the mapping range of the reference signal is resources related to the reference signal. For example, if the resources of the reference signal are determined as two OFDM symbols (e.g., symbol #0 and symbol #1) in the time domain and two physical resource blocks (PRBs) (e.g., PRB#0 to PRB#9) in the frequency domain according to the first configuration information, protocol predefinition or according to a high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling, the mapping range of the reference signal is time domain symbols #0 and #1 and frequency domain PRB#0 to PRB#9.

As an example, if it is assumed that the reference signal is an uplink reference signal, the reference signal may be transmitted on an uplink physical channel. By taking a PUSCH as an example, the resources assigned to the PUSCH are two OFDM symbols in the time domain and three RBs in the frequency domain. The mapping range of the reference signal may be the mapping range of the PUSCH, including two OFDM symbols and three RBs. The mapping range of the reference signal may also be the range of resources occupied by the reference signal. For example, the range of resources assigned to the reference signal is one OFDM symbol and two RBs within the resource range of the PUSCH. The mapping range of the reference signal may be this range, or the resources of the reference signal may also be independent of the resources of the physical channel. For example, the range of resources assigned to the reference signal is one OFDM symbol and two RBs independent of the resources of the physical channel.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a concept of the guard band is proposed, and a scheme in which the reference signal can be mapped non-uniformly is also proposed. One implementation of non-uniform mapping is mapping within the whole mapping range at at least two densities, as shown in the above item A. Another implementation of non-uniform mapping is that the guard bands corresponding to different non-zero-power reference signals within the whole mapping range are different in size, as shown in the above item C.

For the first reference signal, the guard band may be a guard band of the first frequency domain unit mapped with the first reference signal, and the guard band should at least include at least one frequency domain unit adjacent to the resource unit that maps in the first reference signal in the frequency domain. The configuration of the guard band can reduce the interference to the transmission of the first reference signal.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, within the mapping range of the reference signal, if the first reference signal has two mapping densities (e.g., the first density and the second density), the first reference signal having a guard band may mean that the first reference signal mapped at the first density and/or the second density has a guard band, and the guard bands of first reference signals mapped at different densities may be the same or different in size and/or position.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, within the mapping range of the reference signal, if other non-zero-power reference signals except for the first reference signal are mapped, the frequency domain units that map other zero-power reference signals may or may not have guard bands, and the guard bands of the frequency domain units that map other zero-power reference signals may be the same as or different from the guard band of the frequency domain unit that maps the first reference signal in size.

In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, on an OFDM symbol mapped with the first reference signal (at least one RE on that symbol is configured for the transmission of the first reference signal) within the mapping range of the reference signal, it is possible to transmit only the first reference signal or transmit the first reference signal and other physical signals, such as the second reference signal in the above item A or other physical signals or physical channels except for the reference signal in the above item D.

In the scheme provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the mapping range of the reference signal includes at least one time unit, e.g., one or more OFDM symbols, and the time units mapped with the first reference signal may be some or all of the at least one time unit. The mapping pattern of the reference signal may include mapping patterns on one or more time units. In a case where the first reference signal is mapped on a plurality of time units, the mapping patterns corresponding to the plurality of time units may be the same or different.

The above items A to E will be described below by taking one time unit being one OFDM symbol and one frequency domain unit being one subcarrier as an example.

For the item A, an optional implementation A1 is as follows: in a segment of REs (or subcarriers) consecutive in the frequency domain on at least one OFDM symbol within the mapping range of the reference signal, the first reference signal is mapped on at least one RE at the first density, the second reference signal or no reference signal is mapped on at least some REs (e.g., all REs or some consecutive REs) within the range of remaining REs (or subcarriers) on this symbol except for said segment of consecutive REs, or the second reference signal is mapped on at least some REs within the range of remaining REs (or subcarriers) on this symbol at the third density.

For the item A, an optional implementation A2 is as follows: within the range of a segment of consecutive REs (or subcarriers) in the frequency domain on at least one OFDM symbol within the mapping range of the reference signal, the first reference signal is mapped on at least one RE at the first density, the first reference signal or no reference signal is mapped on at least some REs (or subcarriers) within the range of remaining REs (or subcarriers) on this symbol, or the first reference signal is mapped on at least some REs (e.g., within the range of a segment of consecutive REs (or subcarriers) within the range of remaining REs (or subcarriers) on this symbol at the second density.

The first density and the second density may be different, and the first density and the third density may be the same or different. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the representation form of the mapping density will not be uniquely limited. Optionally, one definition of the density of the reference signal may be a frequency domain interval between two adjacent REs that map the reference signal. For example, if the index is represented by a combination of # and numbers, the frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal is PRB#0 to PRB#3 (four consecutive PRBs having indexes 0 to 3) and the reference signal is mapped on RE#0 of PRB#0 and RE#0 of PRB#2 (the first REs of PRB#0 and PRB#2), the density of the reference signal is two RBs.

Optionally, another definition of the density of the reference signal may be the number of REs used per port for each RB. For example, if the frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal is PRB#0 to PRB#3, the reference signal is mapped on RE#0 of PRB#0 and RE#0 of PRB#2 and the reference signal is transmitted through a single port, the density of the reference signal is 0.5 RE.

The above implementations A1 and A2 provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure differ in that: in the implementation A1, within the mapping range of the reference signal, for the OFDM symbol mapped with the first reference signal, the first reference signal or no reference signal is mapped on all other REs or some REs on this symbol except for the REs that map the first reference signal; while in the implementation A2, the second reference signal or no reference signal is mapped on all other REs or some REs, wherein said some REs here may be consecutive REs in the frequency domain.

Optionally, the second reference signal and the first reference signal may be the same or different in function. Optionally, the at least one second reference signal includes at least one of:

a signal related to phase noise estimation, e.g., PTRS; a signal related to channel estimation, e.g., CSI-RS; a signal related to signal demodulation, e.g., DMRS; and a sensing related signal, e.g., sensing-RS.

In the above optional scheme provided by the present disclosure, the first reference signal may be used for phase noise estimation. The result of phase noise estimation may be more accurate if the frequency domain interval between two adjacent resource units (e.g., REs) that map the first reference signal is larger. Optionally, the first reference signal may be transmitted within the first range of the first resource, for example, being mapped within the first range at the first density; and, on some or all resource units within the range of remaining frequency domain units (REs or subcarriers) of the time unit (e.g., OFDM symbol) mapped with the first reference signal within the first resource range, the first reference signal and/second reference signal (e.g., the reference signal related to channel estimation, the signal related to phase noise estimation, the sensing related signal, etc.) or no reference signal may be mapped. With regard to the scheme of mapping the second reference signal on the above other frequency domain units, multiple signals with different functions may be mapped on the same time unit, thereby improving the resource utilization. With regard to the scheme of mapping the first reference signal on the above other frequency domain units, phase noise estimation may be performed based on the first reference signals mapped at two densities, thereby improving the accuracy of the result of phase noise estimation. Optionally, for at least some REs that do not map the reference signal, said some REs (or subcarriers) may be reused for the transmission of other service channels (e.g., PUSCHs) or used as guard bands.

In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one first reference signal corresponds to a guard band, that is, at least one resource unit in the second resource corresponds to a guard band. The guard band corresponding to one resource unit can be interpreted as that at least one frequency domain unit adjacent on the upper side and/or lower side of the frequency domain unit (e.g., subcarrier) where the resource unit is located maps zero-power reference signals or is no reused in any other physical channels and/or physical signals. The subcarrier on the upper side of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal refers to a subcarrier having a carrier frequency lower than that of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal. And, the subcarrier on the lower side of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal refers to a subcarrier having a carrier frequency higher than that of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal.

Optionally, when guard bands are provided on both the upper side and lower side of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal, a size of the guard band (e.g., the number of occupied REs) on the upper side and a size of the guard band (e.g., the number of occupied REs) on the lower side may be the same or different.

By taking the guard band being a guard band in the frequency domain as an example, for the first frequency domain unit mapped with the first reference signal, the frequency domain resource granularity corresponding to the guard band of the first frequency domain unit may be the same as or different from the frequency domain resource granularity of the frequency domain unit. For example, the first reference signal is mapped on a certain RE on the first OFDM symbol within the mapping range of the reference signal (the second resource includes the RE on the first OFDM on the first resource). In one mode, the guard band of that RE may be at least one RE adjacent to this RE on the symbol, and the resource granularity of the guard band in this mode is RE. In another mode, the guard band of that RE may also be at least one RB adjacent to the RB where that RE is located on the symbol, and the resource granularity of the guard band in this mode is RB. Other REs in the RB where that RE is located on the symbol and at least one adjacent RB may be the guard band of that RE.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first frequency domain unit on one time unit corresponding to a guard band may also be described in such a way that the first resource unit corresponds to a guard band or has a guard band, and the guard band includes at least one resource unit adjacent to the first resource unit, wherein the first resource unit may be the first frequency domain unit on one time unit or a resource unit including a plurality of frequency domain units on one time unit, and the plurality of frequency domain units may or may not include the first frequency unit. As described in the above example, one RE corresponds to a guard band, the first resource unit may be that RE or the RB where that RE is located, and the guard band of the first resource unit may include at least one RE or at least one RB.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure,

within the range of a segment of consecutive REs (or subcarriers) in the frequency domain on at least one OFDM symbol within the mapping range of the reference signal, the first reference signal may be mapped to N REs, that is, the number of REs that map the first reference signal is N, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. Some or all REs of the N REs correspond to guard bands. Optionally, the N REs may have guard bands, wherein, when N is greater than 1, the guard bands in the frequency band corresponding to any two of the REs that map the first reference signal may be the same or different in size. For example, the guard bands corresponding to all REs that map the first reference signal are the same, or may be different or partially the same. The guard bands corresponding to two REs being different include at least one of: the guard bands are different in sizes, and/or the guard bands are different in positions. If the guard bands corresponding to two REs are each six REs, the guard band of one RE includes three REs on the upper side and six REs on the lower side and the guard band of the other RE includes two REs on the upper side and four REs on the lower side, the guard bands corresponding to two REs may also be regarded as being different.

Optionally, the guard band of the first reference signal may be appointed through a protocol. For example, the guard bands of all first reference signals are the same in sizes and/or positions, and the sizes and/or positions of the guard bands are appointed. For example, each of the guard bands of all first reference signals includes a first number of REs on the upper side of the RE where the first reference signal is located and/or a second number of REs on the lower side. The values of the first number and/or the second number may be the same or different, the values of the first number and the second number may be appointed or known by acquiring the related information. For example, the values of the first number and the second number are indicated through a high-layer signaling/parameter. For example, a value is indicated through a certain high-layer parameter, and the first number and/or the second number may be determined based on the value, for example, by looking up a table based on the value. Of course, the first configuration information may also carry the information related to the guard band of the first reference signal, and the size and/or position of the guard band may be determined based on the information. In the above mode, the first node may determine the second resource based on the second configuration information, and then determine the third resource corresponding to the guard band according to the second resource.

In an optional scheme related to the guard band provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the larger the guard bands in the frequency domain corresponding to the REs that map non-zero-power reference signal (including the first reference signal) are (for example, more REs are occupied), the less the interference of the first reference signal is. If the first reference signal is a signal used for phase noise estimation, the result of phase noise estimation will be more accurate. In a case where the first reference signal is mapped to a plurality of REs on the same OFDM symbol, it can also be realized, based on the occupancy of system resources or the RE resources occupied by the first reference signal, that the guard bands corresponding to different REs are the same or different, thereby realizing the more flexible resource configuration.

For example, if the mapping range of the reference signal is four consecutive RBs PRB#0 to PRB#3 on one OFDM symbol, the reference signal is mapped on RE#0 of PRB#0 and RE#0 of PRB#2 and one RB includes 12 REs, RE#1 of PRB#0 (the RE adjacent to RE#0 of PRB#0), RE#11 of PRB#1 (the RE adjacent to RE#0 of PRB#2) and RE#1 of PRB#2 (the RE adjacent to RE#0 of PRB#2) map zero-power reference signals, or RE#1 of PRB#0, RE#11 of PRB#1 and RE#1 of PRB#2 are not reused for any other physical signals/physical channels. In this example, the guard band of RE#0 of PRB#0 is different from the guard band of RE#0 of PRB#2 in size.

For the above item D, there should be at least one frequency domain unit as a guard band between two frequency domain units mapped with the first reference signal on one OFDM symbol. That is, if the first reference signal occupies two REs on one OFDM symbol, at least one RE between the two REs on the symbol cannot transmit any other symbols or can only map zero-power reference signals, thereby reducing the interference between signals and better ensuring the signal transmission effect.

For the item E, the first reference signal and non-first reference signals (e.g., PUSCHs or PDSCHs or physical shared channels in the sidelink communication, etc.) may be transmitted simultaneously on the frequency domain resources on the same OFDM symbol, thereby improving the resource utilization.

Optionally, for the above item E, the third frequency domain units mapped with other reference signals except for the first reference signal are frequency domain units other than fourth frequency domain units, and the fourth frequency domain units are frequency domain units between the first frequency domain units. In other words, the REs between the REs mapped with the first reference signal on the same OFDM symbol cannot be used for the transmission of other physical signals, thereby reducing the interference.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a new reference signal transmission scheme is proposed. With regard to different application requirements, the first reference signal may be reference signals with different functions. Optionally, the first reference signal may be a reference signal used for phase noise estimation. Based on the new reference signal transmission scheme provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, one or more of phase noise estimation, phase noise compensation and resource utilization improvement can be realized, and the requirements can be better satisfied. Optionally, the first node transmits the first reference signal by performing the scheme provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, and a receive node of the first reference signal may estimate phase noise according to the received signal of the first reference signal to obtain an estimated value of phase noise. Optionally, the estimated value of phase noise may be used to perform phase noise related compensation on the received signal. In a case of including the second reference signal or other physical signals, the information related to the second reference signal or other physical signals/physical signals (e.g., information related to the resources occupied by the second reference signal or other physical signals/physical channels) may be obtained through other configuration information by a transmit node. Or, it is also possible that the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information includes the information. Or, the information related to the second reference signal or other physical signals/physical signals may be appointed. For example, the first reference signal is mapped on a plurality of consecutive REs on at least one OFDM symbol within the mapping range of the reference signal at the first density, and the second reference signal is mapped on other REs on the symbol at the second density.

The specific signal name or type of the first reference signal will not be limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. The first reference signal may be the existing reference signal in the communication system, or a reference signal newly defined in the future. The scheme provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below by taking the first reference signal being a reference signal used for phase noise estimation (specifically Type II PTRS) as an example and taking several possible mapping patterns of the reference signal as examples. In these examples, the description will be given by taking the first reference signal being an uplink reference signal and the physical channel being a PUSCH as an example.

It is assumed that the number of symbols occupied by the PUSCH resource is N_symbol, the number of RBs is N_RB, the mapping range of the non-zero-power Type II PTRS (the first reference signal) is one or more symbols in the PUSCH resource and one or more REs/RBs/RBGs in the PUSCH resource, and the non-zero-power Type II PTRS may be scatteredly mapped on some subcarriers where the PUSCH is located. The mapping rule for the non-zero-power Type II PTRS may be that two adjacent REs that map non-zero-power Type II PTRS need to be spaced by at least one RE for mapping zero-power PTRS. The mapping rule for the non-zero-power Type II PTRS may also be that two adjacent REs that map non-zero-power Type II PTRS need to be spaced by at least one RE which is not reused for any other physical channels and/or physical signals. In this example, the mapping range of the reference signal is the resource range of the physical channel, and the resource range of the first reference signal may be some resources within the resource range of the reference channel. In this example, optionally, the first configuration information may include first information related to the PUSCH resource, and the first node may know resources of the PUSCH based on the first information. The second configuration information includes second information related to the second resource, and the first node may determine, based on the second configuration information, that the first reference signal is mapped on which resource in the PUSCH resource, i.e., the resource unit in the PUSCH resource actually occupied by the second reference signal.

As an example, FIG. 5a illustrates one possible mapping pattern of the reference signal, wherein the non-zero-power Type II PTRS (the first reference signal) is mapped on one side of the spectrum resource occupied by the PUSCH, the number of OFDM symbols included in the resource range occupied by the PUSCH (the resources assigned to the PUSCH) is 3, and the number of RBs is N_RB. The non-zero-power Type II PTRS occupies one OFDM symbol, the number of occupied RBs is 3, and the number of occupied REs is 36, for example, the 1^st RE to the 36^th RE shown in FIG. 5a. That is, the range of the resources assigned to the first reference signal includes 3 RBs on one symbol in the time domain. In this example, the mapping range of the reference signal is the resource range of the PUSCH. It is assumed that the non-zero-power Type II PTRS is mapped on the 1^st, 13^th and 25^th REs within the resource range of the first reference signal. The REs except for the 1^st, 13^th and 25^th REs, in the 1^st to 36^th REs, map zero-power PTRSs, as shown in FIG. 5a. Or, the REs except for the 1^st, 13^th and 25^th REs, in the 1^st to 36^th REs, are not reused for any other physical channels and/or physical signals. As other optional schemes, the non-zero-power Type II PTRS may be mapped on the 1^st RE in the 1^st RE to the 36^th RE. Optionally, the non-zero-power Type II PTRS may be mapped on the 1^st and 13^th REs in the 1^st RE to the 36^th RE.

Optionally, the REs that do not map the non-zero-power Type II PTRS (the first reference signal) may map PUSCHs, and may also map non-zero-power reference signals. As shown in FIG. 5b, the non-zero-power Type II PTRS is mapped on the 1^st, 13^th and 25^th REs, the REs on other symbols except for the symbol corresponding to the three REs may map PUSCHs, and other REs except for the three REs on the symbol corresponding to the three REs may map zero-power reference signals (e.g., ZP-PTRSs, i.e., zero-power PTRSs or DMRSs) and/or the non-zero-power Type II PTRS (the first reference signal). In the example of FIG. 5b, the resource range occupied by the first reference signal is four RBs on one symbol, specifically including first three RPs and the last RB in the resource (first resource) of the PUSCH. The mapping density of the first reference signal within the first range (first three RBs on the symbol) is the first density, and the first reference signal is mapped on all REs within the second range (the last RB on the symbol). It should be understood that the first reference signal is mapped on the last RB on the symbol at the second density within the second range.

Optionally, on the 1^st RE to the 36^th RE, the non-zero-power Type II PTRS as the first reference signal may also be mapped non-uniformly. For example, the frequency domain interval between the RE where the 1^st first reference signal is located and the RE where the 2^nd first reference signal is located is not equal to the frequency domain interval between the RE where the 2^nd first reference signal is located and the RE where the 3^rd first reference signal is located. As shown in FIG. 5c, the 1^st first reference signal is mapped on the 1^st RE, the 2^nd first reference signal is mapped on the 13^th RE, and the 3^rd first reference signal is mapped on the 27^th RE.

FIG. 6a illustrates another possible mapping pattern of the reference signal according to the present disclosure, wherein the non-zero-power Type II PTRS (the first reference signal) is located at the set position of (e.g., in the middle of) the spectrum resource occupied by the PUSCH. It is assumed that the number of RBs occupied by the non-zero-power Type II PTRS is 2 and the number of occupied REs is 24. In this example, the 24 REs are the 13^th RE to the 36^th RE on one OFDM symbol, and the non-zero-power Type II PTRS is mapped on the 25^th RE. The REs except for the 25^th RE, in the 13^th RE to the 36^th RE map zero-power PTRSs, or the REs except for the 25^th RE, in the 13^th RE to the 36^th RE cannot be reused in any other physical channels and/or physical signals, e.g., PUSCHs in FIG. 6a.

Optionally, the number of the REs that map the non-zero-power Type II PTRS (the first reference signal) may be greater than 1. For example, the non-zero-power Type II PTRS may be mapped on the 15^th and 25^th REs. The REs in the RBs that do not map the first reference signal may map PUSCHs, or may map other non-zero-power reference signals (e.g., DMRSs or non-zero-power PTRSs). As shown in FIG. 6b, other REs except for the 24 REs on the symbol corresponding to the 13^th RE to the 36^th RE map non-zero-power Type II PTRSs. Optionally, on the 13^th RE to the 36^th RE, the first reference signal may also be mapped non-uniformly. For example, the guard band on the upper side of the frequency domain of the RE where the 1^st first reference signal is located is set as two REs, and the guard band on the lower side of the frequency domain of the RE where the 2^nd reference signal is located is set as nine REs, as shown in FIG. 6c.

It is to be noted that the above FIGS. 5a to 5c and FIGS. 6a and 6c show the signal mapping patterns on a single symbol. For example, the first reference signal is used for phase noise estimation, and the signal mapping pattern on the symbol supports the phase noise estimation on the symbol at this time. In actual transmission, the mapping pattern of the reference signal may also refer to mapping patterns on a plurality of symbols. Optionally, the mapping pattern of the reference signal may be mapping patterns on one or more symbols in the time domain of the mapping range of the reference signal, and the mapping patterns on a plurality of symbols may be the same or different. For example, FIG. 7 illustrates signal mapping patterns on a plurality of symbols, and the signal mapping patterns on the plurality of symbols may be the same.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, within the mapping range of the reference signal, for one or more OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signal, at least one RE on each OFDM symbol maps the first reference signal, wherein the first reference signal may be mapped uniformly or non-uniformly. For example, at least one first reference signal may be uniformly mapped on a segment of consecutive REs (which may be one RB or a plurality of consecutive RBs) on the symbol at the first density, and at least some REs in other REs may not map the reference signal or may map the second reference signal at the third density. Other REs except for the REs that map the first reference signal in a segment of consecutive REs mapped with the first reference signal may map zero-power reference signals or may not be reused in other physical signals or physical channels, or some REs in said other REs may be used to map physical signals except for the reference signal, e.g., PUSCHs/PDSCHs, etc. On other OFDM symbols mapped with the first reference signal, other physical signals or physical channels may be mapped.

Optionally, the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information includes information related to at least one of:

the type of the first reference signal; the bitmap of the mapping pattern, the bitmap being related to resources occupied by the reference signal; the mapping range of the reference signal; the positions of resources occupied by the first reference signal; the amount of resources occupied by the first reference signal; the mapping density of the first reference signal; the size and/or position of the guard band; the number of the first reference signal; the first offset of the first reference signal, the first offset being the offset of the frequency domain unit mapped with the first reference signal in the frequency domain resource where the frequency domain unit is located; and, the power scaling value of the first reference signal.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first node may determine the mapping image of the reference signal according to the information related to one or more of the above information in the second configuration information. For example, the first frequency domain range corresponding to the first reference signal, the first density, the frequency domain starting position, the number, the size and/or position of the guard band and other information may be determined. For each piece of information related to the above at least one item, the information may be included in the second configuration information, or other information that can determine the information may be included in the configuration information. That is, the second configuration information may include an explicit or implicit indication of the above at least one item. In other words, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, one or more of information used for determining the second resource may be explicitly or implicitly indicated.

In an optional implementation, the first node may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the information related to the type of the first reference signal and/or the information related to the bitmap of the mapping pattern of the reference signal in the configuration information (the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information), wherein the mapping pattern of the reference signal at least includes the mapping pattern of the first reference signal. The first node may know the type of the reference signal and/or the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern based on the configuration information, and then determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the type of the reference signal and/or the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern. Optionally, the first node may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal according to the type of the reference signal and/or the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern and a correspondence/mapping relationship. The correspondence/mapping relationship includes: a correspondence between at least one piece of information and the mapping pattern of the reference signal corresponding to each piece of information, wherein each piece of information includes at least one of the type of the reference signal and the bitmap of the mapping pattern of the reference signal.

The way of obtaining the correspondence by the first node will not be limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure, and the form of the correspondence will also not be limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the correspondence may include, but not limited to, a form of table. Upon obtaining the configuration information, the first node may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal by looking up the table based on the information related to the type of the reference signal and/or the information related to the bitmap of the mapping pattern.

Optionally, the correspondence may be preset or appointed. The presetting may include a communication protocol that both the transmit node and the receive node agree to use, e.g., the 3GPP protocol or the like. The correspondence may also be configured through a physical layer signaling or high-layer signaling (including system information or high-layer signaling specific to the UE). The correspondence includes a correspondence between at least one reference signal type and a corresponding mapping pattern of the reference signal.

In one possible implementation, the first node (e.g., UE) may obtain the type of the first reference signal based on the second configuration information and then determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the type of the first reference signal. For example, the correspondence between the type of the reference signal and the mapping pattern of the reference signal is preset, and the first node may directly determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the type of the reference signal.

In this way, the first reference signal may include at least two types of reference signals, and different types have corresponding mapping patterns. The first node may know the type of the currently used first reference signal according to the information related to the type of the first reference signal in the second configuration information, and then may determine the mapping pattern of the current first reference signal according to the type and the correspondence between signal types and mapping patterns. In this way, the mapping pattern of the reference signal may be implicitly indicated by configuring the type of the first reference signal, and the first node determines the second resource and the third resource based on the type of the first reference signal.

An example of the correspondence is as follows: the mapping pattern of the reference signal corresponding to "reference signal type I" is preset or appointed as occupying virtual resource block (VRB) #0 and VRB#1, mapping non-zero-power reference signals on RE#0 of VRB#0 and mapping zero-power reference signals on other REs of VRB#0 and VRB#1, and/or the mapping pattern of the reference signal corresponding to "reference signal type II" is preset as occupying VRB#0, mapping non-zero-power reference signals on RE#0 of VRB#0 and mapping zero-power reference signals on other REs of VRB#0. Alternatively, the first node may also determine the correspondence between the first reference signal type and the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the high-layer signaling (e.g., system information or RRC signaling). For example, the correspondence between the "reference signal type I" and/or "reference signal type II" and the mapping pattern is defined in the RRC signaling. If the first node obtains the type of the reference signal (e.g., reference signal type I or reference signal type II) based on the second configuration information, the mapping pattern of the reference signal may be determined based on the determined reference signal type and the preset correspondence.

For example, if the correspondence is a table including a plurality of rows and each row includes the identifier of one signal type (e.g., the name or other identifiers of the reference signal) and the mapping pattern of the reference signal corresponding to the type, the mapping pattern of the reference signal may be determined by looking up the table based on the information related to the type of the first reference signal (e.g., the name or other identifiers of the reference signal) in the second configuration information.

In one possible implementation, the first node (e.g., UE) may obtain a bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern based on the second configuration information and then determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the bitmap. The bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern may be 01 sequence (binary sequence/bitmap) having a length equal to the number of symbols occupied by the resource (e.g., PUSCH resource) of the physical channel, and/or 01 sequence having a length equal to the number of frequency domain units occupied by the PUSCH resource. Optionally, the frequency domain units may be one of RBs/REs/PRBs/CRBs/VRBs/RBGs.

The bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern may be related to the frequency domain mapping pattern and/or time domain mapping pattern of the first reference signal. Optionally, the bitmap may indicate the frequency domain mapping pattern. For example, the bitmap may indicate that the first reference signal is mapped to which RB/PRB/CRB/VRB/RBG in the frequency domain, and the RE used for mapping the zero-power reference signal and/or non-zero-power reference signal in the RB/PRB/CRB/VRB/RBG is determined by the related indication in one or more of the second configuration information, the predefinition, the high-layer signaling and the physical layer signaling.

For example, if the number of symbols occupied by the PUSCH resource is 4, the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern may include a binary sequence having 4 elements. For example, if the binary sequence is 0100, it indicates that the first reference signal is mapped on the second symbol in the four symbols occupied by the PUSCH resource. For another example, if the number of VRBs occupied by the PUSCH is 10 and it is assumed that bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern may be 1100000000, the bitmap indicates that the first reference signal is mapped in the range of the first VRB and the second VRB in the 10 VRBs occupied by the PUSCH resource. Optionally, the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern may be a 12-bit 01 sequence, and the sequence may be used to indicate mapping patterns of the non-zero-power reference signal and/or zero-power reference signal on the resource that maps the reference signal. For example, the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern may also be 100000000000 which is used to indicate the mapping pattern of each RB on the resource that maps the reference signal, that is, the non-zero-power reference signal is mapped on the first RE of each RB.

In an optional implementation, the first node may obtain, based on the first configuration information, the information related to the mapping range of the reference signal, e.g., a parameter for indicating the mapping range of the reference signal, and the first node may determine the mapping range of the reference signal based on the parameter.

Based on the mapping range of the reference signal, the mapping pattern of the reference signal is determined, including determining the second resource and the third resource.

In other words, the mapping range of the reference signal may be determined based on the first configuration information, and the configuration information includes information for explicitly or implicitly indicating the mapping range of the reference signal. Optionally, different mapping ranges of the reference signal may correspond to different mapping patterns, and the first node may determine the mapping patter of the current reference signal based on the mapping range of the reference signal determined according to the first configuration information. In this optional scheme, the first configuration information and the second configuration information may be the same configuration information, the configuration information includes the information related to the mapping range of the reference signal, and the first node may determine, according to the information related to the mapping range of the reference signal, the second resource mapped with the first reference signal and the third resource related to the second resource.

In this optional scheme, the mapping range of the reference signal may be the range of resources assigned for the physical channel or the range of resources assigned for the reference signal, i.e., the resource range of resources occupied by the reference signal or the resources assigned for the reference signal by the system. For example, if the reference signal is mapped on one or more REs in a time domain resource grid, the one or more REs are the mapping range of the reference signal, or at least one RB where the one or more REs are located is the mapping range of the reference signal.

Optionally, the resources corresponding to the mapping range of the reference signal may be at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, spatial domain resources and code domain resources. The first configuration information may include a parameter related to the at least one item, wherein the specific implementation of the related parameter will not be limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Optionally, the parameter for indicating the frequency domain resources corresponding to the mapping range of the reference signal may include at least one of: RE index (an index of REs), RB index, RBG index, VRB index, PRB index, CRB index, the number of REs, the number of RBs, the number of RBGs, the number of VRBs, the number of PRBs and the number of CRBs. One or more of the RE index, RB index, RBG index, VRB index, PRB index and CRB index may be used to indicate the mapping starting position of the first reference signal, and one or more of the number of REs, the number of RBs, the number of RBGs, the number of VRBs, the number of PRBs and the number of CRBs may be used to indicate the size of frequency domain resources occupied by the mapping range of the reference signal.

Optionally, the parameter for indicating the time domain resources corresponding to the mapping range of the reference signal may include at least one of: frame index, half-frame index, slot index, symbol index, sampling point index, the number of frames, the number of half-frames, the number of slots, the number of symbols and the number of sampling points, wherein one or more of the frame index, half-frame index, slot index, symbol index and sampling point index may be used to indicate the mapping starting position of the reference signal, and one or more of the number of frames, the number of half-frames, the number of slots, the number of symbols and the number of sampling points may be used to indicate the size of time domain resources occupied by reference signal mapping.

Optionally, the parameter for indicating the spatial domain resources corresponding to the mapping range of the reference signal may include at least one of: the quasi co-location relationship between the reference signal and other physical signals/physical channels, the port number occupied by the reference signal, the number of ports occupied by the reference signal, transmission times of one or more beams corresponding to the reference signal, indexes of one or more beams corresponding to the reference signal, indexes of SSB (Synchronization Signal and PBCH block) or Random Access Occasion (RACH occasion) or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource corresponding to one or more beams of the reference signal.

Optionally, the parameter for indicating the code domain resources corresponding to the mapping range of the reference signal may include at least one of: a spreading factor corresponding to the reference signal, a time domain orthogonal cover code, a frequency domain orthogonal cover code, a method for generating a spreading sequence, one or more random numbers corresponding to the spreading sequence, and a frequency hopping rule. When a pseudorandom sequence is used as the spreading sequence, the parameter may further include: a generation scheme of the pseudorandom sequence and an initialization parameter of the pseudorandom sequence. Furthermore, the spreading includes at least one of direct sequence spreading, frequency hopping spreading, time hopping spreading and chirp modulation spreading.

As an example, by taking the first node being a UE and the mapping range of the reference signal being a frequency domain mapping range as an example, for example, the UE obtains a parameter N ₁ related to the frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal based on the first configuration information. Different values of N ₁ correspond to different frequency domain mapping ranges. For example, N ₁=0 indicates that the reference signal is mapped from the upper side of the spectrum, and N ₁=1 indicates that the reference signal is mapped from the lower side of the spectrum. As a specific example, the UE obtains the number of VRBs occupied by the reference signal according to the second configuration information or the predefinition or other high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling. For example, it is predefined that the reference signal occupies two VRBs. Within a certain frequency domain range (e.g., the range of frequency domain resources assigned to the physical channel), for example, ten consecutive VRBs VRB#0 to VRB#9, N ₁=0 indicates that VRB#0 and VRB#1 are used as the mapping range of the reference signal, and N ₁=1 indicates that VRB#8 and VRB#9 are used as the mapping range of the reference signal.

Optionally, the parameter N ₁ may be determined by channel state information. For example, when the channel state of VRB#0 is better than that of VRB#9, the value of N ₁ may be 0, and when the channel state of VRB#0 is worse than that of VRB#9, the value of N ₁ may be 1. This design has the following beneficial effect: the first reference signal can be mapped on the frequency domain resource with a better channel state, so that this way can obtain a more accurate estimated value of phase noise when the first reference signal is used for phase noise estimation.

By taking the mapping range of the reference signal including a time domain mapping range and a frequency domain mapping range as an example, the UE may obtain, based on the first configuration information, the OFDM symbol index/slot index occupied by the reference signal, the number of OFDM symbols/slots and the starting RB index/TBG index occupied by the reference signal and the number of RBs/RBGs, and then obtain the time domain mapping range and frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal. For example, if the UE may obtain, based on the first configuration information, that the index of the starting OFDM symbol of the reference signal is symbol#3, the number of OFDM symbols is 4, the occupied starting RB is RB#0 and the number of occupied RBs is 4, the UE obtains, based on the above information, that the time domain mapping range and frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal are RB#0 to RB#3 in symbol#3 to symbol#6. Optionally, when the mapping range of the physical channel corresponding to the reference signal is known, the UE may obtain the starting RB index/RBG index occupied by the reference signal and the number of occupied RBs/RBGs based on the first configuration information, and then obtain the time domain mapping range and frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal. For example, if the UE obtains, based on the first configuration information, that the index of the starting OFDM symbol occupied by the physical channel is symbol#3, the number of OFDM symbols is 4, the starting RB occupied by the reference signal is RB#0 and the number of occupied RBs is 4, the UE obtains, based on the above information, that the time domain mapping range and frequency domain mapping range of the reference signal are RB#0 to RB#3 in symbol#3 to symbol#6.

In one optional implementation, the UE may obtain, based on the first configuration information, at least one of RE index, RB index, RBG index, VRB index, PRB index and CRB index for indicating the mapping starting position of the reference signal. For example, the first configuration information includes at least one of RE index, RB index, RBG index, VRB index, PRB index and CRB index, and the UE may obtain the mapping starting position of the reference signal based on one or more of the above indexes. As a specific example, if the PRB index parameter N ₂ for indicating the mapping starting position is N ₂=01, it indicates that the reference signal is mapped starting from VRB#10. The UE obtains the number of VRBs occupied by the reference signal according to the first configuration information or the second configuration information or predefinition or other high-layer signaling or physical signaling. For example, if it is predefined that the reference signal occupies two VRBs, the mapping range of the reference signal is VRB#10 and VRB#11.

In one possible implementation, the UE may obtain, based on the first configuration information, at least one of the number of REs, the number of RBs, the number of RBGs, the number of VRBs, the number of PRBs and the number of CRBs for indicating the size of the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal. For example, the first configuration information includes at least one of the number of REs, the number of RBs, the number of RBGs, the number of VRBs, the number of PRBs and the number of CRBs, and the UE obtains the size of the frequency domain resource of the reference signal based on one or more of the above numbers. As a specific example, if the parameter N ₂' of the number of CRBs for indicating the mapping starting position of the reference signal is N ₂'=4, it indicates that the size of the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal is 4 VRBs. The UE obtains the starting or ending VRB index of the reference signal according to the first configuration information or second configuration information or predefinition or other high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling. For example, if it is predefined that the starting VRB index is VRB#5, the mapping range of the first reference signal is VRB#5, VRB#6, VRB#7 and VRB#8.

In one possible implementation, the UE obtains a resource indication value (RIV) based on the first configuration information, and obtains the mapping starting position of the reference signal and the size of the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal based on the RIV value.

In an example, the RIV may be defined as follows:

where is the size of the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal and cannot exceed , is the size (e.g., the number of occupied RBs) of the current BWP (actived BWP), and is the index of the starting RB occupied by the reference signal. According to the above formula, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the RIV value and a group of the mapping starting position of the reference signal and the size of the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal. Thus, the first node may determine the mapping starting position of the reference signal and the size of the occupied frequency domain resource by obtaining the RIV value.

In one possible implementation, the UE determines the time domain and/or frequency domain resources occupied by the reference signal based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS). For example, a parameter (a threshold corresponding to the MSC) (where i=1,2,3) is determined based on the first configuration information; and, the time domain resource assignment of the reference signal is determined based on the parameter and the value of the current scheduled MCS.

A possible way of determining the number of time domain symbols occupied by the reference signal is as shown in Table 1 below. N1, N2 and N3 may be non-zero positive integers. Optionally, N1, N2 and N3 may be powers of 2. Optionally, N3>N2>N1. Optionally, N1 may be 1, N2 may be 2, and N3 may be 4.

Scheduled MCS	The number of time domain symbols occupied by the reference signal
IMCS < rs-MCS₁	No reference signal is scheduled
rs-MCS₁≤IMCS < rs-MCS₂	N1
rs-MCS₂≤IMCS < rs-MCS₃	N2
rs-MCS₃≤IMCS	N3

For another example, the UE may determine the parameter (where i=1,2,3) based on the first configuration information, and determine the frequency domain resource assignment of the reference signal based on the parameter and the value of the current scheduled MCS. A possible way of determining the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal is as shown in Table 2 below. N1, N2 and N3 may be non-zero positive integers. Optionally, N1, N2 and N3 may be powers of 2. Optionally, N3>N2>N1. Optionally, N1 may be 4, N2 may be 2, and N3 may be 1.

Scheduled MCS	The number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal
IMCS < rs-MCS₁	No reference signal is scheduled
rs-MCS₁≤IMCS < rs-MCS₂	N1
rs-MCS₂≤IMCS < rs-MCS₃	N2
rs-MCS₃≤IMCS	N3

In one possible implementation, the UE may determine the time domain and/or frequency domain resources occupied by the reference signal based on the bandwidth. For example, a threshold parameter N_RB,i (where i=0,1) related to the bandwidth is determined based on the first configuration information; and, the time domain resource assignment of the reference signal may be determined based on the parameter N_RB,i and the current scheduled bandwidth parameter N_RB. A possible way of determining the number of time domain symbols occupied by the reference signal is as shown in Table 3 below. N1 and N2 may be non-zero positive integers. Optionally, N1and N2 may be powers of 2. Optionally, N2>N1. Optionally, N1 may be 1, and N2 may be 2.

Scheduled bandwidth	The number of time domain symbols occupied by the reference signal
N_RB< N_RB,0	No reference signal is scheduled
N_RB,0≤N_RB< N_RB,1	N1
N_RB,1≤N_RB	N2

For another example, the threshold parameter N_RB,i (where i=0,1) is determined based on the first configuration information, and the frequency domain resource assignment of the reference signal is determined based on the parameter N_RB,i and the current scheduled bandwidth parameter N_RB. A possible way of determining the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal is as shown in the following table. N1 and N2 may be non-zero positive integers. Further, N1 and N2 may be powers of 2. In one preferred scheme, N2>N1. In another preferred scheme, N1 may be 2, and N2 may be 4. And in still another preferred scheme, N1 may be 1, and N2 may be 2.

Scheduled bandwidth	The number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal
N_RB< N_RB,0	No reference signal is scheduled
N_RB,0≤N_RB< N_RB,1	N1
N_RB,1≤N_RB	N2

As a possible scheme, the UE may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the mapping densities (the first density and/or the second density and/or the third density) of the reference signal. Optionally, the mapping densities of the reference signal may be determined based on the parameter related to the density of the reference signal in the second configuration information.

An implementation related to the density is given below by taking the density being defined as the frequency domain interval between two adjacent REs that map the reference signal as an example. In the embodiment proposed by the present disclosure, the mapping density and the density have the same physical meaning. Optionally, by taking the first node being a UE as an example, the UE may determine the mapping density of the reference signal based on the second configuration information and then determine the mapping pattern based on the mapping density, wherein the mapping density includes the first density of the first reference signal. Optionally, the mapping density may further include the second density of the first reference signal and the third density of the second reference signal. The mapping density is at least one of a time domain mapping density and a frequency domain mapping density. The time domain mapping density represents a difference between the indexes of two adjacent symbols that map the reference signal, and the frequency domain mapping density represents a difference between the indexes of two adjacent REs that map the reference signal or a difference between the indexes of RBs where two adjacent REs that map the reference signal is located.

Optionally, the UE may obtain the information related to the mapping density based on the second configuration information. For example, the second configuration information includes a parameter for indicating the time domain and/or frequency domain mapping densities. The first node may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the parameter related to the mapping densities. The UE may determine time domain/frequency domain mapping density of the reference signal based on a threshold value of the scheduled MCS or the parameter value of the scheduled bandwidth.

For example, a threshold parameter (where i=1,2,3) is determined based on the second configuration information, and the time domain mapping density of the reference signal is determined based on the threshold parameter and the value of the current scheduled MCS. A possible way of determining the time domain mapping density of the reference signal is as shown in Table 5 below. N1, N2 and N3 may be non-zero positive integers. Optionally, N1, N2 and N3 may be powers of 2. Optionally, N3>N2>N1. Optionally, N1 may be 4, N2 may be 2, and N3 may be 1. Optionally, the mapping density in this example is the first density.

Scheduled MCS	Time domain mapping density of the reference signal
IMCS < rs-MCS₁	No reference signal is scheduled
rs-MCS₁≤IMCS < rs-MCS₂	N1
rs-MCS₂≤IMCS < rs-MCS₃	N2
rs-MCS₃≤IMCS	N3

For another example, the UE may determine a threshold parameter N_RB,i (where i=0,1) based on the second configuration information, and then determine the frequency domain mapping density of the reference signal based on the threshold parameter N_RB,i and the value N_RB of the current scheduled bandwidth. A possible way of determining the frequency domain mapping density of the reference signal is as shown in the following table. N1 and N2 may be non-zero positive integers. Optionally, N1 and N2 may be powers of 2. Optionally, N2>N1. Optionally, N1 may be 2, and N2 may be 4. Optionally, N1 may be 1, and N2 may be 2. Optionally, the mapping density in this example is the first density.

Scheduled bandwidth	Frequency domain mapping density of the reference signal
N_RB< N_RB,0	No reference signal is scheduled
N_RB,0≤N_RB< N_RB,1	N1
N_RB,1≤N_RB	N2

It is to be noted that the way of determining the mapping density of the reference signal in the above examples can be applied to the first density, or can be applied to the second density or the third density. For example, at least one of the first density, the second density and the third density may be determined by looking up the table based on the parameter N_RB,i and the parameter N_RB of the current scheduled bandwidth.

In one possible implementation, the first node may obtain the mapping range (time domain mapping range and/or frequency domain mapping range) and the mapping density (the first density and/or the second density) of the reference signal based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information. By taking the frequency domain mapping range and the first density as an example, the first node may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the frequency domain mapping range and the first density. For example, if the number N_RS,symbol of time domain symbols occupied by the first reference signal (the number of symbols included in the mapping range of the reference signal) is 8, the time domain mapping density L_RS of the first reference signal is 2, the number N_RS,RB of frequency domain RBs occupied by the first reference signal (the number of RBs included in the mapping range of the reference signal) is 4 and the frequency domain mapping density K_RS of the first reference signal is 2, the first reference signal is mapped on an RE with an index of (l,k), where l means that the OFDM symbol with an index of l is in the OFDM symbol assigned for reference signal transmission, and the RE with an index of k is located in the spectrum resource assigned for reference signal transmission.

An optional method of determining l may be that l=iL_RS, where i=0,1,2,..., and l<N_RS,symbol (the number of time domain symbols included in the time domain resource range of the reference signal).

Another optional method of determining l may be that l=l_ref+iL_RS, where i=0,1,2,..., l<N_RS,symbol, l_ref may be an offset determined based on the second configuration information or preset or high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling, and the value of l_ref may be a positive integer between 1 and N_RS,symbol-1. Or, l=l_ref+iL_RS, where i=0,1,2,..., l<N_RS,symbol, and the value of l_ref may be a positive integer between 0 and N_RS,symbol-1.

An optional method of determining k may be as follows. If the RBs assigned to the reference signal are sorted from 0 to N_RS,RB-1, the REs assigned to the reference signal starts from the lowest frequency, with the indexes from 0 to . A method of determining the indexes of REs that map non-zero-power reference signals (e.g., the first reference signal) may be that , where i=0,1,2,..., and is the number of REs on each RB, for example, =12. Or, , where i=0,1,2,..., may be an offset determined based on the second configuration information or preset or high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling and represents the offset of the first RE that maps the first reference signal in the RB assigned to the reference signal (e.g., the resource assigned to the PUSCH), and the value of may be a positive integer between 1 and . Or, , where the value of may be a positive integer between 0 and .

As one possible implementation, the UE may determine at least one of the guard band of the first reference signal and the number of the first reference signal, and then determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on at least one of a size of the guard band of the first reference signal and the number of the first reference signal. The guard band of the first reference signal is a guard band of the resource unit mapped with the first reference signal.

Optionally, a size of the guard band may be defined as the number of RBs between the RB where the reference signal is located and an adjacent RB where the reference signal is located. For example, if the index of the RB where the first reference signal is located is RB#0 and the index of the adjacent RB where the first reference signal is located is RB#3, the size of the guard band is two RBs. Specifically, the guard band is RB#1 and RB#2. Optionally, the size of the guard band may be defined as a difference of the indexes of RBs between the RB where the reference signal is located and an adjacent RB where the reference signal is located. For example, if the index of the RB where the first reference signal is located is RB#0 and the index of the adjacent RB where the first reference signal is located is RB#3, the size of the guard band is three RBs. Specifically, the guard band includes RB#0, RB#1 and RB#2. The RB in the above description may also be replaced with an RE or RBG.

As a specific example, for example, the guard band of the first reference signal is RBs having a frequency higher than that of the RB where the first reference signal is located, and the first reference signal is mapped on the first RE on the located RB. If it is obtained based on the second configuration information that the size of the guard band of the reference signal is two RBs and it is obtained based on the second configuration information that the number of the first reference signal is 2, the RBs where the first reference signal is located may be RB#0 and RB#2, and zero-power reference signals may be mapped on RB#1 and RB#3. RB#0 and RB#1 are the guard band of the first reference signal, RB#2 and RB#3 are the guard band of the second reference signal, and the two first reference signals may be mapped on RE#1 of RB#0 and RE#0 of RB#0, respectively.

Optionally, the size (e.g., two RBs) of the guard band of the reference signal is obtained based on the second configuration information, and the number (e.g., 2) of the first reference signal is determined based on the protocol appointment or high-layer signaling. Optionally, the size (e.g., two RBs) of the guard band of the reference signal is obtained based on the protocol appointment or high-layer signaling, and the number (e.g., 2) of the first reference signal is determined based on the second configuration information.

Optionally, the UE may obtain the number of REs (e.g., first frequency domain range) occupied by the first reference signal in the frequency domain and then determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the number of REs. As a specific example, if the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal is 4 and the number of REs occupied by the non-zero-power reference signal in the frequency domain is 2, the UE may uniformly assign the two REs in four RBs, or may assign the two REs based on the channel state information on different REs/RBs, that is, the first reference signal may be uniformly or non-uniformly mapped in a consecutive frequency resource range. For example, the first reference signal is mapped on the first REs of the first and third RBs. For another example, the first reference signal is mapped on the first REs of the first and fourth RBs.

As another specific example, if the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal is 10 and the number of REs occupied by the first reference signal in the frequency domain is 5, the UE may uniformly assign the five REs in 10 RBs, or may assign the two REs based on the channel state information on different REs/RBs. For example, the first reference signal is mapped on the first REs of the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth RBs. For another example, the first reference signal is mapped on the first REs of the first, fourth, fifth, eighth and tenth RBs. For another example, the first reference signal is mapped on the RE of the RB, the RE of the RB, the RE of the RB, the RE of the RB and the RE of the RB, where 1≤≤10 (the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the reference signal is 10; for example, the number of RBs assigned to the PUSCH is 10), and is a positive integer; is a positive integer between 1 and 12 (the number of REs included in one RB), and its value may include 1 and 12; and, i is a positive integer between 1 and 5 (the number of REs occupied by the first reference signal in the frequency domain is 5), and its value may include 1 and 5. The way of determining according to by the UE may be a table predefined through the protocol, or may be a formula. A possible table of the relationship between and is shown as below:

i
1	1	1
2	2	5
3	3	2
4	4	6
5	5	3
...	...	...

Optionally, may also be determined based on the channel state information before one or more time units (e.g., slots). For example, is determined based on the result of channel estimation such as the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) or positioning reference signal (PRS) of the slot previous to the slot where the reference signal is located. For example, in the first RB, if the RE with the best channel state is the fifth RE, the position of the first reference signal may be the fifth RE in the first RB.

Optionally, the first node (e.g., UE) may determine the index of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal (first reference signal) according to the number of REs occupied by the first reference signal in the frequency domain. The determination may be performed according to the second configuration information or the table predefined through the protocol, or according to the formula. A possible table of the relationship between the number of REs occupied by the reference signal in the frequency domain and the index of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal is shown as below:

The number of REs occupied by the reference signal in the frequency domain	The index of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal
1	1
2	2, 13
3	1, 13, 25
4	2, 14, 26, 35
5	3, 15, 27, 36, 48
...	...

Optionally, the index of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal (e.g., the first reference signal) may be determined based on the number N_RE of REs occupied by the reference signal (e.g., the first reference signal) in the frequency domain. A possible formula of the relationship between N_RE and the index k_i (i=1,...,N_RE) of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal may be as follows: k_i=12*(i-1)+i.

Optionally, the UE may determine, based on the number of REs occupied by the resource of the reference signal in the frequency domain and the number of REs occupied by the reference signal in the frequency domain, the index of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal (first reference signal). A possible table of determining the index of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal is shown as below:

The number N_resource,RE of REs occupied by the resource of the reference signal in the frequency domain	The number N_RE of REs occupied by the reference signal in the frequency domain	The index {k_i} (i=1,...,N_RE) of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal
12	1	1
12	2	2, 8
24	1	1
24	2	2, 15

Another possible formula of determining the index of the subcarrier that maps the non-zero-power reference signal (first reference signal) may be as follows: {k_i,i=1,...,N_RE}=f(N_resource,RE,N_RE), where the physical meaning of the function f(N_resource,RE,N_RE) may be that N_resource,RE and N_RE are input and N_RE integers are output; and, the values of the output integers are 1 to N_resource,RE, and the values of the output integers may include 1 and N_resource,RE. Optionally, the formula may be defined in the protocol, or may be obtained based on the high-layer signaling or physical layer signal by the first node. The first node may obtain N_resource,RE and N_RE based on the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information, and then obtain the subcarrier indexes of N_RE subcarriers that map the non-zero-power reference signal based on the values of the two parameters and the above function.

Optionally, the first node may obtain the offset of the first reference signal based on the second configuration information and then determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the offset of the first reference signal.

Optionally, the offset of the first reference signal may be defined as the index of the frequency domain unit (e.g., RE) that maps the non-zero-power reference signal (first reference signal). For example, if the offset of the first reference signal is 3 REs, the non-zero-power reference signal is mapped on RE#3 of the RB that maps the reference signal, and the zero-power reference signal is mapped on other REs on the RB that maps the reference signal. For example, if the offset of the first reference signal is 0 RE, the non-zero-power reference signal is mapped on RE#0 of the RB that maps the reference signal, and the zero-power reference signal is mapped on other REs on the RB that maps the reference signal.

Optionally, the offset of the first reference signal may also be defined as the order of the RE, which maps the non-zero-power reference signal (first reference signal), on the located RB. For example, if the offset of the first reference signal is 1 RE, the non-zero-power reference signal is mapped on the first RE (the RE with an index of 0, i.e., RE#0, REs being numbered from 0 in an ascending manner) of the RB that maps the reference signal, and the zero-power reference signal is mapped on other REs on the RB that maps the reference signal. For another example, if the offset of the first reference signal is 3 REs, the non-zero-power reference signal is mapped on the third RE (i.e., RE#2) of the RB that maps the reference signal, and the zero-power reference signal is mapped on other REs on the RB that maps the reference signal.

In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, in one or more symbols within the mapping range of the reference signal, in addition to the above first reference signal, the second reference signal and non-zero-power reference signal, physical channels and/or other physical signals may also be mapped, such as at least one of physical shared channels and/or physical control channels and/or DMRSs and/or CSI-RSs.

As an optional scheme, the first node may also acquire third configuration information, the third configuration information including a configuration related to the resource occupied by a demodulation reference signal. Optionally, the first node may determine the second resource and the third resource based on the first configuration information, the second configuration information and the third configuration information.

In the optional scheme, the mapping pattern of the reference signal is related to the demodulation reference signal, for example, being related to the resource occupied by the demodulation reference signal. The first node may determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the first configuration information, the second configuration information and the third configuration information related to the DMRS.

Optionally, during the actual implementation, the first configuration information, the second configuration information and the third configuration information may be the same configuration information, or may be configured separately. For example, the first node may acquire configuration information related to the reference signal, and the configuration information may include at least one of the first configuration, the second configuration information and the third configuration information. For example, the second configuration information and the third configuration information may be the same configuration, and this configuration includes the configuration related to the resource of the first reference signal and may also include the configuration related to the resource of the DRMS. The resources configured in the first configuration information, the second configuration information and the third configuration information may be of the same type or different types, and the type of the resource may include one or more of time domain resource, frequency domain resource, code domain resource and spatial domain resource.

In an optional scheme, the first node may obtain the number of ports and/or port numbers of ports used for transmitting the reference signal (the reference signal associated with the first configuration information, including the first reference signal, and determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the number of ports and/or port numbers of ports used for transmitting the reference signal. For example, the port information of the scheduled DMRS, such as the number of ports and/or the port number, may be determined based on the third configuration information. The port information of the DMRS and the port information of the first reference signal may be associated, and the port information of the first reference signal may be obtained based on the port information of the DMRS. The first node may use the corresponding port to transmit the first reference signal based on the second resource. Or, the mapping pattern of the reference signal may also be related to the port of the reference signal, and the first node may determine the mapping pattern based on the port information of the first reference signal.

Optionally, the port information of the reference signal includes the number of ports and/or port number of the reference signal. The reference signal may be configured with a single port or multiple ports. Optionally, the port occupied by the transmission of the reference signal is related to the port of the DMRS.

In an implementation, the second configuration information related to the reference signal includes a first parameter, e.g., a parameter maximumNumberOfPorts. This parameter indicates the maximum number of antenna ports of the first reference signal. In an implementation, if the UE supports fully coherent uplink transmission, the UE expects that the number of ports of the first reference signal is configured as 1. In an implementation, if the UE adopts codebook-based and/or non-codebook uplink transmission, the relationship between the number of ports of the first reference signal and the uplink DMRS port may be indicated by a high-layer signaling or DCI. For example, the relationship between the port of the first reference signal and the uplink DMRS port is indicated by a second parameter in DCI format 0_1, for example, being indicated by a parameter RS-DMRS association. The DMRS port number may be acquired according to the value of the parameter (RS-DMRS association value). A specific indication mode may be a table lookup method, as shown in the following table. For example, it can be known according to the third configuration information that there are two scheduled DMRS ports. The first port is port a, and the second port is port b. According to the value of RS-DMRS association, it may be determined that the port of the first reference signal is which scheduled DMRS port, that is, it is determined that the port of the first reference signal is which port.

RS-DMRS association value	The relationship between the port of the reference signal and the DMRS port
0	The port of the reference signal is the first scheduled DMRS port
1	The port of the reference signal is the second scheduled DMRS port

In an implementation, if the first reference signal may be configured as multiple ports, and the mapping patterns of the first reference signal on multiple ports may be the same or different. Optionally, the first reference signal on multiple ports may be or may not be orthogonal. For example, the first reference signal is configured as two ports, and the first reference signal corresponding to the port a and the port b occupies the first RE in RB#0, and the values mapped on the RE are the same. For another example, the first reference signal corresponding to the port a occupies the first RE in RB#0, the first reference signal corresponding to the port b occupies the first RE in RB#2, and the values mapped on the two REs are the same.

For another example, the first reference signal is configured as two ports, the first reference signal corresponding to the port a occupies the first RE in RB#0, the first reference signal corresponding to the port b occupies the first RE in RB#2, and the values mapped on the two REs are different. Optionally, the mapping patterns of the first reference signal on multiple ports are the same, and the values on multiple ports are the same. This design has the following beneficial effect: when a plurality of UE transmits the first reference signals, the power on the RE that maps the first reference signal during the receiving process on the base station side will be superimposed, so that the signal to noise ratio or signal to interference plus noise ratio on the one or more REs is increased, and the reliability of signal transmission can be improved.

As an optional scheme, the second configuration information further includes information associated with port, wherein the information associated with port includes at least one of:

information of an associated DMRS port; and, information of an associated physical channel port.

Optionally, the port of the first reference signal may be determined based on the information associated with port, or the second resource and/or third resource may be determined based on the information associated with port.

After the mapping pattern of the reference signal is determined, that is, after it is determined that the reference signal is transmitted on which resources in the resource range of the first reference, the first node may transmit the reference signal on the corresponding resource based on the mapping pattern.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first reference signal may not be reused with other physical channels or physical signals, and the first reference signal may be transmitted separately or transmitted together with other physical channels and physical channels.

As an optional scheme, transmitting the second reference signal on the second resource comprises:

generating a first sequence based on the second resource, the sequence being a sequence related to the first reference signal; and, performing resource mapping on a corresponding resource based on the first sequence, and generating a reference signal based on a mapping result.

The first sequence is a sequence for generating the reference signal and may also be referred to as a sequence of the reference signal. The sequence style of the first sequence will not be uniquely limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Optionally, the first sequence may include, but not limited to, a pseudorandom sequence. After the first sequence is generated, the first sequence may be mapped on the physical resource corresponding to the reference signal, and the reference signal is generated based on the mapping result.

As an example, it is assumed that the number of time domain symbols occupied by the reference signal (the number of symbols in the mapping range of the reference signal) is represented as N_RS,symbol, the time domain mapping density of the reference signal is represented as L_RS, the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal (at least including the first reference signal and possibly including the second reference signal) is M RBs (the number of RBs in the mapping range of the reference signal), the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the first reference signal is represented as N_RS,RB, N_RS,RB≤M, and the frequency domain mapping density of the first reference signal is represented as K_RS. In the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal, the indexes of all REs from the RE with the lowest frequency to the RE with the highest frequency are denoted by 0 to M-1. On the frequency domain resource occupied by the reference signal, the mapping range of the first reference signal is N_RS,RB REs. For example, the N_RS,RB REs may be REs having indexes of 0 to N_RS,RB-1. It is assumed that the number of REs that map the first reference signal is P_RS, and the indexes of the REs that map the first reference signal are k_i, where i=0,1,2,...,P_RS.

By still taking the first node being a UE as an example, in an optional scheme, the UE may generate a sequence based on the number N_RS,RB of frequency domain RBs occupied by the first reference signal and then map the sequence to a time frequency resource grid. For example, the UE generates a binary sequence having a length of N_RS,RB. The number of 1s in the sequence represents the number of REs that map the first reference signal, and the positions of 1s in the sequence represent the positions of the REs that map the first reference signal. For example, a pseudorandom sequence r(n) having a length of N_RS,RB may be generated based on the following formula:

.

The method of calculating c(n) is as follows:

where , is the number of REs on each RB, N_C=1600, the first m sequence x₁(n) is initialized as x₁(0)=1,x₁ (n)=0,n=1,2,...,30, and the initialization parameter of the second m sequence x₂(n) is . The process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be expressed as below:

, where a_k,l is the data on the k^th RE (with a subcarrier index of k) on the l^th symbol (the symbol with an index of l), and is a power scaling parameter/power scaling factor.

In another optional implementation, the UE may generate a sequence based on the number P_RS of REs that map the first reference signal. For example, if the UE generates a sequence r(n) having a length of P_RS, the process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be , where a_k,l is the data on the k^th RE on the l^th symbol, and i=0,1,2,...,P_RS.

In another optional implementation, if the UE generates a sequence r(n) having a length of N_RS,RB, the process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be , where the value of k is further defined as , where i=0,1,2,..., and . is an RB-level offset, and may be related to a radio network temporary identity (RNTI), wherein the RNTI is an RNTI for scrambling a DCI that schedules the reference signal and may be one of a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), a configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI), a modulation coding scheme cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI) and a semi-persistent CSI RNTI (SP-CSI-RNTI).

An optional implementation of determining may be as follows:

where n_RNTI is the RNTI for scrambling the DCI that schedules the reference signal. is a RE-level offset, and may be related to one or more of: an antenna port occupied by a service channel, a high-layer parameter, an antenna port occupied by a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and a configuration type of the DMRS.

It is to be noted that, the above examples of resource mapping, the formula of resource mapping only illustrates how the first reference signal can be mapped on at least one OFDM symbol mapped with the first reference signal, but this example does not focus on how to map on other RE on these symbols. Optionally, the second reference signal or no reference signal may be mapped on these REs.

In another optional implementation, the UE may generate a sequence based on the number N_PUSCH of REs occupied by the physical channel or physical channel resource. For example, if the UE generates a sequence having a length of N_PUSCH, the process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be as follows:

where a_k,l is the data on the k^th RE on the l^th symbol. The physical meaning of this design is as follows: within the mapping range (i.e., ) of the first reference signal, a k () value satisfying the requirement is selected for mapping the first reference signal. The zero-power reference signal or no signal is mapped on other REs except for the REs mapped with the first reference signal within the mapping range of the first reference signal, and the corresponding non-zero-power reference signal (e.g., the second reference signal) is mapped on all REs beyond the mapping range of the first reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal.

In another optional implementation, the UE may generate a sequence based on the number N_PUSCH of REs occupied by the physical channel or physical channel resource. For example, if the UE generates a sequence r(n) having a length of N_PUSCH, the process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be as follows:

where a_k,l is the data on the k^th RE on the l^th symbol. The physical meaning of this design is as follows: within the mapping range (i.e., ) of the first reference signal, a k value satisfying the requirement is selected for mapping the non-zero-power reference signal. The zero-power reference signal or no signal is mapped on other REs within the mapping range of the first reference signal, the non-zero-power reference signal (e.g., the second reference signal) is mapped on all REs (i.e., ) beyond the mapping range of the first reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal at another density or pattern, and no signal or the zero-power reference signal is mapped on the all REs except for the REs mapped with the second reference signal, where is the RE-level offset corresponding to the second reference signal, K_RS,2 is the third density of the second reference signal, and is the RB-level offset corresponding to the second reference signal.

The implementations of determining the index of the subcarrier of the first reference signal provided in the above embodiments are all applicable to the relationship that the first density and the third density are multiples of each other or the first density and the third density are not multiples. Particularly, in one possible implementation, there may be a certain relationship between the first density and the third density. For example, the first density and the third density are multiples of each other. The index of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal may be determined by one or more formulae.

As an optional example of determining the index of the subcarrier of the first reference signal by multiple formulae, the relationship between the first density and the third density is K_RS,2=MK_RS,1, and the UE may generate a sequence based on the number N_PUSCH of REs occupied by the physical channel or physical channel resource. For example, if the UE generates a sequence r(n) having a length of N_PUSCH, the process of mapping the sequence r(n) to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be as follows:

As an optional example of determining the index of the subcarrier of the non-zero-power reference signal by a single formula, the relationship between the first density and the third density is K_RS,2=MK_RS,1, and the UE may generate a sequence based on the number N_PUSCH of REs occupied by the physical channel or physical channel resource. For example, if the UE generates a sequence r(n) having a length of N_PUSCH, the process of mapping the sequence r(n) to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be as follows:

A plurality of possible implementations of determining the offset (which may be the offset corresponding to the first reference signal or the offset corresponding to the second reference signal, wherein, when the density of the first reference signal includes the first density and the second density, the offset corresponding to the first reference signal may include offsets respectively corresponding to the two densities, and different densities correspond to different resource ranges, for example, different frequency domain resource ranges on the same OFDM symbol) provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be given below. An implementation of determining may be a table lookup method, as shown in the following table, where PUSCH antenna port represents the antenna port occupied by the service channel.

PUSCH antenna port
0	0
1	2
2	1
3	3

Another implementation of determining may be a table lookup method, as shown in the following table, where the DM-RS antenna port represents a port occupied by the demodulation reference signal.

DM-RS antenna port
0	0
1	2
2	1
3	3

Another implementation of determining may be a table lookup method, as shown in the following table, where the DM-RS Configuration type 1 indicates that the configuration type of the demodulation reference signal is type 1, and the DM-RS Configuration type 2 indicates the configuration type of the demodulation reference signal is type 2.

DM-RS antenna port
DM-RS antenna port	DM-RS Configuration type 1	DM-RS Configuration type 2
0	0	0
1	2	1
2	1	2
3	3	3
4	-	4
5	-	5

Another implementation of determining may be a table lookup method, as shown in the following table, where the parameter resourceElementOffset is a high-layer parameter and has a value of offset0 or offset1. When this field is defaulted, the UE defaults that the parameter has the value of offset0 or offset1.

DM-RS antenna port
DM-RS antenna port	resourceElementOffset = offset0	resourceElementOffset = offset1
0	0	0
1	2	1
2	1	2
3	3	3

Another implementation of determining may be a table lookup method, as shown in the following table, where the parameter resourceElementOffset is a high-layer parameter and has a value of offset00 or offset01 or offset10 or offset11. When this field is defaulted, the UE defaults that the parameter has a value of offset00.

DM-RS antenna port
	DM-RS Configuration type 1				DM-RS Configuration type 2
	resourceElementOffset				resourceElementOffset
	offset00	offset01	offset10	offset11	offset00	offset01	offset10	offset11
0	0	2	6	8	0	1	6	7
1	2	4	8	10	1	6	7	0
2	1	3	7	9	2	3	8	9
3	3	5	9	11	3	8	9	2
4	-	-	-	-	4	5	10	11
5	-	-	-	-	5	10	11	4

Optionally, the first node may also obtain a power scaling value, and transmit the reference signal on the corresponding physical resource based on the generated sequence (the first sequence or second sequence), the power scaling value (the parameter for adjusting the transmit power, also referred to the power scaling factor, power control parameter or the like) and the mapping pattern of the reference signal. In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmit power of the first reference signal is associated with the second configuration information. When transmitting the first reference signal, the first node may determine the transmit power of the first reference signal based on the second configuration information.

Optionally, the scaling factor for the transmit power of the first reference signal may be associated with a density of the first reference signal, wherein the second configuration information includes the information associated with a density of the first reference signal, and the density of the first reference signal includes a first density and/or a second density.

For example, the second configuration information may explicitly indicate the density of the first reference signal; or, the second configuration includes implicit indication information of the density of the first reference signal, and the density of the first reference signal may be determined according to the implicit indication by calculation or table lookup or in an appointed way, so that the scaling factor may be determined based on this density.

Optionally, the first node may also obtain the power scaling value of the first reference signal based on one or more of the following parameters (these parameters may be obtained based on the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information, or may be appointed through the protocol or obtained based on the high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling): the type of the first reference signal, the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern, the first density and/or the second density (e.g., the frequency domain mapping density K_RS of the first reference signal), the number of layers occupied by the service channel/physical channel, the high-layer parameter (e.g., the value indicated by the high-layer parameter, where the high-layer parameter may be a newly defined parameter or the existing high-layer parameter in the existing communication protocol), the port information (the number of ports and/or the port number) of the first reference signal, and the precoding codebook type of the reference signal.

In an optional implementation, if the UE generates a sequence r(n) having a length of , the process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be , where the value of k has been described above, and β_RS is a power control parameter/power scaling value.

Optionally, β_RS may be directly obtained based on the second configuration information, or may be determined by one or more of the following parameters: the type of the first reference signal, the bitmap for indicting the mapping pattern, the frequency domain mapping density K_RS of the first reference signal (taking K_RS representing the number of RBs as an example), the number of layers occupied by the service channel, the high-layer parameter, the number of ports of the reference signal and the precoding codebook type. Optionally, the frequency domain mapping density K_RS of the first reference signal may be obtained through the type of the first reference signal or the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern.

A way of determining the frequency domain mapping density K_RS may be as follows: the frequency domain mapping density of the reference signal corresponding to "reference signal type I" is preset/appointed as K_RS=2, and the frequency domain mapping density of the reference signal corresponding to "reference signal type II" is preset/appointed as K_RS=4.

A way of determining the frequency domain mapping density K_RS may be as follows: when the bitmap for indicating the mapping pattern is 10101010, the mapping density K_RS is 2; and, when the bitmap for indicting the mapping pattern is 10001000, the mapping density K_RS is 4.

For example, β_RS may be set as a fixed value. For example, β_RS=1, or β_RS=2. Optionally, the value of β_RS is related to K_RS, for example, β_RS=K_RS. Optionally, β_RS is determined based on the mapping density K_RS and the power ratio of the PUSCH to each RE of each layer of the corresponding reference signal, for example, .

Optionally, the parameter may be determined according to the high-layer parameter rs-Power. If the parameter is related to , the power ratio of the PUSCH to each RE of each layer of the corresponding reference signal may be =-[dB], and the power control parameter may be further determined as .

Optionally, a method of determining the parameter according to the high-layer parameter rs-Power may be as follows: when the value of rs-Power is 0, the value of the parameter is P₀; and, when the value of rs-Power is 1, the value of the parameter is P₁.

In another optional scheme, may be determined according to the number of layers of PUSCH transmission, and β_RS may be then determined according to . For example, when is 1, =0; and, when is 2, =3. Optionally, it may be determined according to the number of ports of the first reference signal. For example, when the number of ports is Q_p, the value of is 3Q_p-3. Another method of determining β_RS may be as follows: determining according to the precoding codebook. For example, when a fully coherent codebook is used, the value of is 3; and, when a partially coherent codebook is used, the value of is 3Q_p-3.

In an optional implementation, if the UE may generate a sequence r(n) having a length of , the process of mapping the sequence to the time/frequency domain RE grid may be , where β_RS,k is the power control parameter. β_RS,k corresponding to different subcarriers may be the same or different, that is, the values of the power control parameters corresponding to different REs may be the same or different.

A method of determining β_RS,k is as follows:

where the range of k is the mapping range of the reference signal, and the physical meanings of , K_RS, and have been defined above and will not be repeated here. This design has the following beneficial effect: under the premise of ensuring that the average power of each RE on this symbol does not exceed a certain value, the power of the REs that do not map the non-zero-power reference signal within the mapping range of the reference signal is compensated to the REs that map the non-zero-power reference signal, so that the transmit power of the REs that map the non-zero-power reference signal is increased, and a better transmission effect of the non-zero-power reference signal is achieved.

In some of the above embodiments, the physical channel is described by taking a PUSCH as an example. However, it is to be noted that the physical channel may also be other physical signals.

In an optional scheme of the present disclosure, the resources occupied by the reference signal may be the resources assigned for the physical channel. The reference signal and the physical channel (i.e., a physical signal corresponding to the physical channel) may be simultaneously transmitted on the resources assigned for the physical channel, wherein the physical signal may include, but not limited to, a physical shared channel, a physical control channel, for example, a PDSCH, a PUSCH, a PDCCH, a PUCCH and a physical shared channel in the sidelink communication.

As an optional scheme, the first resource is a resource associated with the physical channel; and, the method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure may comprise: transmitting or receiving the physical channel on the first resource, wherein the physical channel is transmitted in the following way:

performing transform precoding on data or control information on the physical channel; mapping the transform-precoded data or control information and the first reference signal onto the first resource; and transmitting based on a mapping result.

The physical channel may be a physical shared channel, e.g., a PUSCH or a PDSCH or a shared channel in the sidelink communication system, or may be a physical control information channel, e.g., a PUCCH or a PDCCH. Based on the optional scheme of the present disclosure, the first reference signal may be reused on the physical channel.

When the physical channel is an uplink physical channel, the operation of transmitting the physical channel is performed by the first node, and when the physical channel is a downlink physical channel, the operation of transmitting the physical channel is performed by the second node, and the first node receives the physical channel on the first resource. In the following description of some embodiments, the description will be given by taking an uplink physical channel (e.g., PUSCH) as an example.

Optionally, the first node obtains, based on the first configuration information, a parameter related to the time domain resource assignment of the physical channel and/or a parameter related to the frequency domain resource assignment of the physical channel, i.e., information related to the first resource, which may also be referred to as a time domain resource assignment parameter of the physical channel and/or a frequency domain resource assignment parameter of the physical channel. The action range of the frequency domain resource assignment parameter of the physical channel may be one or more symbols in the time domain resource of the physical signal. Optionally, a parameter related to resource punching of the physical channel may also be obtained based on the first configuration information. The punched resource is not assigned to the physical channel.

As an optional implementation, the first node may obtain, based on the first configuration information, the frequency domain resource occupied by one or more symbols in the time domain resource occupied by the physical channel and determine the mapping pattern of the reference signal based on the time domain resource, the frequency domain resource and the first configuration information related to the reference signal. For example, the time domain resource and the frequency domain resource may be determined as a mapping resource of the reference signal (the mapping range of the reference signal is the resource assigned to the physical signal), and the mapping pattern of the reference signal may be determined based on the mapping resource and the second configuration information.

A possible resource assignment method for the physical channel is as follows: by taking a PUSCH as an example, the first configuration information may include information related to the resource (e.g., the resource in the time domain and/or the resource in the frequency domain) of the PUSCH. For example, the first configuration information includes a time domain resource assignment field 'Time domain resource assignment', and this field indicates the resource assignment information of the PUSCH in the time domain, which may include the starting symbol of the slot where the PUSCH is located and the length of the occupied symbols. The first configuration information may include a frequency domain resource assignment field 'resourceAllocation', and this field indicates the resource assignment information of the PUSCH in the frequency domain, which may be the frequency domain resource assignment information on each symbol of the time domain resource of the PUSCH or may be the frequency domain resource assignment information on one or more symbols of the time domain resource of the PUSCH. For example, the time domain resource assignment of the PUSCH is four symbols symbol#4 to symbol#7, and the frequency domain resource assignment is that first three symbols (symbol#4 to symbol#6) occupy 10 consecutive VRBs VRB#0 to VRB#9, and the fourth symbol (symbol#7) occupies 8 consecutive VRBs VRB#2 to VRB#9.

In one possible implementation, the time domain resource assignment parameter may be a 14-bit (corresponding to 14 OFDM symbols) 01 sequence, e.g., 000011110000000, indicating that the PUSCH occupies 4 consecutive symbols symbol#4 to symbol#7, wherein the index of the first symbol is 0. In one possible implementation, the frequency domain resource assignment parameter may be a 01 sequence having a length equal to the number of RBGs of the BWP. For example, if the BWP contains 10 RBGs and each RBG contains two RBs, the frequency domain resource assignment parameter may be 1111100000, indicating that five RBGs RBG#0 to RBG#4 are occupied, i.e., 10 consecutive VRBs VRB#0 to VRB#9.

In another possible implementation, the frequency domain resource assignment parameter is a plurality of 01 sequences, and the sequence length is the sum of the number of symbols occupied by the PUSCH and the number of RBGs of the BWP. For example, if the PUSCH occupies four symbols, the BWP contains 10 BRGs and each RBG contains two RBs, the frequency domain resource assignment parameter may be a sequence 11101111100000 and a sequence 00010111100000, indicating first three symbols of the four symbols occupy five RBGs RBG#0 to RBG#3, and the fourth symbol in the four symbols occupies four RBGs RBG#1 to RBG#4.

In one possible implementation, it is possible to assign 4 consecutive symbols symbol#4 to symbol#7 and 10 consecutive VRBs VRB#0 to VRB#9 on the four symbols to the PUSCH and then determine the punching position according to the parameter related to resource punching. For example, the parameter value related to resource punching may be 000110000. The first four bits indicate the fourth symbol in the four symbols is punched, and the last five bits indicate that the first RBG in the five assigned RBGs is punched, that is, the resource assigned to the PUSCH does not include the first RBG (i.e., VRB#0 and VRB#1) assigned on the fourth symbol (symbol#7) assigned to the PUSCH. In another possible implementation, it is possible to assign 4 consecutive symbols symbol#4 to symbol#7 and 10 consecutive VRBs VRB#0 to VRB#9 on the four symbols to the PUSCH and then determine the punching position according to the parameter related to resource punching. For example, the parameter value related to resource punching may be 0001, indicating that the fourth symbol in the four symbols is punched. The punching position of the frequency domain resource is determined based on the predetermined protocol or high-layer signaling or physical layer signaling. For example, two VRBs on the upper side of the spectrum are punched, that is, the resource assigned to the PUSCH does not include first two VRBs (i.e., VRB#0 and VRB#1) assigned on the fourth symbol (symbol#7) assigned to the PUSCH.

The above optional scheme of reusing the first reference signal and the physical channel provided by the present disclosure may be implemented under a condition that transform precoding is enabled. The scheme can only perform transform precoding on the data or control information corresponding to the physical channel without performing transform precoding on the first reference signal, then map the sequence (complex symbol block) corresponding to the encoded physical channel and the sequence (complex symbol block) of the reference signal to the first resource, and generate a signal including the first reference signal and the physical channel based on a mapping result. That is, the first reference signal is reused on the physical channel and then transmitted along with the physical channel.

Based on the method, the simultaneous transmission of the reference signal and the physical channel can be realized. For example, the physical channel may be a physical shared channel, and at least one reference signal (including the first reference signal) and data may be simultaneously transmitted on the resource of the physical shared channel. For the transmit node, the transmit node may generate and transmit a signal carrying data and the first reference signal in the above way, while for the receive node, the receive node should assume that the signal to be received is generated in the above way.

Optionally, for the transmit node, when transmitting the physical channel, the transmit node may generate a first sequence corresponding to the first reference signal and a second sequence corresponding to the data or control information, perform transform precoding on the second sequence, and map the precoded sequence and the first sequence onto the first resource to transmit. The way of generating the first sequence will not be limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. The first sequence may be generated by the scheme of generating the first sequence provided in the above embodiments. When the first reference signal is reused with the physical channel, the number of elements included in the first sequence (the length of the first sequence) may be equal to the number of REs actually occupied by the first reference signal.

For a physical shared channel, the second sequence is based on the data to be transmitted, while for a physical control channel, the second sequence is based on the control information to be transmitted. Optionally, the second sequence may be generated based on a bit sequence corresponding to the data or control information. The second sequence may be a sequence obtained by transforming the bit sequence for one or more times, and the sequence is a complex symbol block before transform precoding. For example, the second sequence is obtained by performing modulation, layer mapping, grouping, spreading or other processing on the bit sequence. Optionally, the first sequence may be a complex data block corresponding to the first reference signal.

A new optional implementation of transmitting both the reference signal and the physical channel provided by the present disclosure will be described below by taking the physical channel being a PUSCH as an example.

For the PUSCH, the second sequence is based on the data to be transmitted and may be referred to as a data sequence, and the first sequence is a sequence of the first reference signal. Optionally, the second sequence may be a second sequence after layer mapping, or a data sequence obtained by spreading and/or grouping the data after layer mapping. Optionally, the first sequence may be obtained by a scheme of generating the sequence having a sequence length equal to the number of REs actually occupied by the first reference signal provided in any one of the above embodiments.

In the scheme provided by the present disclosure, a data sequence after resource mapping may be obtained by performing transform precoding and resource mapping (mapping on the resource occupied by the data sequence on the first resource) on the data sequence, a reference signal sequence after resource mapping may be generated by performing resource mapping (mapping onto the second resource) on the sequence of the first reference signal, and a signal to be transmitted may be generated based on the mapping results of the two parts.

The above scheme provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied to, but not limited to, a signal generation scheme based on discrete Fourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM).

Optionally, in the scheme, after the data sequence and the reference signal sequence after layer mapping are obtained, the data sequence after layer mapping may be grouped to obtain N first data sequences, i.e., second sequences, wherein the value of N is equal to the number of OFDM symbols assigned to the physical channel. Then, transform precoding and resource mapping are performed based on the N first data sequences to obtain a second data sequence; resource mapping may be performed on the first sequence of the reference signal to obtain a third sequence. Afterwards, a signal is generated based on the second data sequence and the third sequence and then transmitted. There may be a plurality of elements in the first data sequence, the second data sequence and the third sequence. Specifically, the first data sequence, the second data sequence and the third sequence are all complex symbol blocks.

The signal generation method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure is a new method for generating a physical signal. The method can interpose reference signals in the frequency domain. Specifically, transform precoding and resource mapping are performed on the data sequence, resource mapping is performed on the sequence of the reference signal, the two sequences after resource mapping are combined, and a signal is generated based on the combined sequence. By the method, it is unnecessary to perform transform precoding on the reference signal sequence, so that the complexity of signal generation can be reduced.

In an implementation, if transform precoding is disabled, the transmission data of each layer is y^(λ)(i)=x^(λ)(i), where λ=0,1,...,υ-1, υ represents the number of transmission layers, x^(λ)(i) is the transmission data of the λth layer after layer mapping, is the number of complex modulation symbols or the number of constellation points transmitted in each layer.

In an implementation, if transform precoding is enabled and the first reference signal is used for transmission, υ=1. It is assumed that N_RS,symbol represents the number of time domain symbols occupied by the first reference signal and also the number of symbols occupied by the PUSCH. x⁽⁰⁾(i) is the transmission data of the first layer (a layer having a layer index of λ=0) that is not subjected to transform precoding, i.e., the data after layer mapping, is the number of modulation symbols transmitted by the layer. x⁽⁰⁾(i) needs to be divided into a plurality of (N_RS,symbol) sets, wherein each set corresponds to one OFDM symbol, and the set l contains M_ms modulation symbols and represents the number of modulation symbols that are not subjected to transform precoding corresponding to the l^th symbol. The set l is mapped to , where is the first data sequence.

An optional way of calculating M_ms may be as follows: , where N_RS,RB represents the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the first reference signal on each symbol; represents the number of REs on each RB, for example, there being 12 REs on each RB; represents the number of REs occupied by the first reference signal on each symbol, and represents the number of subcarriers (or the number of REs) occupied by the PUSCH on each symbol.

Another optional way of calculating M_ms may be as follows: M_ms is a maximum integer which is less than and satisfies the condition: , where α₂, α₃ and α₅ are all non-negative integers. Based on the above method, a plurality of first data sequences may be obtained.

A way of obtaining the second data sequence (i.e., performing transform precoding and resource mapping based on the first data sequence) may be performed according to the following formula, that is, a mapping rule on the subcarrier occupied by the non-reference signal may be as follows:

where β_Data is a power scaling parameter/power scaling factor for the data.

A way of obtaining the third sequence (i.e., performing resource mapping based on the first sequence), i.e., a mapping rule on the subcarrier occupied by the first reference signal, may be as follows:

where r(k) and other physical quantities have been defined in the above embodiments and will not be repeated here. Formula 1 indicates that transform precoding and resource mapping are performed on the plurality of grouped first data sequences (second sequences) to obtain a second data sequence, the number of points of transform precoding is the length of the first data sequences (the number of elements included in the first data sequences), and the length of the first data sequences is a difference between the number of subcarriers occupied by the PUSCH on the corresponding symbol and the number of subcarriers occupied by the reference signal. Formula 2 indicates that the sequence (first sequence) of the first reference signal is mapped to the RE occupied by the reference signal according to a particular rule to obtain a third sequence, that is, the reference signal is mapped on the subcarrier that does not map the modulation symbol. The index of the subcarrier that maps the first reference signal may be obtained in the scheme provided in the above embodiments.

Subsequently, the sequences obtained by the above Formula 1 and Formula 2 may be combined to obtain a signal sequence corresponding to the PUSCH, and a baseband signal including the PUSCH and the reference signal is generated based on the sequence. That is, according to the above Formula 1 and Formula 2, a sequence for generating the signal to be transmitted can be obtained.

It is to be noted, that the above signal generation scheme based on the Formula 1 and Formula 2 only provide a possible reference signal generation scheme. When the second data sequence and the third sequence are obtained based on the Formula 1 and Formula 2, the reference signal occupies the position (also referred to as the first resource range) with a smaller frequency domain subcarrier index, that is, the first sequence is mapped within the resource range with a smaller RE subcarrier index, and the data signal occupies the position (also referred to as the second resource range) with a larger frequency domain subcarrier index. However, during the actual implementation, the method provided by the present disclosure does not limit the first resource range and the second resource range. In another implementation, the first resource range may be the position with a larger frequency domain subcarrier index, and the second resource range may be the position with a smaller frequency domain subcarrier index. In another implementation, the first resource range may be a position with a mediate frequency domain subcarrier index within the mapping range. For example, if the subcarrier indexes in the mapping range are 0 to N, the first resource range may be n1 to n2, where 0<n1<n2<N, and the second resource range may include resources beyond the first resource range within the mapping range.

It is to be noted that, in practical applications, in addition to the first reference signal, the second reference signal is also mapped within the mapping range of the reference signal, that is, the first resource is also used for transmitting data/control information, the first reference signal and the second reference signal. In the above embodiment of simultaneously transmitting the physical signal of the first reference signal, the first sequence may be a sequence corresponding to the reference signal (the first reference signal and the second reference signal), and the first resource range is the resource range actually occupied by the first reference signal and the second reference signal, i.e., the sum of the number of REs actually occupied by the first reference signal and the number of REs actually occupied by the second reference signal.

For the scheme of simultaneously transmitting the physical channel and the reference signal, in the process of generating the signal to be transmitted, the transport block size (TB size) corresponding to the physical channel may also be determined. Optionally, the transport block size corresponding to the physical channel is based on the second resource and the third resource. During the calculation and determination of the amount of resources that can be occupied by the physical channel, it is necessary to remove the second resource and the third resource. If the second reference signal is also transmitted on the first resource, the transport block size corresponding to the physical signal is based on the second resource, the third resource and the fourth resource, wherein the fourth resource is a resource actually occupied by the second reference signal on the first resource.

Optionally, by taking no second reference signal being transmitted within the mapping range of the reference signal as an example, the transport block size corresponding to the physical shared channel is determined in the following way:

determining the total resource amount (i.e., the resource amount of the first resource) assigned to the physical channel based on the first configuration information;

determining the resource amount of the second resource based on the second configuration information;

determining, based on the total resource amount and the resource amount of the second resource, the resource amount of the mapping resource corresponding to the physical channel, i.e., the resource amount of the resource to which the physical channel can be actually mapped; and

determining the transport block side based on the resource amount of the mapping resource corresponding to the physical channel.

Optionally, by taking the UE being a transmit node as an example, the UE may calculate the number of REs in one PRB assigned to the physical channel (e.g., PUSCH), and then, the UE calculates the number of all REs (the total resource amount of the first resource) assigned to the physical channel based on the number of PRBs assigned to the physical channel. The UE may determine the number of REs occupied by mapping the first reference signal based on the resource amount of the time domain resource and the frequency domain resource actually occupied by the first reference signal (e.g., the number of REs occupied by the first reference signal). After the total resource amount of the first resource and the resource amount corresponding to the first reference signal are calculated, the resource amount that can be used for the physical channel may be determined. Optionally, the size of the transport block may be determined based on a difference between the total resource amount of the first resource and the resource amount of the second resource.

Optionally, if there is one slot that transmits the transport block, the total resource amount of the first resource and the resource amount occupied by the first reference signal may be the total resource amount assigned to the physical channel in one slot and the resource amount occupied by the reference signal in the slot; and, if there are a plurality of slots, the total resource amount and the resource amount occupied by the reference signal may be the total resource amount assigned to the physical channel in a plurality of slots and the resource amount occupied by the reference signal in the plurality of slots.

By taking the transmit node being a UE and the physical signal being a PUSCH as an example, optionally, a possible implementation of calculating the number of REs in one PRB assigned to the PUSCH by the UE is performed by a formula. For example, the number of REs in one PRB assigned to the PUSCH is , where represents the number (e.g., 12) of REs in each PRB; represents the number of OFDM symbols assigned to the PUSCH; represents the number of REs occupied by the DMRS in each PRB assigned to the PUSCH; represents the number of REs occupied by other overhead in each PRB assigned to the PUSCH; and, may be determined by a high-layer parameter.

After is calculated, a possible implementation of calculating the number of all REs assigned to the PUSCH by the UE is performed by a formula. For example, the number of all REs assigned to the PUSCH is , where is the total resource amount, n_PRB is the number of PRBs assigned to the PUSCH, Δ_RS is an adjustment parameter and may represent the number of REs occupied by the first reference signal, i.e., the resource amount of the second resource, and N_RE represents the resource amount of the resource that actually maps the physical channel.

Optionally, a way of determining Δ_RS is: , where the number of time domain symbols occupied by the first reference signal is represented as N_RS,symbol, and the number of frequency domain RBs occupied by the first reference signal is represented as N_RS,RB. In the scheme, it is assumed that only the first reference signal is transmitted on the OFDM symbols and RBs included in the second resource, and no other signal or only the zero-power reference signal is transmitted on the REs unoccupied by the first reference signal on the second resource. Optionally, when the transmission mode adopts TB processing over multiple slots, the number of all REs assigned to the PUSCH may be , where N_slot represents the number of slots for transmitting the transport block, and N_slot may be determined by a high-layer parameter, e.g., a high-layer parameter numberOfSlotsTBoMS.

In the above optional scheme provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, during the determination of TBS, an adjustment parameter Δ_RS is newly introduced, and the number of REs that can be occupied by the data or control information in the physical channel among all REs assigned to the physical channel can be calculated more accurately based on the adjustment parameter. The number is related to the resource amount of the resource range occupied by the reference signal. The resource amount of the resource range occupied by the reference signal can be determined based on the information related to the resource occupied by the reference signal in the first configuration information, for example, based on the number of OFDM symbols occupied by the reference signal and the number of RBs.

Based on the same principle as the method shown in FIG. 4, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method performed by a second node in a wireless communication system. The second node may be a base station or other network nods. The method comprises:

transmitting first configuration information, the first configuration information including first information related to a first resource;

transmitting second configuration information, the second configuration information including second information of a second resource associated with a first reference signal, wherein the second resource being located on the first resource, the first resource further including a third resource, the third resource being a resource associated with a guard band, the guard band being related to the second resource; and

transmitting or receiving the first reference signal on the second resource, the second resource and the third resource associated with the guard band related to the second resource being determined based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

The first reference signal may be a downlink reference signal, and the second node may transmit the first reference signal on the first resource. Alternatively, the first reference signal may be an uplink reference signal, and the second node may receive the first reference signal on the first resource.

Optional embodiments of the above scheme of using the second node as an execution subject can refer to the above corresponding description and will not be repeated here.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, by considering different actual application scenarios/requirements, such as different UEs having different usages for reference signals, as an example, the first reference signal is a signal for phase noise estimation. In different application scenarios, for example, in some scenarios, a node may only need to perform phase noise processing on a reference signal. If the second reference signal is a sensing signal, the receive node needs to perform phase noise processing on the sensing signal. In some scenarios, the transmit node may need to simultaneously transmit a reference signal and a non-reference signal, e.g., a date signal, and the receive node may perform phase noise estimation on the reference signal and the data.

Based on different requirements in different application scenarios, as an optional implementation of the present disclosure, by taking the receive node being a UE as an example, the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information may include information related to the resource occupied by the reference signal, and the UE may receive, on the second resource, the reference signal transmitted by the base station based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information. The method for configuring the reference signal has the following beneficial effect: the UE can receive the first reference signal for phase noise estimation based on the content included in the configuration information, so as to estimate and compensate the phase noise of the received first reference signal.

As an optional implementation of the present disclosure, the UE may receive a physical channel on the first resource based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information, the physical channel may include a signal related to data or control information and the first reference signal, and the UE may also obtain the first reference signal and data from the received physical channel based on the first resource. The configuration method has the following beneficial effect: the UE can estimate and compensate the phase noise of the received reference signal and physical channel/physical signal based on the content included in the configuration information.

The specific way of performing phase noise processing based on the received first reference signal will not be uniquely limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Optionally, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method for phase noise estimation and compensation based on the reference signal transmission method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The execution subject of this method is a receive node. The method may comprise:

acquiring a received signal (first time domain sequence), the received signal being a received signal corresponding to the first reference signal transmitted by a transmit node; performing FFT or DFT transform on the received signal to obtain a frequency domain signal (first frequency domain sequence) corresponding to the received signal; obtaining an estimated value of phase noise based on the frequency domain signal and configuration information (first configuration information and second configuration information) of the reference signal; and, performing phase noise compensation based on the estimated value of phase noise and the received signal.

Optionally, the obtaining an estimated value of phase noise based on the frequency domain signal and configuration information of the reference signal may comprise:

obtaining a mapping position of the first reference signal (the position of the second resource) based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information of the reference signal, and extracting a signal on a resource unit (e.g., RE) where the first reference signal is located in the first frequency domain sequence and data (e.g., zero-power reference signal) on at least one resource unit adjacent to the resource unit where the first reference signal is located; padding zero to the extracted sequence to obtain a second frequency domain sequence, the length of the second frequency domain sequence being not less than that of the first frequency domain sequence; and, performing inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT)/inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) on the second frequency domain sequence to obtain a second time domain sequence, the second time domain sequence including the same phase noise as the first time domain sequence.

In one possible implementation, the specific step of the zero padding operation may be as follows: the first frequency domain sequence is a sequence with 4096 points which correspond to 4096 REs; if it is assumed that the first reference signal is located on the first RE and the corresponding guard band is 20 REs, that is, the data or other reference signals are mapped to the 4096^th RE from the 21^st RE, the data of at least two REs (including the first RE and at least one RE adjacent to the first RE) may be extracted to and subjected to zero padding to obtain the second frequency domain sequence. For example, the at least two REs are total consecutive REs, i.e., the first RE to the 11^th RE, the data on the 11 REs may be extracted, and the data corresponding to the 12^th RE to the 4096^th RE is 0, that is, 4085 zeros are padded. The 12^th RE to the 4096^th RE corresponding to the 4085 zeros, i.e., the second frequency domain sequence, may have the same length as the first frequency domain sequence. Optionally, zeros may be padded at two ends of the second frequency domain sequence to obtain a new second frequency domain sequence. For example, if 12 zeros are padded at each of the two ends, a second frequency domain sequence having a length of 4096+2*12 is obtained. For another example, if 2048 zeros are padded at each of the two ends, a second frequency domain sequence having a length of 4096*2 is obtained.

Subsequently, IFFT or IDFT may be performed on the second frequency domain sequence to obtain the second time domain sequence.

For the above frequency domain signal, the data on the resource units except for the resource unit where the first reference signal is located in the frequency domain signal (e.g., the data corresponding to the 12^th to 4096^th REs in the first frequency domain sequence in the above example) may be extracted and padded with zeros to obtain a third frequency domain sequence. The zero padding method may be similar to the above zero padding method and will not be repeated here. The length of the third frequency domain sequence is not less than that of the first frequency domain sequence, the length of the third frequency domain sequence is the same as that of the second frequency domain sequence obtained by zero padding, and IFFT/IDFT transform is performed to the third frequency domain sequence to obtain a third time domain sequence.

Subsequently, the second time domain sequence may be divided by the third time domain sequence element by element, and angle information may be obtained to obtain a phase noise sequence, i.e., the phase noise of each sampling point, so that the phase noise estimation on each sampling point is realized. Subsequently, by calculating the reciprocal of each element of the phase noise sequence and multiplying by the first time domain sequence element by element, the time domain signal after phase noise compensation may be obtained, so that phase noise estimation and compensation are completed.

Based on the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a first node, including at least one transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the method performed by the first node provided in any one of the optional embodiments of the present disclosure.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a second node, including at least one transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the method performed by the second node provided in any one of the optional embodiments of the present disclosure.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, including at least one controller/processor, and optionally at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one controller/processor. The processor is configured to implement the method provided in any one of optional embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGURE 8 illustrates a schematic structure diagram of an electronic device to which the solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied. As shown in FIG. 8, the electronic device 800 shown in FIG. 8 may include a processor 801 and a memory 803. The processor 801 is connected to the memory 803, for example, through a bus 802. Optionally, the electronic device 800 may further include a transceiver 804 that can be used for data exchange, for example, transmission and reception of data, between the electronic device and other electronic device. It should be noted that, in practical applications, the number of transceiver 804 is not limited to one, and the structure of the electronic device 800 does not constitute any limitations to the embodiments of the present disclosure. Optionally, the electronic device may be gNB, UE or other entities or node in communication networks.

The processor 801 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure. The processor 801 may also be a combination for realizing computing functions, for example, a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, etc.

The bus 802 may include a path to transfer information between the components described above. The bus 802 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus 802 may be an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of presentation, the bus is represented by only one thick line in FIG. 8. However, it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of buses.

The memory 803 may be, but not limited to, read only memories (ROMs) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memories (RAMs) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, may be electrically erasable programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), compact disc read only memories (CD-ROMs) or other optical disk storages, optical disc storages (including compact discs, laser discs, discs, digital versatile discs, blue-ray discs, etc.), magnetic storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by computers.

The memory 803 is used to store computer program for executing the solutions of the present disclosure, and is controlled by the processor 801. The processor 801 is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory 803 to implement the solution provided in any method embodiment described above.

FIGURE 9 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a structure of a UE according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 corresponds to the example of the UE of FIG. 3a.

As shown in FIG. 9, the UE according to an embodiment may include a transceiver 910, a memory 920, and a processor (e.g. controller) 930. The transceiver 910, the memory 920, and the processor 930 of the UE may operate according to a communication method of the UE described above. However, the components of the UE are not limited thereto. For example, the UE may include more or fewer components than those described above. In addition, the processor 930, the transceiver 910, and the memory 920 may be implemented as a single chip. Also, the processor 930 may include at least one processor.

The transceiver 910 collectively refers to a UE receiver and a UE transmitter, and may transmit/receive a signal to/from a base station. The signal transmitted or received to or from the base station may include control information and data. The transceiver 910 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for amplifying low-noise and down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, this is only an example of the transceiver 910 and components of the transceiver 910 are not limited to the RF transmitter and the RF receiver.

Also, the transceiver 910 may receive and output, to the processor 930, a signal through a wireless channel, and transmit a signal output from the processor 930 through the wireless channel.

The memory 920 may store a program and data required for operations of the UE. Also, the memory 920 may store control information or data included in a signal obtained by the UE. The memory 920 may be a storage medium, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media.

The processor 930 may control a series of processes such that the UE operates as described above. For example, the transceiver 910 may receive a data signal including a control signal transmitted by the base station, and the processor 930 may determine a result of receiving the control signal and the data signal transmitted by the base station.

FIGURE 10 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a structure of a base station according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 corresponds to the example of the base tation of FIG. 3b.

As shown in FIG. 10, the base station according to an embodiment may include a transceiver 1010, a memory 1020, and a processor (e.g. controller) 1030. The transceiver 1010, the memory 1020, and the processor 1030 of the base station may operate according to a communication method of the base station described above. However, the components of the base station are not limited thereto. For example, the base station may include more or fewer components than those described above. In addition, the processor 1030, the transceiver 1010, and the memory 1020 may be implemented as a single chip. Also, the processor 1030 may include at least one processor.

The transceiver 1010 collectively refers to a base station receiver and a base station transmitter, and may transmit/receive a signal to/from a terminal. The signal transmitted or received to or from the terminal may include control information and data. The transceiver 1010 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for amplifying low-noise and down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, this is only an example of the transceiver 1010 and components of the transceiver 1010 are not limited to the RF transmitter and the RF receiver.

Also, the transceiver 1010 may receive and output, to the processor 1030, a signal through a wireless channel, and transmit a signal output from the processor 1030 through the wireless channel.

The memory 1020 may store a program and data required for operations of the base station. Also, the memory 1020 may store control information or data included in a signal obtained by the base station. The memory 1020 may be a storage medium, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media.

The processor 1030 may control a series of processes such that the network entity operates as described above. For example, the transceiver 1010 may receive a data signal including a control signal transmitted by the terminal, and the processor 1030 may determine a result of receiving the control signal and the data signal transmitted by the terminal.

An objective of embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, and the first node, which can better satisfy the wireless communication requirements. To achieve the objective, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide the following technical solutions.

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, comprising:

receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information including first information related to a first resource;

receiving second configuration information, the second configuration information including second information of a second resource associated with a first reference signal;

determining the second resource and a third resource associated with a guard band based on the first information and the second information, the guard band being related to the second resource, the second resource and the third resource being located on the first resource; and

transmitting the first reference signal on the second resource.

Optionally, the first reference signal is a reference signal related to phase noise estimation.

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a second node in a wireless communication system, comprising:

receiving the first reference signal on the second resource, the second resource and the third resource associated with the guard band related to the second resource being determined based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a first node in a wireless communication system, wherein the node comprises a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and the at least one processor is configured to perform the method performed by the first node provided in any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Optionally, the first node may be a transmitter. Optionally, the first node may be a base station or a user terminal.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a second node in a wireless communication system, wherein the node comprises a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and the at least one processor is configured to perform the method performed by the second node provided in any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In yet another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, that when run in a processor, performs the method provided in any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In yet another aspect, there is provided a computer program product including a computer program, that when executed by a processor, implements the method provided in any one of the optional embodiments of the present disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps and corresponding contents of the foregoing method embodiments.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer program product including a computer program, the computer program when executed by a processor realizing the steps and corresponding contents of the preceding method embodiments.

The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", "1", "2", etc. (if present) in the specification and claims of this application and the accompanying drawings above are used to distinguish similar objects and need not be used to describe a particular order or sequence. It should be understood that the data so used is interchangeable where appropriate so that embodiments of the present disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described in the text.

It should be understood that while the flow diagrams of embodiments of the present disclosure indicate the individual operational steps by arrows, the order in which these steps are performed is not limited to the order indicated by the arrows. Unless explicitly stated herein, in some implementation scenarios of embodiments of the present disclosure, the implementation steps in the respective flowcharts may be performed in other orders as desired. In addition, some, or all of the steps in each flowchart may include multiple sub-steps or multiple phases based on the actual implementation scenario. Some or all of these sub-steps or stages can be executed at the same moment, and each of these sub-steps or stages can also be executed at different moments separately. The order of execution of these sub-steps or stages can be flexibly configured according to requirements in different scenarios of execution time, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

The above-mentioned description and the drawings are provided merely as examples to help readers to understand the present disclosure, and they should not be interpreted or aim to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although some embodiments are provided, it is apparent for those skilled in the art to adopt other similar implementation means based on the technical idea of the present disclosure without departing from the technical concept of the solution of the present disclosure.

Claims

A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving, from a base station, first configuration information including first information for a first resource;

receiving, from the base station, second configuration information including second information for a second resource associated with a first reference signal;

determining the second resource and a third resource associated with a guard band based on the first information and the second information, the guard band being associated with the second resource, the second resource and the third resource being located on the first resource; and

transmitting or receiving the first reference signal on the second resource.
The method of claim 1, wherein the second configuration information further includes information associated with at least one of:

a first frequency domain range, the first reference signal being in the first frequency domain range;

a first density of the first reference signal;

a frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal;

an offset of the frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal relative to a frequency domain starting position of the first resource;

the number of the first reference signal;

a size of the guard band; and

a position of the guard band.
The method of claim 1, wherein the second configuration information further includes information associated with at least one of:

a second density of the first reference signal;

a third density of a second reference signal; and

a second frequency domain range, the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal being in the second frequency domain range.
The method of claim 1, wherein the guard band is used to map zero-power reference signals, or is not reused for any other physical channels or physical signals.
The method of claim 1,

wherein at least one first resource unit in the second resource corresponds to the guard band, and

wherein the guard band includes at least one second resource unit adjacent to the first resource unit.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a transmit power of the first reference signal, the transmit power being associated with the second configuration information.
The method of claim 6,

wherein a scaling factor used for the transmit power of the first reference signal is associated with a density of the first reference signal, and

wherein the density of the first reference signal includes at least one of the first density or the second density.
A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory storing one or more computer programs; and

one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory,

wherein the one or more programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the UE to:

receive, from a base station, first configuration information including first information for a first resource,

receive, from the base station, second configuration information including second information for a second resource associated with a first reference signal,

determine the second resource and a third resource associated with a guard band based on the first information and the second information, the guard band being associated with the second resource, the second resource and the third resource being located on the first resource, and

transmit or receive the first reference signal on the second resource.
The method of claim 8, wherein the second configuration information further includes information associated with at least one of:

a first frequency domain range, the first reference signal being in the first frequency domain range;

a first density of the first reference signal;

a frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal;

an offset of the frequency domain starting position of the first reference signal relative to a frequency domain starting position of the first resource;

the number of the first reference signal;

a size of the guard band; and

a position of the guard band.
The method of claim 8, wherein the second configuration information further includes information associated with at least one of:

a second density of the first reference signal;

a third density of a second reference signal; and

a second frequency domain range, the first reference signal and/or the second reference signal being in the second frequency domain range.
The method of claim 8, wherein the guard band is used to map zero-power reference signals, or is not reused for any other physical channels or physical signals.
The method of claim 8,

wherein at least one first resource unit in the second resource corresponds to the guard band, and

wherein the guard band includes at least one second resource unit adjacent to the first resource unit.
The method of claim 8, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, further cause the UE to:

determine a transmit power of the first reference signal, the transmit power being associated with the second configuration information.
The method of claim 8,

wherein a scaling factor used for the transmit power of the first reference signal is associated with a density of the first reference signal, and

wherein the density of the first reference signal includes at least one of the first density or the second density.