Method and device for sending and receiving information

The present disclosure relates to a method and a device for sending and receiving information. The method includes: determining a frame structure of a serving cell, where a radio frame corresponding to the frame structure includes at least one first special subframe, remaining subframes are downlink subframes, and the first special subframe includes symbols used for uplink transmission and downlink transmission, and a GP; and sending and receiving information in the serving cell based on the frame structure. In the technical solution, because the radio frame structure includes the first special subframe, when spectrum resources are maximally applied to downlink data service transmission, not only performance of massive MIMO is improved, but also the serving cell is enabled to work independently.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a device for sending and receiving information.

BACKGROUND

In a long term evolution (LTE) system, a radio frame includes 10 subframes. In an LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, sending and receiving data are completed at different times in a same carrier. In other words, uplink transmission and downlink transmission are distinguished by using subframe granularities in time.

Subframes in the TDD system include downlink subframes, uplink subframes, and special subframes. A special subframe includes three parts: a downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS), a guard period (GP), and an uplink pilot timeslot (UpPTS). The GP is mainly used to compensate for a downlink-to-uplink switching time and an uplink/downlink transmission delay. A system earlier than LTE Release 12 can support seven different uplink-downlink configurations. Specific configurations are shown in Table 1, where D denotes a downlink subframe, S denotes a special subframe, U denotes an uplink subframe, and 0 to 6 are uplink-downlink configuration indexes. Herein an uplink-downlink configuration with an index 0 may also be referred to as an uplink-downlink configuration 0, and the rest are similar to this. In Table 1, downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicities in uplink-downlink configurations 0, 1, 2, and 6 are 5 ms, and downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicities in uplink-downlink configurations 3, 4, and 5 are 10 ms.

The LTE system supports a carrier aggregation (CA) technology. To be specific, a plurality of component carriers or serving cells may be allocated to user equipment (UE) simultaneously, and used to support data transmission at a higher rate. Persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that a serving cell is a carrier. In CA, there is one primary serving cell and at least one secondary serving cell, and a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) carrying a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) is sent only in the primary serving cell.

According to a service trend in an existing mobile network, a downlink data service requirement is far higher than an uplink service requirement. As can be seen from the existing uplink-downlink configurations, an uplink-downlink configuration that can maximally apply spectrum resources to downlink data service transmission is an uplink-downlink configuration 5. As shown in Table 1, in the uplink-downlink configuration 5, a radio frame includes up to nine subframes that may be used for downlink data transmission.

To better match the service trend in the existing network, a new radio frame structure is introduced in the prior art, so that all subframes in a radio frame can be used for downlink data transmission. A specific uplink-downlink configuration of the frame structure is shown in Table 2.

According to the uplink-downlink configuration shown in Table 2, all 10 subframes in a radio frame can be used for downlink data transmission. Therefore, spectrum resources can be maximally applied to downlink data service transmission.

However, in this uplink-downlink configuration, on one hand, because a radio frame includes only downlink subframes, a sounding reference signal (SRS) cannot be transmitted in a serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration, performance of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) in the serving cell cannot be improved through channel reciprocity, and a performance gain that massive MIMO can bring is greatly limited. On the other hand, because a radio frame includes only downlink subframes, uplink feedback information corresponding to the serving cell, including hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement information, channel state information, and the like, can be fed back only by using another serving cell, and the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration cannot work independently. In addition, from a perspective of the user equipment, the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration can serve as a secondary serving cell only, and therefore, the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration can serve only the user equipment having a carrier aggregation capability, and an application scenario of the uplink-downlink configuration is limited.

In summary, the new radio frame structure currently introduced for the purpose of maximally applying spectrum resources to downlink data service transmission not only limits the performance gain that massive MIMO may bring, but also makes the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration unable to work independently.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a method and a device for sending and receiving information, to resolve problems that a performance gain of massive MIMO is limited and that a serving cell cannot work independently due to introduction of a radio frame structure including only downlink subframes when spectrum resources are maximally applied to downlink data service transmission in the prior art.

According to a first aspect, a method for sending and receiving information is provided and includes:

determining a frame structure of a serving cell, where a radio frame corresponding to the frame structure includes at least one first special subframe, remaining subframes in the radio frame are downlink subframes, the first special subframe includes a symbol used for downlink transmission, a guard period (GP), and a symbol used for uplink transmission, the uplink transmission includes hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement uplink control channel transmission and/or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and the downlink transmission includes physical downlink shared channel transmission; and

sending and receiving information in the serving cell based on the frame structure.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation of the first aspect, the determining a frame structure of the serving cell includes:

determining the frame structure of the serving cell according to an uplink-downlink configuration of the serving cell, where an uplink-downlink configuration index corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration is x, and x is a positive integer greater than 6.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation of the first aspect, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in an uplink-downlink configuration 0.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation of the first aspect, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in one of an uplink-downlink configuration 0 to an uplink-downlink configuration 6.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation of the first aspect,

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation of the first aspect,

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation of the first aspect, the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation of the first aspect, the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment.

According to a second aspect, a device for sending and receiving information is provided and includes:

a processing unit, configured to determine a frame structure of a serving cell, where a radio frame corresponding to the frame structure includes at least one first special subframe, remaining subframes in the radio frame are downlink subframes, the first special subframe includes a symbol used for downlink transmission, a guard period (GP), and a symbol used for uplink transmission, the uplink transmission includes hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement uplink control channel transmission and/or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and the downlink transmission includes physical downlink shared channel transmission; and

a transceiver unit, configured to send and receive information in the serving cell based on the frame structure.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation of the second aspect, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

determine the frame structure of the serving cell according to an uplink-downlink configuration of the serving cell, where an uplink-downlink configuration index corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration is x, and x is a positive integer greater than 6.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation of the second aspect, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in an uplink-downlink configuration 0.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation of the second aspect, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in one of an uplink-downlink configuration 0 to an uplink-downlink configuration 6.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation of the second aspect,

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation of the second aspect,

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation of the second aspect, the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation of the second aspect, the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment.

In the present disclosure, firstly, because all subframes in the radio frame in the frame structure corresponding to the serving cell can be used for physical downlink shared channel transmission, spectrum resources are maximally applied to downlink data service transmission to better match a service trend that a downlink data service requirement is far higher than an uplink service requirement. Secondly, because the radio frame in the frame structure corresponding to the serving cell includes the first special subframe, but the first special subframe includes the symbol used for uplink transmission, and the symbol used for uplink transmission may be used for uplink control channel transmission that may specifically include hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement transmission, channel state information transmission, and/or scheduling request transmission, a feedback of uplink control information corresponding to the serving cell may not depend on another serving cell. Therefore, the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration can work independently. Thirdly, because the symbol used for uplink transmission and included in the first special subframe may be further used for SRS transmission, performance of massive MIMO in the serving cell can be improved through channel reciprocity, or a gain that link adaptation brings can be increased.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this disclosure clearer, the following further describes this disclosure in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely a part rather than all of the embodiments of this disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of this disclosure without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of this application.

The following further describes the embodiments of the present disclosure in detail with reference to this specification.

The embodiments of the present disclosure are mainly applied to a single-carrier scenario or a multi-carrier aggregation scenario in an LTE system.

FIG. 1is a schematic diagram of a communications system to which a technical solution provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is applicable. The communications system includes user equipment (UE)100, a base station101, and a core network. In the technical solution used and provided by this embodiment of the present disclosure, because all subframes in a radio frame in a frame structure corresponding to a serving cell can be used for physical downlink shared channel transmission, spectrum resources are maximally applied to downlink data service transmission to better match a service trend that a downlink data service requirement is far higher than an uplink service requirement.

In addition, because the radio frame in the frame structure corresponding to the serving cell includes a first special subframe, but the first special subframe includes a symbol used for uplink transmission, and the symbol used for uplink transmission may be used for uplink control channel transmission that may specifically include hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement transmission, channel state information transmission, and/or scheduling request transmission, a feedback of uplink control information corresponding to the serving cell may not depend on another serving cell. Therefore, the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration can work independently. In addition, because the symbol used for uplink transmission and included in the first special subframe may be further used for SRS transmission, performance of massive MIMO in the serving cell can be improved through channel reciprocity, or a gain that link adaptation brings can be increased.

The following describes in detail the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2is a schematic flowchart of a method for sending and receiving information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method includes the following steps.

Step200: Determine a frame structure of a serving cell, where a radio frame corresponding to the frame structure includes at least one first special subframe, remaining subframes in the radio frame are downlink subframes, the first special subframe includes a symbol used for downlink transmission, a guard period (GP), and a symbol used for uplink transmission, the uplink transmission includes hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement uplink control channel transmission and/or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and the downlink transmission includes physical downlink shared channel transmission.

Step201: Send and receive information in the serving cell based on the frame structure.

This embodiment of the present disclosure may be performed by a base station or UE.

It should be noted that, a specific subframe structure of the first special subframe is not limited in this embodiment of the present disclosure.FIG. 3shows a subframe structure of a first special subframe when subframe duration is 1 ms. In the subframe structure shown inFIG. 3, the first special subframe includes 12 symbols used for downlink transmission, a guard period (GP) whose duration is one symbol, and one symbol used for uplink transmission. The symbols used for downlink transmission may be OFDM symbols, and the symbol used for uplink transmission may be an SC-OFDM symbol.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmission may further include channel state information transmission and/or scheduling request transmission in addition to hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement uplink control channel transmission and/or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In a specific implementation, a new uplink-downlink configuration is added on a basis of a current uplink-downlink configuration, as shown in Table 3.

In Table 3, x is a positive integer greater than 6, S denotes a special subframe, S1 denotes a first special subframe, D denotes a downlink subframe, and U denotes an uplink subframe.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, an uplink-downlink resource ratio corresponding to an uplink-downlink configuration x is 0:10. It should be noted that, in all embodiments of the present disclosure, the uplink-downlink resource ratio of the serving cell is assumed to be X:Y, and may indicate that a ratio of a quantity of subframes used for physical uplink shared channel transmission to a quantity of subframes used for physical downlink shared channel transmission in the frame structure of the serving cell is X:Y. The uplink-downlink resource ratio corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration x is 0:10, that is, the quantity of subframes used for physical uplink shared channel transmission is 0, and the quantity of subframes used for physical downlink shared channel transmission is 10. Therefore, all the subframes in the radio frame can be used for physical downlink shared channel transmission to better match a service trend that a downlink data service requirement is far higher than an uplink service requirement.

In addition, because the first special subframe includes the symbol used for uplink transmission, and the symbol used for uplink transmission may be used for carrying uplink control information in uplink control channel transmission, where the uplink control information may include a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement, channel state information and/or a scheduling request, a feedback of the uplink control information corresponding to the serving cell may not depend on another serving cell. Therefore, the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration can work independently. In addition, because the symbol used for uplink transmission may be further used for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS), performance of massive MIMO in the serving cell can be improved through channel reciprocity.

Optionally, the frame structure of the serving cell is determined according to the uplink-downlink configuration of the serving cell in step201. Using Table 3 as an example, if a value of x in Table 3 is 7, and the current uplink-downlink configuration is an uplink-downlink configuration 7, it is determined that the frame structure of the serving cell is a frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 7.

In order that all the subframes in the radio frame may be used for physical downlink shared channel transmission, and that the serving cell can work independently, and that the performance of massive MIMO in the serving cell can be improved through channel reciprocity, optionally, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in an uplink-downlink configuration 0, that is, the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is a subset of subframe positions corresponding to uplink subframes and special subframes in the radio frame in the uplink-downlink configuration 0.

As can be seen from Table 3, positions of uplink subframes U and special subframes S corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 0 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 respectively. In this case, positions of the first special subframes may be 1 and 2, or may be 4, 8, and 9, as long as a set corresponding to the positions of the first special subframes is a subset of a set {1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9}. When the set corresponding to the positions of the first special subframes is a proper subset of the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9}, preferably, other positions are downlink subframes. For example, if the positions of the first special subframes are 1 and 2, positions 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are downlink subframes. It should be noted that, positions of downlink subframes D corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 0 are still downlink subframes.

To simplify the implementation, optionally, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in one of an uplink-downlink configuration 0 to an uplink-downlink configuration 6, that is, the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is the same as the subframe position corresponding to the uplink subframe and the special subframe in the radio frame in one of the uplink-downlink configuration 0 to the uplink-downlink configuration 6.

It should be noted that, preferably, positions of downlink subframes in the uplink-downlink configuration 0 to the uplink-downlink configuration 6 are still the positions of the downlink subframes in the radio frame including the first special subframe.

Specifically, as shown in Table 4, the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes; or a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes; or a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the first special subframes; or a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the first special subframes; or a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, and a subframe 3 are the first special subframes; or a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1 and a subframe 2 are the first special subframes; or a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes.

Positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 7 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and special subframes S in an uplink-downlink configuration 0; positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 8 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and special subframes S in an uplink-downlink configuration 1; positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 9 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and special subframes S in an uplink-downlink configuration 2; positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 10 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and a special subframe S in an uplink-downlink configuration 3; positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 11 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and a special subframe S in an uplink-downlink configuration 4; positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 12 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and a special subframe S in an uplink-downlink configuration 5; and positions of first special subframes S1 in an uplink-downlink configuration 13 are the same as positions of uplink subframes 0 and special subframes S in an uplink-downlink configuration 6. It should be noted that, the subframe structure is described merely by using a correspondence between the uplink-downlink configuration x (the value of x is 7, 8, 9, . . . , 13) and the subframe structure and the value of x as an example. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the value of x and the correspondence between the uplink-downlink configuration x and the subframe structure in Table 4.

Because the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is a subset of the subframe positions corresponding to the uplink subframes and the special subframes in the radio frame in the uplink-downlink configuration 0, or the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is the same as the subframe position corresponding to the uplink subframe and the special subframe in the radio frame in one of the uplink-downlink configuration 0 to the uplink-downlink configuration 6, when the serving cell is configured to feed back the uplink control information such as the periodic channel state information and/or the sounding reference signal (SRS), a corresponding mechanism of an existing LTE system may be reused, and standard complexity and implementation complexity are reduced. In addition, the uplink control information and/or the SRS of the serving cell are/is protected against interference from a downlink signal of a neighboring cell. This is because regardless of an uplink-downlink configuration of the neighboring cell, the uplink control information and/or the SRS of the serving cell collide/collides with uplink transmission in the neighboring cell only. However, because little interference is caused by a collision with the uplink transmission in the neighboring cell, the interference may be ignored.

When the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, optionally, the serving cell is the secondary serving cell of the user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment. That is, the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is a subset of subframe positions corresponding to downlink subframes in the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment, where other positions in the radio frame including the first special subframe are downlink subframes.

Specifically, when a frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 13 as shown in Table 4, the radio frame structure in the secondary serving cell of the user equipment is shown in Table 5.

The subframe structure is described merely by using a correspondence between the uplink-downlink configuration x (the value of x is 14, 15, 16) and the subframe structure and the value of x as an example. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the value of x and the correspondence between the uplink-downlink configuration x and the subframe structure in Table 5.

To simplify the implementation, when the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, optionally, the serving cell is the secondary serving cell of the user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment. That is, the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is the same as the subframe position corresponding to the downlink subframe in the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment, and the position of the downlink subframe is the same as the subframe position corresponding to the downlink subframe in the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment.

Specifically, when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 0, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes;

when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 1, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes;

when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 2, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the downlink subframes;

when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 3, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the downlink subframes;

when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 4, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, and a subframe 3 are the downlink subframes;

when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 5, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the special subframes, and a subframe 1 and a subframe 2 are the downlink subframes; or

when the frame structure of the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment is a radio frame structure corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration 6, in the radio frame in the secondary serving cell, a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes.

Therefore, when the serving cell is the secondary serving cell of the user equipment, because the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is a subset of subframe positions corresponding to downlink subframes in the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment, or the subframe position of the first special subframe in the radio frame is the same as a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in the radio frame in the primary serving cell of the user equipment, the uplink control information and/or the sounding reference signal (SRS) sent by the user equipment in the first special subframe of the serving cell to a base station do/does not collide with uplink transmission in the primary serving cell of the user equipment. On one hand, this can avoid discarding the uplink control information and/or the sounding reference signal (SRS) due to a collision with the uplink transmission in the primary serving cell when power is limited; on the other hand, performance is ensured because there is no need to divide power with the uplink transmission in the primary serving cell. In addition, for user equipment that does not have an uplink carrier aggregation capability, because the first special subframe of the serving cell collides only with a downlink subframe of the primary serving cell, uplink transmission may be performed in the secondary serving cell when the primary serving cell has a downlink subframe, or uplink transmission is performed in the primary serving cell when the primary serving cell has an uplink subframe. Therefore, user equipment that has only an uplink single-carrier capability can also transmit uplink control information and/or an SRS in the secondary serving cell, and a gain that link adaptation brings is increased.

Duration of each subframe in the frame structure of the serving cell is not limited in this embodiment of the present disclosure. Preferably, the duration of each subframe is 1 ms.

Based on a same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a device for sending and receiving information. A method corresponding to the device for sending and receiving information in this embodiment of the present disclosure is the method for sending and receiving information. Therefore, for an implementation of the device in this embodiment of the present disclosure, refer to the implementation of the method. No repetition is provided.

According to a schematic diagram of a device400for sending and receiving information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device400includes a processing unit410and a transceiver unit420. It should be understood that, the device400may be UE, or may be a base station.

The processing unit410is configured to determine a frame structure of a serving cell. A radio frame corresponding to the frame structure includes at least one first special subframe, remaining subframes in the radio frame are downlink subframes, the first special subframe includes a symbol used for downlink transmission, a guard period (GP), and a symbol used for uplink transmission, the uplink transmission includes hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement uplink control channel transmission and/or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and the downlink transmission includes physical downlink shared channel transmission.

The transceiver unit420is configured to send and receive information in the serving cell based on the frame structure.

Optionally, the processing unit410is specifically configured to:

determine the frame structure of the serving cell according to an uplink-downlink configuration of the serving cell, where an uplink-downlink configuration index corresponding to the uplink-downlink configuration is x, and x is a positive integer greater than 6.

Optionally, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in an uplink-downlink configuration 0.

Optionally, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to an uplink subframe and a special subframe in a radio frame in one of an uplink-downlink configuration 0 to an uplink-downlink configuration 6.

Optionally, the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the first special subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the first special subframes.

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0 and a subframe 5 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 5, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 6, and a subframe 7 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, a subframe 8, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, and a subframe 4 are the downlink subframes; or

the radio frame includes 10 subframes, where a subframe 0, a subframe 5, and a subframe 9 are the first special subframes, and a subframe 1, a subframe 2, a subframe 3, a subframe 4, a subframe 6, a subframe 7, and a subframe 8 are the downlink subframes.

Optionally, the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame is one or more of at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment.

Optionally, the serving cell is a secondary serving cell of user equipment, a subframe position of the at least one first special subframe in the radio frame corresponds to at least one subframe position, and the at least one subframe position is a subframe position corresponding to a downlink subframe in a radio frame in a primary serving cell of the user equipment.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing unit410may be implemented by a processor, and the transceiver unit420may be implemented by a transceiver. As shown inFIG. 5, a device500for sending and receiving information may include a processor510, a transceiver520, and a memory530. The memory530may be configured to store a program/code preinstalled when the device500is delivered from a factory, or may store code executed by the processor510.

Components in the device500are coupled together by using a bus system550. The bus system550further includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus, in addition to a data bus.

It should be noted that, the processor510and the transceiver520may be a processor and a transceiver in a base station, or may be a processor and a transceiver in UE.

The processor510may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits, and is configured to perform related operations to implement a technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that, although the device shown inFIG. 5includes only the processor510, the transceiver520, and the memory530, in a specific implementation process, persons skilled in the art should understand that the device further includes other components required for normal running. In addition, persons skilled in the art should understand that, according to specific requirements, the device may further include hardware components for implementing other additional functions. In addition, persons skilled in the art should understand that, the device may also include only the components or modules that are necessary for implementing this embodiment of the present disclosure, and does not necessarily include all the components shown inFIG. 5.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some of the processes in the foregoing method embodiment may be implemented by related hardware instructed by a computer program. The program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the processes of the foregoing method embodiment may be performed. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a read-only memory (ROM), or a random access memory (RAM).

As can be seen from above, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, a frame structure of a serving cell is determined, where a radio frame corresponding to the frame structure includes at least one first special subframe, remaining subframes in the radio frame are downlink subframes, the first special subframe includes a symbol used for downlink transmission, a guard period (GP), and a symbol used for uplink transmission, the uplink transmission includes hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement uplink control channel transmission and/or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and the downlink transmission includes physical downlink shared channel transmission; and information is sent and received in the serving cell based on the frame structure. In the technical solution, on one hand, because all subframes in the radio frame in the frame structure corresponding to the serving cell can be used for physical downlink shared channel transmission, spectrum resources are maximally applied to downlink data service transmission to better match a service trend that a downlink data service requirement is far higher than an uplink service requirement. On the other hand, because the radio frame in the frame structure corresponding to the serving cell includes the first special subframe, but the first special subframe includes the symbol used for uplink transmission, and the symbol used for uplink transmission may be used for uplink control channel transmission that may specifically include hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement transmission, channel state information transmission, and/or scheduling request transmission, a feedback of uplink control information corresponding to the serving cell may not depend on another serving cell. Therefore, the serving cell deployed with the uplink-downlink configuration can work independently. In addition, because the symbol used for uplink transmission and included in the first special subframe may be further used for SRS transmission, performance of massive MIMO in the serving cell can be improved through channel reciprocity, or a gain that link adaptation brings can be increased.

Obviously, persons skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is intended to cover these modifications and variations provided that they fall within the scope of protection defined by the following claims and their equivalent technologies.