Patent Description:
To meet the demand for wireless data traffic, which has increased since the commercialization of <NUM>th-generation (<NUM>) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved <NUM>th-generation (<NUM>) communication system or pre-<NUM> communication systems. Therefore, such a <NUM> communication system or pre-<NUM> communication system is called a "beyond-<NUM>-network communication system" or a "post-long-term evolution (LTE) system".

Consideration is being given to implementation of the <NUM> communication system in super-high-frequency (mm Wave) bands (e.g., a frequency band such as a <NUM> band) so as to accomplish higher data rates. In order to reduce pathloss of radio waves and increase the propagation distance of radio waves in super-high-frequency bands, techniques such as beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and large-scale antennas are being discussed for <NUM> communication systems.

According to 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) TS <NUM>, a terminal may perform precoding, based on a codebook or a non-codebook, depending on a higher-layer parameter for uplink (UL)-MIMO transmission, and a base station (BS) determines precoding of the terminal.

The following publications are related to precoding configuration:.

Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure is to provide an apparatus and method that determines a precoder for uplink and a method of operating the same, and/or an electronic device capable of transmitting data of either one of both types of network communication in dual connectivity (DC) using antennas assigned to the two types of network communication and a method of operating the same.

Since the base station needs to determine precoding and/or beamforming of all terminals, the load on the base station may increase in a multi-user environment. In addition, signaling may be required for an operation of identifying an uplink (UL) channel for precoding and/or beamforming (for example, an operation in which the terminal transmits a sounding reference signal (SRS) to the base station) and an operation of notifying the terminal of the precoding and/or beamforming determined by the base station (for example, an operation in which the base station transmits an SRS resource indicator (SRI) to the terminal). However, the above-described signaling is control information, which may waste time/frequency resources capable of transmitting actual data (e.g., user data).

In addition, the terminal may split and use antennas for long-term evolution (LTE) and <NUM>th-generation (<NUM>) in evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) new radio dual connectivity (EN-DC) of the non-standalone (NSA) structure of new radio (NR). In this case, if data is transmitted and received only by one type of network communication, the antenna for the other type of network communication may be wasted.

Aspects of the disclosure is to provide an electronic device that determines a precoder for uplink and a method of operating the same as defined in the appended claims.

A first aspect of the present invention is an electronic device comprising: at least one communication processor; at least one radio frequency integrated circuit, RFIC, configured to convert data transmitted from the at least one communication processor into at least one radio frequency, RF, signal and output the at least one RF signal; and at least one antenna configured to receive each of the at least one RF signal and radiate an electromagnetic field, wherein the at least one communication processor is configured to: receive, from a base station, a reference signal for identifying a state of a downlink channel between the electronic device and the base station through the at least one antenna and the at least one RFIC, based on the reference signal and association information between the downlink channel and an uplink channel between the electronic device and the base station, identify the uplink channel, based on the identified uplink channel, identify a precoder for the uplink channel, based on the identified precoder, precode uplink data and a demodulation reference signal, DMRS, transmit the precoded uplink data and the DMRS to the base station using at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna, wherein the at least one communication processor is further configured to: identify whether a condition configured to identify the precoder is satisfied, and based on identifying that the configured condition is satisfied, perform the identification of the uplink channel and the identification of the precoder, wherein the at least one communication processor is further configured to identify whether the configured condition is satisfied based on whether an interval between a reception time of the reference signal and a transmission time of the uplink data is equal to or less than a specified threshold time.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to: perform the precoding based on precoding information received from a base station when the interval between a reception time of the reference signal and a transmission time of the uplink data exceeds the specified threshold time.

Preferably, the reciprocity between the downlink channel and an uplink channel between the electronic device and the base station is guaranteed below the specified threshold time.

Preferably, the specified threshold time varies depending on motion information of the electronic device or the Doppler's frequency.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to: transmit a sounding reference signal, SRS, to the base station using the at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna, receive, from the base station, precoding information identified by the base station by means of the SRS, based on identifying that the configured condition is not satisfied, precode the uplink data and the DMRS, based on the precoding information identified by the base station, and transmit a signal based on the precoded data to the base station using the at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to: transmit a sounding reference signal, SRS, to the base station using the at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna, receive, from the base station, precoding information identified by the base station by means of the SRS, and based on identifying that the configured condition is satisfied, ignore the precoding information identified by the base station and precode the uplink data and the DMRS, based on the precoder identified by the electronic device.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to: identify a number of resource blocks, RBs, for comparison based on the uplink channel, and based on an uplink-scheduled bandwidth being less than or equal to the number of RBs, identify one precoder for an entirety of the uplink channel.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to: based on the uplink-scheduled bandwidth exceeding the number of RBs: group the RBs corresponding to the scheduled uplink channel bandwidth, based on the number of RBs, into groups and configure a precoder for each group.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to: decompose the uplink channel into a matrix product of a first unitary matrix, a diagonal matrix, and a second unitary matrix, based on singular value decomposition, SVD, and identify a submatrix including at least some columns of the second unitary matrix as the precoder.

Preferably, the at least one communication processor is further configured to identify a codebook maximizing achievable sum throughput in an entire band with respect to the uplink channel as the precoder.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is a method for operating electronic device for performing precoding, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, a reference signal for identifying a state of a downlink channel between the electronic device and the base station through at least one antenna and at least one radio frequency integrated circuit, RFIC; based on the reference signal and association information between the downlink channel and an uplink channel between the electronic device and the base station, identifying the uplink channel; based on the identified uplink channel, identifying a precoder for the uplink channel; based on the identified precoder, preceding uplink data and a demodulation reference signal, DMRS; and transmiting the precoded uplink data and the DMRS to the base station using at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna, wherein the method is further configured to: identify whether a condition configured to identify the precoder is satisfied, and based on identifying that the configured condition is satisfied, perform the identification of the uplink channel and the identification of the precoder, wherein whether the configured condition is satisfied is based on whether an interval between a reception time of the reference signal and a transmission time of the uplink data is equal to or less than a specified threshold time.

Preferably, the precoding is performed based on precoding information received from a base station when the interval between a reception time of the reference signal and a transmission time of the uplink data exceeds the specified threshold time.

According to various embodiments, it is possible to provide an electronic device that determines a precoder for uplink and a method of operating the same. Accordingly, signaling for control is not required, so that a transmission speed of user data (e.g., a data transmission rate per hour and/or a response speed) may be improved. In addition, the electronic device is capable of actively adjusting the precoder.

According to various embodiments, it is possible to provide an electronic device capable of transmitting data of either one of two types of network communication in DC using antennas assigned to two types of network communication, and a method of operating the same. The rank of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) can be improved by using a larger number of antennas.

A corresponding one of these communication modules may communicate with the external electronic device via the first network <NUM> (e.g., a short-range communication network, such as Bluetooth™, Wi-Fi direct, or infrared data association (IrDA)) or the second network <NUM> (e.g., a long-range communication network, such as a cellular network, the Internet, or a computer network (e.g., LAN or wide area network (WAN)).

<FIG> is a block diagram <NUM> of an electronic device <NUM> for supporting legacy network communication and <NUM> network communication according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, the electronic device <NUM> may include a first communication processor <NUM>, a second communication processor <NUM>, a first radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) <NUM>, a second RFIC <NUM>, a third RFIC <NUM>, a fourth RFIC <NUM>, a first radio frequency front end (RFFE) <NUM>, a second RFFE <NUM>, a first antenna module <NUM>, a second antenna module <NUM>, and antennas <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may further include a processor <NUM> and a memory <NUM>. A network <NUM> may include a first network <NUM> and a second network <NUM>. According to another embodiment, the electronic device <NUM> may further include at least one of the components described with reference to <FIG>, and the network <NUM> may further include at least one of other networks. According to an embodiment, the first communication processor <NUM>, the second communication processor <NUM>, the first RFIC <NUM>, the second RFIC <NUM>, the fourth RFIC <NUM>, the first RFFE <NUM>, and the second RFFE <NUM> may constitute at least a part of the wireless communication module <NUM>. According to another embodiment, the fourth RFIC <NUM> may be omitted, or may be included as a part of the third RFIC <NUM>.

The first communication processor <NUM> may support the establishment of a communication channel in a band to be used for wireless communication with the first network <NUM> and legacy network communication through the established communication channel. According to various embodiments, the first network may be a legacy network including a second generation <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or long-term evolution (LTE) network. The second communication processor <NUM> may support the establishment of a communication channel corresponding to a specified band (e.g., about <NUM> to about <NUM>), among the bands to be used for wireless communication with the second network <NUM>, and <NUM> network communication through the established communication channel. According to various embodiments, the second network <NUM> may be a <NUM> network defined in 3GPP. Additionally, according to an embodiment, the first communication processor <NUM> or the second communication processor <NUM> may support establishment of a communication channel corresponding to another specified band (e.g., about <NUM> or below), among the bands to be used for wireless communication with the second network <NUM>, and <NUM> network communication through the established communication channel.

The first communication processor <NUM> may transmit/receive data to/from the second communication processor <NUM>. For example, the data that is intended to be transmitted through the second cellular network <NUM> may be transmitted through the first cellular network <NUM>. In this case, the first communication processor <NUM> may receive data transmitted from the second communication processor <NUM>.

For example, the first communication processor <NUM> may transmit/receive data to/from the second communication processor <NUM> through an inter-processor interface <NUM>. The inter-processor interface <NUM> may be implemented as, for example, a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) (e.g., a high-speed-UART (HS-UART)) or a peripheral component interconnect bus express (PCIe) interface, but it is not limited to a specific type. Alternatively, the first communication processor <NUM> and the second communication processor <NUM> may exchange control information and packet data information using, for example, a shared memory. The first communication processor <NUM> may transmit/receive various information, such as sensing information, information on output strength, and resource block (RB) allocation information, to/from the second communication processor <NUM>.

Depending on the implementation, the first communication processor <NUM> may not be directly connected to the second communication processor <NUM>. In this case, the first communication processor <NUM> may transmit/receive data to/from the second communication processor <NUM> through the processor <NUM> (e.g., an application processor). For example, the first communication processor <NUM> and the second communication processor <NUM> may transmit/receive data to/from each other through the processor <NUM> (e.g., an application processor), an HS-UART interface, or a PCIe interface, but the interface is not limited to a specific type. Alternatively, the first communication processor <NUM> and the second communication processor <NUM> may exchange control information and packet data information using the processor <NUM> (e.g., an application processor) and a shared memory.

According to an embodiment, the first communication processor <NUM> and the second communication processor <NUM> may be implemented in a single chip or a single package. According to various embodiments, the first communication processor <NUM> or the second communication processor <NUM> may be provided in a single chip or a single package together with the processor <NUM>, the auxiliary processor <NUM>, or the communication module <NUM>.

<FIG> is a block diagram of an electronic device for supporting legacy network communication and <NUM> network communication according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, an integrated communication processor <NUM> may support functions for communication both with the first cellular network and with the second cellular network.

When transmitting a signal, the first RFIC <NUM> may convert a baseband signal generated by the first communication processor <NUM> into a radio frequency (RF) signal of about <NUM> to about <NUM> used in the first network <NUM> (e.g., a legacy network). When receiving a signal, an RF signal may be obtained from the first network <NUM> (e.g., a legacy network) through an antenna (e.g., the first antenna module <NUM>), and may be preprocessed through an RFFE (e.g., the first RFFE <NUM>). The first RFIC <NUM> may convert the preprocessed RF signal into a baseband signal so as to be processed by the first communication processor <NUM>.

When transmitting a signal, the second RFIC <NUM> may convert a baseband signal generated by the first communication processor <NUM> or the second communication processor <NUM> into an RF signal of a Sub-<NUM> band (e.g., about <NUM> or less) (hereinafter, referred to as a "<NUM> Sub-<NUM> RF signal") used in the second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network). When receiving a signal, a <NUM> Sub-<NUM> RF signal may be obtained from the second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network) through an antenna (e.g., the second antenna module <NUM>), and may be preprocessed through an RFFE (e.g., the second RFFE <NUM>). The second RFIC <NUM> may convert the preprocessed <NUM> Sub-<NUM> RF signal into a baseband signal so as to be processed by the corresponding communication processor, among the first communication processor <NUM> or the second communication processor <NUM>.

The third RFIC <NUM> may convert a baseband signal generated by the second communication processor <NUM> into an RF signal in a <NUM> Above-<NUM> band (e.g., about <NUM> to about <NUM>) (hereinafter, referred to as a "<NUM> Above-<NUM> RF signal") to be used in the second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network). When receiving a signal, the <NUM> Above-<NUM> RF signal may be obtained from the second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network) through an antenna (e.g., the antenna <NUM>), and may be preprocessed by the third RFFE <NUM>. The third RFIC <NUM> may convert the preprocessed <NUM> Above-<NUM> RF signal into a baseband signal so as to be processed by the second communication processor <NUM>. According to an embodiment, the third RFFE <NUM> may be configured as a part of the third RFIC <NUM>.

According to an embodiment, the electronic device <NUM> may include the fourth RFIC <NUM> separately from the third RFIC <NUM> or as at least a part thereof. In this case, the fourth RFIC <NUM> may convert the baseband signal generated by the second communication processor <NUM> into an RF signal (hereinafter, referred to as an "IF signal") in an intermediate frequency band (e.g., about <NUM> to about <NUM>), and may transmit the IF signal to the third RFIC <NUM>. The third RFIC <NUM> may convert the IF signal into a <NUM>-Above <NUM> RF signal. When receiving a signal, the <NUM> Above-<NUM> RF signal may be received from the second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network) through an antenna (e.g., the antenna <NUM>), and may be converted to an IF signal by the third RFIC <NUM>. The fourth RFIC <NUM> may convert the IF signal into a baseband signal so as to be processed by the second communication processor <NUM>.

According to an embodiment, the first RFIC <NUM> and the second RFIC <NUM> may be implemented as a single chip or at least a part of a single package. According to an embodiment, the first RFFE <NUM> and the second RFFE <NUM> may be implemented as a single chip or at least a part of a single package. According to an embodiment, at least one of the first antenna module <NUM> or the second antenna module <NUM> may be omitted, or may be combined with another antenna module, thereby processing RF signals in a plurality of corresponding bands.

According to an embodiment, the third RFIC <NUM> and the antenna <NUM> may be disposed on the same substrate, thereby configuring the third antenna module <NUM>. For example, the wireless communication module <NUM> or the processor <NUM> may be disposed on a first substrate (e.g., a main PCB). In this case, the third RFIC <NUM> may be disposed on a portion (e.g., a lower surface) of the second substrate (e.g., a sub-PCB) separately from the first substrate, and the antenna <NUM> may be disposed in another portion (e.g., an upper surface) thereof, thereby configuring the third antenna module <NUM>. It is possible to reduce the length of the transmission line between the third RFIC <NUM> and the antenna <NUM> by arranging the same on the same substrate. This may reduce, for example, the loss (e.g., attenuation) of a signal in a high-frequency band (e.g., about <NUM> to about <NUM>) used in <NUM> network communication attributable to the transmission line. As a result, the electronic device <NUM> may improve the quality or speed of communication with the second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network).

According to an example, the antenna <NUM> may be configured as an antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements that may be used in beamforming. In this case, the third RFIC <NUM> may include a plurality of phase shifters <NUM> corresponding to a plurality of antenna elements, for example, as part of the third RFFE <NUM>. When transmitting a signal, each of the plurality of phase shifters <NUM> may convert the phase of a <NUM> Above-<NUM> RF signal to be transmitted to the outside of the electronic device <NUM> (e.g., a base station in a <NUM> network) through a corresponding antenna element. When receiving a signal, each of the plurality of phase shifters <NUM> may convert the phase of the <NUM> Above-<NUM> RF signal received from the outside through a corresponding antenna element into the same or substantially the same phase. This enables transmission or reception between the electronic device <NUM> and the outside through beamforming.

The second network <NUM> (e.g., a <NUM> network) may operate independently of the first network <NUM> (e.g., a legacy network) (for example, a standalone (SA) network), or may operate while being connected thereto (for example, a non-standalone (NSA) network). For example, the <NUM> network may have only an access network (e.g., a <NUM> radio access network (RAN) or a next-generation RAN (NG RAN)), and may have no core network (e.g., a next-generation core (NGC)). In this case, the electronic device <NUM> may access the access network of the <NUM> network, and may then access an external network (e.g., the Internet) under the control of the core network (e.g., an evolved packed core (EPC)) of the legacy network. Protocol information for communication with a legacy network (e.g., LTE protocol information) or protocol information for communication with a <NUM> network (e.g., new radio (NR) protocol information) may be stored in the memory <NUM>, so that other components (e.g., the processors <NUM>, the first communication processor <NUM>, or the second communication processor <NUM>) may access the memory.

According to various embodiments, the second communication processor <NUM> may be connected to the first RFIC <NUM>, which will be described with reference to <FIG>.

The term "base station" may be replaced by "enhanced Node B (eNB)", "general node B (gNB)", or "access point". Based on the type of network, another well-known term such as "base station" or "access point" may be used in place of "gNB" or "BS". For convenience, the term "gNB" or "BS" may indicate a network infrastructure component that provides wireless access to remote terminals in the disclosure. Further, based on the type of network, the term "electronic device" may be replaced with "mobile station", "subscriber station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal", "user device", or "user equipment". For convenience, the terms "user terminal" and "UE" may indicate remote wireless terminals that wirelessly access the gNB in the disclosure.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronic device and a base station according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, according to a comparative example, in operation <NUM>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, and the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may transmit an SRS to a base station <NUM>. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit the SRS in specified symbols of a slot (e.g., the last symbol of a slot in the case of LTE and the last <NUM> symbols of a slot in the case of NR) according to a specific period. The electronic device <NUM> may identify SRS configuration through RRC messages (e.g., RRC connection setup and/or RRC connection reconfiguration).

The base station <NUM> may identify the quality of an uplink path channel (for example, may predict channel information), based on the SRS. The base station may identify precoding information for the uplink of the electronic device <NUM>, based on the predicted channel information. In the case of codebook-based precoding, the base station <NUM> may estimate the UL channel, based on the SRS, and may identify one precoder to be used by the terminal, among the precoder set agreed upon with the electronic device <NUM> in advance. In the case of non-codebook-based precoding, the electronic device <NUM> may apply respective ones of the plurality of codebooks to the respective SRSs, and the base station <NUM> may select the precoded and/or beamformed SRS resource that is most suitable for UL data transmission.

In operation <NUM>, the base station <NUM> may transmit an SRI associated with precoding to the electronic device <NUM>. For example, in the case of non-codebook-based precoding, the base station <NUM> may transmit an SRI indicating the selected SRS resource to the electronic device <NUM>. For example, in the case of codebook-based precoding, the base station <NUM> may transmit a transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) to the electronic device <NUM>. The base station <NUM> may transmit a transmission rank. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder, based on at least one of the SRI, the TPMI, or the transmission rank associated with the received precoding. Alternatively, the electronic device <NUM> may identify the precoder, based on the TPMI. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit, to the base station <NUM>, data precoded based on the identified precoder.

According to various embodiments, in the case of codebook-based transmission, if a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is scheduled according to DCI format 0_1, the electronic device <NUM> may identify a PUSCH transmission precoder, based on an SRI, a TPMI, and a transmission rank. The TPMI may indicate the precoder to be applied to an antenna port, and, in the case where a plurality of SRS resources are arranged, may correspond to the SRS selected by the SRI. In the case where a single SRS resource is configured, the TPMI may indicate the precoder to be applied to the antenna port, and may correspond to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder may be selected from the uplink codebook, and the uplink codebook may include the same antennas as the higher-level parameter "nrofSRS"-ports in "SRS-config", which may be defined according to <NUM>. <NUM> of TS <NUM>. In the case where the higher-level parameter "txConfig" is configured as a "codebook", the electronic device <NUM> may perform uplink transmission, based on the codebook. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit SRS resources each having multiple SRS ports to N base stations, and the base station may select one of them, thereby transmitting notification thereof to the electronic device <NUM> through an SRI. The SRI may be used to indicate uplink beams. The electronic device <NUM> may select and use an uplink beam corresponding to the SRS resource. In the codebook-based transmission, the electronic device <NUM> may select codebook subsets, based on the TPMI. In the non-codebook-based transmission, the electronic device <NUM> may configure a PUSCH precoder and a transmission rank, based on a wideband SRI (wide SRI) in the case where a plurality of SRS resources are configured. In the non-codebook-based transmission, the electronic device <NUM> may obtain a precoder for transmitting the precoded SRS, based on the measurement associated with the non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource. The electronic device <NUM> may perform one-to-one mapping between the indicated SRIs and the DM-RS ports in the DCI format in increasing order.

According to a comparative example, in order to select a precoder of the base station <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> must transmit an SRS, and the base station <NUM> may need to transmit information associated with the selected precoder to the electronic device <NUM>. Accordingly, the electronic device <NUM> must allocate resources capable of transmitting data for the transmission and reception of control data for precoder configuration, so that data transmission may be delayed. In addition, it may be impossible for the electronic device <NUM> to select a precoder according to existing standard.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, a base station <NUM> may transmit a reference signal to an electronic device <NUM> in operation <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM>, the second communication processor <NUM>, and the integrated communication processor <NUM>) may receive a reference signal from the base station <NUM>. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may receive a downlink channel state information-reference signal (DL CSI-RS) from the base station <NUM>, but the signal is not limited to a specific type, as long as it is a signal able to be used in prediction of a channel (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS)).

According to various embodiments, in operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may estimate uplink channel information using channel reciprocity, based on the reference signal. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify the precoder, based on the UL channel information. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may identify at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or pathloss of the reference signal, and may estimate downlink channel information, based on the identified result. However, the method of estimating the downlink channel information is not limited thereto. The electronic device <NUM> may estimate uplink channel information, based on UL-DL channel reciprocity. If UL-DL channel reciprocity is feasible with respect to, for example, time division duplex (TDD) scenarios, the electronic device <NUM> may estimate UL channel information by measuring the DL CSI-RS. In this case, the electronic device <NUM> may calculate its own unique precoder for a given resource allocation. Alternatively, the electronic device <NUM> may use a UL channel estimation value for selecting a precoder from a precoder subset (or group). In various embodiments, the precoder identified by the electronic device <NUM> may include a precoding matrix (or vector) and/or a beam-former for MIMO.

According to various embodiments, in operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit a precoded demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and data, based on the identified precoder. The electronic device <NUM> may perform precoding, based on the precoder calculated or selected by the electronic device <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may obtain a codeword by performing channel coding on the data for transmission, and may modulate the codeword into a symbol representing a position in a signal constellation. In various embodiments, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that performing precoding on UL data by the electronic device <NUM> denotes performing precoding on modulation symbols. In addition, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the transmission of UL data (or a DMRS) by the electronic device <NUM> may include an operation of converting a precoded vector into an RF signal and radiating electromagnetic waves through an antenna.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may precode UL data and a DMRS using the same precoder. The base station <NUM> may use a DMRS for the operation of demodulating the UL data. For example, the base station <NUM> may estimate the product of a UL channel and a precoder at once, based on the DMRS, and may identify a modulation symbol, based on the estimated result. Meanwhile, in various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit information associated with precoding to the base station <NUM> through control signaling. In this case, the electronic device <NUM> may precode only the UL data, and may transmit the same to the base station <NUM>. The base station <NUM> may identify a symbol vector, based on the received information associated with the precoding.

In various embodiments, according to the above-described operation, the operation of transmitting the SRS by the electronic device <NUM> and the operation of transmitting the SRI associated with the precoding by the base station <NUM> may be omitted. In addition, the electronic device <NUM> may actively perform precoding. The operation in which the electronic device <NUM> independently performs precoding as described above may be referred to as "network (NW)-assistance-free UL MIMO" or "UE-based UL MIMO". In addition, the electronic device <NUM> according to various embodiments may determine a precoder independently if specified conditions are satisfied, but the electronic device <NUM> may be configured, if specified conditions are not satisfied, to perform precoding, based on the precoder received from the base station <NUM> according to 3GPP TS <NUM>. Precoding based on the precoder received from the base station <NUM> may also be referred to as "network-assistance UL MIMO". Various embodiments of the specified conditions described above will be described later.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, and the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may receive a reference signal (e.g., DL CSI-RS) from a base station <NUM> in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may estimate a UL channel between the base station <NUM> and the electronic device <NUM>, based on the reference signal and channel reciprocity. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder matrix (or vector), based on the estimated UL channel. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder matrix, based on at least some of the matrices obtained by decomposing the estimated UL channel according to singular value decomposition (SVD). In the case where the matrix (or vector) representing the UL channel is represented by "H", "H" may be decomposed as shown in Math <FIG>.

U and V are unitary matrices, and ∑ is a diagonal matrix. VH may be a Hermitian matrix of V. The electronic device <NUM> may configure a submatrix including at least some columns of the unitary matrix V as a precoder matrix. In the case where the submatrix including at least some columns of the unitary matrix V is configured as a precoder matrix, the vector product of UH and the reception signal vector in the base station <NUM> may be simply expressed as the sum of the vector product between ∑ and the modulation symbol and noise. Since ∑ is a diagonal matrix, the amount of calculation required for the estimation of the modulation symbol may be reduced. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit the DMRS and data precoded based on the precoder matrix.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM>, the second communication processor <NUM>, and the integrated communication processor <NUM>) may receive a reference signal (e.g., DL CSI-RS) from a base station <NUM> in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may estimate a UL channel between the base station <NUM> and the electronic device <NUM>, based on the reference signal and channel reciprocity. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may select at least one precoder of a codebook set, based on the estimated UL channel. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may pre-store a codebook set defined for codebook-based UL transmission in 3GPP. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may select, as a precoder, a codebook for maximizing achievable sum throughput in all bands with respect to the estimated UL channel, but it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the criteria for selecting the codebook are not limited. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit the DMRS and data precoded based on the selected codebook set.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM>, the second communication processor <NUM>, and the integrated communication processor <NUM>) may receive a reference signal (e.g., DL CSI-RS) from a base station <NUM> in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may estimate a UL channel between the base station <NUM> and the electronic device <NUM>, based on the reference signal and channel reciprocity.

According to various embodiments, in operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not to estimate a precoder, based on a codebook. The electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not to estimate the precoder, based on the codebook, depending on whether or not specified conditions are satisfied. For example, according to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may predict and/or compare the performance between the case in which the estimated UL channel information (H) and the precoder (W) selected based on the codebook using the estimated UL channel information are used and the case in which the estimated UL channel information (H) and the precoder (W) are not used. If the difference in the performance is greater than or equal to a specific threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may operate based on the codebook, and if the difference in the performance is less than the threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may operate on a non-codebook basis. Alternatively, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to operate on a codebook basis in the case where reduction of power consumption is required (for example, in the case where the battery level is less than or equal to a threshold). Alternatively, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to operate on a codebook basis in the case where the precoder is required to be determined quickly. Alternatively, if the performance of a processor is less than or equal to a threshold (or if an idle resource is less than or equal to a threshold), the electronic device <NUM> may operate on a codebook basis.

According to various embodiments, if it is identified that the precoder is to be estimated based on the codebook ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may select at least one of codebook sets, based on the estimated UL channel in operation <NUM>. If it is identified that the precoder is not to be estimated based on the codebook ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder matrix, based on the estimated UL channel in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit a DMRS and data precoded based on the identified precoder.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to, if at least some of the above conditions are satisfied, independently perform precoding, for example, even if the electronic device <NUM> receives, from the base station <NUM>, an instruction not to perform precoding. For example, even if the electronic device <NUM> receives, from the base station <NUM>, first-layer scheduling information, does not receive an SRS request, or receives an SRI indicating that precoding is not to be performed, the electronic device <NUM> may independently identify the precoder. In addition, even if the electronic device <NUM> receives precoding information from the base station <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may ignore the information, and may perform precoding using the precoder independently calculated (or selected) by the electronic device <NUM>.

Referring to <FIG>, in operation <NUM>, a base station <NUM> may transmit a reference signal (e.g., DL CSI-RS). In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit an SRS to the base station <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the base station <NUM> may transmit an SRI (or TPMI) associated with the precoding.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM>, the second communication processor <NUM>, and the integrated communication processor <NUM>) may identify whether or not conditions for performing precoding in the electronic device are satisfied in operation <NUM>. The conditions may be associated with at least one of UL scheduling information, link quality, antenna status, or prediction reliability of the UL channel, but the type thereof is not limited. Various embodiments of the respective conditions will be described in more detail with reference to <FIG>.

According to various embodiments, if it is identified that the configured conditions are satisfied ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may estimate UL channel information using channel reciprocity, based on the reference signal in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify (or select) a precoder, based on the UL channel information. As described above, the electronic device <NUM> may identify the precoder according to any one of a codebook-based method and a non-codebook-based method. If it is identified that the configured conditions are not satisfied ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify the precoder, based on the SRI (or TPMI) in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit a DMRS and data precoded based on the identified precoder.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating precoding according to a received precoder according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating precoding according to an identified precoder according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., the electronic device <NUM> in <FIG>) may receive one-layer and one-port precoding information from a base station <NUM>. If it is identified that configured conditions are not satisfied, the electronic device <NUM> may perform precoding, based on the precoding information received from the base station <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, the electronic device <NUM> may input a modulation symbol corresponding to the data <NUM> and the DMRS <NUM> for uplink into a precoding block <NUM>. The precoding block <NUM> may output the modulation symbol without precoding the same to an antenna port corresponding to a single antenna <NUM> according to precoding corresponding to the one layer and the one port (e.g., no precoding). A transmission signal from the antenna <NUM> may be transmitted through a first channel environment (H4X1), and the base station <NUM> may receive the transmission signal through at least one antenna <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>. The matrix that reflects both the precoding and the channel environment may be expressed as "HDMRS,<NUM>×<NUM>". The base station <NUM> may identify transmission bits from the received transmission signals, based on the precoding information having been transmitted to the electronic device <NUM> or based on the DMRS. Meanwhile, the channel environment using the four antennas above is only an example, and it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the number of antennas is not limited.

Referring to <FIG>, the electronic device <NUM> may determine to perform network-assistance-free UL MIMO. The electronic device <NUM> may identify that configured conditions are satisfied, and may identify a precoder, based on the DL CSI-RS. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may determine the precoder different from the precoding information received from the base station <NUM>. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may determine a two-port precoder, and the precoding block <NUM> may perform network (NW)-assistance-free precoding on the modulation symbol corresponding to the data <NUM> and the DMRS <NUM> for uplink, thereby outputting the same to the antenna ports corresponding to two antennas <NUM> and <NUM>. The channel environment using the two antennas above is only an example, and it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the number of antennas is not limited. Transmission signals from the antennas <NUM> and <NUM> may be transmitted through a second channel environment (H4X2), and the base station <NUM> may receive the transmission signals through at least one antenna <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>. The matrix that reflects both the precoding and the channel environment may be expressed as "HDMRS,<NUM>×<NUM>". The base station <NUM> may identify transmission bits, based on the DMRS. Since the DMRS is transmitted through the same effective channel as the UL data, the base station <NUM> may identify the UL data using the channel estimated based on the DMRS. Although not shown, the electronic device <NUM> may receive one-layer and two-port codebook-based precoding information from the base station <NUM>, but may ignore the precoding information and use a precoder corresponding to four ports. Alternatively, the electronic device <NUM> may be scheduled to perform non-codebook-based precoding by the base station <NUM>. In this case, although the electronic device <NUM> receives an instruction to perform precoding using the same number of ports as the number of layers (or a specified number of ports), the electronic device <NUM> may ignore the instruction, and may perform precoding corresponding to the same number of ports as the number of layers or a greater or smaller number of ports than the number of layers, thereby transmitting data. The electronic device <NUM> according to various embodiments may perform one of either the precoding based on the precoding information received from the base station <NUM> or the precoding based on the precoding information determined by the electronic device <NUM>, depending on whether or not the configured conditions are satisfied. The base station <NUM> may be configured so as to switch the precoder during the transmission of data.

According to various embodiments, the conditions for the electronic device <NUM> to select whether to use the precoding information received from the base station <NUM> or the precoding information determined by the electronic device <NUM> will be described with reference to <FIG>. Various conditions may be used alone, or may be used as at least a combination thereof.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may receive UL scheduling information in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the UL scheduling information satisfies specified conditions. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may determine whether or not to operate a network-assistance-free mode depending on the uplink transmission mode determined by the base station <NUM>. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may determine whether or not to operate a network-assistance-free mode according to the number of assigned layers or configuration of precoding/non-precoding, depending on the uplink transmission mode. If the scheduling information is received through the transmission of a single antenna port, the electronic device <NUM> may operate in a network-assistance-free mode. If the scheduling information in a non-codebook transmission mode is received, the electronic device <NUM> may operate in a network-assistance-free mode. If the scheduling information in an uplink precoding mode is received, the electronic device <NUM> may operate in a network-assistance-free mode. In addition to the above-described examples, the electronic device <NUM> may decide whether or not to determine the precoding information itself, based on at least some of the scheduling information received from the base station <NUM>, or may be configured to decide whether or not to determine the precoding information itself, based on at least one combination of the respective pieces of the above information. If it is identified that the UL scheduling information satisfies the specified conditions ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder, based on the estimated UL channel, thereby performing precoding, in operation <NUM>. If it is identified that the UL scheduling information does not satisfy the specified conditions ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may perform precoding, based on the precoder received from the base station <NUM>, in operation <NUM>. Alternatively, if it is identified that the UL scheduling information does not satisfy the specified conditions ("No" in operation <NUM>), although not shown, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit data without performing precoding. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit data using one layer. In various embodiments, although not shown, the electronic device <NUM> may always use the precoder identified based on the UL channel estimated by the electronic device <NUM>, instead of identifying whether or not the specified conditions are satisfied in operation <NUM>.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may identify the quality of a link in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the quality of a link satisfies a specified condition. The specified condition may be a condition in which the electronic device <NUM> is configured to perform precoding without network assistance. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may identify at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indication (RSSI), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of a signal received from the base station <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may compare at least one of the measurement results with a specified threshold, and may identify whether or not to perform precoding without network assistance, based on the comparison result. For example, if at least one of the measurement results is equal to or greater than a specified threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may determine to perform precoding without network assistance. In addition to the above-described example, the electronic device <NUM> may decide whether or not to determine the precoding information itself using any of indexes indicating the quality of a link. If it is identified that the quality of a link satisfies a specified condition ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder, based on the estimated UL channel, thereby performing precoding, in operation <NUM>. If it is identified that the quality of a link does not satisfy a specified condition ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may perform precoding, based on the precoder received from the base station <NUM>, in operation <NUM>. Alternatively, if it is identified that the quality of a link does not satisfy a specified condition ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit data without performing precoding. Alternatively, if the magnitude of transmission power of the electronic device <NUM> is greater than or equal to a threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may operate in a network-assistance-free mode.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may identify the state of an antenna in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the state of an antenna satisfies a specified condition. The specified condition may be a condition in which the electronic device <NUM> is configured to perform precoding without network assistance. For example, if an antenna correlation is greater than or equal to a specified threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may not operate a network-assistance-free mode. If the antenna correlation is less than a specified threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may operate a network-assistance-free mode. For example, if it is identified that an event of gripping a specific portion of the antenna in the hand (hand-gripping event) has occurred, the electronic device <NUM> may not operate a network-assistance-free mode. For example, if it is identified that the hand-gripping event has occurred, and if it is identified that there is a plurality of antennas in which a hand-gripping event has not occurred, the electronic device <NUM> may operate a network-assistance-free mode. In this case, the electronic device <NUM> may determine precoding information using the antennas in which the hand-gripping event has not occurred. The electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not a hand-gripping event has occurred, based on the sensing data from a grip sensor. Alternatively, the electronic device <NUM> may identify the difference in at least one of RSRP, RSSI, or SINR between the antennas, and, if it is identified that the difference is greater than or equal to a specified threshold, may identify that a hand-gripping event has occurred. The electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not to operate in a network-assistance-free mode, based on whether or not a combination including at least one of the above-described condition is satisfied.

If it is identified that the state of an antenna satisfies a specified condition ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder, based on the estimated UL channel, thereby performing precoding, in operation <NUM>. If it is identified that the state of an antenna does not satisfy a specified condition ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may perform precoding, based on the precoder received from the base station <NUM>, in operation <NUM>. Alternatively, if it is identified that the state of an antenna does not satisfy a specified condition ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit data without performing precoding.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may receive a CSI-RS from a base station <NUM> in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify the transmission time of UL data. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the difference between the reception time of the CSI-RS and the transmission time of the UL data exceeds a threshold. As described above, the electronic device <NUM> according to various embodiments may estimate UL channel information from DL channel information, based on UL/DL channel reciprocity. If there is a big difference in time between the reception time of the CSI-RS for the DL channel information and the UL channel for the transmission of the UL data, the reliability of the UL channel estimated by the channel reciprocity may be degraded. Accordingly, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to operate in a network-assistance-free mode if the UL data is scheduled to be transmitted with a difference equal to or less than a threshold at which reciprocity between the DL channel and the UL channel can be guaranteed. If the interval between the slot of the DL CSI-RS and the UL slot is equal to or less than a specified threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may operate in a network-assistance-free mode. In this case, the threshold may be a fixed value, or may vary depending on motion information of the electronic device <NUM> or the Doppler's frequency, which is changeable due to motion.

According to various embodiments, if it is identified that the difference between the reception time of the CSI-RS and the transmission time of the UL data does not exceed a threshold ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder, based on the estimated UL channel, thereby performing precoding in operation <NUM>. If it is identified that the difference between the reception time of the CSI-RS and the transmission time of the UL data exceeds a threshold ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may perform precoding, based on the precoder received from the base station <NUM>, in operation <NUM>. Alternatively, if it is identified that the difference between the reception time of the CSI-RS and the transmission time of the UL data exceeds a threshold ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit data without performing precoding.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder, based on the estimated UL channel, and may then predict the improvement of performance that can be obtained when applying the precoder. If the improvement value is equal to or less than a specific improvement threshold, the electronic device <NUM> may not use the identified precoder. The improvement in performance may be predicted by estimating current channel information and predicting the performance in the channel state according to the channel information. The electronic device <NUM> may use the estimated UL channel (H) as the performance when no precoder is applied, and may use an effective channel (HW) obtained by multiplying the estimated channel (H) by the identified precoder (W) as the performance when the precoder is applied. The electronic device <NUM> may predict channel capacity, throughput, and BLER performance for each of the estimated UL channel and the effective channel. The electronic device <NUM> may predict the channel capacity and the throughput, based on, for example, Shannon capacity. The electronic device <NUM> may predict the BLER performance, based on at least one of, for example, exponential effective SNR mapping (EESM), mean mutual information per bit (MMIB), or a received bit mutual information rate (RBIR). The above-described prediction method is only an example, and the prediction method is not limited thereto.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may identify RB granularity for precoding, based on estimated channel information, in operation <NUM>. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may identify RB granularity for precoding, based on the channel information (e.g., a channel coherence bandwidth) estimated using the CSI-RS. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the UL-scheduled bandwidth exceeds a specified number of RBs. Here, the specified number may be determined based on the identified RB granularity, and the specified number of RBs may be a number that ensures that the similarity of at least one property between the RBs is equal to or greater than a specified level. For example, if the specified number is L, one precoder may be valid for L RBs, but the precoder may not be valid for other RBs adjacent to the L RBs. In various embodiments, the specified number of RBs may be determined by the channel coherence bandwidth, or may be configured as a fixed value.

According to various embodiments, if it is identified that the UL-scheduled bandwidth exceeds the specified number of RBs ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify the precoder for each of the specified number of RBs in operation <NUM>. As described above, the specified number of RBs according to various embodiments may indicate the range within which one precoder is valid, and the fact that the UL-scheduled bandwidth exceeds the specified number of RBs may indicate that a plurality of precoders are required. Accordingly, the electronic device <NUM> may group the RBs corresponding to the UL-scheduled bandwidth in a specified number of units, and may determine the precoder for each group. The number of RBs included in at least some of the groups may be smaller than the specified number. If it is identified that the UL-scheduled bandwidth is less than or equal to the specified number of RBs ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify one precoder in operation <NUM>. Since the entire UL scheduling bandwidth is less than or equal to the specified number of RBs in which one precoder is valid, the electronic device <NUM> may configure only one precoder for the entire bandwidth. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may precode UL data and a DMRS using the identified precoder. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit a signal based on the precoded result.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may identify RB granularity for precoding, based on the estimated channel information, in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the UL-scheduled bandwidth exceeds a specified number of RBs. If it is identified that the UL-scheduled bandwidth does not exceed a specified number of RBs ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may identify a precoder in operation <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may precode UL data and a DMRS using the precoder identified in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit a signal after performing precoding. If it is identified that the UL-scheduled bandwidth exceeds a specified number of RBs ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit a signal without performing precoding in operation <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The embodiment shown in <FIG> will be described in more detail with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating the connection relationship between communication processors and antennas according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may identify the precoder of a layer that exceeds the number of antennas (e.g., the first antenna module <NUM> in <FIG>) of first network communication, based on the estimated UL channel, in operation <NUM>. For example, "n" antennas of the electronic device <NUM> may be allocated to first network communication (e.g., LTE communication), and "m" antennas thereof may be allocated to second network communication (e.g., NR communication). The first communication processor <NUM> or the integrated communication processor <NUM> according to the comparative example may configure a precoder corresponding to a layer (or rank) equal to or less than "m" antennas for the first network communication. However, the first communication processor <NUM> according to various embodiments may transmit data using at least some of the antennas allocated to the second network communication (e.g., the second antenna module <NUM> in <FIG>). Accordingly, it is possible to identify the precoder of a rank exceeding the number of antennas allocated to the first network communication. For example, as shown in <FIG>, a first communication processor (CP) <NUM> may be connected to a first RFIC <NUM> through a first path <NUM>, and may be connected to a second RFIC <NUM> through a second path <NUM>. The first RFIC <NUM> may receive an input signal from any one of the first CP <NUM> or the second CP <NUM>. The second RFIC <NUM> may receive an input signal from any one of the first CP <NUM> or the second CP <NUM>. The second communication processor <NUM> may be connected to the first RFIC <NUM> through a third path <NUM>, and may be connected to the second RFIC <NUM> through a fourth path <NUM>. In addition, the first communication processor <NUM> and the second communication processor <NUM> may transmit and receive information therebetween through an inter-processor interface <NUM> (e.g., high-speed UART). For example, in the interval in which data is not transmitted/received through the second network communication, the first communication processor <NUM> may transmit UL data using at least a part of the second antenna module <NUM>, as well as the first antenna module <NUM>. In this case, the first communication processor <NUM> may configure the precoder corresponding to a rank equal to or less than the sum of the number of antennas of the first antenna module <NUM> and the number of antennas of at least a part of the second antenna module <NUM>. The first communication processor <NUM> may identify information on the interval, in which data is not transmitted/received through the second network communication, using the inter-processor interface <NUM> (e.g., high-speed UART), and may transmit UL data using at least a part of the second antenna module <NUM>, as well as the first antenna module <NUM>, during the corresponding period. The second communication processor <NUM> may transmit, to the first communication processor <NUM>, for example, information capable of identifying a UL subframe in which data transmission is not scheduled. For example, if the information transmitted between the CPs is "T", this may indicate that a network-assistance-free UL MIMO operation is possible during "T" subframes (or ms) from the time at which the signal is transmitted. Alternatively, the second communication processor <NUM> may transmit a flag of <NUM> or <NUM> to the first communication processor <NUM> in every subframe; "<NUM>" may indicate that the network-assistance-free UL MIMO operation is possible in the corresponding subframe; and "<NUM>" may indicate that the network-assistance-free UL MIMO operation is impossible in the corresponding subframe. For example, the transmitted information may be T1 and T2, which may indicate that the network-assistance-free UL MIMO operation is possible from time T1 to time T2.

According to various embodiments, in operation <NUM>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may precode UL data and a DMRS using the identified precoder. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit the precoded data to the RFIC of the first network communication and the RFIC of the second network communication. Although it is described in the above example that the first communication processor <NUM> may use both antenna modules <NUM> and <NUM>, this is only an example. In various embodiments, in the interval in which data is not transmitted/received through the first network communication, the second communication processor <NUM> may transmit data using at least a part of the first antenna module <NUM> allocated to the first network communication and at least a part of the second antenna module <NUM>. In this case, a precoder corresponding to a rank exceeding the number of antennas of the second antenna module <NUM> may be identified.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may identify the precoder of a layer that exceeds the number of antennas of the first network communication, based on the estimated UL channel, in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may precode UL data and a DMRS. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the current interval is an interval in which the second network communication is available. According to various embodiments, the first communication processor <NUM> may identify whether or not the second network communication is scheduled to be used through an interface (e.g., the inter-processor interface <NUM> in <FIG>) between communication processors (e.g., the first CP <NUM> and the second CP <NUM> in <FIG> and <FIG>). In various embodiments, in the state in which an interface is not provided between the processors <NUM> and <NUM>, for example, the first communication processor <NUM> may transmit/receive data to/from the second communication processor <NUM> through an AP (e.g., the processor <NUM> in <FIG>). The integrated communication processor <NUM> may manage the schedules of both the first network communication and the second network communication.

According to various embodiments, if it is identified that the current interval is not an interval in which the second network communication is available ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit the precoded data to the RFIC of the first network communication (e.g., the first RFIC <NUM> in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>) and the RFIC of the second network communication (e.g., the second RFIC <NUM> in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>) in operation <NUM>. According to various embodiments, if it is identified that the current interval is an interval in which the second network communication is available ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit UL data and a DMRS, which are not precoded, to the RFIC of the first network communication in operation <NUM>. According to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to identify the precoder corresponding to a rank less than or equal to the number of antennas allocated to the first network communication, and precode data, based on the identified precoder.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to identify whether or not the current interval is an interval in which the second network communication is available, and then, if it is determined that the current interval is not an interval in which the second network communication is available, identify the precoder. In this case, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured not to identify the precoder, if it is identified that the second network communication is in use (or is to be used).

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating the operation of an electronic device, an eNB, and a gNB according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may transmit UL data to an eNB <NUM> through 1TX in operation <NUM>, and may transmit UL data to a gNB <NUM> through 1TX in operation <NUM>. For example, the first communication processor <NUM> of the electronic device <NUM> may be connected to the first RFIC <NUM> through the first path <NUM>, and the second communication processor <NUM> may be connected to the second RFIC <NUM> through the fourth path <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may receive PDSCH DL data from the eNB <NUM>. According to the standard, the electronic device <NUM> may be configured to transmit HARQ to the eNB <NUM> four subframes (e.g., <NUM>) after receiving the PDSCH DL data. Accordingly, the transmission/reception of data may not be performed through LTE communication for a time (e.g., <NUM>) corresponding to four subframes after receiving the PDSCH DL data. If no PDSCH DL is present in the <NUM> before operation <NUM>, the transmission/reception of data may not be performed during <NUM>. For example, the communication processor corresponding to the LTE communication may transmit information on the interval, in which data is not transmitted/received, to the communication processor corresponding to the NR communication through an inter-processor interface. Accordingly, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit network-assistance-free (NAF) UL data to the gNB <NUM> through <NUM> TX in operations <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Thereafter, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit HARQ to the eNB <NUM> through 1TX after four subframes in operation <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may transmit UL data to the gNB <NUM> through 1TX in operation <NUM>.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic device <NUM> (e.g., at least one of the first communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, the second communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>, or the integrated communication processor <NUM> in <FIG>) may configure a split bearer with respect to a radio bearer between the UE and the BS in operation <NUM>. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit UL data through a primary path of the split bearer. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may configure a primary path and a secondary path, based on information included in RRC connection reconfiguration. If the size of the transmission data (e.g., the total amount of packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) data volume and radio link control (RLC) data volume) is less than a threshold (e.g., an uplink split threshold), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit uplink data only through the primary path. Information on the uplink split threshold may be included in a UE-specific or UE-dedicated RRC signal (e.g., RRC connection reconfiguration).

According to various embodiments, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the secondary path enters a CDRX state in operation <NUM>. For example, if the transmission/reception of data is not performed during a specified time (e.g., a DRX inactivity timer) through the secondary path, the electronic device <NUM> may monitor the PDCCH in the secondary path for a specified period. If the secondary path enters the CDRX state, the electronic device <NUM> may use antennas (e.g., the first antenna module <NUM> in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>) allocated to the network communication of the secondary path for the network communication of the secondary path in operation <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may identify the precoder of a rank less than or equal to the sum of the number of antennas allocated to the network communication of the secondary path and the number of antennas allocated to the network communication of the primary path (e.g., the second antenna module <NUM> in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>), and may precode UL data and a DMRS, based on the identified precoder. In operation <NUM>, the electronic device <NUM> may identify whether or not the scheduling of transmission/reception of data is detected in the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) corresponding to the secondary path. If the scheduling of transmission/reception of data is not detected in the PDCCH corresponding to the secondary path ("No" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may use the antennas allocated to the network communication of the secondary path for the network communication of the primary path. If the scheduling of transmission/reception of data is detected in the PDCCH corresponding to the secondary path ("Yes" in operation <NUM>), the electronic device <NUM> may transmit/receive data using the antenna allocated to the network communication of the primary path in operation <NUM>. In addition, the electronic device <NUM> may transmit/receive data for the network communication of the secondary path through the antenna allocated to the network communication of the secondary path.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device may include: at least one communication processor; at least one radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) configured to convert data transmitted from the at least one communication processor into at least one radio frequency signal (RF signal) and output the at least one RF signal; and at least one antenna configured to receive each of the at least one RF signal and radiate an electromagnetic field, wherein the at least one communication processor is configured to: receive, from a base station, a reference signal for identifying a state of a downlink channel between the electronic device and the base station through the at least one antenna and the at least one RFIC; based on the reference signal and association information between the downlink channel and an uplink channel between the electronic device and the base station, identify the uplink channel; based on the identified uplink channel, identify a precoder for the uplink channel; based on the identified precoder, precode uplink data and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS); and transmit a signal based on the precoded data to the base station, based on at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to: identify whether or not a condition configured to identify the precoder is satisfied; and based on identifying that the configured condition is satisfied, perform the identification of the uplink channel and the identification of the precoder.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to, based on identifying that the configured condition is not satisfied, transmit the uplink data to the base station without precoding the uplink data, based on at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to: transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) to the base station, based on at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna; receive, from the base station, precoding information identified by the base station by means of the SRS; based on identifying that the configured condition is not satisfied, precode the uplink data and the DMRS, based on the precoding information identified by the base station; and transmit a signal based on the precoded data to the base station, based on at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to: transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) to the base station, based on at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna; receive, from the base station, precoding information identified by the base station by means of the SRS; and based on identifying that the configured condition is satisfied, ignore the precoding information identified by the base station and precode the uplink data and the DMRS, based on the precoder identified by the electronic device.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to identify whether or not the configured condition is satisfied using at least some of scheduling information received from the base station.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to identify whether or not the configured condition is satisfied using a quality of a link between the electronic device and the base station.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to identify whether or not the configured condition is satisfied using a state of the at least one antenna.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to identify whether or not the configured condition is satisfied based on whether or not an interval between a reception time of the reference signal and a transmission time of the uplink data exceeds a specified threshold time.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to: compare at least one first performance value predicted based on the identified uplink channel with at least one second performance value predicted based on the product of the identified uplink channel and the identified precoder; and identify whether or not the configured condition is satisfied based on a result of comparing the at least one first performance value with the at least one second performance value.

According to various embodiments, the at least one processor may be configured to: identify the number of resource blocks (RBs) for comparison based on the uplink channel; and based on an uplink-scheduled bandwidth being less than or equal to the number of RBs, identify one precoder for an entirety of the uplink channel.

According to various embodiments, the at least one processor may be configured to: based on the uplink-scheduled bandwidth exceeding the number of RBs: group a bandwidth of the uplink channel based on the number of RBs and configure different precoders for respective ones of groups identified as a result of the grouping; or transmit the uplink data to the base station without precoding the uplink data, based on at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to: decompose the uplink channel into a matrix product of a first unitary matrix, a diagonal matrix, and a second unitary matrix, based on singular value decomposition (SVD); and identify a submatrix including at least some columns of the second unitary matrix as the precoder.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to identify a codebook maximizing achievable sum throughput in an entire band with respect to the uplink channel as the precoder.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device may include: at least one communication processor; at least one radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) configured to convert data transmitted from the at least one communication processor into at least one radio frequency signal (RF signal) and output the at least one RF signal; and at least one antenna configured to receive each of the at least one RF signal and radiate an electromagnetic field, wherein the at least one communication processor is configured to: receive, from a base station, a first reference signal for identifying a state of a downlink channel between the electronic device and the base station through the at least one antenna and the at least one RFIC; transmit a second reference signal for identifying a state of an uplink channel between the electronic device and the base station through the at least one antenna and the at least one RFIC; receive scheduling information identified by the base station based on the second reference signal, through the at least one antenna and the at least one RFIC; based on the first reference signal and association information between the downlink channel and the uplink channel between the electronic device and the base station, identify the uplink channel; based on the identified uplink channel, identify a precoder for the uplink channel; based on the scheduling information being determined to be used, transmit uplink data and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) using the scheduling information; and based on the precoder being determined to be used, precode the uplink data and the DMRS using the precoder and transmit the precoded uplink data and the precoded DMRS.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device may include: at least one communication processor configured to support first network communication and second network communication; at least one first radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) configured to convert data transmitted from the at least one communication processor into at least one first radio frequency signal (RF signal) based on the first network communication and output the at least one first RF signal; at least one first antenna configured to receive each of the at least one first RF signal and radiate an electromagnetic field; at least one second RFIC configured to convert data transmitted from the at least one communication processor into at least one second RF signal based on the second network communication and output the at least one second RF signal; and at least one second antennas configured to receive each of the at least one second RF signal and radiate an electromagnetic field, wherein the at least one communication processor is configured to: identify that the second network communication is inactive during a first period; identify a precoder corresponding to at least some of the at least one first antenna and the at least one second antenna which are to be used during the first period; precode uplink data and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) based on the first network communication using the identified precoder; and output a signal based on the precoded data using at least some of the at least one first RFIC and the at least one second RFIC so as to transmit the signal using the at least some of the at least one first antenna and the at least one second antenna during the first period.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may include a first communication processor for the first network communication, and a second communication processor for the second network communication.

According to various embodiments, the first communication processor may be configured to receive information about the first period from the second communication processor.

According to various embodiments, the first communication processor may be configured to receive, from the second communication processor, information indicating the number of subframes associated with the first period or information indicating the start time of the first period and the end time of the first period, as the information about the first period.

According to various embodiments, the at least one communication processor may be configured to: after the first period expires, output uplink data of the first network communication using the at least one first RFIC so as to transmit the uplink data of the first network communication through the at least one first antenna; and output uplink data of the second network communication using the at least one second RFIC so as to transmit the uplink data of the second network communication through the at least one second antenna.

Various embodiments set forth herein may be implemented as software (e.g., a program) including one or more instructions stored in a storage medium (e.g., internal memory or external memory) that is readable by a machine (e.g., a master device or a task performing device). For example, a processor of a machine (e.g., a master device or a task performing device) may invoke at least one instruction among the one or more instructions stored in the storage medium, and execute it.

Claim 1:
An electronic device (<NUM>) comprising:
at least one communication processor (<NUM>);
at least one radio frequency integrated circuit (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), RFIC, configured to convert data transmitted from the at least one communication processor (<NUM>) into at least one radio frequency, RF, signal and output the at least one RF signal; and
at least one antenna (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) configured to receive each of the at least one RF signal and radiate an electromagnetic field,
wherein the at least one communication processor (<NUM>) is configured to:
receive (<NUM>), from a base station (<NUM>), a reference signal for identifying a state of a downlink channel between the electronic device (<NUM>) and the base station (<NUM>) through the at least one antenna and the at least one RFIC,
based on the reference signal and association information between the downlink channel and an uplink channel between the electronic device (<NUM>) and the base station (<NUM>), identify (<NUM>) the uplink channel,
based on the identified uplink channel, identify (<NUM>) a precoder for the uplink channel,
based on the identified precoder, precode uplink data and a demodulation reference signal, DMRS,
transmit (<NUM>) the precoded uplink data and the DMRS to the base station (<NUM>) using at least some of the at least one RFIC and the at least one antenna,
wherein the at least one communication processor (<NUM>) is characterized by being further configured to:
identify (<NUM>) whether a condition configured to identify the precoder is satisfied,
based on identifying that the configured condition is satisfied, perform the identification of the uplink channel (<NUM>) and the identification of the precoder (<NUM>),
and identify whether the configured condition is satisfied based on whether an interval between a reception time of the reference signal and a transmission time of the uplink data is equal to or less than a specified threshold time (<NUM>).