Patent Description:
Generally, in uplink communications, a non-precoded reference signal, i.e., an antenna-specific reference signal, should be used, while a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is precoded. An e-Node-B (eNB) may estimate original uplink channel state information (CSI) by receiving the non-precoded reference signal sent by a user equipment (UE), while cannot estimate the original uplink CSI through the precoded DMRS. At this time, when the UE sends the non-precoded reference signal by using multiple antennas, more reference signal resources are required by each UE, which results in a decrease in the number of UEs simultaneously multiplexable in a system. The UE may send the reference signal through two trigger types, i.e., higher-layer signaling (also referred to as trigger type <NUM>) or downlink control information (also referred to as trigger type <NUM>). A periodic reference signal is triggered based on the higher-layer signaling, and an aperiodic reference signal is triggered based on the downlink control information. A manner of aperiodically sending the reference signal improves a utilization rate of reference signal resources and improves resource scheduling flexibility to some extent.

With the development of communication technologies, the demand for data traffic is increasing and available low-frequency carriers are in short supply. Therefore, high-frequency (<NUM> to <NUM>) carrier communication that has not been fully utilized becomes an important communication way of achieving high-speed data communication. The high-frequency carrier communication has a large available bandwidth and can provide effective high-speed data communication. However, the high-frequency carrier communication faces a very big technical challenge that a high-frequency signal fades greatly in space relative to a low-frequency signal. Although the high-frequency carrier communication will cause spatial fading losses when the high-frequency signal is used for outdoor communications, the shorter wavelength of the high-frequency signal generally allows more antennas to be used. Therefore, beam-based communications may be performed to compensate for the spatial fading losses.

However, when the number of antennas increases, each antenna needs a set of radio frequency links, and digital beamforming also brings about an increase in costs and power losses. Therefore, studies tend to hybrid beamforming, that is, a final beam formed by a radio frequency beam and a digital beam.

In a new radio access technology (NR), for a high-frequency communication system, the eNB will be configured with a large number of antennas to form downlink transmission beams to compensate for the spatial fading of high-frequency communications, and the UE will also be configured with a large number of antennas to form uplink transmission beams. At this time, the reference signal will also be sent in the form of a beam. In addition, in an NR system, a frame structure has significant changes compared with that in an LTE/LTE-A system, and intra-slot frequency hopping is added to inter-slot frequency hopping. Therefore, a method for sending the reference signal in the LTE/LTE-A system cannot be applied to the NR system. No communication solution for sending the reference signal corresponding to the NR system exists in the existing art. Further relevant technologies are also known from the following documents. Document <NPL>) discloses a proposal that in addition to {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}, NR also supports slot periodicity values {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}.

Document <NPL>) discusses in detail the SRS frequency hopping in NR.

Document <NPL>) discloses views on aspects of SRS frequency hopping, SRS group and sequence hopping, SRS transmission based on periodicity and offset, and sounding partial frequency resource.

The present invention provide a communication method and system to provide at least a manner for sending a reference signal in an NR system, so as to effectively send the reference signal in the NR system. The present disclosure provides a communication method according to independent claim <NUM>, another communication method according to claim <NUM>, and a storage medium according to claim <NUM>. Further improvements are provided in the dependent claims.

The present invention further provides a communication method applied to a second communication node. The method includes: determining a radio resource for sending a reference signal; and sending the reference signal using the radio resource to a first communication node. The present invention further provides a communication system, including a first communication node and a second communication node. The first communication node includes a first determining module and a receiving module. The first determining module is configured to determine a radio resource for the second communication node to send a reference signal. The receiving module is configured to receive the reference signal sent by the second communication node using the radio resource. The second communication node includes a second determining module and a sending module. The second determining module is configured to determine the radio resource for sending the reference signal. The sending module is configured to send the reference signal using the radio resource.

The present invention further provides a storage medium, including stored programs, where the programs, when executed, perform any one of the methods described above.

The present invention will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the drawings and in conjunction with embodiments.

The terms "first", "second" or the like in the description, claims and above-mentioned drawings of the present invention are used to distinguish between similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a particular order or sequence.

In Long Term Evolution (LTE), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is used for bearing uplink scheduling information, downlink scheduling information and uplink power control information. Downlink control information (DCI) formats include DCI formats <NUM>, <NUM>, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, <NUM>, 2A, <NUM>, 3A, etc.; and DCI formats 2B, 2C, and 2D are added in later evolution to support a variety of different applications and transmission modes. An e-Node-B (eNB) may configure a UE through the downlink control information, or the UE is configured by higher layers, which is also referred to as a configuration of the UE through higher-layer signaling.

A sounding reference signal is a signal used by the UE and the eNB to measure radio CSI. In an LTE system, the UE regularly sends an uplink reference signal on a last data symbol of a sending subframe according to parameters indicated by the eNB, such as a frequency band, a frequency domain position, a cyclic shift of a sequence, a period and a subframe offset. The eNB determines uplink CSI of the UE according to the received reference signal, and performs operations such as frequency domain selection scheduling and closed loop power control according to the obtained CSI.

In an LTE/LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, when a length of a reference signal sequence is less than <NUM>, the number of available reference signal root sequences is <NUM>; when the length of the reference signal sequence is greater than or equal to <NUM> and a group jump function is disabled, the number of available reference signal root sequences is <NUM>; and when the length of the reference signal sequence is greater than or equal to <NUM> and the group jump function is enabled, the number of available reference signal root sequences is <NUM>.

Executable network architecture in the embodiments of the present invention includes a first communication node and a second communication node, where the first communication node interacts with the second communication node.

The first communication node refers to a node configured to determine a sending manner of the second communication node and perform a signaling indication to the second communication node, and the second communication node refers to a node configured to receive the signaling indication. In an implementation manner, the first communication node may be a base station of a macro cell, a base station or a transmission node of a small cell, a sending node in a high-frequency communication system, a sending node in an Internet of Things system or the like, and the second communication node may be a node in a communication system, such as a UE, a mobile phone, a portable device or a car. In another implementation manner, the base station of the macro cell, the base station or the transmission node of the small cell, the sending node in the high-frequency communication system, the sending node in the Internet of Things system or the like may serve as the second communication node, and the UE or the like may serve as the first communication node.

The reference signal includes at least the uplink reference signal which may be the sounding reference signal (SRS), an uplink DMRS or an uplink random access signal.

This embodiment provides a communication method executed on the network architecture described above. <FIG> is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment. The method is applied to a first communication node. As shown in <FIG>, the method includes steps S102 and S104.

In S102, a radio resource for a second communication node to send a reference signal is determined.

In S104, the reference signal sent by the second communication node using the radio resource is received.

In this embodiment, after the radio resource for the second communication node to send the reference signal is determined, the reference signal sent by the second communication node using the radio resource may be acquired from the determined radio resource.

In this embodiment, the radio resource includes a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource.

In an embodiment, the first communication node determines the time domain resource according to at least one of the following parameters: a period of an uplink sounding reference signal, a slot offset of the reference signal, a system frame number, a slot index within a frame, a quantity of slots in one subframe or a quantity of slots in one system frame.

In an embodiment, the first communication node determines the period of the reference signal and the slot offset of the reference signal according to a configuration index of the reference signal, where determining manners are shown in Table <NUM> which is not within the scope of the claims, Table <NUM>, Table <NUM> or Table <NUM>.

In an embodiment, the period of the reference signal and the slot offset of the reference signal have a unit of slots or milliseconds.

In an embodiment, the time domain resource satisfies one of the following relationships: <MAT> or <MAT>; where <MAT>, <MAT> is the slot index within a frame, nf is the system frame number, <MAT> is the quantity of slots in one subframe, <MAT> is the quantity of slots in one system frame, Toffset is the slot offset of the reference signal, and TSRS is the period of the reference signal; where the reference signal is the uplink sounding reference signal.

Based on Embodiment one, the first communication node determines the frequency domain resource by a method described below.

In an embodiment, a frequency domain position of the reference signal is determined according to a quantity or number of an uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain, and the frequency domain resource is determined according to the frequency domain position.

In an embodiment, the quantity or number of the uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain is determined based on at least one of the following parameters: a slot index within a frame, a system frame number, a period of the reference signal, a slot offset of the reference signal, a quantity of slots in one subframe, a quantity of slots in one system frame, a quantity of time domain symbols for sending the reference signal within a slot, a quantity of time domain symbols repeated within the slot or a quantity of time domain symbols of the reference signal occupying a same frequency domain position within the slot, or an index or number of a time domain symbol for sending the reference signal within the slot.

In an embodiment, the first communication node determines a manner for calculating the quantity or number of the reference signal to be sent in time domain according to whether intra-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is enabled and/or whether inter-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is enabled, which includes at least one of manners described below.

In an embodiment, the quantity or number of the uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain is obtained according to a following formula: <MAT>, where a value of α is <NUM> or <NUM>, <MAT> and is the slot index within a frame, nf is the system frame number, <MAT> is the quantity of slots in one system frame, TSRS is the period of the reference signal, N is the quantity of time domain symbols for sending the reference signal and configured within the slot, R is the quantity of time domain symbols repeated within the slot or the quantity of time domain symbols of the reference signal occupying the same frequency domain position within the slot, nSRS is the quantity or number of the uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain, and i is the index or number of the time domain symbol for sending the reference signal within the slot.

In an embodiment, α is determined in at least one of the following manners: when intra-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is enabled and/or inter-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is disabled, α is <NUM>, and when the intra-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is disabled and the inter-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is enabled, α is <NUM>; or when the reference signal is an aperiodic reference signal, α is <NUM>, and when the reference signal is a periodic reference signal, α is <NUM>.

This embodiment provides a communication method executed on the network architecture described above. <FIG> is a flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment. The method is applied to a second communication node. As shown in <FIG>, the method according to this embodiment includes steps S202 and S204.

In S202, a radio resource for sending a reference signal is determined.

In S204, the reference signal is sent using the radio resource to a first communication node.

In an embodiment, the second communication node determines the time domain resource according to at least one of the following parameters: a period of an uplink sounding reference signal, a slot offset of the reference signal, a system frame number, a slot index within a frame, a quantity of slots in one subframe or a quantity of slots in one system frame.

In an embodiment, the second communication node determines the period of the reference signal and the slot offset of the reference signal according to a configuration index of the reference signal, where determining manners are shown in Table <NUM> which is not within the scope of the claims, Table <NUM>, Table <NUM> or Table <NUM>.

In an embodiment, the time domain resource satisfies one of the following relationships: <MAT> or <MAT> where <MAT>, <MAT> is the slot index within a frame, nf is the system frame number, <MAT> is the quantity of slots in one subframe, <MAT> is the quantity of slots in one system frame, Toffset is the slot offset of the reference signal, and TSRS is the period of the reference signal; where an uplink reference signal is an uplink sounding reference signal.

Based on Embodiment four, the second communication node determines the frequency domain resource by a method described below.

In an embodiment, the second communication node determines a manner for calculating the quantity or number of the reference signal to be sent in time domain according to whether intra-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is enabled and/or whether inter-slot frequency hopping of the reference signal is enabled, which includes at least one of manners described below.

In an embodiment, the quantity or number of the uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain is obtained based on at least one of the following parameters: a slot index within a frame, a system frame number, a period of the reference signal, a slot offset of the reference signal, a quantity of slots in one subframe, a quantity of slots in one system frame, a quantity of time domain symbols for sending the reference signal within a slot, a quantity of time domain symbols repeated within the slot or a quantity of time domain symbols of the reference signal occupying a same frequency domain position within the slot, or an index or number of a time domain symbol for sending the reference signal within the slot.

In an embodiment, the quantity or number of the uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain is determined according to a following formula: <MAT>, where a value of α is <NUM> or <NUM>, <MAT> and is the slot index within a frame, nf is the system frame number, <MAT> is the quantity of slots in one system frame, TSRS is the period of the reference signal, N is the quantity of time domain symbols for sending the reference signal and configured within the slot, R is the quantity of time domain symbols repeated within the slot or the quantity of time domain symbols of the reference signal occupying the same frequency domain position within the slot, nSRS is the quantity or number of the uplink reference signal to be sent in time domain, and i is the index or number of the time domain symbol for sending the reference signal within the slot.

In an embodiment, α is determined in at least one of the following manners: when intra-slot frequency hopping of an SRS is enabled and/or inter-slot frequency hopping of the SRS is disabled, α is <NUM>, and when the intra-slot frequency hopping of the SRS is disabled and the inter-slot frequency hopping of the SRS is enabled, α is <NUM>; or when the SRS is an aperiodic SRS, α is <NUM>, and when the SRS is a periodic SRS, α is <NUM>.

This embodiment further provides a communication system for implementing the embodiments and exemplary implementation manners described above. What has been described will not be repeated. As used below, the term "module" may be software, hardware or a combination thereof capable of implementing predetermined functions. The device described below in the embodiment may be implemented by software, but implementation by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware is also possible and conceived.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, the communication system according to this embodiment includes a first communication node <NUM> and a second communication node <NUM>.

The first communication node <NUM> includes a first determining module <NUM> and a receiving module <NUM>. The first determining module <NUM> is configured to determine a radio resource for the second communication node to send a reference signal. The receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive the reference signal sent by the second communication node using the radio resource.

The second communication node <NUM> includes a second determining module <NUM> and a sending module <NUM>. The second determining module <NUM> is configured to determine the radio resource for sending the reference signal. The sending module <NUM> is configured to send the reference signal using the radio resource.

The various modules described above may be implemented by software or hardware. Implementation by hardware may, but may not necessarily, be performed in the following manner: the various modules described above are located in a same processor or located in different processors in any combination form.

The embodiments of the present invention further provide a processor. The processor is configured to execute programs which, when executed, perform the method according to any one of the embodiments described above.

In this embodiment, the programs are used for performing steps described below.

In S <NUM>, a radio resource for a second communication node to send a reference signal is determined. In S20, the reference signal sent by the second communication node using the radio resource is received.

In an embodiment, for specific examples in this embodiment, reference may be made to the examples described in the embodiments and optional implementation manners described above, and repetition will not be made in this embodiment.

Claim 1:
A communication method, applied to a first communication node (<NUM>), comprising:
determining (S102) a radio resource for a second communication node to send a reference signal; and
receiving (S104) the reference signal sent by the second communication node using the radio resource,
wherein the radio resource comprises a time domain resource; and
characterized in that determining the radio resource for the second communication node to send the reference signal comprises:
determining, by the first communication node, the time domain resource according to following parameters: a period of the reference signal, and a slot offset of the reference signal, wherein
in response to the period of the reference signal is <NUM>, the slot offset of the reference signal is empty;
in response to the period of the reference signal is <NUM>, the slot offset of the reference signal is an integer greater than or equal to <NUM> and less than or equal to <NUM>;
in response to the period of the reference signal is <NUM>, the slot offset of the reference signal is an integer greater than or equal to <NUM> and less than or equal to <NUM>;
in response to the period of the reference signal is <NUM>, the slot offset of the reference signal is an integer greater than or equal to <NUM> and less than or equal to <NUM>;
in response to the period of the reference signal is <NUM>, the slot offset of the reference signal is an integer greater than or equal to <NUM> and less than or equal to <NUM>; and
in response to the period of the reference signal is <NUM>, the slot offset of the reference signal is an integer greater than or equal to <NUM> and less than or equal to <NUM>.