US-12621841-B2 - Reference signal sending method and communication apparatus

Abstract

A reference signal (RS) sending method and a communication apparatus are provided, which may be applied to a scenario in which an RS is sent based on aperiodic time-domain behavior. The method includes: a terminal device obtains downlink control information (DCI); determines first time information based on the DCI; determines, based on the first time information and a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for sending an RS; and sends the RS in the determined time unit for sending the RS. Correspondingly, a network device determines the first time information based on the DCI; determines, based on the first time information and the time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for receiving the RS; and receives the RS in the determined time unit for receiving the RS.

Inventors

• Xiaoqing Liu
• Yongping Zhang
• Zheng Yu
• Tie Li
• Leiming Zhang

Assignees

• HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20230301

Claims (16)

1. 1 . A reference signal (RS) sending method applied to a communication apparatus, the method comprising: obtaining downlink control information (DCI); determining first time information based on the DCI, wherein the DCI comprises a time indication field, wherein the time indication field and a first time offset are used to determine the first time information, wherein a value indicated in the time indication field is a predefined set or is comprised in a second value set configured by using second higher layer configuration information, and wherein the first time offset is predefined or is configured by using third higher layer configuration information; determining, based on the first time information and a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for sending an RS; and sending the RS in the determined time unit for sending the RS.
2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the DCI further comprises an RS request field for determining the RS to be sent.
3. 3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second value set comprises one or more numerical values in {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}.
4. 4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than −4 and less than 5; or a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than 0 and less than 7; or the second value set is related to slot format information.
5. 5 . A communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory configured to store a computer program that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the communication apparatus to: obtain downlink control information (DCI); determine first time information based on the DCI, wherein the DCI comprises a time indication field, wherein the time indication field and a first time offset are used to determine the first time information, wherein a value indicated in the time indication field is a predefined set or is comprised in a second value set configured by using second higher layer configuration information, and wherein the first time offset is predefined or is configured by using third higher layer configuration information; determine, based on the first time information and a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for sending a reference signal (RS); and send the RS in the determined time unit for sending the RS.
6. 6 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the DCI further comprises an RS request field for determining the RS to be sent.
7. 7 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the second value set comprises one or more numerical values in {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}.
8. 8 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than −4 and less than 5; or a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than 0 and less than 7; or the second value set is related to slot format information.
9. 9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, that when executed by a communication device, cause the communication device to perform at least the following operations: obtaining downlink control information (DCI); determining first time information based on the DCI, wherein the DCI comprises a time indication field, wherein the time indication field and a first time offset are used to determine the first time information, wherein a value indicated in the time indication field is a predefined set or is comprised in a second value set configured by using second higher layer configuration information, and wherein the first time offset is predefined or is configured by using third higher layer configuration information; determining, based on the first time information and a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for sending a reference signal (RS); and sending the RS in the determined time unit for sending the RS.
10. 10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9 , wherein the DCI further comprises an RS request field for determining the RS to be sent.
11. 11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9 , wherein the second value set comprises one or more numerical values in {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}.
12. 12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9 , wherein a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than −4 and less than 5; or a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than 0 and less than 7; or the second value set is related to slot format information.
13. 13 . A communication chip comprising at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is coupled with at least one memory that stores computer instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the communications chip to perform at least the following operations: obtaining downlink control information (DCI); determining first time information based on the DCI, wherein the DCI comprises a time indication field, wherein the time indication field and a first time offset are used to determine the first time information, wherein a value indicated in the time indication field is a predefined set or is comprised in a second value set configured by using second higher layer configuration information, and wherein the first time offset is predefined or is configured by using third higher layer configuration information; determining, based on the first time information and a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for sending a reference signal (RS); and sending the RS in the determined time unit for sending the RS.
14. 14 . The communication chip according to claim 13 , wherein the DCI further comprises an RS request field, wherein the RS request filed is used to determine the RS to be sent.
15. 15 . The communication chip according to claim 13 , wherein the second value set comprises one or more numerical values in {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}.
16. 16 . The communication chip according to claim 13 , wherein a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than −4 and less than 5; or a value of at least one element in the second value set is greater than 0 and less than 7; or the second value set is related to slot format information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2020/112909, filed on Sep. 1, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of this application relate to the field of communication technologies, and specifically, to a reference signal sending method and a communication apparatus. BACKGROUND The fifth-generation wireless access system standard new radio (NR) is based on a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. A network device may configure a terminal device to send a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS can support codebook-based uplink transmission, non-codebook-based uplink transmission, beam management, and antenna switching. From a perspective of time-domain behavior, SRSs may be classified into a periodic sounding reference signal (P-SRS), a semi-persistent sounding reference signal (SP-SRS), and an aperiodic sounding reference signal (AP-SRS). For the periodic SRS, the network device may configure a periodicity and an offset for the SRS, and the terminal device may periodically send the SRS based on the configured periodicity and offset. For the semi-persistent SRS, the network device may configure a periodicity and an offset for the SRS, and send an activation command or a deactivation command to the terminal device by using a media access control control element (MAC CE). When receiving the activation command, the terminal device may periodically send the SRS based on the configured periodicity and offset. If receiving the deactivation command later, the terminal device stops sending the SRS. For the aperiodic SRS, the network device triggers, based on downlink control information (DCI), the terminal device to send the SRS. The terminal device receives the DCI in a slot n, determines, based on an offset defined by a higher layer parameter and the slot n, a slot for sending the SRS, and sends the SRS in the determined slot. Currently; in an aperiodic SRS sending process, there are disadvantages of inflexible sending, a low sending success rate, and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) congestion. SUMMARY Embodiments of this application provide a reference signal (RS) sending method and a communication apparatus, to help improve flexibility of RS triggering, improve an RS sending success rate, and reduce a probability of PDCCH congestion. According to a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a reference signal (RS) sending method. The method may be performed by a terminal device, or may be performed by a chip disposed in a terminal device. This is not limited in embodiments of this application. The method includes: A terminal device obtains downlink control information (DCI): determines first time information based on the DCI: determines, based on the first time information and a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit for sending an RS; and sends the RS in the determined time unit for sending the RS. It can be learned that a time for sending the RS is dynamically indicated based on the downlink control information DCI, so that the time for sending the RS is more flexible, an RS scheduling capacity is increased, and a probability of PDCCH congestion is reduced. With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the DCI includes a first field, the first field is used to determine the first time information, and at least two bit states in bit states corresponding to the first field are associated with a same aperiodic RS resource triggering state. With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, a field length of the first field is N bits, n bits in the N bits are used to determine the first time information, and bits in the N bits other than the n bits are used to determine the RS, where 1≤n≤N, and N is a positive integer. It can be learned that the n bits in the first bit indicate the first time information, and the remaining bits indicate the RS, so that the flexibility of RS triggering is improved. With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, a field length of the first field is m bits, the m bits are used to determine the first time information and are used to determine the RS, m is an odd number greater than or equal to 3, and (2m−2)/3 bit states in 2m bit states corresponding to the first field are associated with the same aperiodic RS resource triggering state. With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, a field length of the first field is m bits, the m bits are used to determine the first time information and are used to determine the RS, m is an even number greater than or equal to 4, and (2m−1)/3 bit states in 2m bit states corresponding to the first field are associated with the same aperiodic RS resource triggering state. It can be learned that the first field in the DCI indicates both the first time information and the RS, so tha