CN112787779A

CN112787779A - Communication method and user equipment

Info

Publication number: CN112787779A
Application number: CN201911083130.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邝奕如; 丁仁天
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-11-07
Filing date: 2019-11-07
Publication date: 2021-05-11
Anticipated expiration: 2039-11-07
Also published as: WO2021088822A1; CN112787779B

Abstract

A communication method for a User Equipment (UE) and corresponding user equipment, the method comprising: determining a retractable channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, for example, the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information indicates, at least in part, an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting the SRS, the antenna port switching capability including at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports through which the UE is capable of transmitting the SRS and being equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS; transmitting retrogradable SRS antenna switching capability information to network equipment; wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or at least one cell supported by the UE. By the method, the signaling overhead of network communication between the UE and the network equipment is smaller in the relevant configuration process, and the configuration process is more consistent with the actual situation that the UE works on the carrier.

Description

Communication method and user equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method and user equipment for reporting Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) capability information.

Background

At present, a User Equipment (UE) may report, through a Capability message (UE Capability Information) and an Assistance message (UE Assistance Information), switching Capability Information of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for antenna switching of a User, and a network device configures a corresponding SRS resource for the UE according to the SRS antenna switching Capability Information.

Disclosure of Invention

Some embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and user equipment. The present application is described below in terms of several aspects, embodiments and advantages of which are mutually referenced.

When a User Equipment (UE) has an internal overheating problem, the overheating problem may be solved by reducing the UE capability or configuration, and at this time, the UE may report auxiliary Information (UE Assistance Information) to notify a network device (e.g., a base station) that the UE desires to reduce the capability or configuration for the base station to refer to and perform reconfiguration. For example, when the auxiliary information related to overheating includes a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) layer (layer) number of the UE, the network device may reconfigure a low-capability MIMO layer number for the UE, so that the UE turns off a part of the radio frequency links and the antenna ports according to the low-capability MIMO layer number to reduce power consumption of the UE and solve the overheating problem. However, after the network device reduces the MIMO layer number for the UE, if the network device does not correspondingly reconfigure Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) resources for user antenna switching, when performing antenna port switching, a problem of capability mismatch may occur, which may cause the UE to be unable to really cool down, waste certain SRS resources, and/or affect the quality of a call.

In order to address the foregoing scenario, in a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method for a User Equipment (UE), which is configured to associate fallback SRS antenna switching capability information with a carrier. The method comprises the following steps: determining a retractable channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, for example, the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting the SRS, the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of an antenna and a number of antenna ports through which the UE can transmit the SRS, and the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information means that the capability is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS; wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or at least one cell supported by the UE.

And then, transmitting the retroversion SRS antenna switching capability information to the network equipment.

According to the embodiment of the application, the retroversion SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the carrier determined according to the carrier supported by the UE and/or the currently configured carrier is reported to the network equipment, so that the related configuration of the SRS capability with the carrier of the UE as the granularity is realized. Therefore, in the relevant configuration process, the signaling overhead of network communication between the UE and the network equipment is smaller, and the configuration process is more consistent with the actual situation that the UE works on the carrier.

In some embodiments, in particular, the antennas and antenna ports through which the UE can transmit SRS include: the UE can transmit antennas and antenna ports of the SRS through one or more carriers and/or at least one cell.

In some embodiments, the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: the effect of switching antenna ports on uplink carriers in other carriers of the one or more carriers and/or the effect of switching antenna ports on downlink carriers in other carriers of the one or more carriers, corresponding to each of the one or more carriers.

In some embodiments, the above-mentioned effects are indicated by a bitmap in which the correspondence of each element to a carrier/cell is arranged in a predetermined order. For example, at least one of the impact of the uplink carrier and the impact of the downlink carrier includes one or more bits corresponding to each of the one or more carriers, where the one or more bits are in a one-to-one correspondence with the one or more carriers.

In some embodiments, the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information of each carrier may be further packetized by means of a packet, for example, in a case that the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to multiple carriers and/or multiple cells, the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information includes multiple fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets, where the multiple fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets correspond to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells one to one, and each of the multiple fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets indicates at least one of an antenna port switching capability, an impact on an uplink carrier, and an impact on a downlink carrier.

In some embodiments, the information packets may correspond to carriers, for example, the plurality of fallback-able SRS antenna capability information packets are arranged in an order of the corresponding carriers and/or the identification information of the cells.

In some embodiments, corresponding to each of the one or more carriers, the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is associated with identification information of each carrier.

In some embodiments, for each of the one or more carriers, the identification information of each carrier is associated with identification information of at least one of the affected uplink and downlink carriers.

In some embodiments, the number of carriers corresponding to the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is equal to or less than a preset number of carriers.

With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments, the UE may send the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information after receiving a request from the network device, for example, the method may further include: receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message from a network device, wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a preset number of antennas for transmitting the SRS and a preset number of antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method further comprises: and in response to a UE capability request from the network equipment, sending UE capability information of the UE to the network equipment, wherein the UE capability information comprises the number of preset antennas for transmitting the SRS and the number of preset antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

In some embodiments, the same capabilities may be set for all carriers/cells. For example, in the case that the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to multiple carriers and/or multiple cells, the antenna port switching capability indicated by the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to multiple carriers and/or multiple cells at the same time.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method for a User Equipment (UE), where the method includes: determining channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or one or more cells supported by the UE and indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting the SRS, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports over which the UE can transmit the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the one or more cells;

and sending the SRS antenna switching capability information to the network equipment.

In some embodiments, the SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: the effect of switching antenna ports on uplink carriers in other carriers of the one or more carriers and/or the effect of switching antenna ports on downlink carriers in other carriers of the one or more carriers, corresponding to each of the one or more carriers.

According to the embodiment of the application, the SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the carrier determined according to the carrier supported by the UE and/or the currently configured carrier is reported to the network equipment, so that the related configuration of the SRS capability with the carrier of the UE as the granularity is realized. Therefore, in the relevant configuration process, the signaling overhead of network communication between the UE and the network equipment is smaller, and the configuration process is more consistent with the actual situation that the UE works on the carrier.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a UE, including: a control unit, configured to determine retractable channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for a UE, wherein the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting an SRS, and the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports through which the UE can transmit the SRS and is equal to or smaller than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS; a receiving and sending unit, configured to send fallback SRS antenna switching capability information to a network device; wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or at least one cell supported by the UE.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a user equipment UE comprising a memory, a processor and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the processor implementing the communication method of any one of claims 1 to 14 when executing the program.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, including a user equipment UE and a network device, the UE being configured to determine fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information indicates antenna port switching capabilities supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, and the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports that the UE can transmit SRS, and is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting SRS, and

transmitting retrogradable SRS antenna switching capability information to network equipment;

the network equipment is used for receiving the retroversion SRS antenna switching capability information sent by the UE; and configuring the UE according to the retroversion SRS antenna switching capability information, and sending a configuration message to the UE.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method as described in any one of the preceding aspects or embodiments.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as described in any one of the preceding aspects or embodiments.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, comprising: the chip system comprises a processor and a memory, wherein instructions are stored in the memory; the instructions, when executed by the processor, implement a method as described in any one of the preceding aspects or embodiments.

The present application, in accordance with aspects of the present application, has effects including, but not limited to:

according to various embodiments of the present application, SRS antenna switching capability information and/or retractable SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to a carrier determined according to the carrier supported by the UE and/or a currently configured carrier is reported to the network device, so as to implement SRS capability related configuration using the carrier of the UE as a granularity. Therefore, in the relevant configuration process, the signaling overhead of network communication between the UE and the network equipment is smaller, and the configuration process is more consistent with the actual situation that the UE works on the carrier.

In addition, according to various embodiments of the present application, when the UE works according to the current carrier configuration, the network device may perform relevant configuration for the UE based on the fallback carrier configuration reported by the UE and/or the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information, so as to reduce the power consumption of the UE in the mailbox, solve the problem of overheating of the UE, and prolong the service time of the UE.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system implementing an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of a communication method of an example communication system according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of another communication method of an example communication system according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 4 shows a flow diagram of another communication method of an example communication system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of a communication method of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The present application is further described with reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, methods, systems, and apparatus for voice activity detection, and that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of explanation, not limitation, of the application. In addition, for convenience of description, only a part of structures or processes related to the present application, not all of them, is illustrated in the drawings.

The following description of the embodiments of the present application is provided by way of specific examples, and other advantages and effects of the present application will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein. While the description of the present application will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the features of the present invention to that embodiment. Rather, the invention has been described in connection with embodiments for the purpose of covering alternatives and modifications as may be extended based on the claims of the present application. In the following description, numerous specific details are included to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. The present application may be practiced without these particulars. Moreover, some of the specific details have been omitted from the description in order to avoid obscuring or obscuring the focus of the present application. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

The terms "comprising," "having," and "including" are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase "A/B" means "A or B". The phrase "A and/or B" means "(A and B) or (A or B)".

As used herein, the term "module" or "unit" may refer to, be, or include: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

In some cases, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. The disclosed embodiments may also be implemented as instructions carried by or stored on one or more transitory or non-transitory machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) storage media, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. For example, the instructions may be distributed via a network or other computer readable medium. Thus, a machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), without limitation, a floppy diskette, optical disk, read-only memory (CD-ROM), magneto-optical disk, read-only memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic or optical card, flash memory, or a tangible machine-readable memory for transmitting information over the Internet via electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.). Thus, a machine-readable medium includes any type of machine-readable medium suitable for storing or transmitting electronic instructions or information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).

In the drawings, some features of the structures or methods are shown in a particular arrangement and/or order. However, it is to be understood that such specific arrangement and/or ordering may not be required. In some embodiments, these features may be arranged in a manner and/or order different from that shown in the illustrative figures. Additionally, the inclusion of structural or methodical features in a particular figure is not meant to imply that such features are required in all embodiments, and in some embodiments, these features may not be included or may be combined with other features.

It is to be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements or data, these elements or data should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used merely to distinguish one feature from another. For example, a first feature may be termed a second feature, and, similarly, a second feature may be termed a first feature, without departing from the scope of example embodiments.

It should be noted that in this specification, like reference numerals and letters refer to like items in the following drawings, and thus, once an item is defined in one drawing, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent drawings.

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As used herein, the term module or unit may refer to or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality, or may be part of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a third Generation (3rd-Generation, 3G) mobile communication network, a fourth Generation (4th-Generation, 3G) mobile communication network Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and a fifth Generation (5th-Generation, 5G) mobile communication system New Radio (NR) network. In addition, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a next generation cellular mobile communication system and other subsequent mobile communication systems, which is not limited in the present application.

Some terms in this application are explained below:

SRS antenna switching capability information: SRS antenna switching capability, impact on other downlink carriers, and impact on other uplink carriers may be indicated.

SRS antenna switching capability: the UE may support SRS transmission port switching modes. If the SRS antenna switching capability indicated by the UE is xTyR, it indicates that the UE can transmit SRS on x antenna ports through y antennas. y corresponds to all or a subset of the receive antennas of the UE.

Maximum number of antenna ports: the maximum number of antenna ports that the UE can support.

SRS resource: time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources for transmitting the SRS.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 implementing an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The communication system 100 may include at least one UE10 (only one shown) and at least one network device 12 (only one shown). For example, the UE10 may be communicatively coupled with the network device 12 based on a cellular communication protocol, such as a global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocol, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network protocol, a push-to-talk (PTT) protocol, a cellular PTT (poc) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and so forth.

As shown in fig. 1, the UE10 may include a terminal device used by a user, for example, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The UE10 further includes: a processor 102, a communication module 104, and a memory 106, which are communicatively coupled via a bus. The processor 102 may include, but is not limited to, a Processing module or Processing circuitry such as a central Processing Unit (cpu), a graphics Processing Unit (gpu), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Micro-programmed Control Unit (MCU), an analog (intelligent) processor, or a Programmable logic device (fpga), and the like. In some embodiments, the processor 102 may be configured to perform one or more of the various embodiments described below.

In one possible embodiment, the processor 102 may run an operating system of the UE10, such as an Android, iOS, Windows OS, Liunix, Hongmon operating system, and the like. In other possible embodiments, the processor 102 may run a particular application.

The memory 106 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some examples, the memory 106 may further include memory located remotely from the processor 102, which may be connected to the UE10 through a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the internet, intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

The communication module 104 may include a control unit 1041 and a transceiving unit 1042. The control unit 1041 may process the wireless signal received from the transceiving unit 1042 and generate a wireless signal for the transceiving unit 1042 to transmit. In some embodiments, the control unit 1041 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor, and/or other baseband processor(s) for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). The control unit 1041 may handle various radio control functions communicating with one or more radio networks via the transceiving unit 1042. In some implementations, the communication module 104 may provide communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. The transceiving unit 1042 may comprise a radio frequency link, for example, including a three-stage radio frequency integrated circuit, a power amplifier, and a duplexer/filter.

The network device 12 may include a network side device for communicating with the UE, such as a macro base station, a micro base station, or a distributed unit-control unit (DU-CU). The base station may be an evolved Node B (eNB) or e-NodeB in LTE, or may be a gNB in NR, or the like. The base station may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, or a network device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network that is evolved in the future, and the DU-CU is a device that is deployed in a radio access network and can perform wireless communication with a user equipment. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

In the communication system 100, for example, when the UE10 has an overheating problem or needs to reduce power consumption to save battery life, the UE may report UE Assistance Information (UE Assistance Information) to notify the network device that the UE desires to reduce capability or configuration for the base station to refer to and perform reconfiguration. Take the UE10 overheating as an example:

in general, the network device 12 transmits an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection reconfiguration message to the UE 10. Wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration message may include: superheat related configuration information. For example, the overheating-related configuration information may indicate whether the UE10 may send overheating-related assistance information to the network device 12, and the value of the overheating-related prohibit timer, etc.

If the network device 12 configures that the UE10 can send the auxiliary information related to overheating, when the UE10 has an overheating problem and the overheating-related prohibit timer is not running, the UE10 sends the auxiliary information message to the network device. Wherein the assistance information message includes overheating-related assistance information for the network device 12 to solve the overheating problem of the UE 10.

It is to be understood that the content of the auxiliary information related to overheating may be configured according to actual requirements, and this is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application. When the auxiliary information related to overheating includes the UE type or the MIMO layer number, that is, when the auxiliary information is used to indicate that the UE desires to reduce the MIMO layer number, the network device may reconfigure the appropriate MIMO layer number to the UE according to the UE type or the MIMO layer number reported by the UE.

In the process of reducing the capability or configuration of the UE, the network device only reconfigures the MIMO layer number according to the report of the UE, and there is a drawback that the reduced MIMO layer number of the UE closes the radio frequency link and the antenna port, which may affect the SRS capability of the UE under the normal capability. For example, if the network device configures the UE to reduce the maximum uplink MIMO layer number, the UE may close the transmission radio frequency link, and at this time, the UE cannot support antenna-based SRS transmission under normal capability, thereby causing waste of some SRS resources. If the network device configures the UE to reduce the maximum downlink MIMO layer number, the UE expects to close a part of the received radio frequency link, and at this time, the UE still sends the SRS according to the antenna with normal capability, which may cause the channel quality estimated by the network device according to the SRS to be inconsistent with the downlink channel quality transmitted by a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Therefore, even if the network device reconfigures the low-capability MIMO layer number for the UE, the UE still needs to maintain the original number of the radio frequency link and the antenna port in order to implement the SRS antenna switching capability, the power consumption of the UE cannot be reduced, and the low-capability MIMO layer number reconfigured for the UE by the network device cannot play a role of cooling.

Therefore, in the communication system 100, the UE10 needs to report the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information supported by the UE to the network device 12, so that the network device 12 can configure the corresponding SRS resource according to the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information reported by the UE 10. The reporting of the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information by the UE10 to the network device 12 is described in detail below with reference to fig. 2.

It can be understood that the implementation method of the present application may be applied to any scenario in which the UE needs to report the fallback SRS capability, and the scenario in which the UE has an overheating problem or needs to reduce power consumption is only an example, and is not a specific limitation to the application scenario of the scheme of the present application, and the following contents are not described one by one.

A flow diagram of a communication method of an example communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to fig. 2.

As shown in fig. 2, in block 201, the network device 12 sends a Capability request (UE Capability request) message to the UE10 for requesting the UE to send the radio access Capability of the UE in a certain RAT/RATs.

In block 202, in response to the Capability request message of the network device 12, the UE10 determines its own radio Capability (radio Capability) and reports the radio Capability (radio Capability) to the network device 12 through the Capability message (UE Capability Information). The capability message of the UE may include capabilities of the UE in multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs). The capability message may be reported when the UE10 accesses a cell in which the network device 12 is located, or may instruct the UE10 to report when the network device 12 needs to know the radio capability of the UE 10.

In some embodiments, the capability message of the UE10 may be generated by the control unit 1041 of the communication module 104 and sent to the network device 12 via the transceiving unit 1042. It is to be appreciated that in one or more embodiments herein, the communication module 104 can enable various wireless communication-related configurations for the UE 10.

In some embodiments, the capability message may include an SRS antenna switching/polling (sounding reference signal antenna switch) capability preset by the UE10, that is, a capability that the UE10 desires to be configured. Wherein the capability indicates the number of antennas and the number of antenna ports that can be supported by the UE10 when transmitting SRS to the network device 12.

In some alternative or additional embodiments, the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability supported by the UE10 may also be included in the capability message.

In existing standards, the network device 12 does not know explicitly how many radio links the UE10 has, but rather describes in terms of antennas. Such as when the UE10 actually has two transmit radio frequency links, the UE10 supports uplink communication with the network device 12 using at most 2 antennas simultaneously. If the UE10 is communicating with the network device 12 using 2 antennas, there will in fact be one antenna for each radio frequency link. If the UE10 uses 1 antenna to communicate with the network device 12, the UE10 may use any one uplink radio link corresponding to the antenna, or may use two radio links simultaneously to simulate one antenna, which is transparent to the network device 12 depending on the specific implementation of the UE 10. The network device 12 need only schedule the UE10 on which antenna or antennas to transmit data. For simplicity of description, one UE10 will support one transmit radio link (T) and two receive radio links (R) will be referred to as T1R 2. By analogy, a UE10 supporting 2 transmit rf chains and 4 receive rf chains is referred to as t2r 4. Generally, the number of receiving rf chains in the UE10 is greater than or equal to the number of transmitting rf chains, and each receiving rf chain is connected to one antenna (i.e. a radiating element of electromagnetic waves), so t1r2 can also be understood as one transmitting rf chain and two antennas in the UE 10. By analogy, t2r4 can also be understood as two transmit rf chains and four antennas in the UE 10. Therefore, the number of antennas in the SRS capability information may also be understood as the number of receiving radio links/receiving antennas, and the number of antenna ports may also be understood as the number of transmitting radio links/transmitting antennas. The antenna described herein has the capability of transmitting electromagnetic waves and receiving electromagnetic waves, and therefore the antenna, the transmitting antenna, and the receiving antenna in the embodiments of the present application can be regarded as the same thing.

For the SRS antenna switching capability of the UE10, since different UE hardware configurations are different, the antenna forwarding capability of the UE is also different based on the hardware configuration. The SRS antenna transmission capability is specified in NR as follows: t1r2, t1r4, t2r4, t1r4-t2r4, t1r1, t2r2 or t4r4, and the like. For example, t1r2 indicates that there is one transmitting rf link and two antennas in the UE, and at this time, the UE may use a single port to transmit one SRS each time, and needs to transmit twice to complete the round of transmission, that is, the first transmitting rf link and the first antenna are used to transmit the SRS for the first time, and the first transmitting rf link and the second antenna are used to transmit the SRS for the second time. t2r4 indicates that the UE has two transmitting rf links and four antennas, and at this time, the UE can use two ports to transmit one SRS each time, and needs to transmit twice to complete a round of transmission, that is, the first transmitting SRS uses the first transmitting rf link and the second transmitting rf link and the first antenna and the second antenna, and the second transmitting SRS uses the first transmitting rf link and the second transmitting rf link and the third antenna and the fourth antenna. t1r4-t2r4 is the SRS antenna that the UE supports both t1r4 and t2r 4.

According to various embodiments of the present application, the SRS antenna switching capability preset by the UE10 and the retractable SRS antenna switching capability for the preset SRS antenna switching capability may be configured and reported for a carrier of the UE 10.

It is to be appreciated that the communication system 100 herein may support operation of multiple cells or carriers, and this feature may be referred to as Carrier Aggregation (CA) or multi-Carrier operation. A carrier may also be referred to as a Component Carrier (CC), a layer, a channel, and the like. In the present application, the terms "carrier", "component carrier", and "cell" (in the scenario without uplink supplemental UL, SUL) may be used interchangeably herein. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL as compared to UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier (abbreviated as primary carrier) and one or more secondary component carriers (abbreviated as secondary carriers). The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

In wireless communications, the UE10 may use, i.e., the UE10 may operate on, one or more carriers. According to the identification information that can be used to indicate the carriers, the SRS antenna switching mechanism can be configured for each carrier supported by the UE 10. The identification information indicating the carrier includes, for example: an Identity (ID) of the carrier, and/or a secondary cell index (scelllindex) of the carrier. As an example, the secondary cell index for the primary carrier/primary cell may be configured to have an index value of scellndex ═ 0, and the index values of the secondary cell indexes of the secondary carrier/secondary cell may be sequentially set to values that are not occupied by other secondary carriers/secondary cells, e.g., scellndex ═ 1, scellndex ═ 3, and so on, and as such, the carrier may be indicated by the secondary cell index.

In some embodiments, the UE10 may report SRS antenna switching capabilities and/or retractable SRS antenna switching capabilities for one or more supported carriers and/or one or more cells.

As an example, in the SRS antenna switching capability information, the SRS antenna switching capabilities and/or the retractable SRS antenna switching capabilities corresponding to one or more carriers are arranged according to a default order of the one or more carriers supported by the UE 10. The SRS antenna switching capability information does not need to represent the SRS antenna switching capability and/or the correspondence between the retractable SRS antenna switching capability and the carrier, and the network device 12 can determine the correspondence between the capability and the carrier according to the default order of the carriers of the UE10, that is, determine what the SRS antenna switching capability and the retractable SRS antenna switching capability supported by the UE10 are respectively on which carrier.

The default order may be a predefined order of supportable carriers, or may also be an order reported by carriers in the capability information of the UE10, for example, an order sorted according to IDs of the carriers, or an order sorted according to secondary cell indexes of the carriers, where the ordering may be performed according to sizes of the IDs and/or the indexes or other manners, and this is not particularly limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

In some embodiments, for example, it is assumed that the UE10 supports 3 carriers, namely, (primary) carrier 1, (secondary) carrier 2, and 3, where scellndex of primary carrier 1 is 0, scellndex of secondary carrier 2 is 1, and scellndex of secondary carrier 3 is 3. Then if the UE10 reports the carriers 1-3 in the order of the secondary carrier indexes from small to large, the order of the SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the carriers may be: SRS antenna switching capability 1 supported by UE10 on carrier 1, SRS antenna switching capability 2 supported by UE10 on carrier 2, and SRS antenna switching capability 3 supported by UE10 on carrier 3. As another example, the SRS antenna switching capabilities corresponding to each carrier in the SRS antenna switching capability information of the UE10 may be reported collectively in a set or list manner, for example, the SRS antenna switching capability information may be { SRS antenna switching capability 1 supported by the UE10 on carrier 1, SRS antenna switching capability 2 supported by the UE10 on carrier 2, SRS antenna switching capability 3 supported by the UE10 on carrier 3 }.

In other embodiments, the identification information indicating the carrier may be in one-to-one correspondence with the SRS antenna switching capabilities of the carrier. For example, it is also assumed that the UE10 supports 3 carriers, namely, (primary) carrier 1, (secondary) carrier 2, and 3, where scellndex of primary carrier 1 is 0, scellndex of secondary carrier 2 is 1, and scellndex of secondary carrier 3 is 3. A plurality of packets may be included in the SRS antenna switching capability information, where each packet corresponds to one carrier, for example: packet 1{ scelllindex 0, SRS antenna switching capability 1 supported by UE10 on carrier 1}, packet 2{ scelllindex 1, SRS antenna switching capability 2 supported by UE10 on carrier 2}, packet 3{ scelllindex 3, SRS antenna switching capability 3 supported by UE10 on carrier 3 }. As another example, the SRS antenna switching capability corresponding to each carrier may be uniformly reported in a set or list manner, for example, the SRS antenna switching capability information may be { scelllindex 0, where the UE10 supports SRS antenna switching capability 1 in carrier 1; scelllindex 1, SRS antenna switching capability 2 supported by UE10 on carrier 2; scelllindex 3, SRS antenna switching capability supported by UE10 on carrier 3 }.

It should be noted that, the above example describes the correspondence between the SRS antenna switching capability information and the carrier by way of example only, and is not limited to the content of the SRS antenna switching capability information.

Similarly, for the retractable SRS antenna switching capability supported by the UE10, the reporting may be performed in the same corresponding manner as the SRS antenna switching capability described above, and the network device 12 may determine what the retractable SRS antenna switching capability supported by the UE10 on each carrier is according to the manner described above. The reporting process of the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information will be described with reference to fig. 3.

It is to be appreciated that in the various embodiments described above, there may be carriers that do not support SRS capability among the one or more carriers supported by the UE10, for example, the primary carrier 1 supported by the UE10 supports SRS antenna switching capability, but there is a case where at least one of the secondary carriers 2 and 3 does not support SRS antenna switching capability, in which case the SRS antenna switching capability information and/or the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information may only include the SRS antenna switching capability and/or the corresponding fallback capability of the carrier with SRS antenna switching capability.

According to further embodiments of the present application, the SRS antenna switching capability information and the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information may further include an impact of the antenna switching capability/fallback of one or more carriers/one or more cells supported by the UE10 on other downlink carriers and/or on other uplink carriers. These effects are described in detail below with reference to fig. 3.

In the above embodiment, the UE10 reports, to the network device 12, SRS antenna switching capability information supported by the UE10, where the information is configured according to one or more carriers/one or more cells supported by the UE 10.

At block 203, the network device 12 receives the SRS antenna switching capability information transmitted by the UE 10. The content received by the network device 12 is the content described in the above block 202, and is not described in detail here.

At block 204, the network device 12 transmits configuration information to the UE10 according to the SRS antenna switching capability information transmitted by the UE 10. The network device 12 may configure SRS resources for the UE 10. For example, when the network device 12 configures/reconfigures the SRS antenna switching capability for the UE10, the SRS resource for antenna port switching may be correspondingly configured for the UE10 by referring to the information sent by the UE 10. Of course, the network device 12 may also be configured otherwise, which is not specifically limited in this application, and the specific process of configuration is not described in detail.

At block 205, the UE10 receives and executes the configuration information.

According to other embodiments of the present application, an example of reporting the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information when the UE10 wants to reduce the SRS antenna switching capability is described below with reference to fig. 3.

Fig. 3 shows an example of reporting the fallback SRS antenna switching capability Information by the UE10 through UE Assistance Information (UE Assistance Information).

In block 301, the network device 12 sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE 10. At block 302, the UE10 determines whether the SRS antenna switching capability needs to be reduced. In the event that reduced capabilities are required, the UE10 transmits assistance information to the network device 12 at block 303. In some embodiments, the SRS antenna switching capability information pre-configured for the UE10 by the network device 12 may be included in the RRC message, and may also include a carrier configuration of the UE10, for example, the configuration information received by the UE10 in the above block 205. In other embodiments, for example, when the UE10 has an overheating problem or needs to reduce power consumption to save battery life, the RRC message may include the above-described overheating-related configuration information, and other contents corresponding to the RRC connection reconfiguration message and the auxiliary information may refer to the above contents, which are not described herein again.

In the auxiliary information, the UE10 may report the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information of the carrier currently configured by the UE 10.

In some embodiments, for the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability of the UE10, the capability may be determined by the UE10 to report according to its hardware configuration and/or current SRS resource configuration. For example, the UE10 current SRS antenna switching capability is configured as 2T4R, i.e., the UE10 is able to transmit SRS on 2 antenna ports through 4 antennas; accordingly, the retractable SRS antenna switching capability supported by the UE10 may be 1T4R and/or 1T2R, i.e., the SRS antenna switching capability of the UE10 is to transmit SRS on 1 antenna port through 4 antennas and/or the SRS antenna switching capability of the UE10 is to transmit SRS on 1 antenna port through 2 antennas.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information may include one or more fallback SRS capabilities desired by the UE 10. For example, a maximum value of the capability of UE10 to backoff, or an absolute value of the capability of UE10 to backoff.

As one example, for example, in the case that the SRS antenna switching capability reported by the UE10 is t4r4, if the maximum value of the capability of backoff desired by the UE10 is t2r4 in the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information, the UE10 may request the network device 12 to configure the fallback capability less than or equal to t2r4 thereto, i.e., the UE10 configurable fallback capability includes t1r4 and/or t1r2, so that the number of antenna ports and antennas desired by the UE10 is one or more. If the absolute value of the capability of UE10 to back off is t2r4 in the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information, UE10 may request network device 12 to configure to it a fallback capability equal to t2r4, i.e., only one of the fallback capabilities configurable by UE 10.

It should be noted that the UE may determine the number of antenna ports and antennas to be backed off according to a network requirement or a scenario requirement, and further determine SRS antenna switching capability information.

For example, when overheating occurs, the UE may obtain a power consumption value expected to be reduced according to the current device temperature and the ideal temperature, and then determine the number of antenna ports and antennas to be backed off according to a preset mapping relationship between power consumption and SRS antenna switching capability, thereby determining SRS antenna switching capability information. Of course, this is merely an example of an implementation in an overheat scenario, and is not limited to the application scenario and the implementation manner.

According to some embodiments of the present application, for the retractable SRS antenna switching capability of each carrier supported by the UE10, the UE10 may report the value of the retracted SRS capability desired by the UE10 in the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information only, which may be used for all carriers supported by the UE 10. In this case, the fallback capability does not need to be represented in the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information. It can be understood that the value of the fallback SRS antenna switching capability needs to be less than or equal to the value of the smallest capability among all SRS antenna switching capabilities reported by the UE 10. In addition, the value of the fallback capability may also be a maximum value of the capability of the UE10 to fallback or an absolute value of the capability of the UE10 to fallback, which is not described herein again.

According to further embodiments of the present application, the SRS antenna switching capability information and the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information may further include an impact of the antenna switching capability/fallback of one or more carriers/one or more cells supported by the UE10 on other downlink carriers and/or on other uplink carriers. As an example, how to indicate the impact on other downlink carriers in the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is described. It is to be understood that the following description is equally applicable to the impact on other uplink carriers in the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information and the impact on other downlink/uplink carriers in the SRS antenna switching capability information, which is not listed below.

In some embodiments, the influence of the fallback antenna switching capability on other downlink carriers can be embodied by 1-32 integers, where in the existing standard, up to 32 carriers can be configured, and thus 1-32 integers can be used to represent all configurable carriers. For example, also assuming that the UE10 supports 3 carriers, respectively (primary) carrier 1, (secondary) carrier 2 and 3, then the inter-carrier impact can be expressed using an integer of 1-3 at most. If the value of the influence of other downlink carriers of carrier 1 is set to 1, and if carrier 1 has no influence on carrier 2, and carrier 1 has an influence on carrier 3, the value of the influence of other downlink carriers of carrier 3 needs to be set to 1, that is, the same value as the value of the influence of other downlink carriers of carrier 1 is set, and the value of the influence of other downlink carriers of carrier 2 may be set to a value other than 1, for example, 2 or 3.

The influence of the retroversion antenna switching capability of each carrier on other downlink carriers may also be reported to the network device 12 through the correspondence between various carriers and capabilities described in the foregoing embodiments. For example, according to a default sequence of one or more carriers supported by the UE10, the influences of the one or more carriers on other downlink carriers are arranged, and the identification information indicating the carrier is in one-to-one correspondence with the influences of the antenna switching capability of the carrier backoff on other downlink carriers, which is specifically referred to the foregoing description and is not described herein again.

In other embodiments, the effect of the antenna switching capability of the backoff on other downlink carriers can also be embodied by bits. For example, the influence on other downlink carriers is represented by a bit map, in the bit map of each carrier, bits are set according to a default order of one or more carriers supported by the UE10, each bit in the bit map represents one carrier, where bit 0 represents no influence and bit 1 represents influence. Also assuming that the UE10 supports 3 carriers, respectively (primary) carrier 1, (secondary) carrier 2 and 3, if the UE10 reports carriers 1-3 in order of the secondary carrier index from small to large, the bitmap for each carrier is { carrier 1, carrier 2, carrier 3 }. For example, if the fallback antenna switching capability of carrier 1 has an effect on carrier 3 and no effect on carrier 2, the bitmap for carrier 1 may be {1, 0, 1}, and correspondingly, the bitmap for carrier 2 is {0, 0, 0} and the bitmap for carrier 3 is {1, 0, 1 }. As another example, the influence of each carrier on other downlink carriers can also be represented by using only bit patterns {1, 0, 1} in the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information of each carrier.

In other embodiments, the influence of SRS antenna switching capability indicating the fallback of the carrier, such as carrier ID, secondary cell index, etc., on other uplink/downlink carriers may also be indicated by identification information for indicating the carrier. In this case, it is assumed that the UE10 supports 3 carriers, namely, (primary) carrier 1, (secondary) carrier 2, and 3, where scellndex of primary carrier 1 is 0, scellndex of secondary carrier 2 is 1, and scellndex of secondary carrier 3 is 3. The retroversion antenna switching capability of carrier 1 has an effect on carrier 3 and no effect on carrier 2, and then in the retroversion antenna switching capability information, the effect on other uplink/downlink carriers may include { scelllindex 0, scelllindex 1}, indicating that carrier 1 has an effect on carrier 3.

In an alternative or additional embodiment, the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information may also adopt the information packets described above, where each information packet corresponds to each carrier one to one through identification information of the carrier, and the information packet may include not only the antenna port switching capability described above, but also at least one of an influence on an uplink carrier and an influence on a downlink carrier. As an example, the packet of carrier 1 may be { scelllindex 0, SRS antenna switching capability 1 supported by UE10 on carrier 1, influence of carrier 1 on other downlink carriers, and influence of carrier 1 on other uplink carriers }, and the format of the above packet is merely used as an example for illustration, and is not limited to any packet in this application.

The UE10 reports the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information for one or more currently configured carriers, i.e. the carrier currently used by the UE 10. In the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information, the retracted SRS antenna switching capability of each carrier currently configured by the UE10 and/or the influence on other uplink/downlink carriers may correspond to each other one to one, and the corresponding manner may refer to the above description, which is not described herein again.

For the carrier currently configured by the UE10, the network device 12 may configure the carrier for the UE10 according to a rule configured by itself when required by any UE10, where the rule may be based on an existing standard, and the present application does not specifically limit the rule configuration method and the rule content.

The contents described in block 304-306 are similar to those described in block 203-205 and will not be described again.

Another communication method of the example communication system 100 is described below with reference to fig. 4.

According to an embodiment of the present application, fig. 4 provides another method for reporting antenna switching capability related to a retractable SRS. At block 401, the network device 12 sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE 10. The content in this embodiment is similar to that in block 301, and is not described here again.

At block 402, the UE10 determines whether the SRS antenna switching capability needs to be reduced. In the event that reduced capabilities are required, the UE10 transmits assistance information to the network device 12 at block 403. The UE10 may report, in the assistance information, a fallback-able carrier configuration of the UE10 for the currently configured carrier and fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information of the fallback carrier configuration.

As an example, assume that the UE10 is currently configured with 3 carriers, carrier 1, carrier 2, and carrier 3, respectively. The UE10 may arbitrarily back off a maximum of n-1 carriers according to the current overheating condition and the configuration rule, where n is the maximum number of currently configured carriers, and generate the backed-off carrier configuration information. It is understood that the configuration rule of the UE10 may be based on the existing standard, and the present application does not specifically limit the configuration method of the rule and the content of the rule.

It is understood that the fallback carrier configuration information may include a carrier Identification (ID), a number of carriers, frequency point information of the carriers, and/or bandwidth information of the carriers. All information that may be used to indicate a fallback carrier may be included in the carrier configuration information referred to herein, for example, a secondary cell index (scellndex) of a carrier, the secondary cell index for a primary carrier/primary cell may be configured to have an index value of scellndex ═ 0, and the index value of the secondary cell index of the secondary carrier/secondary cell may be sequentially set to a value that is not occupied by other secondary carriers/secondary cells, for example, scellndex ═ 1, scellndex ═ 3, and so on.

Then, according to the fallback carrier configuration information, the UE10 may further provide the fallback carrier with the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the carrier. For the retractable SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to a carrier, reference may be made to the detailed description of the foregoing embodiments, and details are not repeated here.

At block 404, network device 12 receives a fallback carrier configuration and fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the carrier configuration. The content in this embodiment is similar to that of block 304, and is not described here again.

At block 405, the network device 12 sends configuration information to the UE10 according to the fallback carrier configuration and the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information sent by the UE 10. For example, when the network device 12 reconfigures the carrier and the SRS antenna switching capability for the UE10, the fallback carrier and the SRS resource for antenna port switching corresponding to the fallback carrier may be configured for the UE10 with reference to the information sent by the UE 10.

At block 406, the UE10 receives and executes the configuration information.

It should be noted that, the one or more blocks included in the method for reporting SRS capability provided in the embodiment of the present application may configure an execution sequence according to actual requirements, and fig. 2 to 4 only illustrate one possible execution sequence, which is not limited thereto.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It is understood that the UE and the network device include hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the functions in order to implement the functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the UE and the network device may be divided into functional modules according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of an exemplary communication method of the UE according to the above embodiment. As shown in fig. 5, the method 500 may be performed by the control unit 1041 and the transceiving unit 1042. For what is not described in the above system and method embodiments, reference may be made to the following method embodiments; likewise, reference may be made to the above-described system and method embodiments for what is not described in the method embodiments.

Specifically, after the UE10 accesses the network, in block 501, the control unit 1041 determines SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to a carrier in response to a capability request from the network device 12. The content in this embodiment is similar to that of block 202, and is not described here again.

Next, at block 502, transceiving unit 1042 transmits the determined SRS antenna switching capability information to network device 12. Thereafter, at block 503, the transceiving unit 1042 receives configuration information sent by the network device 12, where the configuration information includes the configuration of the SRS antenna switching capability information determined by the reference control unit 1041.

At block 504, control unit 1041 executes the configuration information of network device 12.

During the process of the UE10 communicating with the network device 12, the transceiving unit 1042 may also receive an RRC connection reconfiguration message from the network device 12 at block 505. The overheating-related configuration information in the RRC connection reconfiguration message may instruct the UE10 to send overheating-related assistance information to the network device 12 when overheating. As other examples, the RRC connection reconfiguration message received in block 505 may also be received in block 503, that is, the RRC connection reconfiguration message may be sent by network device 12 at any time, together with any other messages, and this application is only described as an example and is not limited in particular.

If the UE10 has a condition that requires a reduction of SRS antenna switching capability, for example, the UE10 is overheated and the UE10 wants to reduce power consumption and prolong battery life, the control unit 1041 performs block 507, and the control unit 1041 may determine a fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to a currently configured carrier at block 507, or the control unit 1041 may first determine a fallback carrier configuration and then determine the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the fallback carrier based on the fallback carrier configuration at block 506.

At block 508, the transceiving unit 1042 transmits, to the network device 12, the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the currently configured carrier, or the fallback carrier configuration and the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponding to the fallback carrier.

Then, at block 509, the transceiving unit 1042 receives configuration information from the network device, the configuration information being configured by the network device 12 with reference to the fallback carrier configuration and/or the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information. The configuration process for this configuration information may refer to the description in block 405.

Finally, at block 510, the control unit 1041 executes the configuration information from the network device.

Based on the various embodiments described above, in the present application, the control unit 1041 is configured to determine fallback able channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, where the fallback able SRS antenna switching capability information indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, and the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports that the UE can transmit SRS, and is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting SRS;

the transceiving unit 1042 is configured to send, by the network device, fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information;

wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or at least one cell supported by the UE.

In some embodiments, the antennas and antenna ports through which the UE can transmit SRS include: the UE can transmit antennas and antenna ports of the SRS through one or more carriers and/or at least one cell.

In some embodiments, at least one of the impact of the uplink carrier and the impact of the downlink carrier comprises one or more bits corresponding to each of the one or more carriers, wherein the one or more bits are in a one-to-one correspondence with the one or more carriers.

In some embodiments, in a case that the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to multiple carriers and/or multiple cells, the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information includes multiple fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets, wherein the multiple fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets correspond to the multiple carriers and/or the multiple cells one-to-one, and each of the multiple fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets indicates at least one of an antenna port switching capability, an impact on an uplink carrier, and an impact on a downlink carrier.

In some embodiments, the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets are arranged in the order of the identification information of the corresponding carriers and/or cells.

In some embodiments, the transceiving unit 1042 further comprises: receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message from a network device, wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a preset number of antennas for transmitting the SRS and a preset number of antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

In some embodiments, the transceiving unit 1042 further comprises: and in response to a UE capability request from the network equipment, sending UE capability information of the UE to the network equipment, wherein the UE capability information comprises the number of preset antennas for transmitting the SRS and the number of preset antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

In some embodiments, in the case that the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to multiple carriers and/or multiple cells, the antenna port switching capability indicated by the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to multiple carriers and/or multiple cells at the same time.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of a user equipment 600 according to an embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, device 600 may include application circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, and one or more antennas 610 coupled together at least as shown. The illustrated components of the device 600 may be included in a UE, for example, the application circuitry 602 may be included in the processor 102 of the UE10, and the baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, Front End Module (FEM) circuitry 608, and one or more antennas 610 may be included in the communication module 104 of the UE 10. In some embodiments, device 600 may include fewer elements. In some embodiments, device 600 may include additional elements, such as memory/storage devices, displays, cameras, sensors, or input/output (I/O) interfaces.

The application circuitry 602 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to: one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the device 600.

Baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to: one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 606. Baseband processing circuitry 604 may interface with application circuitry 602 to generate and process baseband signals and control operation of RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other baseband processor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). Baseband circuitry 604 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radio control functions that support communication with one or more radio networks via RF circuitry 606. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 604A-D may be included in modules stored by the memory 604G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 604E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to: signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi (Viterbi), and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more audio Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, components of the baseband circuitry may be combined as appropriate in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 604 may support communication with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 606 may support communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to baseband circuitry 604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b, and filter circuitry 606 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606 a. The RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing frequencies for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606 d. The amplifier circuit 606b may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal, and the filter circuit 606c may be a Low Pass Filter (LPF) or a Band Pass Filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the downconverted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert the input baseband signal based on the synthesis frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606d to generate the RF output signal for the FEM circuitry 608. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuitry 604 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 606 c.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may comprise two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion, respectively.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuits 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuits 606a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and baseband circuitry 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuitry 606.

In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuitry may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a fractional-N or fractional-N/N +1 type synthesizer, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuit 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuit 606a of the RF circuit 606 based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a fractional-N/N +1 type synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), but this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 or the application processor 602 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application processor 602.

Synthesizer circuit 606d of RF circuit 606 may include a frequency divider, a Delay Locked Loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual-mode divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a Digital Phase Accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide an input signal by N or N +1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, a DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to decompose the VCO period into at most Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this manner, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate a plurality of signals having a plurality of different phases from one another at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, RF circuit 606 may include an IQ/polarity converter.

FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 610, amplify the received signals, and provide amplified versions of the received signals to RF circuitry 606 for further processing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided for transmission by RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of one or more antennas 610. In various embodiments, amplification through the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be done only in RF circuitry 606, only in FEM 608, or both RF circuitry 606 and FEM 608.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 608 may include TX/RX switches to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to RF circuitry 606). The transmit signal path of FEM circuitry 608 may include a Power Amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 606) and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of one or more antennas 610).

Referring now to fig. 7, shown is a block diagram of a communication device 700 in accordance with one embodiment of the present application. The device 700 may include one or more processors 702, system control logic 708 coupled to at least one of the processors 702, system memory 704 coupled to the system control logic 708, non-volatile memory (NVM)706 coupled to the system control logic 708, and a network interface 710 coupled to the system control logic 708.

The processor 702 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor 702 may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, baseband processors, etc.). In embodiments herein, the processor 702 may be configured to perform one or more embodiments in accordance with the various embodiments shown in fig. 2-5.

In some embodiments, system control logic 708 may include any suitable interface controllers to provide any suitable interface to at least one of processors 702 and/or any suitable device or component in communication with system control logic 708.

In some embodiments, system control logic 708 may include one or more memory controllers to provide an interface to system memory 704. System memory 704 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions. Memory 704 of device 700 may include any suitable volatile memory in some embodiments, such as suitable Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM).

NVM/memory 706 may include one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media for storing data and/or instructions. In some embodiments, the NVM/memory 706 may include any suitable non-volatile memory such as flash memory and/or any suitable non-volatile storage device, such as at least one of a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), CD (Compact Disc) Drive, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) Drive.

The NVM/memory 706 may include a portion of a storage resource installed on a device of the device 700 or it may be accessible by, but not necessarily a part of, the device. For example, the NVM/storage 706 may be accessed over a network via the network interface 710.

In particular, system memory 704 and NVM/storage 706 may each include: a temporary copy and a permanent copy of instructions 720. The instructions 720 may include: instructions that, when executed by at least one of the processors 702, cause the apparatus 700 to perform the method as shown in fig. 2-5. In some embodiments, the instructions 720, hardware, firmware, and/or software components thereof may additionally/alternatively be located in the system control logic 708, the network interface 710, and/or the processor 702.

Network interface 710 may include a transceiver to provide a radio interface for device 700 to communicate with any other suitable device (e.g., front end module, antenna, etc.) over one or more networks. In some embodiments, the network interface 710 may be integrated with other components of the device 700. For example, the network interface 710 may be integrated with at least one of the processor 702, the system memory 704, the NVM/storage 706, and a firmware device (not shown) having instructions that, when executed by at least one of the processor 702, the device 700 implements one or more of the various embodiments shown in fig. 2-5.

The network interface 710 may further include any suitable hardware and/or firmware to provide a multiple-input multiple-output radio interface. For example, network interface 710 may be a network adapter, a wireless network adapter, a telephone modem, and/or a wireless modem.

In one embodiment, at least one of the processors 702 may be packaged together with logic for one or more controllers of system control logic 708 to form a System In Package (SiP). In one embodiment, at least one of the processors 702 may be integrated on the same die with logic for one or more controllers of system control logic 708 to form a system on a chip (SoC).

The apparatus 700 may further comprise: input/output (I/O) devices 712. I/O device 712 may include a user interface to enable a user to interact with device 700; the design of the peripheral component interface enables peripheral components to also interact with the device 700. In some embodiments, the device 700 further comprises a sensor for determining at least one of environmental conditions and location information associated with the device 700.

In some embodiments, the user interface may include, but is not limited to, a display (e.g., a liquid crystal display, a touch screen display, etc.), a speaker, a microphone, one or more cameras (e.g., still image cameras and/or video cameras), a flashlight (e.g., a light emitting diode flash), and a keyboard.

In some embodiments, the peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, an audio jack, and a power interface.

In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyroscope sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of the network interface 710 or interact with the network interface 710 to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.

The method embodiments of the present application may be implemented in software, magnetic, firmware, etc.

Program code may be applied to input instructions to perform the functions described herein and generate output information. The output information may be applied to one or more output devices in a known manner. For purposes of this application, a processing system includes any system having a processor such as, for example, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a microcontroller, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or a microprocessor.

The program code may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a processing system. The program code can also be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. Indeed, the mechanisms described herein are not limited in scope to any particular programming language. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented by representative instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, which represent various logic in a processor, which when read by a machine causes the machine to fabricate logic to perform the techniques described herein. These representations, known as "IP cores" may be stored on a tangible computer-readable storage medium and provided to a number of customers or manufacturing facilities to load into the manufacturing machines that actually make the logic or processor.

In some cases, an instruction converter may be used to convert instructions from a source instruction set to a target instruction set. For example, the instruction converter may transform (e.g., using a static binary transform, a dynamic binary transform including dynamic compilation), morph, emulate, or otherwise convert the instruction into one or more other instructions to be processed by the core. The instruction converter may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. The instruction converter may be on the processor, off-processor, or partially on and partially off-processor.

In combination with the above, the present application also provides the following embodiments:

example 1. a communication method for a User Equipment (UE), wherein the method comprises:

determining a fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information indicates at least in part an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, the antenna port switching capability including at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports over which the UE is capable of transmitting the SRS and being equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS;

transmitting the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information to the network device;

Example 2. the communication method of example 1, wherein the antenna and the antenna port via which the UE can transmit the SRS comprise: the UE can transmit antennas and antenna ports of the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the at least one cell.

Example 3 the method of example 1, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

Example 4 the method of example 3, wherein at least one of the impact of the uplink carrier and the impact of the downlink carrier comprises one or more bits corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers, wherein the one or more bits are in a one-to-one correspondence with the one or more carriers.

Example 5 the method of any of examples 3-4, wherein the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information comprises a plurality of fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets in a case where the fallback-able SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, wherein the plurality of fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, and wherein each of the plurality of fallback-able SRS antenna capability packets indicates at least one of the antenna port switching capability, the impact on the uplink carrier, and the impact on the downlink carrier.

Example 6 the method of example 5, wherein the plurality of fallback-able SRS antenna capability information packets are arranged in an order of the corresponding carrier and/or cell identification information.

Example 7 the method of any of examples 1-6, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is associated with identification information of each of the one or more carriers corresponding to the each carrier.

Example 8 the method of any of examples 3-6, wherein the identification information of each of the one or more carriers is associated with identification information of at least one of the uplink carrier and the downlink carrier affected corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers.

Example 9. the method of any of examples 1-8, wherein the number of carriers corresponding to the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is equal to or less than a preset number of carriers.

Example 10 the method of any of examples 1-9, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message from the network device, wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes the preset number of the antennas for transmitting the SRS and the preset number of the antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

Example 11 the method of any one of examples 1-9, wherein the method further comprises: sending UE capability information of the UE to a network device in response to a UE capability request from the network device, wherein the UE capability information includes the preset number of the antennas for transmitting the SRS and the preset number of the antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

Example 12 the method of example 1, wherein the antenna port switching capabilities indicated by the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information correspond to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells simultaneously, in case the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells.

An example 13. a communication method for a User Equipment (UE), wherein the method comprises:

determining channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or one or more cells supported by the UE and at least partially indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of an antenna and a number of antenna ports over which the UE can transmit the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the one or more cells;

and sending the SRS antenna switching capability information to network equipment.

Example 14 the method of example 13, wherein the SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

Example 15 a communication method for a User Equipment (UE), wherein the method comprises:

determining a fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or one or more cells and at least partially indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports over which the UE can transmit the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the one or more cells and is equal to or less than a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS; and

and transmitting the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information to the network equipment.

Example 16 the method of example 15, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

Example 17 a communication method for a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

determining fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers supported by the UE and at least partially indicates antenna port switching capability for transmitting SRS corresponding to the one or more carriers, wherein the number of the one or more carriers is less than a preset number of carriers;

Example 18. the communication method of example 17, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports through which the UE can transmit the SRS, and is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

Example 19. a user equipment, UE, wherein the UE comprises:

a control unit configured to determine fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information at least partially indicates antenna port switching capabilities supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, the antenna port switching capabilities including at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports over which the UE is capable of transmitting the SRS and being equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS;

a transceiver unit, configured to send the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information to the network device;

The apparatus of example 20, wherein the antenna and the antenna port at which the UE is capable of transmitting the SRS comprise: the UE can transmit antennas and antenna ports of the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the at least one cell.

Example 21. the device of example 19, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

Example 22 the device of example 21, wherein at least one of the impact of the uplink carrier and the impact of the downlink carrier comprises one or more bits corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers, wherein the one or more bits are in a one-to-one correspondence with the one or more carriers.

Example 23 the apparatus of any one of examples 19-22, wherein the fallback SRS antenna capability information comprises a plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets in a case where the fallback SRS antenna capability information corresponds to the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, wherein the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, and wherein each of the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets indicates at least one of the antenna port transition capability, the impact on the uplink carrier, and the impact on the downlink carrier.

Example 24. the device of example 23, wherein the plurality of fallback able SRS antenna capability information packets are arranged in an order of the corresponding carrier and/or cell identification information.

Example 25 the device of any one of examples 19-24, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is associated with identification information of each of the one or more carriers.

Example 26 the apparatus of any one of examples 21-24, wherein the identification information of each of the one or more carriers is associated with identification information of at least one of the uplink carrier and the downlink carrier affected corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers.

Example 27. the device of any one of examples 19-26, wherein the number of carriers corresponding to the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is equal to or less than a preset number of carriers.

The apparatus of any of examples 19-27, wherein the transceiver unit further comprises:

Example 29 the apparatus of any one of examples 19-27, wherein the transceiver unit further comprises: sending UE capability information of the UE to a network device in response to a UE capability request from the network device, wherein the UE capability information includes the preset number of the antennas for transmitting the SRS and the preset number of the antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

Example 30 the device of example 19, wherein the antenna port switching capabilities indicated by the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information correspond to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells simultaneously, where the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells.

An example 31. a User Equipment (UE), wherein the apparatus comprises:

a control unit to determine channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or one or more cells supported by the UE and at least partially indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRSs, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of an antenna and a number of antenna ports over which the UE can transmit the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the one or more cells;

and the transceiver unit is used for transmitting the SRS antenna switching capability information to network equipment.

Example 32 the device of example 31, wherein the SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

Example 33. a User Equipment (UE), wherein the apparatus comprises:

a control unit to determine fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers and/or one or more cells and at least partially indicates an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports over which the UE can transmit the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the one or more cells, and is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS; and

a transceiving unit, configured to send the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information to the network device.

Example 34 the device of example 33, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

An example 35. a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a control unit, configured to determine fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to one or more carriers supported by the UE and at least partially indicates antenna port switching capability for transmitting SRS corresponding to the one or more carriers, wherein a number of the one or more carriers is less than a preset number of carriers;

Example 36 the apparatus of example 35, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports through which the UE can transmit the SRS, and is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

Example 37. a user equipment, UE, comprising a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the communication method of any of examples 1 to 18 when executing the program.

Example 38 a communication system, comprising a user equipment, UE, and a network device, wherein,

the UE is configured to determine a fallback channel Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna switching capability information for the UE, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information indicates at least in part an antenna port switching capability supported by the UE for transmitting SRS, the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports that the UE is capable of transmitting the SRS and is equal to or less than a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS, and

the network device is configured to receive the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information sent by the UE; and configuring the UE according to the retroversion SRS antenna switching capability information, and sending a configuration message to the UE.

Example 39 a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method of any of examples 1 to 18.

Example 40 a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method of any of examples 1 to 18.

Example 41 a chip system, comprising: the chip system comprises a processor and a memory, wherein instructions are stored in the memory; the instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the communication method of any of examples 1 to 18.

Claims

1. A method of communication for a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

2. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the antenna and the antenna port through which the UE can transmit the SRS comprise: the UE can transmit antennas and antenna ports of the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the at least one cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the impact of the uplink carrier and the impact of the downlink carrier comprises one or more bits corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers, wherein the one or more bits are in a one-to-one correspondence with the one or more carriers.

5. The method of any one of claims 3-4, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information comprises a plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets in a case where the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, wherein the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, and wherein each of the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets indicates at least one of the antenna port switching capability, the impact on uplink carriers, and the impact on downlink carriers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets are arranged in an order of the corresponding carrier and/or cell identification information.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is associated with identification information for each of the one or more carriers.

8. The method of any of claims 3-6, wherein identification information for the each of the one or more carriers is associated with identification information for at least one of the uplink carrier and the downlink carrier affected, corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-8, wherein a number of the carriers corresponding to the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is equal to or less than a preset number of carriers.

10. The method of any one of claims 1-9, further comprising:

11. The method of any one of claims 1-9, further comprising: sending UE capability information of the UE to a network device in response to a UE capability request from the network device, wherein the UE capability information includes the preset number of the antennas for transmitting the SRS and the preset number of the antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the antenna port switching capability indicated by the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells simultaneously where the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells.

13. A method of communication for a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

15. A method of communication for a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

16. The communication method of claim 15, wherein the antenna port switching capability includes at least one of a number of antennas and antenna ports through which the UE can transmit the SRS, and is equal to or less than at least one of a preset number of antennas and antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

17. A User Equipment (UE), the UE comprising:

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the antenna and the antenna port at which the UE can transmit the SRS comprise: the UE can transmit antennas and antenna ports of the SRS over the one or more carriers and/or the at least one cell.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information further indicates: translating, for each of the one or more carriers, an impact of the antenna port on an uplink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers and/or translating an impact of the antenna port on a downlink carrier of the other of the one or more carriers.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein at least one of the impact of the uplink carrier and the impact of the downlink carrier comprises one or more bits corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers, wherein the one or more bits are in a one-to-one correspondence with the one or more carriers.

21. The apparatus of any one of claims 17-20, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information comprises a plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets in a case where the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, wherein the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets correspond one-to-one with the plurality of carriers and/or the plurality of cells, and wherein each of the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets indicates at least one of the antenna port switching capability, the impact on uplink carriers, and the impact on downlink carriers.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the plurality of fallback SRS antenna capability packets are arranged in order of identification information of the corresponding carriers and/or cells.

23. The apparatus of any one of claims 17-22, wherein the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is associated with identification information of each of the one or more carriers corresponding to the each carrier.

24. The apparatus of any one of claims 19-22, wherein identification information of the each carrier is associated with identification information of at least one of the uplink carrier and the downlink carrier affected corresponding to the each of the one or more carriers.

25. The apparatus of any one of claims 17-24, wherein a number of the carriers corresponding to the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information is equal to or less than a preset number of carriers.

26. The apparatus of any one of claims 17-25, wherein the transceiver unit further comprises:

27. The apparatus of any one of claims 17-25, wherein the transceiver unit further comprises: sending UE capability information of the UE to a network device in response to a UE capability request from the network device, wherein the UE capability information includes the preset number of the antennas for transmitting the SRS and the preset number of the antenna ports for transmitting the SRS.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the antenna port switching capability indicated by the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells at the same time, where the fallback SRS antenna switching capability information corresponds to the multiple carriers and/or multiple cells.

29. A user equipment, UE, comprising a memory, a processor and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the communication method of any of claims 1 to 16 when executing the program.

30. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method of any one of claims 1 to 16.