Wireless communication device and wireless communication method

A wireless communication device comprising:

• a reception unit configured to receive a signal including a reference signal to be used for estimating a state of a spatial propagation path of a communication line;
• a separation unit configured to, when a frame has a plurality of frames separately disposed on at least a time axis, separate the reference signal disposed in subframes excluding subframes incapable of transmitting the reference signal and other than subframes capable of acting as discontinuous communication applicable subframes when discontinuous communication is performed from among the plurality of subframes from the received signal on the basis of disposition information of the reference signal;
• and
• a space estimation unit configured to estimate the state of the spatial propagation path on the basis of the separated reference signal.

A wireless communication method comprising:

• generating a reference signal to be used for estimating a state of a spatial propagation path of a communication line;
• when a frame has a plurality of subframes separately disposed on at least a time axis, disposing the reference signal in subframes excluding subframes incapable of transmitting the reference signal and other than subframes capable of acting as discontinuous communication applicable subframes when discontinuous communication is performed from among the plurality of subframes;
• and
• transmitting a transmission signal including the disposed reference signal.

A method of estimating a propagation path, the method comprising:

• receiving a signal including a reference signal to be used for estimating a state of a spatial propagation path of a communication line;
• when a frame has a plurality of frames separately disposed on at least a time axis, separating the reference signal disposed in subframes excluding subframes incapable of transmitting the reference signal and other than subframes capable of acting as discontinuous communication applicable subframes when discontinuous communication is performed from among the plurality of subframes from the received signal on the basis of disposition information of the reference signal;
• and
• estimating the state of the spatial propagation path on the basis of the separated reference signal.