Method, base station and user equipment for transmitting physical resource blocks and estimating channels

A method for estimating channels, comprising:

• receiving, by a user equipment, M contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) sent by a base station for joint channel estimation, where the M PRBs include (X−1)M+1 demodulation reference signal subcarriers, and based on a boundary of every two PRBs, only one demodulation reference signal subcarrier is within a range of (−N, N] subcarriers in the boundary of every two PRBs, and locations of remaining (X−2)M+2 demodulation reference signal subcarriers in each of the M contiguous PRBs are the same as locations of first demodulation reference signal patterns in a frequency domain;
• where X indicates a quantity of demodulation reference signal subcarriers included in a reference signal pattern of a single PRB when the base station allocates the single PRB to the user equipment for the channel estimation;
• M is a positive integer greater than 1;
• N is a positive integer greater than 1 and smaller than or equal to 12/(X+1);
• the demodulation reference signal subcarrier refers to a subcarrier carrying demodulation reference signals;
• the first demodulation reference signal pattern refers to a demodulation reference signal pattern used when the base station allocates the single PRB to the user equipment for the channel estimation;
• obtaining, by the user equipment, received signal values of the demodulation reference signal from the demodulation reference signal subcarrier for the M PRBs, and according to the received signal values, estimating channel coefficients for position of the demodulation reference signal;
• and
• obtaining channel coefficients for position of data in the M PRBs according to the channel coefficients for the position of the demodulation reference signal and a relative position relationship between the demodulation reference signal and the data.

A base station, comprising a processor and a non-transitory processor-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stores thereon, wherein, when executed, the processor is configured to:

• schedule M contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) for a user equipment and configure reference signal patterns for the M PRBs according to a process, comprising:
• allocating (X−1)M+1 demodulation reference signal subcarriers for the M PRBs in a frequency domain, and based on a boundary of every two PRBs, configuring only one demodulation reference signal subcarrier within a range of (−N, N] subcarriers in the boundary of every two PRBs, wherein locations of remaining (X−2)M+2 demodulation reference signal subcarriers in each of the M contiguous PRBs are the same as locations of first demodulation reference signal patterns in the frequency domain;
• where X indicates the number of demodulation reference signal subcarriers included in a reference signal pattern of a single PRB when the base station allocates the single PRB to the user equipment for a channel estimation;
• M is a positive integer greater than 1;
• N is a positive integer greater than 1 and smaller than or equal to 12/(X+1);
• the demodulation reference signal subcarrier refers to a subcarrier carrying demodulation reference signals;
• the first demodulation reference signal pattern refers to a demodulation reference signal pattern used when the base station allocates the single PRB to the user equipment for the channel estimation;
• and
• transmit the configured M PRBs to the user equipment, to enable the user equipment to perform a joint channel estimation according to the configured M PRBs.

A user equipment, comprising a processor and a non-transitory processor-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein, when executed the processor is configured to:

• receive M PRBs sent by a base station for joint channel estimation, wherein the M contiguous PRBs comprise (X−1)M+1 demodulation reference signal subcarriers, and based on a boundary of every two PRBs, only one demodulation reference signal subcarrier is within range of (−N, N] subcarriers in the boundary of every two PRBs, and locations of remaining (X−2)M+2 demodulation reference signal subcarriers in each of the M contiguous PRBs are the same as locations of first demodulation reference signal patterns in a frequency domain;
• where X indicates number of demodulation reference signal subcarriers included in a reference signal pattern of a single PRB when the base station allocates the single PRB to the user equipment for a channel estimation;
• M is a positive integer greater than 1;
• N is a positive integer greater than 1 and smaller than or equal to 12/(X+1);
• the demodulation reference signal subcarrier refers to a subcarrier carrying demodulation reference signals;
• the first demodulation reference signal pattern refers to a demodulation reference signal pattern used when the base station allocates the single PRB to the user equipment for the channel estimation;
• and
• obtain received signal values of the demodulation reference signal from the demodulation reference signal subcarrier from the M PRBs received by the receiving unit, estimate channel coefficients for the position of the demodulation reference signal according to the received signal values of the demodulation reference signal, and obtain channel coefficients for the position of data in the M PRBs according to the channel coefficients for the position of the demodulation reference signal and a relative position relationship between the demodulation reference signal and the data.