A signal transmission method includes: A first device receives first indication information, where the first indication information is used to determine a resource pattern of a reference signal, the resource pattern of the reference signal includes at least one first basic pattern, and the first indication information indicates a relationship between the first basic pattern and a reference resource pattern, for example, indicates whether the first basic pattern is updated relative to the reference resource pattern; and receives or sends the reference signal based on the first indication information. Based on this, the first device can determine each basic pattern based on the reference resource pattern and the relationship between the first basic pattern and the reference resource pattern, to determine the resource pattern of the reference signal based on each basic pattern.